Africa Renewal - Volume 31, Issue 3, 2018

At Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Angela Koranteng was an accomplished student with a special dream. At a time when few women were breaking the gender barrier in maledominated studies, Ms. Koranteng had her heart set on health sciences—but instead of treating patients, she wanted to be an engineer and build hospitals.

Nelson Mandela, shortly after becoming the first democratically elected president of South Africa, spoke to both his countrymen and women—indeed, for Africans everywhere— when he declared, “We must work together to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity and power in our society.”

From “Africa Reeling” to “Africa Rising,” there’s a new narrative for the African continent, now showing promising signs of sustainable growth under more stable governments.

At the dawn of independence, incoming African leaders were quick to prioritize education on their development agendas. Attaining universal primary education, they maintained, would help postindependence Africa lift itself out of abject poverty.

When a woman rises to the top rung of the traditionally all-male corporate ladder in Africa, it’s front-page news because women’s progress in business leadership on the continent continues to be achingly slow.

“If you wish to move mountains tomorrow, you must start by lifting stones today”—so goes an African proverb, crystallising the solutions to the continent’s socioeconomic inequalities.

Internet penetration is creeping up in Africa, bringing the prospect of digital dividends to a continent long marked by digital divides.

Called mitumba (bundles) in Kenya, obroni wawu (dead white men’s clothes) in Ghana and salaula (select by rummaging) in Zambia, imported used clothing is frequently blamed for the low level of domestic apparel manufacturing in Africa.

Ibrahim Mayaki is the chief executive officer of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Agency (NEPAD), the implementation organ of the African Union that mobilises resources and coordinates the development of projects on the continent. In the margins of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly, Dr. Mayaki, a former prime minister of Niger, sat down for an interview with Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor on the latest socioeconomic developments on the continent. These are excerpts.

Reporting back from a trip to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), United Nations deputy secretary- general Amina Mohammed expressed deep disappointment that women were significantly marginalized in critical peacebuilding efforts in the two populous countries.

Would an Africa in which Africans require no visas to travel boost prospects for intracontinental trade? The African Union (AU) and many of the continent’s economic organisations think so and want it to be a reality by 2020. It is not an entirely original concept (the European Union already has a visa-free policy for its citizens), and many experts laud the AU’s position, at least in principle.

When Moses Swaray stepped onstage to sing “Amazing Grace” in the auditorium of the Unity Conference Centre in Monrovia, Liberia, the audience, including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, stood up to applaud; some wiped away tears.

Professor Richard Mulwa knows his way around scientifically modified seeds—also known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In his laboratory at Egerton University in Kenya, the professor, who has genetically modified grapes, is currently researching ways to curtail naturally occurring cyanide in cassava grown in the cooler temperatures of Kenya’s highlands.

Development experts and political leaders agree that Africa’s enormous agricultural potential, if tapped, can feed the continent and spur socio-economic growth.

Perhaps no major political or humanitarian disaster is as overlooked as the ongoing crisis in Libya. For example, although the New York Times in September 2017 published a total of seven articles mentioning Libya, only one of them touched on the violence ripping it apart. Even the Times’ gesture merely highlighted the latest permutation of the US government’s foreign military decisions.