Africa Daily

Social media platforms have given ordinary people a platform to share our ideas and opinions. If you have a large following, you can reach a huge audience on platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or you can exercise influence as part of an online campaign like #EndSARS or #AfricansinUkraine. But are we listening to people who don’t share our opinions? And can we find common ground with p...

Gender inequality is rife in many African countries, where women often do the vast majority of housework, childcare and look after entire families. But it doesn’t always have to be this way, at least not for some men in Burkina Faso. Men in the west African country are being offered the opportunity of attending what is known as “Husband Schools”. The aim is for men to learn how they can become bet...

The world’s attention has been focussed on Ukraine after President Putin ordered Russian troops to begin a large-scale military attack on its smaller neighbour. In Africa, the influence of Russia has been extending across the continent, leading to a range of opinions about Putin’s leadership, ambition and power. And while it might be many miles away, what’s happening in Ukraine has been a topic of...

In 2018, courts in South Africa ruled that personal use of marijuana was not illegal. The law allows households to keep small stashes of the drug under certain circumstances. People are also allowed to cultivate medical cannabis. And in the last couple of weeks, President Ramaphosa has announced that the production of cannabis will be industrialised. He said he wants South Africa to realise the hu...

Around 60 people were killed in an explosion at an informal gold mine in Burkina Faso on Monday. In recent years, gold has become Burkina Faso’s biggest export. Informal, artisan mining operations are becoming more common there and across the region. People in these mines aren’t employed by big mining companies. And there is often little regulation or oversight. So, can mining in west Africa be ma...

Fifty years ago, the British government forcibly evicted all the people living on the Chagos Islands to make way for a US military base. Now, as part of a campaign by Mauritius to highlight its claim to the islands, a small group have returned for a visit – erecting the Mauritian flag there. Also on the boat was the BBC’s Africa Correspondent, Andrew Harding, who helped us pick apart all the issue...

Burundi seems to be headed towards renewed relations with the international community. Earlier this month, the European Union lifted economic sanctions, following in the footsteps of the United States. The EU says its decision was inspired by what it described as “peaceful political processes”, that started with successful general elections in May 2020 which Evariste Ndayishimiye won following the...

There have been a number of high profile campaigns to encourage more girls to study STEM subjects – that’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. But what’s it actually like for women in Africa who choose these careers? Today’s Africa Daily follows Shillah Simiyu, an infectious disease researcher, as she visits the Nairobi Academy to tell the children there about her work. But she also...

In 2016, the government of President John Magufuli started to ban some newspapers. Over the coming months a number of daily and weekly newspapers disappeared from the newsstands. Questions were asked about whether journalists were being prevented from doing their jobs. And Tanzania slipped from to 124 out of 183 countries in the Press Freedom Index. But last week, the government of the new preside...

Swahili is one of Africa’s most spoken languages. In it’s heartland, it can be heard from Somalia down to Mozambique, and across to parts of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. But it’s now being taught at some schools in South Africa and Botswana. Universities in Ghana and Ethiopia are offering Swahili courses to their students. And the African Union has adopted it as the first official working...

It’s already a week since Senegal took the crown at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. The players, match officials and commentators, are now back with their local leagues. The Confederation of African Football is now preparing for the next tournament. But for Cameroon, there is still some work to be done. Millions was spent building new stadiums and infrastructure for Afcon. In other countrie...

A video of this episode, recorded for Africa Podcast Day, is available on the Africa Daily page of the BBC website. In August this year Kenyans will go to the polls in a general election. The vote will decide who is the next president and who will form the next government. But people will also be looking at how many women are elected. Kenya’s 2010 constitution states that at a third of public offi...

More than 70,000 women in Africa lose their lives to cervical cancer each year. Almost all the countries with the highest rates of the disease are on the continent. But a cervical cancer diagnosis doesn’t need to be a death sentence. It’s caused by a virus which, if caught early can be treated. And there’s also a vaccine that can prevent girls getting the virus in the first place. So, why are wome...

