World marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum will be buried on Friday in his village in south-western Kenya. The 24-year-old died in a road accident two weeks ago alongside his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana. Kiptum’s death comes after several tragic incidents which have claimed the lives of Kenyan athletes in their prime. In today’s Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja talks to former Boston Marathon champion Wesley Korir and asks if athletes are faced with greater risks outside the field of play....
Feb 23, 2024•21 min
“This is a cycle in Congo. It’s been almost 30 years this has been happening again and again and again. And (it) is devastating to see the same civilian populations are moving again and again.” Goma – the largest city in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo - has an official population of 2 million people. But more than half a million displaced people are now also living there, following a spike in fighting between the Congolese army and the Tutsi-led M23 rebel group around the town of S...
Feb 22, 2024•18 min
Afrobeats and Amapiano are two of the most popular genres in Africa and both genres are now also being recognised and appreciated worldwide. This year's prestigious Grammy awards gave us 'Best African Music Performance’ for the first time. Out of the seven nominees- four were from Nigeria- Davido, Burna Boy, Asake and Olamide and there were two artists from South Africa, Musa Keys and the winner Tyla. The only other country represented was Arya Starr from Benin but even she lives in Nigeria. A l...
Feb 21, 2024•22 min
Back in 2015, Burundi closed its border with Rwanda, amid internal violence that erupted from the disputed re-election of then President Pierre Nkurunziza. At the time, Burundi accused Rwanda of supporting the protesters and encouraging the perpetrators of a failed coup. But the two governments seemed to put that behind them, following the election of Évariste Ndayishimiye as Burundi’s president in 2020. Two years later, the crossing was reopened and trade was back on track. But at the start of ...
Feb 20, 2024•16 min
“This is a time for us to stand very tall and stop aid in Africa. We need to find a way of nurturing our natural resources that we have in Africa and really claim back this beautiful continent that we call the Mother Africa” – Nthabeleng Likotsi, South African entrepreneur Today Alan Kasujja sits down with award-winning South African entrepreneur Nthabeleng Likotsi, to discuss how she and her team are building a mutual bank. Her country’s central bank, SARB, recently granted her organization a l...
Feb 19, 2024•20 min
After the introduction of the first African woman referee at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in 2021, the expansion of women into football decision-making on the continent continued in Ivory Coast where a total of six women were officiating at the 2023 Afcon tournament. Zambian assistant referee Diana Chikotesha made history when she became the first female on-pitch match official to feature in a men’s Africa Cup of Nations final on Sunday. She was assistant referee in the match that saw Ivory...
Feb 16, 2024•23 min
“The government has been reacting very strongly to the possibility of famine and they’re dismissing it, but they are admitting there is drought and that millions of people are being affected.” It’s just over a year since the Ethiopian government signed a peace deal with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front – to end the brutal civil war in the north of the country. The ‘Pretoria agreement’ saw the TPLF agreeing to disarm, in return for the reopening of Tigray, to allow in desperately needed food ...
Feb 15, 2024•20 min
The African diaspora are viewed by many as a valuable asset for Africa on the global stage. One country trying to harness that power and influence is Rwanda. They have events around the world to connect and engage with their diaspora. This year an event was held in Washington DC in the United States where President Paul Kagame spoke. So how can Africa tap into the diverse skills, knowledge and expertise gained from years of experience abroad to further develop the continent in terms of innovatio...
Feb 14, 2024•21 min
“Some members will still look at you as a person who is only there to talk about disability. So every time you want to speak about a different issue, people still want to push you into the disability corner and say ‘this is not your space… If you’re not talking about disability you better keep quiet’.” Women in politics already face a lot of challenges in Africa - with some of their male counterparts questioning their ability, criticising their clothing and telling them to stick to ‘women’s issu...
Feb 13, 2024•16 min
“When I wake up every morning my work is only to find work, yet I have not heard from any employer for the last six months,” says Abdullahi Mohammed, a young Somali graduate. He has a degree in Information Technology, a master’s in Development Studies from the UK, and has some short-term experience working with international organisations. And yet he still can’t find a job in Somalia. This is the reality for millions of young people in the country, who are well educated but who face real challen...
