Africa Straight Talk

For Father’s Day, Emmanuel Nado and Edwin Okong’o, the hosts of Africa Straight Talk, travel back in time to their African childhoods to compare their parenting skills and responsibilities to those of the powerful African fathers who raised them.

Of the 1.3 billion people in Africa, only about 7 million have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese-born billionaire, blames rich countries for hoarding vaccines. What if instead he redirected that $5 million prize he gives annually to African presidents for leaving office to areas like healthcare, where it’s desperately needed? In this … Continue reading Episode 62: Do Africans have the right to complain about Covid-19 vaccine hoarding?

We look at the implications of Cameroonian-born Prof. Achille Mbembe — one of the fiercest critics of France’s grip on Africa — accepting Emmanuel Macron’s invitation to organize the next France-Africa Summit. We also examine Nigeria’s ban of Twitter, after the American social media giant deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweets for threatening Biafra secessionists with … Continue reading Episode 61: African critic of France turns ally; Nigeria and Twitter at war

In this episode we look back at some of the most innovative entrepreneurs we’ve interviewed, and why they are struggling to get their brilliant ideas off the ground. Instead of assisting them, African governments continue to welcome dumping of plastics and other toxic materials that seem to make worse the problems these innovators are trying … Continue reading Episode 60: Why African governments accept dumping from abroad while ignoring local innovators

It seems like one of the most dangerous jobs in the world is Prime Minister of Ivory Coast. Two former occupants of the office have died in the past year, and the current one, Patrick Achi, was recently hospitalized in France. Thankfully, we have our very own Emmanuel Nado to explain what the hell is … Continue reading Episode 59: The curse of the Ivorian Prime Minister’s office

Word from the motherland is President Idriss Déby, Chad's ruler for the last 30 years, dies in the front line fighting rebels in the northern part of the country. Do we at Africa Straight Talk believe it? One thing we believe, though, is that Dr. Stephen Karanja, the infamous chairman of Kenya Catholic Doctors Association who swore in the name of the Virgin Mary that Covid-19 was a hoax, died of -- you guessed it ...

Sibongile Mongadi is South Africa’s visionary founder of Uku’hamba Prosthetics, a company that produces lightweight prostheses to improve the quality of the lives of amputees. Her vision of giving back the amputees their independence and confidence has earned her numerous awards.

Following the murder of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minn., Tom Gitaa of Mshale, the Minneapolis-based African community newspaper, joins us to discuss what it means for African immigrants like Mayor Mike Elliot, who have ventured into political leadership positions traditionally held by white people.

Byb Bibene has toured the world as a professional dance educator, choreographer, and cultural organizer. He is also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught at many other colleges, high schools, and arts institutions across the United States. Bibene is also an independent financial professional and strategist helping families, individuals, and students … Continue reading Episode 55: Meet Byb Bibene, the African jack of all trades

Whenever anyone in the west tries to express concern over the state of affairs in our continent, our leaders often begin chanting the "African solution for African problems" mantra. Now that President John Magufuli of Tanzania tried the African solution of prayers and failed miserably by dying of suspected of Covid-19, will our leaders start looking for real practical solutions?