Africa Daily

In South Africa, the Republic of Congo, Kenya and Benin the spanking of children at home and schools has been prohibited under the law. There are many African parents who see this kind of discipline as a necessary and traditional part of raising children. But there’s also a younger generation of African parents who say spanking left them traumatised, unable to speak up and unable to think independ...

Tropical Storm Freddy ripped through Mozambique and Malawi killing more than 200 people. Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has called the devastation from the storm a national tragedy. Whereas the storm hit both countries, Malawi and its commercial capital Blantyre have been worst affected. Residents there died in landslides as their homes crumbled into flood waters. So, why has the storm been s...

When Jonathan Paye-Layleh began reporting for the BBC in 1993, Liberia was in the middle of a civil war. Jonathan filed stories from the besieged capital Monrovia, and from areas held by insurgents. Over the following decades, he reported on peace talks, a second civil war and elections. The country has changed immeasurably in the past 30 years. Whereas Liberians still face their problems, the cou...

“The more money you have, the more of a man you are. The more power you have, physical strength, political power. It’s all about dominating. We need to change this narrative because that’s not what makes a man” In this episode, Mpho Lakaje visits three fathers across Johannesburg in an attempt to understand what it takes to be a solid father. He sits down with Tumelo Mpanza, who is raising his son...

“I have a home now. A second home. In the United States I didn’t feel like I had a home but I feel like Ghana is a safe place to live. They treat you like a human being over there.” At the beginning of this month, a special ceremony took place in Washington DC – when two of the last three remaining survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre - Viola Ford Fletcher, now 108, and her younger brother Hughes...

Africa’s biggest and most respected film festival - the biannual FESPACO recently took place in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou. Films from across the continent were screened and there was strong competition for the festival’s top prize- the coveted Golden Stallion of Yennenga. Burkina Faso has been dealing with a decade long insurgency and around 40% of the country is no longer controlled by t...

On Thursday, a draft law was tabled in the Ugandan parliament which would criminalise anyone identifying as LGBTQ+. If passed the law could mean ten years in jail for people who say they are gay. The bill also threatens landlords who rent premises to gay people with a prison sentence. It is the latest sign of rising homophobia in a country where homosexual acts are already illegal. So, what would...

On the 5th of February this year, the who’s who of the global music industry gathered at a venue in Los Angeles, for the 65th Grammy Awards ceremony. Among those in attendance were three South African musicians, Wouter Kellerman, Nomcebo Zikode and Zakes Banwtini. They were nominated in the Best Global Music Performance category, along with several other artists. Surprise! Surprise! Their song, Ba...

The internet is becoming a more important part of life. Not only are people using it to communicate and search for information, but also to earn money. But not everyone is online. More than 2.7 billion people around the world are without regular internet access. In most countries – and here on the continent – women are making less use of the internet than men. There are many reasons behind this, f...

Countless reports by the United Nations, Amnesty International and human rights groups have detailed allegations of inhumane conditions inside Egypt’s prison cells. The government refutes the claims, saying they’re politically motivated and based on fake accounts. But it’s also refused to give numbers for the amount of people locked up. It’s now opened some new ‘correctional and rehabilitation com...

Think of the Seychelles and what springs to mind? White sandy beaches, coral reefs, 5 star resorts, nature reserves? What you probably don’t think of is heroin ghettos; shattered lives; mothers burying their sons. 10% of the Seychellois population uses heroin - the highest per capita usage in the world. So what’s being done – and will the government’s ‘War on Drugs’ help or harm? Akwasi Sarpong sp...

The head of Nigeria’s electoral commission, Mahmood Yakubu, declared Bola Tinubu the winner of the presidential election this week. It’s been an election fraught with problems. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said technical glitches meant the electronic voting system, used for the first time at national level, delivered results slower than expected. And now the losing candidat...

In early February this year Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, gave a speech against illegal immigration, in which he said black Africans were threatening the social balance and culture of Tunisia. Whatever the intent, it resulted in a surge in racist attacks and abuse, with dark skinned Africans no longer feeling safe in the north African country. Mpho Lakaje hears from one of those now living in f...

The footballer – who died in Turkey’s earthquake – was a supporter and regular visitor

All over the world, as life expectancy increases and people grow older, more people will have to deal with cancer. The good news is that treatment has improved and over the last 40 years global survival rates have improved dramatically. But what about when people don’t have access to medical care or preventative screening because of shortages of experts or facilities? Last year Kenya’s National Ca...

In January prominent human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko was shot dead in front of his family at their home in Eswatini. He was a fierce critic of King Mswati III and had travelled worldwide to advocate for democracy in his country. Shortly after his brutal killing, rumours began spreading that he was murdered allegedly by King Mswati’s regime. But Eswatini’s authorities have told Africa Daily, the...

“The country has spent so much training us – and yet we are still wallowing in joblessness right now.” According to the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council, only around 1,000 out of the 5,000 medical students who’ve graduated in the past five years have found jobs as doctors. And yet the World Health Organisation says Kenya has a shortage of medics – and needs more if it’s to deliver...

There are just a few more days to go until millions of voters in Nigeria have their say on who they want to be their next president. The field of presidential candidates is crowded and dominated by men. Despite women representing half of the population, the number of women being elected to political office in Nigeria remains low. Women represent around 5% of federal lawmakers and a woman has never...

Nigerians are heading to the polls on Saturday and security is a priority issue for many people. The incoming government will be faced with varying security challenges in different parts of the country. And violent attacks have increased in many places over the past decade. But one attack last year – on the Catholic Church in Owo – shook the country. More than fifty people were killed in the previ...

According to the World Bank 4 in 10 Nigerians live below the national poverty line. Skyrocketing food and energy prices over the past 12 months have made life for many there much harder. So with the Nigerian presidential and parliamentary elections just days away, Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja decided to visit a food bank in Lagos to look at how the most vulnerable are being helped to feed themselve...

It’s the start of a big week in Nigeria. On Saturday people go to the polls in presidential and parliamentary elections. Alan is in Lagos to find out how young people are feeling ahead of the votes. Are they looking for change? And what are the big issues motivating them to make their voices heard? #AfricaDaily

In nine days polls open for Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections. It’s one of the most hotly contested elections in years and the stakes are high. One of Nigeria’s most important demographics is young people. The country has the largest number of young people anywhere in the world- over 60% of Nigerians are under the age of 30. But do young Nigerians fell they have the power to chang...

Rearing cattle is a way of life for many people across the continent. And for almost as long as people have farmed cattle, there have been cattle rustlers. But as the available weaponry has increased in recent years, they have become increasingly deadly. In Kenya, more than 100 people have been killed by bandits in the past six months. The government has now launched a joint military and police op...

On first weekend of February this year, there were violent clashes in the town of Shashamene in Ethiopia. It was due to a division in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. But how could a doctrinal argument in one of the oldest Christian churches in the world lead to bloodshed? The answers lie somewhere in the long history of church and state relations in Ethiopia, and in the rise of ethnic nationalism....

Last week, the Pope visited South Sudan alongside leaders of other Christian denominations. He told leaders there that they could not remain neutral and told bishops that they must raise their voices against the abuse of power. Thousands lined streets to see him and many of the people who made the long journey, said the Pope’s presence could lead to change. But South Sudan has faced decades of con...