The Conversation Her Ladyship Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo took office as the 15th ,chief justice of Ghana on 12 June 2023. She is the third woman to occupy the position, which is the fourth highest in the country after the president, vice-president and speaker of parliament. Ghana’s judiciary is made up of the supreme court, the court of appeal, high court and magistrate (district) court. The chief justice is at the top of the judicial hierarchy and serves as administrator and supervisor. The supreme court has power, as the highest court, to interpret Ghana’s constitution and has final authority…
Author: Agency
The Conversation Kiswahili originated in east Africa, spreading around the continent and the globe. It’s been adopted as a working language at the African Union and there’s a push for it to become Africa’s lingua franca or common language. Morgan J. Robinson is a historian of east Africa with a research focus on language who has published a book on Kiswahili called A Language for the World. We asked her how today’s accepted standard version of Kiswahili came into being. Kiswahili is spoken across eastern and central Africa. Mother-tongue speakers are found mainly along the coast, but Kiswahili is spoken as a second or third language…
The Kenya government has suspended its plans to reopen Kenya-Somalia border points following a surge in terrorist attacks in the Northern region. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki announced the delay during a visit to the Dagahaley and Ifo 2 Refugee camps in Garissa’s Dadaab camp on Wednesday this week. The CS said that the government will only consider reopening the borders once they have effectively addressed the issue of cross-border crimes and terrorism that has plagued the area. He pointed out that despite the setback, both governments remain committed to reopening the border to improve cross-border trade and co-operation. “We…
The Conversation The African continent currently leads the world in the number of women chief justices and presidents of constitutional courts. Several countries across the continent have almost equal numbers of women and men at the bar. Some countries, such as Cape Verde, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia and Sierra Leone, have had women as presidents of the bar association or law society. In the legal academy, some countries have recorded success with women as deans of law faculties and heads of departments. And across the continent, the number of women called to the bar is increasing each year. Still, challenges remain, narrowing the opportunity…
By The Conversation The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) joined the East African Community in 2022. This will offer the country, which has immense natural wealth, a huge market in neighbouring countries and direct access to new roads, railways and ports – and therefore potential global trade. But as east African road and rail networks expand and transportation costs fall, the DRC’s eastern forests will become more vulnerable to surging demand by regional and global markets. This could threaten one of the world’s richest biodiversity areas. The DRC’s eastern forests are one of the last remaining intact tracts of rainforest on the planet, second only to the Amazon. They…
Choosing the right lawyer is critical to any personal injury claim. Here is how you can learn all you can about them. If you’ve been injured because of another person’s negligence, you have probably considered filing a personal injury claim. The first step is talking to a lawyer who can review your case before initiating the claim process. It’s essential to have an idea of what critical questions to ask while you’re in the process of hiring a personal injury lawyer. Here are some to consider: 1. What is your specialty? There are various practice areas in personal injury law. While…
By The Conversation A new European law that imposes the first ever carbon border tax in the world comes into force in October 2023. It will be applied gradually over the next three years before it is fully implemented. A carbon tax is a type of levy imposed on greenhouse gas emissions. It is meant to encourage companies to adopt clean methods of production. But firms could get around the tax by moving production units outside the EU to countries with less strict terms, such as those in Africa, and then exporting products back to the EU. That’s why the EU has…
By The Conversation Pastoralists are livestock keepers who are frequently on the move, sometimes across huge distances. Following mobile lifestyles and living far from centres of power, they are often inaccurately dismissed as backward and in need of modernisation. Many policies are directed at transforming mobile pastoralists into settled agriculturalists or urban dwellers. This aims at recasting them into the dominant image of “civilised” living. And, despite their positive contributions to livelihoods, economies and the environment, the world’s many millions of pastoralists have been vilified as contributors to climate change and destroyers of the environment. I am a social scientist with a background in ecology. Over more than 30 years I…
The Conversation The brief rebellion led against the Kremlin by the head of the Wagner mercenary forces in Russia last week sent shock waves across the world. This was no less true in Africa, where some countries have, over the last decade, turned to the Wagner group for security support. Many states in Africa are contending with multidimensional insecurity. This includes violent extremism, terrorism, insurgency, banditry, communal clashes, sea piracy, separatist violence, kidnapping and oil theft. Non-state actors have entered the scene as security providers. As a coordinator of observations of organised crime in central Africa at the Institute for Security Studies based in Dakar,…
By The Conversation The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project on the Nile River started operating in February 2022. It reinforced tensions between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. The three countries rely most heavily on the Nile’s water. Sudan and Egypt consider the US$4.6 billion dam a threat to vital water supplies. Ethiopia sees it as essential for its development. This is just one example of how conflicts can arise between states that share river basins. And there’s a real risk that such conflicts will become more common as global temperatures rise. Hundreds of rivers are shared between two or more countries. Sharing waters can…