It’s more than a year since the first vaccine was administered and since then more than 10 billion doses have been given out around the world. But across Africa, only 11% of people have been vaccinated against Covid-19. In some countries – Mauritius, Morocco and Rwanda for example – that number is much higher. And Seychelles was leading the world in vaccinations at one point. But in other countrie...

There's no full episode of Africa Daily today while we work on something...a little bit different. Alan will be taking part in Africa Podcast Day on Saturday 12th February, which means we're recording an episode on camera for the very first time. You'll be able to watch it as part of the podcast festival and there will be a Q&A session with Alan shortly after. It will also be available on the...

WEB du Bois is considered by many to be one of the fathers of Pan-Africanism. A leading figure behind the Pan-African congresses that ran from 1919 onwards, he became a close friend of Ghana’s first President Kwame Nkrumah - eventually renouncing his US citizenship and becoming Ghanaian on Nkrumah's invitation. The president also gave him a house in the capital Accra and accorded him a state funer...

It was billed as a shoot-out between Sadio Mané and Mo Salah… and effectively that’s how it turned out. After extra-time it was still 0-0 and so another match went to a penalty shoot-out, and it was Mané who became the man of the moment, taking the final penalty to win the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for Senegal, depriving Salah’s Egypt of the trophy. Hosts Cameroon came third. Senegal claimed the...

“Put South Africa First” started as a movement of organisations who were against illegal immigration. It has since grown. The hashtag #PutSouthAfricanFirst has been trending in South Africa every day for months. There have also been marches, protests, social media campaigns in support. And pressure is also being put on companies to hire local citizens, even over totally legal immigrants. The movem...

More than 80 people were killed when Storm Ana struck Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi last week. In Malawi, floods flattened maize crops, destroyed buildings and washed away bridges. The tropical storm has impacted businesses, schools and agriculture. And the United Nation has said it shows the reality of the climate crisis. Another storm – Cyclone Batsirai – is threatening to affect many of the...

After three years, Rwanda has opened its busiest land border with Uganda again. The Gatuna-Katuna crossing was closed in 2019 when tensions increased between the two countries. Rwanda had accused Uganda of harassing its citizens and sheltering rebels they thought were trying overthrow its government. Kampala said Kigali had been trying to infiltrate its intelligence services with spies. The border...

Ghanaians have been given until the end of March to get new high-tech biometric identity cards. The government says the cards, which include the user’s finger print, photo and retinal scan, will improve government services, cut fraud and allow people to travel across different countries in Africa without a visa. But, as they’re also linked to sim cards, people are worried that if they can’t get on...

Last week, Malwi’s president – Lazarus Chakwera – fired his entire cabinet. He cited concerns about corruption and vowed to “confront all forms of lawless conduct in public office”. The words echo a pledge to tackle corruption he made when elected in 2020. President Chakwera has now appointed a new ministers…although some of them are familiar faces from the previous cabinet. So, is this a moment o...

On Monday night, eight people – including children - were killed in a crush at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon as fans massed around the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde – eager to see their team reach the quarter finals. Speaking at a press conference the following day, the president of the Confederation of African Football - or CAF - Patrice Motsepe, pledged that such an event must never be allow...

Taking your music everywhere has never been this easy. Music streaming is now a multi-billion dollar industry – and African start-ups want in on the action. After all, in a continent where most people are under 25, the potential for new subscribers seems huge. But can they make it? This episode was first released on 23 July 2021. Host: Alan Kasujja (@Kasujja on Twitter) Guests: Nana-Aisha Salaudee...

The military in Burkina Faso says it has overthrown President Roch Kaboré. They said he had failed to unite the nation. And that he hasn’t effectively dealt with a growing security crisis. Burkina Faso has been fighting militants linked to the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda. So, how have people there reacted to the coup? And what might be next for Burkina Faso? #AfricaDaily