This week we look at difficult political developments in Cameroon where Sunday’s election could tear the country apart even further. There are blogs about dissent in Rwanda, threats to freedom of expression in Africa and an eye-opening contribution about the medical poverty trap in Africa.
Rwandan Professor Publicly Stated That Rwandan Police kills People
Therwandan.com
Following some critical statements regarding the Rwandan government and particularly the national police, University of Rwanda Professor and columnist for the East African, Dr. Christopher Kayumba, stated categorially that the Rwandan police kill innocent people. With this and other claims he is accusing the Rwandan government of being a human rights abuser, although it is well known that one cannot criticize Paul Kagame’s government like this without dramatic consequences – particularly from inside Rwanda. Read some of the explosive claims he made on twitter in this piece.
Will the Election of 7 October mark the Division of Cameroon?
Africablogging.org
The so called “Anglophone Crisis”, which started two years ago in Cameroon, still continues to rage in the North-West and South-West regions and has developed to an armed conflict between the Cameroonian Armed Forces and the Ambazonian Defence Forces. Since elections are scheduled for Sunday 7 October it is now feared that the division of Cameroon will be finally decided. Following the arrest of certain activist protest leaders, multiple more or less independent and more radical small groups have been springing up and have begun to attack anything representing the Francophone authority in Ambazonian territory with extreme violence. The goal is to make the Anglophone regions of the country ungovernable as a sign that Francophone authority is no longer respected. The overarching question now concerns if the elections should even take place in these regions or if they should be postponed which could also be seen as a sort of victory for the secessionists.
AFRICA’S MEDICAL POVERTY TRAP: Why the continent is getting sicker and poorer
Theelephant.info
Addressing constantly evolving medical progresses as well as the access to these, this blog states that “corruption, waste and reliance on Western charity have conspired to leave Africa dealing with 25 per cent of the world’s diseases with under 1 per cent of global health resources”. According to the article, new technologies are only accessible to very few countries – generally speaking of the most industrialized ones – and cannot be used by poorer states to support the general population. “Treatment disparity between the richer Western countries and the poorest African regions becomes wider every day. Countless Africans keep falling into the so-called “poverty trap”, generating a vicious circle of deterioration where ill health, epidemics, and poverty interact and mutually reinforce each other”. Africa has to invest in health care if it wants to grow since “sickness means poverty; health brings growth and socio/economic well-being”.
Threats to Media Freedom in Africa: Some old Methods and some new
Theconversation.com
Several African countries such as Uganda, Benin and Tanzania aim to introduce tax decrees imposed on users of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp. The increasing role of social media results in the fact that they are becoming the new frontier for state clampdown on free speech as governments in Africa mostly exercise inordinate power over the media. The digital space now threatens the status quo since it is also used for social and political organisation and cannot be shut down by the government as easily as before with traditional media outlets, so new measures of control have to include taxes and legislation. “The measures seem intent on neutering dissent, and ultimately reclaiming control of communication platforms and practices”.