Feb 12, 2024•21 min
When the Africa Cup of Nations started, hosts Ivory Coast were on the verge of disaster after losing two of their first three matches. But they dusted themselves off and went on to reach the final. They will take on a Nigerian side who boast talented players like Victor Osimhen, who plies his trade in Italy, and Stanley Nwabili, who plays in South Africa. But the Ivorians have dangermen of their own, including Seko Fofana and Sebastien Haller. But before the final, the Democratic Republic of the...
Feb 09, 2024•19 min
Senegal has long had the reputation of being a bastion of democracy in Africa. It has been a stable democracy in a region that’s often been blighted by instability. In fact, it is the only country in mainland West Africa that has never had a military takeover. But a recent postponement of the election by 10 months has seen Senegalese take to the streets saying they are worried their country’s reputation is at risk. So how did Senegal get to this point and what next for the country? Alan Kasujja ...
Feb 08, 2024•19 min
It’s a common story across the continent. A student graduates from university. They celebrate the end of their hard work with proud family members. But when they start job hunting they find they face fierce competition for a small number of jobs. The International Labour Organization say one in five African youth were not in employment, education, or training in 2021. But a similar proportion of Africa's working-age population are starting new businesses - the highest rate of any region in the w...
Feb 07, 2024•20 min
"It's time to bring the decent story about Africa forward." It’s not every day you get to chat to a billionaire. But for today’s episode Alan Kasujja speaks with Mo Ibrahim - the Sudanese born businessman who’s made it his life's mission to counter corruption. His charitable organisation ‘The Mo Ibrahim Foundation’ rewards African leaders for good governance with awards of $5 million. He made his wealth by building a telecommunications company called Celtel which he sold in 2005 for $3.4 billion...
Feb 06, 2024•21 min
In today's episode, Alan Kasujja sits down with Michayla Moss who is American-Israeli and Iyad Abu Kalusa, a Palestinian from Gaza. Both of them currently live in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conflict started on the 7th of October 2023, when Palestinian group Hamas and other armed factions attacked Israel, killing about 1,300 people - mostly civilians - and taking 240 hostages. Israel subsequently retaliated, killing more than 27,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. S...
Feb 05, 2024•21 min
A regional bloc is a group of countries that team up to work together on common goals, like trade or security, to benefit all members. In Africa they include Ecowas, which stands for the Economic Community of West African States, the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) amongst others. But are they always as effective as they set out to be? Recently, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso quit the West African bloc - Ecowas. The military-led countries had alre...
Feb 02, 2024•19 min
Religion is a close to the heart of many Africans – closely linked as it is to identity, culture and values. So no-one will have been surprised at the ferocious response to the BBC Africa Eye documentary series called ‘Disciples: The Cult of TB Joshua’ – in which a number of former followers recounted experiences including sexual abuse, rape and manipulation by the self-proclaimed prophet. But do allegations of abuse of power – levelled at a number of religious leaders over the years – suggest r...
Feb 01, 2024•21 min
"I was so thankful that at my age, at 18, I had discovered this. Grown men were moved to tears… it was a collective state of euphoria." Before his death in 2021, TB Joshua, the TV evangelist and founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, was often seen alongside presidents and powerful politicians. But for the last few weeks, he has been the subject of furious debate, after the publication of a 3-part documentary series which exposed his rape, abuse and mistreatment of his ‘discipl...
Jan 31, 2024•26 min
Table tennis lacks the glamour of football and the investment that athletics gets in Africa. However, it is played to a high standard in many countries, and in 2023, over 500 million people watched the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban, South Africa, according to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). So do the young dedicated players of today believe that their game can raise its profile, and if so, what is needed for that to happen? Alan Kasujja talks to two table-tennis pl...
Jan 30, 2024•21 min
In November 2023, South Africa approached the International Court of Justice, to consider whether Israel is committing acts of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. It also called for an immediate ceasefire. And on Friday, the 26th of January, the UN’s top court made its interim ruling. It said, among other things, that Israel must do everything in its power to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza. But the court did stop short of ordering an immediate halt to military operations. So, what’s next?...
