The number of women studying STEM subjects in African universities - that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – has risen dramatically over the last five decades. Female students now make up for almost 50% of the total number, a higher percentage of female representation than any other continent in the world. How has this happened and does this translate into similar representation in the job market once students graduate? Alan Kasujja speaks to Professor Verdiana Grace Masanja, ...
Jan 08, 2024•21 min
"I don't think the Somali government is interested in a fist fight with Ethiopia." A diplomatic row broke out this week in response to a deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland allowing landlocked Ethiopia access to Somaliland’s coastline. Somalia described the agreement as an act of "aggression". Both the African Union and US have issued statements saying Somalia’s sovereignty must be respected. Somaliland seceded from Somalia in 1991 but is not internationally recognised as an independent state. ...
Jan 05, 2024•17 min
Like many children in Africa, Masai Ujiri was obsessed with football as he was growing up. But one day a new love struck him and he started what was to become a lifelong love affair with basketball. He’s been a player, a scout, an agent and today he’s the president of the NBA side the Toronto Raptors, making him the first and only African-born president of a professional sports franchise in North America. He’s also the founder of Giants of Africa: an organisation that aims to empower young Afric...
Jan 04, 2024•19 min
Peter Mutabazi is a Ugandan single dad who has fostered 38 children and adopted three of those kids. He lives in North Carolina in the US and these children come from different backgrounds and walks of life. This is something that gets him regularly noticed when he’s out with his family- he’s a black man in America raising white children. Peter was drawn to fostering and adoption because of what happened to him as a child. He was born in rural Uganda and lived in poverty without money for food, ...
Jan 03, 2024•23 min
'The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability.’ Think about architecture and you probably think about tall buildings of steel and glass. But the theme of this year’s Sharjah Architecture Triennial is design influenced by scarcity – and how we can build in a way that adapts to decreasing resources and hotter climates. Africa has been disproportionately impacted by climate change. The Triennial is designed as a platform for architects from the global south – allowing them to share i...
Jan 02, 2024•18 min
2023 was full of big news, interesting personal stories and some disastrous events like floods and earthquakes in different parts of Africa. So, what does 2024 hold for countries across Africa? Guests: Anne Soy, Mpho Lakaje and Thomas Naadi. Presenter: Alan Kasujja.
Jan 01, 2024•21 min
2023 has been an eventful year for Africa and it's that time of the year when Africa Daily reflects on some of the things that have happened. There's so much to discuss from South Africa's Springboks winning the rugby world cup to the Nigerian elections, as well as some disastrous floods and earthquakes in different regions. Guests: Anne Soy, Mpho Lakaje, Sally Nabil, and Thomas Naadi. Presenter: Alan Kasujja.
Dec 29, 2023•33 min
Letsile Tebogo is well on his way to becoming an African superstar. He took the athletics world by storm when he became the first African and first man from Botswana to win a medal in the 100 metres. He won silver and ran with a race time of 9.88 seconds, making him the first man from Botswana to run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds. And he’s only 20 years old. His talent is a huge topic of conversation in the athletics world and the continent. In today’s episode, we hear from the man himself ...
Dec 28, 2023•18 min
Buying affordable and safe medicines across Africa is often difficult. There are not enough pharmacies and the price of medicine is often too high for many people to afford. If you do get hold of the medicine you need, then there is the question of whether you can trust it; shocking statistics from the United Nations show that close to 500,000 people in sub Saharan Africa die each year due to fake or substandard medicines. So in this episode of Africa Daily we look at the journey of a packet of ...
Dec 27, 2023•21 min
"The majority of the men who come into my life feel they want to be my saviours... they can say: 'I'm dating a blind girl. Guess what guys, I'm taking one for the team'." Imagine losing your sight after 31 years of clear vision. The simple tasks like attaching a file to an email, entering an office building or going for a walk unassisted now become so difficult. And what about things like dating and socialising? According to the WHO, about 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impair...
Dec 26, 2023•19 min
"Every one of us has his or her personal mountain to climb. It might not be Everest or it might not be a physical mountain. Yours might be in the boardroom, on a bicycle, in your family, at school... There's always something we need to achieve. Something big, something difficult and something meaningful... And when you get there, remember to be thankful and reach down and pull someone else up with you." Africa has its fair share of mountains ranges – the Rwenzoris, the Drakensburgs, The Atlas mo...
