A couple of weeks ago, I visited Victoria Falls for the first time since I was a child. The largest waterfall in the world, at a width of 1, 708 meters, this popular tourist site has remained largely natural. On the Zimbabwean side, the national park entrance allows visitors to explore on their own, with a … Continue reading
Two and four year olds play games amongst themselves called, “lights off-lights on.” “Lights off-lights on” is a local term used to describe the situation when the electrical power goes off and on. Accordingly, while the children play a game that requires electricity, one will suddenly shout, “lights off!” Immediately, all of them will simultaneously shout, “Mahama-oo!” After a few minutes of inactivity, obviously due to the lack of power, another shouts, “lights on,” and they all begin to laugh and continue where they left. Even when individuals cannot sleep well at night, they exclaim, “Mahama-oo!” Continue reading
The following is an excerpt from my newly published book, Africa in Fragments. It is lifted from the book’s conclusion, where I analyze Africa’s future or futures in light of globalization, migration, and cosmopolitanism. African peoples, problems, and issues have shifted radically as trans-national human mobility has intensified in a globalizing world. The resulting cosmopolitanism … Continue reading
When the Akosombo dam was built to generate electricity for Ghana, the Ghanaian population at that time was under ten million, and some of the electricity was even sold to Burkina Faso for a profit. Now, approximately fifty years later, the Ghanaian population has almost tripled and the Ghanaian government is now purchasing gas from outside the nation’s borders. The Ghanaian government went to great lengths to provide electrical power to the entire nation for Ghana’s first 2014 FIFA World Cup match against the United States. Electricity in Ghana was rationed prior to the game, causing power shortages throughout the nation. This post examines the ways in which Ghana can overcome its energy problems with the resources it has. Continue reading
Somali remittances, which are sent through money transfer operations (MTOs), have been the subject of much scrutiny since 9/11. Members of the Somali diaspora rely on MTOs to send money (thought to total $1.2 billion a year) to their families and extended kin in Somalia, which, until recently, had no central monetary authority. These operations, in turn, rely on the banking facilities of large international banks. Yet MTOs have faced closures due to accusations they they serve as vehicles for laundering money and financing terrorism. Largely absent from debates over Somali remittance flows, however, is the issue of corruption within some of the world’s most powerful multinational banks and international financial institutions. Continue reading
The Africa Collective 