Jan 29, 2024•21 min
20 year old Rita Waeni was brutally murdered and dismembered. Her remains were discovered in rubbish bags at a rental apartment in the capital, Nairobi this month. The news shocked Kenya and led to uproar both online and offline with many saying that the government isn’t doing enough about violence against women. Research by Africa Data Hub shows that from 2016 to 2023, over 500 femicide cases were uncovered in Kenya. Each representing a shattered life and a broken family. These numbers, though ...
Jan 26, 2024•19 min
Malaria kills more than 600,000 people around the world every year. But this week, Cameroon became the first country to start a mass rollout of the world’s first ever malaria vaccine – the WHO-approved RTS,S vaccine. It is hoped that other countries will follow, in a move projected to save thousands of children's lives across Africa. But will vaccine hesitancy stop parents having their children vaccinated? On today’s Africa Daily podcast, Alan Kasujja talks to Professor Rose Leke, an internation...
Jan 25, 2024•21 min
We all have a beginning to our lives and we will all have an ending. At the end it is the work of morticians to look after our bodies when we die and to prepare them for burial. It is an incredibly important job, but one that most of us give no thought to. One person who is trying to change that is Filinda Wakuthi Kamau, a mortician and funeral director in Kenya. She publishes TikTok videos, using the handle @frimahkuthi, which get up to 25 million views, to demystify her work and get us talking...
Jan 24, 2024•18 min
At the weekend, Felix Tshisekedi was sworn in as President of the Democratic Republic of Congo – starting his second term in office. Last week on the podcast we talked about whether democracy and the political classes were doing anything to improve the lives of normal citizens across the country. And today we’re taking a closer look at the Eastern DRC – where decades of war has left millions killed or displaced. Despite ongoing fighting between government forces and the M23 rebels and other arme...
Jan 23, 2024•20 min
“Usually I would spend about 10,000 to 12,000 [South African Rands] on a bulk buy for the units of hair. But when I got this particular quotation, the hair on its own, the units I usually buy were at a total of 28,000 to 30,000” – Ziyanda Khumalo, South African small business owner Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja looks at how the attacks by the Houthis, a Yemen-based rebel group, are affecting Africa. He sits down with Johannesburg business owner Ziyanda Khumalo, who imports her products from overse...
Jan 22, 2024•18 min
A new government for the Democratic Republic of Congo will be sworn in at the weekend, and President Felix Tshisekedi will start his second term of office. The country faces many challenges: from conflict in the east, to poor infrastructure, to lack of investment in public services. There are also questions about how connected the political elite in the capital are with the rest of the country, the biggest in Africa south of the Sahara. So what are the expectations of the population for this new...
Jan 19, 2024•20 min
On the podcast in November last year we heard the terrible stories of South Africans who’d lost their loved ones to cholera. Then, the disease was sweeping across Southern Africa and was causing a public health crisis in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique and Cameroon. Now, just two months later – Zambia is scrambling to contain the disease with more than 9,500 people affected. Since 2023, 13 countries in the region have battled one of the worst cholera outbreaks to hit the region in years and, ...
Jan 18, 2024•17 min
Former president Ernest Bai Koroma is due in court on Wednesday to face treason charges and other offences in connection with an attempted coup last November. More than 20 people were killed when key sites across the country were attacked, including a military barracks and a prison where more than 2,200 inmates were set free. Ernest Bai Koroma was elected in 2007 and was president for 11 years, he has denied any involvement. In today’s Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja spoke to journalist Umaru Fofana ...
Jan 17, 2024•19 min
For many women and girls in Africa, getting their hair is a done is an essential ritual to feel and look good. Many find the hair salon to be one of the few places where they have time for themselves, to chat, laugh, to share good news and sorrows. But what if seeing your stylist was about something much more than getting your hair done… what if that relationship could help to save your life? In today’s Africa Daily Alan Kasujja has been speaking to Marie-Alix de Putter, the founder of the ‘Heal...
Jan 16, 2024•20 min
“When you commit to a journey, the universe conspires to help you.“ In a surprise zoom call with student Mamadou Barry, Will Smith quoted those words from Paulo Coelho’s novel 'The Alchemist'. That story is about a boy who goes on a journey across north Africa to Egypt when he dreams of gold. In a case of real life mirroring fiction, Mamadou also gave up his normal life to undertake a long journey across northern Africa. But his dream was of studying at the Al-Azhar university in Cairo, Egypt. W...
Jan 15, 2024•20 min
