We speak to Nigerian author NNAMDI CHIEKWU, a millenial who explains why he's angry and what he plans to do about it. Basically, Nnamdi says he is hugely disappointed with the generations who came before him who have left the African continent in such bad shape that he and his cohort need to lead 'a technocratic revolution' in order to revive its fortunes. He's scathing of earlier generations: 'Why didn't they take up the fight? They didn't have the courage. They wanted to ...ingratiate themselv...
Jun 30, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 15
A tiny slice of South Africa's semi-arid Karoo region was painstakingly recreated at this year's Chelsea Flower Show in London. It was the first time such an ambitious project had been undertaken to display the world-famous Karoo succulents at Chelsea's annual Festival of Flowers and Plants. I caught up with ERNST VAN JARSVELDT a master botanist who spent a lifetime nurturing these hardy plants and trees. ERNST's passion for succulents is infectious; his knowledge is second to none. When he's no...
Jun 19, 2025•14 min•Season 4Ep. 14
PETER OBI believes he would have been Nigeria’s president now, were it not for widespread vote rigging at the last election in 2023. It’s a view shared by many of his fellow countrymen and women. In a wide-ranging interview with Africa Here And Now MR OBI confirms that he plans to run again in 2027 and believes that this time the outcome will be different. He says he’s optimistic that people will vote for the best candidate and not cast their ballot on the basis of tribe or religion – accusing t...
Jun 15, 2025•47 min•Season 4Ep. 13
Has the shine come off the idea of democracy in parts of Africa? The continent's latest crop of military leaders seem to be enjoying immense popularity, like Burkina Faso's Captain Ibrahim Traore. So are Africans prepared to live under the rule of soldiers. Or is there another way? I speak to GILLES YABI, CEO and founder of the West Africa Citizen Think Tank in Dakar. And in Johannesburg, independent political analyst, MARISA LOURENCO. We explore what could be behind the recent spate of m ilitar...
Jun 09, 2025•36 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool discusses the recent efforts to reset relations between South Africa and the United States. President Ramaphosa's recent visit to the White House was a success, the ambassador says. He reflects on the challenges faced during his tenure as ambassador, including the backlash from the Trump administration and the influence of powerful South African figures in the US. He does not regret the candid remarks he made about the state of US politics - remarks that got him expelle...
May 30, 2025•25 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Why has Burkina Faso's military leader, IBRAHIM TRAORE, garnered such adulation? That's a question for the renowned investigative journalist, DAVID HUNDEYIN who replies that the young captain, he's just 37, symbolises s break from the status quo and offers hop to a youthful continent whose people yearn for a hero. Who, or what, is behind the social media tsunami that surrounds CAPTAIN TRAORE? We consider whether the multitude of social media posts extolling his often other-worldly virtues are tr...
May 13, 2025•39 min•Season 4Ep. 10
TITLE: Gaza, Should Africans Care? Pro- Palestine Cornell Student Who Fled US Talks to Africa Here & Now Tags:Africa, Palestine, Israel, activism, geopolitics, youth, solidarity, African Union, Arab League, liberation We explore Africa's historical support for the Palestinian cause with MOMODOU TAAL, the 31-year-old British Gambian graduate student who fled the US before he was deported for his pro-Gaza activism. We recall Nelson Mandela’s 1997 statement that South African freedom would be i...
Apr 29, 2025•27 min•Season 4Ep. 9
I meet Bobi Wine as he visits London. He’s seeking support for his campaign to rid Uganda of what he calls the ‘ brutal rulership’ of President Yoweri Museveni who will have led the country for 40 years in 2026. That’s when Uganda is scheduled to hold its next presidential election. Will Bobi run again? ‘Here I am,’ he says, ‘Not that I’m the Alpha and Omega, not that I’m the ultimate. But I’ve said I’m available if I’m required to lead …’ We look back at what happened at the last general electi...
Apr 13, 2025•30 min•Season 4Ep. 8
We look at recent events in Zimbabwe and the formation of the March 31 movement and ask how significant a threat it presents to President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Dr BLESSING-MILES TENDI, a politics professor at Oxford University, is the author of The Overthrow of Robert Mugabe - Gender, Coups, and Diplomats. He takes us through the complex political landscape of Zimbabwe today as well as the historical context of the 2017 coup against Robert Mugabe. Dr Tendi highlights the rifts between the elites w...
Apr 04, 2025•38 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Marketing guru THEBE IKALAFENG reflects on the current tensions in US-South African relations and suggests that by stopping US aid, President Trump is presenting the continent with a golden opportunity. It's time, Thebe says, for African countries to leverage their resources better and understand their value. The end of western aid should lead to new economic strategies and add urgency to the implementation of measures like the AfCFTA - the agreement that seeks to open borders on the continent a...