Dec 25, 2023•17 min
On Monday, Egypt’s incumbent president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi won a third term in office with just under 90 % of the vote. This is despite ongoing economic turmoil in the country, caused by high inflation. A former army chief, Mr Sisi has ruled Egypt since overthrowing the democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, a decade ago. He will now be in power until 2029. In this episode of Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja talks to BBC Arabic’s Mohamed Taha to find out why Sisi is so dominant and if he is...
Dec 21, 2023•18 min
The Ubo-aka is one of Africa’s oldest musical instrument and keeping the sound of this ancient instrument alive has been challenging. Musician Gerald Eze says the number of young people playing this instrument has declined and that he wants to make sure this Igbo tradition survives by performing with the Ubo-aka and teaching people how to play it. Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja met Gerald when he was in Lagos a few months ago and learned more about why this instrument and sound are important to Igb...
Dec 21, 2023•18 min
This episode discusses difficult issues including sexual violence and suicide. “You have thousands of cases and you have one judge. So every day you go to the court, they say come back tomorrow. The families they just get tired.” Miatta Grey is a woman with a very personal mission. She’s the founder of ‘Sister’s Hand’ - an organisation in Liberia which supports victims of gender-based violence – having herself survived rape and domestic abuse. She was also badly injured through female genital mu...
Dec 20, 2023•17 min
Millions of people will be voting in elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo this week. President Félix Tshisekedi is seeking a second, and final, five-year term in office. It’s a country the size of Western Europe with an estimated population of more than 100 million people. It’s also a country rich in natural resources- it has 70% of the world's reserves of coltan, a mineral used to make mobile phones. But it’s also a country with many challenges, there’s been a bloody conflict in easter...
Dec 19, 2023•15 min
Imagine paying off someone else’s debts from 30 years ago. That’s what the Somali government has been having to do, as it tried to pay off debts built up by governments in the 1990s. Five years ago Somalia was using 64% of its Gross Domestic Product – the value of all the goods and services it produces – to pay off foreign debts. Now it’s only using 6%. It’s come after a process of painful economic reforms – supported by the IMF and World Bank – which culminated in it having $4.5 billion worth o...
Dec 18, 2023•21 min
“Our ancestors, our forefathers and our great grandmothers used to come together and have discussions and sing songs and dance. This is how we would document our lives and our history and this is how we would begin very important and critical conversations” – Masechaba Ndlovu, Rainbow Nation Music Fest ambassador. Thousands of people are expected to attend the Rainbow Nation Festival in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. It aims to bring different racial groups together and promote social cohes...
Dec 15, 2023•15 min
“The words ‘fossil fuels’ have never (before) made it into a COP decision. We’re finally naming the elephant in the room. The genie is never going back in the bottle again.” So the talking is over and the weary delegates have headed home. This year’s climate conference, COP28 – when world leaders, activist and lobbyists get together to discuss how to limit global warming - was certainly eventful. $700 million was pledged to the Loss and Damage fund to help poorer nations deal with the impact of ...
Dec 14, 2023•16 min
Today, Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje talks to Zimbabwean blueberry farmer Stuart Torr. He and his brother studied in the UK, before returning to Africa to farm. Their company is among those exporting blueberries to countries like the Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, Singapore and Malaysia. They operate in a sector that has seen significant growth in recent years. Fruit industry analysis group, East Fruit says Zimbabwe has been increasing its blueberry exports by 63%, annually. So, what’s behind...
Dec 13, 2023•15 min
Kenya's parliament has banned the wearing of a suit, named after the late Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, within the building. Speaker of Parliament Moses Wetangula said Kaunda suits, as well as traditional African clothes, were not welcome. And Kenya is not alone – African clothes are not permitted in many parliaments across the continent. Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja has been speaking to Senator Gloria Orwoba about her specific challenges around being a female in Senate and historian Godfrey ...
