Category Archives: Politics

A quiet morning

It’s one of the those mornings here in Lusaka, where you head out of the drive at the usual time, and within 5 minutes you notice that it all seems a little too quiet. It’s a sort of mid-week Sunday … Continue reading

Posted in Journalism, Politics | 4 Comments

Decolonising Ivory Coast

I was interested to see a reference to Ivory Coast in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s classic ‘Decolonising the Mind’ from 1986: Speaking of the racist literature of Haggard, Huxley et al: “In such a literature there were only two types of … Continue reading

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Jobs for the boys

If there’s a story that depresses me almost more than any other when I survey the Ivorian newspaper front pages, it’s the headlines from ruling party youth members that they’ve been “forgotten”. Youth employment is a tragic and major issue … Continue reading

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Ivory Coast – African country of the year 2015?

This post is both spurious and speculative, but if you had to select an ‘African country of the year’ in 2015, I would reckon Ivory Coast / Cote d’Ivoire must be in with a fighting chance. Not that I follow … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Politics, Sport | Leave a comment

Les malentendus

One of the key words that bring a wry smile for followers of Ivorian politics is ‘malentendu’. The fiercest political disagreement or falling out of yesterday is today simply excused as being all down to a mere ‘misunderstanding’. The word … Continue reading

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The first candidate

I couldn’t help being amused by reading about the first presidential candidate to drop off his papers at the electoral commission in Abidjan. It turned out to be a certain Eloi Bolou Gouali. No, I haven’t heard of him either. … Continue reading

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Reading the comments

Reading the comments section of anything online can be pretty depressing, no matter how high-brow the platform. Nevertheless, it was particularly disappointing to read the comments on this news article on an opposition rally in Yopougon yesterday. The news event itself … Continue reading

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Ivory Coast in the rankings

At the start of the Ouattara presidency, blogger Hotel Ivory said that the various global rankings would be a good way to measure the success or failure of the new government. So with the election now just four months off, how … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Politics | 2 Comments

Student life in Abidjan under Ouattara

Since I wrote last week’s post listing Ivorian blogs, I realised that much of the recent blogging action has been on RFI’s Mondoblog platform, which I’d more or less neglected. I’ve since discovered that that does now seem to be the … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Politics | Leave a comment

Electricity hikes

The announcement of an electricity bill increase last week by President Ouattara during a visit to Odienne in the far north-west quickly provoked a strong reaction on social media. Beyond the fact that no-one likes to see their utility bills … Continue reading

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