THINKING CRITICALLY: Reflecting on Africa Day, Pan-Africanism

Last Sunday, that is, May 25, Africa marked 51 years since the founding of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU), which later transformed itself to the African Union (AU).

Monday was Saint Patrick’s Day, what the Irish call Lá Fhéile Pádraig, “the Day of the Festival of Patrick”.

The long awaited so-called mini cabinet reshuffle has at long last been announced and one is left at a loss as to what the whole hullabaloo was all about.

I recently met a 10-year old girl -- Nyambura Kagwanja -- from Kenya at an inter-generational dialogue on Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance. Nyambura was very clear of what she wants to be in future -- president of Kenya, nothing less. She told me she is qualified, educated, loyal to her country and most importantly passionate about Africa.

Three weeks ago, on February 5, Tanzanians with social democratic sensibilities marked, quietly in the privacy of their souls, the 44th anniversary of the birth of Tanzania’s socialist blueprint, the monumental Arusha Declaration.

>Parliament is currently in its budget sitting and it is sad watching the conduct of the majority of its members.

Leading Jamaican contemporary author Erna Brodber will join South African filmmaker Xoliswa Sithole, and Tanzanian activist Richard Mabala on what is being billed as a difficult and constructive dialogue on xenophobia in the African diaspora.

Taking place during the Zanzibar International Film Festival, the dialogue is timely given the recent violent attacks in South Africa and the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court ruling, adversely affecting Haitian descendants.

‘Pan Africanism has left...

>There is an unfolding political saga in Dodoma as Tanzania’s historic Constituent Assembly (CA) gets down to business.

Baada ya kumalizika kwa michuano ya ligi ya mkoa wa Dar es salaam na timu za FFU na Zakhem kumaliza katika nafasi ya kwanza kwenye makundi yao,kesho 20/03/2015 utapigwa mchezo mmoja wa kusaka nafasi ya kuungana na mabingwa hao kushiriki michuano ya ligi ya mikoa.Mchezo huo wa mtoano utakaopigwa katika uwanja wa Mizinga Kigamboni,utazikutanisha timu za Pan Africa dhidi ya Changanyikeni ambazo zimemaliza katika nafasi ya pili kwenye makundi yao.Kwa mujibu wa kamati ya mashindano ya chama cha...