Comment & analysis

A French reporter (Ursula Gauthier) has recently been expelled from China for her criticism of the policies pursued by China in Xin Jiang, a vast region of deserts and mountains in the north of the country occupied by several ethnic minorities.

In the small absolute monarchy of Swaziland, where two thirds of Swaziland’s population survives on less than a dollar a day, a lengthy drought has caused an extreme lack of water, subsequent falling crop yields and the death of thousands of cattle in the rural areas.

When the news first flipped past my ears, as I lay half-awake in the early hours of the morning, I couldn't take it in.

“Ghana” mentioned in the same breath as “Guantanamo”? How possible?

Interesting news out of Tehran! The other day Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani called for unity within the Muslim community with the ultimate aim of laundering the negative image Muslims have created for their religion through needless bickering.

The recent violent confrontation between soldiers and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) should not come as a surprise to anyone who understands the Nigerian state. It was bound to happen.

Your Excellency, 2015 was a bad year for Kenya. All the pillars of our nationhood were tested and most were found wanting. Some collapsed, some were seriously weakened, while others were desecrated beyond repair.

In 1837 Hans Christian Andersen wrote the fairy tale of an emperor who in his vanity only cared about clothes. Two weavers promised him to tailor the finest outfit from a fabric invisible to anyone who is stupid or unfit for his/her position.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has been in power without let for 35 years, going on to 36 years in April 2016. My theory or hypothesis is that he has been in power that long because of the original sin of the first generation leaders.

At that moment when we profess erudition and utmost comprehension, our ignorance and mental darkness becomes vividly obvious. Of that which we should know we have neglected, and of that which we claim to know we know nothing of.

The meeting was to have taken place between King Mswati III, who has ruled Swaziland almost single-handedly for 30 years, and the so-called G15 group, made up of representatives from Swaziland’s civil society, trade unions and political parties SWADEPA, PUDEMO, Sibahle Sinje and the NNLC.