Mar 20, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Nico Ali Walsh, the grandson of the legendary Muhammad Ali, shares his journey into boxing, the emotional connection with his grandfather, and the challenges he faces in the sport. He discusses the legacy of the Ali family, the expectations placed upon him and how his faith influences him. Nico talks openly about the dangers of boxing and details a severe injury he sustained that took months to recover from. He speaks of his determination to become a world champion. It was Muhammad Ali, himself ...
Mar 14, 2025•24 min•Season 4Ep. 5
In this EXCLUSIVE interview with the last emperor of Ethiopia's favourite grandson, we learn the detail of HAILE SELASSIE's overthrow by the military in 1974. When the soldiers came , PRINCE BE'EDE MARIAM, who lived in the imperial palace, volunteered to stay with his grandpa so he wouldn't be alone. Other members of the family left the country.The teenaged prince paid dearly for that act of loyalty: he was imprisoned for 15 years. PRINCE BE'EDE tells us how the emperor did not resist the soldie...
Mar 03, 2025•26 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Amidst the global disruption being wreaked by the Trump administration, a new man takes the helm of the African Union. Expectations are high as the continent faces a complex mix of challenges: an increase in the number of conflicts, the damaging impact of climate change, growing poverty and inequality and the shift in global power dynamics. Djiboutian MAHMOUD ALI YOUSSOUF has an overflowing in-tray. We discuss the challenges with the AU's former envoy to Washington, Dr ARIKANA CHIHOMBORI. Anyone...
Feb 18, 2025•35 min•Season 4Ep. 3
We go back to 1993 when the plane carrying Zambia’s national football team crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Gabon. Zambia is the only country in the world to have lost its national football team in a plane crash. Journalist and author JAY MWEMBA has detailed the events surrounding the tragedy in his book ‘The Crash of the Buffalo’. Former Nigerian Super Eagle, EFAN EKOKU joined us as we explored with JAY the profound impact the disaster had on the nation. EFAN highlighted the tea...
Jan 29, 2025•28 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Prominent Nigerian political activist and lawyer, an arch advocate of human rights and good governance, DELE FAROTIMI, speaks to Africa Here and Now about his experience of being imprisoned because he accused a powerful senior lawyer of corruption. The allegation is that in his latest book, DELE FAROTIMI, defames a senior legal luminary AFE BABALOLA by accusing him of subverting justice in a case heard by the Supreme Court. Out on bail after three weeks of imprisonment, DELE says Nigeria’s crimi...
Jan 13, 2025•23 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In this special year ender, as we round off season 3 of Africa Here and NOW, we look back at some of the moments that made us smile. The former Nigerian Super Eagle, footballer EFAN EKOKU, made us laugh with his cheeky bet on the winning team in the Africa Cup of Nations. Then Ghanaian football pundit, GARY AL SMITH, encouraged DONU into revealing what really lays behind the infamous rivalry between Nigeria and South Africa! Former Nigerian President OLUSEGUN OBASANJO explained how close Niger a...
Dec 29, 2024•12 min•Season 3Ep. 9
We speak to Ghanaian academic and political analyst, DR MICHAEL AMOAH, about his country's impressive record of holding orderly elections that lead to peaceful transitions of power. It's a record that's all the more impressive when compared with many of Ghana's neighbours. So JOHN MAHAMA returns to power - he served one term in 2012-2016 - and we discuss his to-do list. First up, we hear, he needs to try to cut a better deal with his country's creditors. Ghana is labouring under the worst econom...
Dec 11, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 8
As climate talks enter their second week in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, MICHAEL USI, Malawi's Vice President, says it's time to get serious about past pledges. And Kenyan pastoralist CHARLES EKALELE tells us why those pledges matter. Changing weather patterns in Turkana County are making people in his community poorer. Africa's Last Colony. As the US, Spain and most recently France add their support to Morocco's claim over Western Sahara, we ask has the Polisario Front given up on its idea of se...
Nov 20, 2024•35 min•Season 3Ep. 7
As Botswana's new government begins its work, former president IAN KHAMA, reflects on the big political changes in his country as the party of independence - his father's party - the BDP is swept away. He discusses the current state of his country, with high unemployment, low growth and a widening gap between rich and poor. He outlines possible first steps for the new UDC administration of president DUMA BOKO. The former president again acknowledges his poor judgement in appointing his successor...
Nov 13, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 6
We ask political analyst, ADAM MFUNDISI, about the challenges ahead for Botswana's new president DUMA BOKO. He tells us the country is in 'an undeclared recession' brought about by lacklustre diamond sales and corruption. Sudan's war is having horrifying effects on the country's people. The UN has called it 'the world's greatest modern-day famine' with at least 1.5 million people on the brink of starvation. Food is being used as a weapon of war by both sides. More than 10 million people have fle...
