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Saturday, May 2, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Active Citizens
ETHIOPIA: New Election Code Sparks Furore
Opposition parties are troubled by what they say is government’s strategy to keep them out of the general elections in May 2010.
CORRUPTION-SIERRA LEONE: President Challenged on Corruption
The country’s president has failed to meet his electoral commitment of running a transparent and accountable government, free of tribalism and regionalism, opposition parties say.
SIERRA LEONE: Mixed Reactions to Libel Laws Ruling
Journalists in Sierra Leone can still be arrested and jailed for writing material considered "libel" regardless if what they published is true or not.
Q&A: Punitive Laws Problematic For HIV Response – UNAIDS
The East African Community is currently developing a law to guide the region's response to HIV/AIDS. The move comes ahead of the commencement of the East Africa common market protocol.
EAST AFRICA: No Laws to Fight HIV Stigma in Schools
Although he was born with the virus, it was only 15 years after his birth that Robert* and his family discovered he was HIV-positive.
EAST AFRICA: Move Towards Common HIV/AIDS Law
All HIV-positive east Africans could soon access free anti-retroviral treatment even as they move freely from country to country, if a new proposed law comes into effect.ZAMBIA: Electoral Commission Accused of Bias
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) is once again under fire from opposition political parties and some civil society organisations, which accuse it of bias in favour of the ruling party during elections.CORRUPTION-UGANDA: Leaders’ Integrity Questioned
Seated at a u-shaped table is an assembly of middle-aged men and women clad in business suits, faces stern and expressionless. Refreshments - bottled water, sodas and giant flasks of tea - clutter the long table, competing for space with piles of documents.SOUTH SUDAN: Media Give Us a Fair Deal – Women
The guns have gone silent – except for sporadic conflict in parts of the vast South Sudan region, such as the Eastern Equatoria State. It may not be the absolute end of the conflict in the region, but it is a reason for renewed hope.
CORRUPTION-SIERRA LEONE: Song Sparks Governance Debate
Nothing has ever sparked a debate on the state of governance in the country like the song released by one of Sierra Leone’s most popular artists, Emerson Bockarie.POLITICS: Malawians Demand Local Councils
In Malawi, local government elections are as rare and endangered as the country’s black rhinoceros.SIERRA LEONE: Claims Presidency Interferes with Judiciary
It may be seven years after the country’s civil war, but Sierra Leone is still battling to obtain an independent judiciary.
ZAMBIA: Media Face Beatings and Attacks
When journalists were beaten by political supporters for covering the president’s return trip from abroad, and cabinet ministers and police officers looked on without stopping it, it seemed to be the last straw in the victimisation of the media. But it was not.
RIGHTS-UGANDA: “You Cannot Tell Me You Will Kill Me Because I’m Gay”
The Ugandan government will put to death gay citizens repeatedly caught having sex and throw into jail those who touch each other in a "gay" way, if a new proposed Bill becomes law.
AFRICA: We Are the Government
As if they were going to the races, Emma Musako and Monica Mhango showed up in their finest outfits to attend a meeting on the health, social and environmental impacts of uranium mining. They came because they, like the other attendees, no longer want to remain uninformed citizens.RIGHTS-MALAWI: Blame Game While Children Suffer
Every morning 12-year-old Thomson Genti and his seven-year-old brother, Chifundo, emerge dirty and wretched from the squalor of their hideout behind the crowded shops in the commercial town of Limbe. It is the start of a day of begging, beatings from the older street boys and insults from passers-by.
RIGHTS-UGANDA: Baganda Fight for Their Heritage
Specioza Nakabugo (63) sits on a mat under a mango tree on a well-mowed grass patch, her expression a blend of boredom and gloom.ZAMBIA: Give Us Our Constitution
Pressure is mounting for a new constitution that is inclusive of all citizens' views as the ongoing delays by the body granted to draft it still continues.RIGHTS-UGANDA: Colliding with the Fourth Estate
Charles Odobo Bichachi, editor of the Independent Newspaper has in a span of a year, been summoned to the police several times accused of publishing seditious statements. And just last month, Bichachi fell into trouble again: this time over a cartoon.
AFRICA: Lost in the Tracking of Budgets
As Susan Muonanji and other vendors scrambled around one of the many transport busses to sell cabbages and tomatoes at a market along one of Malawi’s key roads, a national budget session had just started in parliament some 100 kilometres away in the capital city, Lilongwe.
AFRICA: Counting on Media for Good Governance
While campaigning in the last election, Margaret Roka Mauwa, Member of the Malawian Parliament, did not promise her voters that when she won she would buy them coffins.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Active citizens are committed to social change because they know that it is achievable. Yet, for most Africans, a shift towards elected government in recent decades has yet to translate into an effective voice in decision-making. Now, the Strengthening Citizen Demand for Good Governance using evidence based approaches - funded by DFID's Governance and Transparency Fund - seeks to raise their voices. Through its partnership with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and CIVICUS,, IPS reporters across the continent will seek to define the extent and limits of state capability, government accountability and the responsiveness of leaders to the needs of citizens.
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