Tag Archives: africa

Paul Walter

A tale of two Presidents

By Paul Walter | Mon 23rd January 2017 - 9:55 am

As we know, on Friday Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States. This was in a carefully choreographed handover of power, laid down by the Founding Fathers of the nation a couple of centuries ago. This is a country of 319 million people with a GDP per capita (PPP) of $53,750. Trump was elected in a process which took two years in total. Controversial but smooth.

Just a few hours before, election winner Adama Barrow was sworn in as President of The Gambia, one of Africa’s smallest states. It is smaller, in land area, than Yorkshire. It has 1.9 million people. The equivalent GDP figure here is 3% of that of the USA. This Presidential inauguration was rather different to the one in Washington DC.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 8 Comments
Paul Walter

Extremely welcome news from The Gambia – ‘the marbles have spoken’

By Paul Walter | Sun 4th December 2016 - 2:30 pm

Well, well, well. Wonders never cease. President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia has conceded defeat after the country’s Presidential Election. Those are words I never thought anyone would write. Jammeh has been President of The Gambia for 22 years. He once said he would rule for ‘a billion years’. He has recently become increasingly erratic and autocratic.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Jonathan Fryer

Liberal International’s African Reach

By Jonathan Fryer | Wed 16th November 2016 - 12:15 pm

When Liberal International was founded in Oxford nearly 70 years ago it was very much a European affair. With the noble exception of Canada, Liberal parties and values were largely confined to northern Europe, but since then the picture has changed dramatically. As we in Britain lick our wounds from the double whammy of the Brexit vote and the triumph of Donald Trump in the United States let us take comfort from the fact that the Liberal family is growing worldwide. This was dramatically illustrated by the Liberal International (LI) Executive in Marrakesh, at which five new African parties – …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Luke Akal

Zambia: one too many close calls for democracy?

By Luke Akal | Wed 21st September 2016 - 2:30 pm

Zambia 1Democracies in the developing world must often overcome a number of hurdles on the road to maturity and development as a stable state. Peaceful elections, a vibrant civil society, regular transfer of power, and fair service delivery are all key indicators of democratic development. No doubt, differences in the maturing of democracies should be considered based on local realities, and a so-called Western roadmap must not be the only lens through which we view this development.

But has the southern African country of Zambia, rich in copper and with plentiful tourism potential, had one too many close calls in its democratic development? Does Zambia and its people need to rethink their political path?

The most recent August 11th elections certainly give that impression.

This year’s General Elections resulted in the incumbent Edgar Lungu (Patriotic Front – PF) winning the presidential race by just over 2.5%, enough to avoid a second-round run-off. The liberal opposition United Party for National Development (UPND), led by Hakainde Hichilema, also lost the last presidential by-election by a mere 27,757 votes. Those early presidential elections were called after the passing of former President Michael Sata in 2014. On the surface, these results appear to be a sign of political maturity, with an election called upon President Sata’s death and an apparently democratic process in place for political succession.

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 6 Comments
Paul Walter

Africa’s Super Sunday

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th April 2016 - 12:20 pm

Recently on holiday in West Africa, I was somewhat torn. There was a strong temptation to leave my political conscience in a left luggage locker at Gatwick. Indeed, I think I did to an extent. I was, after all, on holiday and, being in a rural “eco lodge”, I was able to mix with ordinary Africans and provide some support to the local economy.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 3 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Botswana elections: Liberal Democrats help sister party and its “calm revolutionary of our time”

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 25th October 2014 - 12:00 pm

Three chiefs and justice gaborone botswana by BoHeMIoYesterday was polling day in the General Election in Botswana. 57 parliamentary seats are up for grabs along with council seats across the country. The Botswana Democratic Party has been in power since the country gained independence in 1966. The Liberal Democrats have been helping our sister party, the Botswana Movement for Democracy, which has been fighting the election as part of a coalition of opposition parties, the Umbrella for Democratic Change. In early August, their campaign suffered a huge blow when BMD leader and Vice Presidential candidate Gomolemo Matswaledi was killed in a car accident on the way back from a visit to Johannesberg.

Top Liberal Democrat campaigns guru Victoria Marsom, who has the by-election victories in both Brent and Eastleigh under her belt, has been working closely with the BMD for the past year as part of a project funded by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. She’s travelled to Botswana twice, once in June and she’s there now for this last week of the campaign. I had a bit of a surprise the other night when I found this from her on my Facebook timeline:

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , , and | 99 Comments
Richard Kilpatrick

Opinion: Emerging markets could mean the end of the elephant, but it’s not too late

By Richard Kilpatrick | Thu 2nd January 2014 - 5:54 pm

For some years I have been sponsoring an African Elephant called Grace. It was a birthday present that I have never had the heart to cancel. She is fortunate enough to live in a conservation area in Kenya. Grace is one of approximately 400,000 African Elephants still alive in the world, their population having been slashed by 50% since 1989, driven predominantly by the ivory trade. Despite an increasing shift in western attitudes very little has changed. Ever expanding globalisation and the economic crisis has resulted in several fluctuations in ivory demand, perpetuated by international ivory trade deals that have …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Advert



Recent Comments

  • User AvatarLorenzo Cherin 20th Oct - 11:50pm
    Paul and David, at it again, getting me at it too , with much thanks ! A remarkable story , the unplanned speech, don,t ever...
  • User Avatarfrankie 20th Oct - 10:36pm
    Sheila, Time ticks on and everyday the leave case is shot to pieces. As reality bites the only thing that seems to be keeping Leavers...
  • User Avatarfrankie 20th Oct - 10:23pm
    Clegg came from a political bubble with limited inter action with normal people. He also seems to have fallen into a trap one of my...
  • User AvatarKatharine Pindar 20th Oct - 10:19pm
    Well said, David! Long may you continue act as usefully as you do. Michael, thank you for pointing out what was already known about Palehorse...
  • User AvatarPeter Hayes 20th Oct - 9:28pm
    As my parents are both dead it is probably safe to say they remember me saying "let Daddy smack me" as an an alternative to...
  • User AvatarAndrew McCaig 20th Oct - 8:32pm
    Just so long as we are not going to go down the Norwegian route. There are, I am afraid, much worse forms of child abuse...