Nov 06, 2024•40 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Africa here and Now's PATRICK SMITH has rocked up in Gaborone to gauge the mood in diamond-rich Botswana as people prepare to vote. He finds that this month's election could present the most serious challenge to the ruling party's almost 60 years in power. Have the books been cooked in Mozambique's election? The stakes are high, a $150billion gas project is on the cards. Somaliland- the breakaway republic which has no international recognition - is in the eye of a growing storm in the Horn of Af...
Oct 23, 2024•40 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Talk at this year's General Assembly about reforming the UN has gathered pace. Meeting in the shadow of war: Sudan, Ukraine and the Middle East, the idea of changing the makeup of the Security Council took on more urgency. Support for Africa to get two permanent seats on the Council has grown. We asked Kenya's former UN ambassador, MARTIN KIMANI, if and when that's likely to happen. Ambassador Kimani, now Executive Director of NYU's Centre on International Cooperation, explains the responsibilit...
Oct 02, 2024•40 min•Season 3Ep. 3
The complex web of hostilities in the Horn deepen as Egyptian troops prepare to enter Somalia on peacekeeping duties. Ethiopia makes clear its opposition. Some are warning of a coming proxy war fuelled by Ethio-Egyptian animosity. We get the views of Mogadishu-based journalist MOHAMMED SHEIKH NOR. How would a second Trump administration deal with Africa? A question for former Trump Africa ambassador J.PETER PHAM. Nigerians always have something to say about their president's comings and goings. ...
Sep 18, 2024•40 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Can Africa's leaders gathering in Beijing for the Forum on the China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) get more out of the relationship than in the past? Historically, China has imported African raw commodities with little or nothing added to the value of the metals and minerals. Now, with demand on the rise for Africa's vast supply of critical metals and minerals that are vital for the transition to net zero carbon emissions, the continent's leaders could demand greater benefits for their own economie...
Sep 04, 2024•45 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Legendary Ghanaian artist, ABLADE GLOVER, talks exclusively to Africa Here and Now on the occasion of his 90th birthday and the opening of his 10th exhibition at London’s October Gallery, Inner Worlds, Outer Journeys. He takes us through seven decades of loading his palette knife with oils to create dense, mainly urban scenes. He explains his love of Accra life and the hustle and bustle. His work has been described as extracting order from disorder. “I seem to study the aesthetic of the chaotic ...
Jul 24, 2024•36 min•Season 2Ep. 8
We talk to ADAMA GAYE, former ECOWAS director of communications, and journalist and Chatham House consulting fellow, PAUL MELLY about the West African bloc’s future as Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali form their own breakaway group. Adama tells us the 15 member ECOWAS is facing a ‘death threat’ because of the loss of three of its founding countries. Senegal’s new president BASSIROU DIOMAYE FAYE is given the job of trying to woo them back to the clan. Has he been given a fool’s errand? Zimbabwe’s bes...
Jul 10, 2024•48 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Battered by drought and flooding, laid low by more than 30 years of civil war, as SOMALIA prepares to accede to a seat on the UN Security Council and joins the East African Community, we ask a senior member of the Prime Minister’s Office could the hostilities between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa over Somaliland descend into all -out war? Plus, why are so many Somali baby girls being named Istanbul? ABDIHAKIM AINTE, Director of Climate Change and Food Security talks to Africa Here and Now. MALAWI’s ...
Jun 26, 2024•48 min•Season 2Ep. 6
In South Africa the race is on to find a government of national unity. Parliament must sit by June 16 to elect a new president. Will the ANC appease the markets and investors by joining with the DA and risk widening the rifts in its ranks? Or will it take the ‘Chernobyl option’ of joining with the leftists of Malema’s EFF and former president Zuma’s MK party? We get the views of lawyer, businessman and author OYAMA MBANDLA whose new book ‘The Soul of a Nation’ reflects on where the ANC has gone ...
Jun 12, 2024•40 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Chigozie talks with Donu about his new novel – The Road to The Country – a war novel which documents Nigeria’s Biafran civil war. In a frank exchange, he tells Donu this is the story he has always wanted to tell even though he was born almost two decades after the war ended. He tells us that it was so emotionally challenging to write this book, that he missed his deadline – it took much longer than he had anticipated. The Road to the Country is his third novel, both of his earlier books made Boo...
Jun 05, 2024•35 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Kenya’s PRESIDENT WILLIAM RUTO gets the red-carpet treatment in Washington DC. Why has he become the first African leader IN MORE THAN FIFTEEN YEARS to receive the privilege of a state visit to the US? We’re in conversation with Nigerian investigative journalist, DAVID HUNDEYIN about why he fled his country fearing for his life and (CAN LOSE about) the lamentable state of journalism on the continent. David’s new book, Breaking Point, is published by Abibiman. Africa is already the continent with...
May 29, 2024•48 min•Season 2Ep. 3
