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Friday, 6 March 2015

FW: February Digest: Politics in Tanzania and Nigeria

New work on politics in Tanzania and Nigeria

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Africa Research Institute, the UK's only think-tank to focus exclusively on sub-Saharan Africa

Especially busy? Here are our top picks for this month:

 

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

While January's publications showcased economic research, our emphasis this month has been on politics.

As Tanzania's constitutional referendum approaches, our recently released Briefing Note traces the country's history of katiba reform.  A new interactive timeline illustrates the interwoven stories of constitution-building in postcolonial Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

The referendum is expected to take place in April. With a general election due to follow in October, this is an exceptionally important year for Tanzania. We are following developments closely and will be adding to our Tanzania blog series in coming weeks.

Elsewhere on the continent, elections are in full swing. Lesotho's February polls have resulted in the formation of a coalition government. You can follow commentary on all of Africa's major electoral developments using our 2015 elections resource page, which is continually updated. After a controversial six-week postponement, Nigeria is due to vote next.

Early in the month, ARI's Paul Adams discussed Nigeria's political future with the International Business Times. Paul will also be speaking at a major conference on Nigeria, hosted by our friends at Africa Confidential. We encourage you to take a look at the programme of what promises to be an extremely interesting event.

Looking at Nigeria from a different angle, ARI director Edward Paice's latest column in the Africa Report discussed Lagos's potential to mobilise revenue from property tax. A forthcoming blog post will also document researcher Jamie Hitchen's trip to Lagos and Edo State, where he investigated the herbal medicine industry.

Jamie writes our series on Ebola in Sierra Leone, which most recently explored irregularities in government spending. The next instalment will examine why the epidemic's social impacts fall disproportionately heavily on women.

Our Counterpoint "Africa Debt Rising" continues to attract attention and favourable comment, with Brookings referencing the paper in an article on sovereign bonds. Readers might also be interested in the work of our friends at IEA Ghana on budget discipline as a policy priority.

Best wishes,

Maya Prabhu
Communications and Research Associate, Africa Research Institute

 

Look out for our forthcoming publications:

  • Briefing Note: a new era for the African Development Bank
  • Policy Voice: herbal medicine in Nigeria
  • Counterpoint: land law in East Africa

 

 

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[AfricaRealities.com] Rwanda: Kizito Mihigo is a political prisoner

 

Rwanda: Kizito Mihigo is a political prisoner


By Sixbert Musangamfura
Secretary General
FDU - MN - INKUBIRI

Lyon, 05th March 2015

Our political organisation, FDU - National Movement - INKUBIRI has followed with concern the political trial of genocide survivors, namely the Rwandan musician artist Kizito Mihigo, the journalist Cassien Ntamuhanga, Jean Paul Dukuzumuremyi and student Agnes Niyibizi. On 27 February 2015, the Kigali High Court found three of them guilty of forming a criminal group and conspiracy to murder President Paul Kagame or other dignitaries. They were handed sentences of 10, 25 and 30 years in prison.

This kangaroo trial was initiated after the artist, a genocide survivor, revealed a very artistic and popular music-video entitled "Igisobanuro cy'urupfu", which translates "the meaning of death", advocating the non discrimination of our dead and the memory of victims of both genocide against Tutsi and crimes against humanity against Hutu. This song irritated deniers of crimes against humanity committed against Hutu population by some leaders of the ruling RPF.

The hefty sentences came in a spree of suspicious deaths of people in Rwanda: the mystery of dead bodies from Rwanda found floating in the Rweru lake in 2014  is still calling for investigations; Dr. Emmanuel Gasakure, from the University medical hospital and former personal doctor for President Paul Kagame was executed by a policeman in police custody on 25 February 2015; the prominent businessman Assinapol Rwigara lost his life in a suspicious tragic road accident on 05 February 2015, etc.

These extra-judicial killings and sentences that are obviously politically motivated are unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest terms.

FDU - National Movement - INKUBIRI expresses its keen sympathy for all political prisoners in Rwanda, for the families and victims of politically motivated assassinations and for all those suffering from the iron fist of the  current dictatorship.
 
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"Hate Cannot Drive Out Hate. Only Love Can Do That", Dr. Martin Luther King.

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The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.
The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
When the white man came we had the land and they had the bibles; now they have the land and we have the bibles.
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“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.”

“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

“When the white man came we had the land and they had the bibles; now they have the land and we have the bibles.”