Africa Daily

Can you imagine life without plastic?

It’s cheap and convenient – but makes up an estimated 400 million tonnes of waste every year, of which only 10% is recycled.

It’s hoped ongoing negotiations could lead to an internationally legally binding treaty on ending plastic pollution by end of this year.

But calls for a reduction in the production of plastics is being strongly opposed by the plastics industry as well as oil and petrochemical exporting countries like Saudi Arabia. They insist the best solution to plastic waste is recycling.

The number of women studying STEM subjects in African universities - that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – has risen dramatically over the last five decades.

Alan Kasujja speaks to Professor Verdiana Grace Masanja, the first woman to gain a Maths Phd in Tanzania, and the first female Maths professor there. When she started she was the only woman in the room and throughout her life she has encouraged young women to seize the opportunities that she herself had to struggle for.

"I don't think the Somali government is interested in a fist fight with Ethiopia."

A diplomatic row broke out this week in response to a deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland allowing landlocked Ethiopia access to Somaliland’s coastline.

Somalia described the agreement as an act of "aggression". Both the African Union and US have issued statements saying Somalia’s sovereignty must be respected.

Somaliland said in a statement that in exchange for sea access, Ethiopia would "formally recognise" it.

But Ethiopia said that other countries had done deals with Somaliland in the past, and it had not "transgressed" any laws.

Confused? For today’s Africa Daily podcast Peter Musembi goes back to the basics – and hears about the background to this latest dispute.

Like many children in Africa, Masai Ujiri was obsessed with football as he was growing up.

But one day a new love struck him and he started what was to become a lifelong love affair with basketball.

He’s been a player, a scout, an agent and today he’s the president of the NBA side the Toronto Raptors, making him the first and only African-born president of a professional sports franchise in North America.

He’s also the founder of Giants of Africa: an organisation that aims to empower young African boys and girls through sport and basketball.

Alan caught up with Ujiri to talk about his journey and what drives him.

Presenter: Alan Kasujja

Peter Mutabazi is a Ugandan single dad who has fostered 38 children and adopted three of those kids. He lives in North Carolina in the US and these children come from different backgrounds and walks of life.

'The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability.’

2023 was full of big news, interesting personal stories and some disastrous events like floods and earthquakes in different parts of Africa. So, what does 2024 hold for countries across Africa?

Guests: Anne Soy, Mpho Lakaje and Thomas Naadi. Presenter: Alan Kasujja.

2023 has been an eventful year for Africa and it's that time of the year when Africa Daily reflects on some of the things that have happened.

There's so much to discuss from South Africa's Springboks winning the rugby world cup to the Nigerian elections, as well as some disastrous floods and earthquakes in different regions.

Guests: Anne Soy, Mpho Lakaje, Sally Nabil, and Thomas Naadi.

Letsile Tebogo is well on his way to becoming an African superstar.

He took the athletics world by storm when he became the first African and first man from Botswana to win a medal in the 100 metres. He won silver and ran with a race time of 9.88 seconds, making him the first man from Botswana to run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds.

And he’s only 20 years old.

His talent is a huge topic of conversation in the athletics world and the continent.

In today’s episode, we hear from the man himself on how he went from playing football to becoming fast on the track.

Buying affordable and safe medicines across Africa is often difficult. There are not enough pharmacies and the price of medicine is often too high for many people to afford.

If you do get hold of the medicine you need, then there is the question of whether you can trust it; shocking statistics from the United Nations show that close to 500,000 people in sub Saharan Africa die each year due to fake or substandard medicines.

So in this episode of Africa Daily we look at the journey of a packet of medicine from start to finish, to find out where the problems are, and how they can be solved.

Our two experts are Yusuff Adebayo Adebisi, Director of Research at Global Health Focus, and Chimwemwe Chamdimba, the Principal Policy Specialist at the African Union Development Agency.