Africa Daily

Bobi Wine says to be an opposition politician in Uganda is to be labelled and treated as a terrorist. He’s been beaten, teargassed, arrested and shot at. So why does he want he want to be a presidential candidate in elections scheduled to take place in 2026? He was in London recently and came to our studio to talk to Africa Daily’s Victoria Uwonkunda about why he wants to change Uganda, corruption and his online spat with the chief of the country’s armed forces. We also hear from Ugandan government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo.

“Right now we’re receiving hundreds of patients and victims from ZamZam camp. You can hear the sounds of children… they do not belong to any military.”Today marks two years since war first broke out in Sudan, and in the second of two podcasts on the state of the war, we turn our attention to Darfur.Over the last few days, attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on the Zamzam camp, near the city of El Fasher in North Darfur, have intensified, and the RSF say they have taken control. Over 700,000 people already displaced by the fighting have been taking shelter there. The UN says more than 100 civilians have died in these attacks - including at least 20 children. The aid group Relief International, said its entire staff of 9 hospital employees - including the head doctor – were shot dead by paramilitaries after they broke into the main camp.In today’s pod we hear from a member of the Masalit community of El Geneina which faced similar attacks earlier in the war.

The Sudanese capital, Khartoum, April 15th 2023. Families who’d gathered to celebrate Eid together woke up to gunfire and explosions as a power struggle erupted between two factions of the military led government. There were clashes at the presidential palace, at the airport and at the TV station. Both sides hoped for a quick win, but it quickly became a war of attrition, and in the two years since, the Sudanese people have suffered sexual violence, hunger, displacement and the loss of everything they hold dear. The UNHCR says nearly 13 million people have been displaced by the conflict.In the first of a series of two podcasts to mark the anniversary, Mpho Lakaje talks to Sudan’s former deputy intelligence chief, analyst Dr Majak D’Agoot, and asks if we are now in a stalemate, and what the aims of the two sides are.

“We want to change the narrative, so we as Africans can stop being portrayed only as the poacher, the ranger, the guide, or are people who sing for you when you jump off your safari vehicle. From the presenters to the camera teams to the scientific experts, Africa’s wildlife stories have been mainly told by western documentary teams from large international broadcasters like the BBC and Netflix. However this is starting to change, as African filmmakers are gaining the skills and expertise to make nature documentaries from an African perspective. Alan Kasujja speaks to a South African couple who have been spear-heading this change, Pragna and Noel Kok, and also a marine scientist from Tanzania, Nancy Iraba, about her journey into filmmaking.

“We’ve heard that there’s a possibility that our firms might shut down. This has to do with what Mr Trump said. Should it happen, it will be devastating to us because there isn’t much work in Lesotho. We rely on these firms" - Mamonts'eng LephalloAccording to White House figures, in 2024 the United States exported just $2.8 million worth of goods to Lesotho.The southern African country on the other hand sent products worth nearly $240 million to President Donald Trump's country.They include diamonds and clothing. But now, Lesotho has been slapped with a whopping 50% tariff on goods entering the US. With factory workers and others extremely concerned about possible job losses, Lesotho is now sending a high level government delegation to the United States. Presenter: Mpho Lakaje Guests: Mamonts’eng Lephallo, Marapelang Khabele and Marafaele Mohloboli

The ownership of land is central to our food production, our financial security, and our sense of identity.But in Africa most women do not inherit or own land, despite laws that often provide for their right to do so. Alan Kasujja finds out what is stopping women from inheriting land with the help of Esther Mwaura-Muiru, the Global Advocacy Director for the ‘Stand For Her Land’ Campaign, and Bankolay Theodore Turay, a researcher on women’s land rights in Sierra Leone.

“What I’d like to see is when these girls go back into society, they don’t end up back in prison. It's about using football for positive social change. Football is more than just a game on the pitch and this is an example of that.” The “Football for Reform” programme kicked off in Sierra Leone last November, taking place over 8 days. Run by Caf – the Confederation of African Football – it involved female prisoners being taught football coaching skills. The hope with the project is for some of the women to find jobs in the field in the future. Alan Kasujja speaks with Isha Johansen, former President of the Sierra Leone FA and Mercy Tagoe Quarcoo, former Ghana national team women’s coach. He also hears the thoughts of two women prisoners.

“A lot of people in our communities don’t view them as pirates. I think they are defenders of the sea.”In 2011, Somali piracy peaked. Crews were attacked at gunpoint and many held as hostages for months. The World Bank says there were 243 incidents that year. After a crackdown involving international navies, attacks plummeted to almost zero.But since last year there’s been an uptick in incidents. Houthi attacks on shipping using the Suez Canal - in support of the Palestinians in Gaza – drew global attention, and firepower, away from the Somali coastline. And the root causes of the problem – poverty and lack of infrastructure for local fishing communities, and illegal fishing by foreign trawlers – were never addressed.So could piracy return to the levels of 15 years ago?Alan @kasujja speaks with a local fisherman from the affected town of Eyl, and to fisheries expert Abdirahman Mohamed.

“The question that I’ve been grappling with is, are we not punching above our weight as a country given the fact that we are not one of the biggest economies?” – Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast, Nelson Mandela University in South Africa Tensions between South Africa and the United States appear to be intensifying. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party, the African National Congress recently said, it won’t be dropping its genocide case against Israel to appease America. South Africa took Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s country to the International Court of Justice in 2024, arguing that it was committing genocide. This relates to the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. These developments come weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration took a hostile stance towards South Africa, including cutting off funding. In today’s episode, Alan Kasujja tries to understand how far South Africa is prepared to go for the cause of Palestine, amid America’s pressure.

“It has made nearly every person, every mother, to have their child contaminated, because the lead levels are so rampant,” says Cornelius Katiti, a father from Kabwe, Zambia, whose three children are affected by lead poisoning. For decades, the town has struggled with remediating 6.4 million tonnes of toxic lead waste left behind by a former mine. A Human Rights Watch report shows 95% of children in affected areas of Kabwe have dangerously high lead levels. Cornelius, along with many others in the community, is left asking: who is responsible for the clean-up? In today's episode, Alan Kasujja explores the ongoing environmental and health impacts of mining with Cornelius, an environmental chemist , and an environmental consultant.