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Weighing economic, political ties and future relationships that could prove decisive for Africa COMMENT | HANNAH RYDER | Ask anyone with a basic knowledge of Africa which country is more poised for success – Zimbabwe or Kenya – and he or she will undoubtedly answer “Kenya.” Events of the last week …

Why inflation and monetary-policy adjustments by central banks might not impact its price COMMENT | JIM O’NEIL | Writing about oil prices is always risky. In a January 2015, I suggested that oil prices would not continue to fall, and even predicted that they would “finish the year higher than they …

COMMENT | By Amos Wekesa | Recently out of curiosity, my son asks me why I fly economy class when I travel with him, his brother and sister. I realized that children need a lot more explanation about why we do certain things. I tell my son, I make sure I don’t …

Six barriers that make it difficult for African states to use research for policy COMMENT | WILLEM FOURIE | African policymakers need access to high quality evidence to implement the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) successfully. The SDGs are arguably the most broad-ranging development goals to be ratified by United Nations member …

Unlocking economic growth by breaking through both cost and planning barriers of physical infrastructure COMMENT | FARHAD KHAN | The African Development Bank projects that Uganda’s GDP will grow from 5.1% in 2017 to 5.8% in 2018. Among other factors, the government has highlighted the role of information communications technology (ICT) as …

Not about profits and interests of multinational companies COMMENT | MICHAEL J SSALI | The recent article in The Independent magazine (October 31 2017) titled “Tears and Cheers over New GMO Law” left me, as a farmer and a science journalist, disappointed. It carried negative and misleading sentiments about agricultural biotechnology. …

According to new research, female leaders may be more likely to provoke military coups COMMENT | RAJ PERSAUD  &  PETER BRUGGEN | Recently, Zimbabwe’s generals took President Robert Mugabe into custody in an effective coup (though they insist on not calling it that). Days later, the country’s ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National …

Something disastrous is happening in FDC that people will only understand much later COMMENT | SSEMANDA ALLAWI | For a decade plus, Dr. Col. Kizza Besigye has been attacking and accusing president Museveni of being a dictator and a selfish individual. He has accused him of failing and using NRM as a …

Why don’t many policymakers recognise loss of healthy, robust, and diverse ecosystems as serious threat? COMMENT | ROBERT WATSON | With the United Nations’ climate change conference underway recently in Bonn, Germany, rising global temperatures were once again at the top of the world’s agenda. But why care about the increase …

Why changes in broadly shared economic assumptions are potentially riskier than more dramatic events COMMENT | CHRISTOPHER SMART | One of the great mysteries of today’s global markets is their irrepressible enthusiasm, even as the world around them appears on the verge of chaos or collapse. And yet, investors may be …