This week for Top of the Blogs we once again have political topics for you: We bid farewell to Kabila from Congo, who will not extend his term of office, much to the relief of the people there. We introduce you to a Chinese tech company that has found success by tailoring their products to the local needs of Africa. Finally, we consider the protests around Bobi Wine in Uganda - in very different ways.
Africablogging.org
Nobody expected it: Joseph Kabila will no longer rule the Congo from next year. It is a surprise, as blogger Nsenga Kola writes in his commentary. Kabila has been in power for 17 years, but after the elections on 23 December 2018 he will no longer be there, President Kabila announced publicly last weekend. By renouncing a third term of office, Kabila differs from some of his forerunners. Most of them have changed the constitution to remain in power after two terms in office. An excerpt from the blog entry shows how relieved the population is about Kabila's announcement: “Kabila will go, leaving a country on its knees. A country infested with armed groups and where the majority of the population has neither electricity nor running water. A country where unemployment is the rule and employment is the exception. A country sick with Ebola and cholera.”
qz.com
Transsion, a Chinese phone manufacturer in Addis Ababa, became the leading manufacturer of smartphones in Africa last year. The company is an example of how a local and regional focus can outperform world-leading companies. Some of the locally customized features include the development of smartphones with multiple SIM slots, as users have multiple numbers with different service providers to avoid inadequate network infrastructure or save money by avoiding calls outside the network. Other elements are a long battery life on a continent with the lowest electrification rate in the world and an anti-oil fingerprint that withstands the weather conditions. The telephones offer camera exposures that are calibrated for darker complexions and adapted to local languages such as Amharic and Swahili. They are also designed to receive FM radio stations.
Why Bobi Wine represents such a big threat to Museveni
Theconversation.com
Over the past two weeks, Uganda has been shaken by the consequences of the arrest of opposition MP Robert Kyagulanyi - better known as Afro-Beat-Pop superstar Bobi Wine. His arrest, together with other government opponents, led to violent street protests in the capital Kampala and other urban centres. The growing protests met with a strong response from the security services. The violence has sent dozens of people to hospital and at least two were killed. Journalists who wrote about the affair have been threatened. Bobi Wine was released on bail. This could put an end to recent events - for the time being. But Museveni's problems have only just begun and this blog explains what the young generation particularly has to do with it.
Africanarguments.org
This blog entry is also about the imprisoned and abused Bobi Wine, who has electrified social media users throughout East Africa. During the whole week, people in Kenya, Tanzania and even Burundi have followed events in Uganda and tweeted #FreeBobiWine. In fact, most of the hashtag traffic (51%) does not come from Uganda, but from Kenya. This may be partly due to Kenya's larger population and the newly introduced Social Media Tax in Uganda. But the real lesson from this phenomenon is to what extent people are using the new media to change the political reality of other countries. In various African countries, citizens show solidarity reminiscent of the independence and anti-apartheid struggles of previous generations. This is pan-Africanism for the digital age. In the blog you can read what parallels can be drawn with the past, what exactly the new pan-Africanism looks like and what special role digitization plays in this.