Dec 12, 2023•19 min
Zanzibar is an island off the coast of Tanzania where more than 99% of the population are Muslim. In a community that places high value on family and marriage, being a divorcee is something that is often looked down upon, especially for women. However, one woman is breaking down those stereotypes through her culinary initiative, Mamas of Zanzibar. BBC Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja speaks to Maskat on why she started her initiative and the impact it’s had on her life as a single mother as well as t...
Dec 11, 2023•13 min
Since 2013, more than 70,000 Nigerians have crossed into northern Cameroon fleeing Boko Haram attacks. As they settled in Minawao as refugees, they were faced with difficult desert conditions, with nowhere to hide their heads when the sun was scorching. So they opted to join forces to plant trees and have build what is now known as The Green Refugee Camp. In today’s Africa Daily podcast, Alan Kasujja speaks to one of the refugees, Isaac Luka, who gives an account of how step-by-step, refugees em...
Dec 08, 2023•19 min
Artificial Intelligence is playing a growing part in modern life. We’re told it can make things faster, more efficient and cheaper. But people with disabilities can struggle to use machines which use AI because they don’t recognise their special needs and adapt to them. Instructions are often visual – making it impossible for a blind person to use without the assistance of someone else. A number of African countries have AI strategies but in Nigeria this is still being discussed – and so people ...
Dec 07, 2023•16 min
“Families who have young brothers and sister or sons being killed didn’t even know they were in criminal environments. It caught politicians off guard. It caught everyone off guard.” Sweden’s police chief has described a spike in gang violence – including shootings and bomb attacks - as “unprecedented”. The police force in the capital Stockholm have said they are overwhelmed and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has asked the army to provide support. The police have linked the violence to a widenin...
Dec 06, 2023•20 min
“Look at the Middle East right now, Israel and Palestine. They could have come to terms with each other a long time ago. We were fortunate that we had a Mandela” – Roelf Meyer, former South African cabinet minister. South Africa’s first democratically elected president Nelson Mandela died on this day, a decade ago. So today, Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje sits down with two of his former ministers, Sydney Mufamadi and Roelf Meyer. What was it like reporting to one of the most prominent political fig...
Dec 05, 2023•20 min
In November this year, 221 Malawians flew to Israel to start working on farms there. The Malawian government has a labour export deal with Israel, and says it is eventually aiming for a total of 5000 people to travel there for work. According to the World Bank, Malawi is the fourth poorest country in the world. But the deal has provoked debate in Malawi because of the current conflict in Israel. The political opposition says the scheme is putting citizens in danger, pointing out that 39 agricult...
Dec 04, 2023•18 min
Across Africa, the impact of climate change is becoming more and more apparent. This year alone, multiple countries across the continent have been hit with an array of severe natural disasters – ranging from floods to excruciatingly high temperatures. As the United Nations Climate Change Conference - or COP28 - kicked of this week, delegates agreed to launch the long-awaited 'loss and damage' fund to pay for damage from climate-driven storms and drought. The EU, US, UAE and others immediately an...
Dec 01, 2023•14 min
The Horn of Africa region is experiencing torrential rainfall and floods linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon, claiming dozens of lives and causing large-scale displacement. In Somalia the number of those killed by the floods has surpassed 100, and more than 700,000 have been displaced. The rains are forecast to continue battering East Africa till the end of the year. It comes as the region emerges from its worst drought in four decades after multiple failed rainy seasons that left millions ...
Nov 30, 2023•19 min
Brain drain is an issue across the continent but has become closely associated with Nigeria. Several surveys have found that the country has the highest proportion of young people wanting to move overseas. The tendency even has its own term – Japa – meaning to run, flee, or escape, in the Yoruba language. But does this tell the whole story? On a recent trip to Lagos, Alan Kasujja brought together a group of Nigerians with different perspectives on the topic. Among them are people thinking about ...
Nov 29, 2023•16 min
“The water is dirty. You can see it with your own eyes. It looks muddy. When you pour it in a glass and leave it overnight, the following day you start seeing small things swimming in the water” – Kamogelo Stock, South African citizen In this episode, we hear from people who’ve gone through the agony of losing their loved ones to cholera in South Africa. The disease is currently wreaking havoc in several parts of the African continent including Malawi, Cameroon and Mozambique. Zimbabwe’s capital...
Nov 28, 2023•19 min
