July « 2015 « Afronline – The Voice Of Africa

Let’s Have Part Time Legislators

I recall a testy exchange in 2009 at the Westin Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island between a ranking member of the Nigerian House of Representatives and a US-based, Nigerian-born attorney. Both men were attending the inaugural edition of the Chinua Achebe Colloquium on Africa. During a break in the proceedings, this US-based attorney as well as two other Nigerians cornered the representative.

“How much do you make as salary in a year?” the lawyer asked with the kind of directions that Americans display when face-to-face with public officials.

The lawmaker was in no haste to divulge the information. Instead, he asked, “Why do you want to know?”

Government officials aiding human trafficking – report

Jul31

Kampala – Despite a ban on recruiting domestic workers for employment overseas, licensed and unlicensed agencies continue to recruit Ugandans for employment abroad, which has turned into trafficking, a new report indicates.

The 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report released on Tuesday by the US Department of State notes in some of these cases, there is complicity of government officials. This “official complicity hindered government oversight of labour recruitment agencies,” the report reads in part.

Africa’s Growing Population: An Untapped Dividend or Curse?

Jul30

Africa’s rapidly growing population presents a unique set of challenges as well as opportunities for the continent. If properly harnessed, the potential for economic development in the long term could be enormous.

While Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)’s population currently stands at approximately 856 million, the World Bank estimates that another half a billion people will be added to the continent by 2030. They further project that the continent will be home to two billion people by 2050, and that three out of every four persons added to the global population between now and 2100 will be in Africa.

In Germany, are some refugees more equal than others?

Jul30

Family gatherings can be a pleasant but occasionally dreadful experience. At one such dinner three weeks ago, my grandmother’s cousin complained to us about the, in her opinion, never-ending flow of refugees and asylum-seekers to Germany and, in particular, her local municipality. “It’s only a matter of time before these young men start raping our girls”, she declared shamelessly. “But, of course, I don’t mind Syrian families, they can stay here!”, she added apologetically. In Germany, this reveals a simple truth: all refugees are equal, but some refugees are more equal than others.

“Buhari Should Face His Own Responsibility” To Stop Human Rights Abuses In Military, US Senator Leahy Says

Jul30

A press release issued by Senator Leahy’s office last week claims that Nigeria’s “abusive conduct not only violates the laws of war, it creates fear and loathing among the Nigerian people whose support is necessary to defeat a terrorist group like Boko Haram.”

Following President Buhari’s official visit to the White House, US Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont released a strongly worded statement defending a human rights law he sponsored that blocks American aid to foreign military units with human rights violations, and called on President Buhari to “face up to his own responsibility to effectively counter Boko Haram.”