Africanist Press Podcast Service

In this special episode, Africanist Press editor-in-chief, Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, briefly reviews the Africanist Press Podcast since its launch in December 2023, announces the return of the weekly Voice From Exile audio series, and outlines plans to introduce a new investigative journalism project on Sierra Leone as the country prepares for the 2028 elections.

In this episode, we feature Masauko Chipembere discussing his music, his family’s role in the decolonization movement in Malawi, and how his parents’ exile shaped his current work in Africa and around the world.

This episode features a discussion with Bloom Afrique’s Toni Blackman and Kennedy Rance about how they use art and emerging technologies to mobilize Africa’s diaspora capital and foster entrepreneurship across the continent.

Arthur Pede Hollist is an award-winning Sierra Leonean writer and Professor of English at the University of Tampa. He teaches courses in African literature and creative writing. His publications include So the Path Does Not Die, which was named the 2014 African Literature Association Creative Book of the Year; “Foreign Aid,” which was shortlisted for the 2013 Caine Prize and published in A Memory This Size and Other Stories; and “The Tale of the Three Water Carriers,” which was longlisted for the 2015 Short Story Day competition and anthologized in Water: New Short Fiction From Africa. His research interests and scholarly publications encompass African trauma fiction, Afrodiasporic literatures, and Sierra Leonean literature. He was a 2017 Fulbright scholar and received the Louise Loy Hunter Award in 2014-2015.This episode features an interview with Professor Hollist, focusing on his writing inspirations, teaching philosophy, and perspectives on the future of the Sierra Leonean literary scene, informed by his…

The ART27 Group is a Gambian-based non-profit initiative that offers financial assistance for essential expenses such as materials, transportation, and exhibitions. ART27 was founded in December 2024 by Ferenc Donderer, an arts promoter and advocate, to support and advance contemporary visual artists in the Gambia. Originally from Cologne, Germany, Donderer has resided in the Gambia since 2016. He manages one of the largest art studios in Sanyang, where he produces his own artwork and provides residency opportunities for artists engaged in training, workshops, and exhibitions. With over 40 years of experience as a visual artist exhibiting in cities across Europe and the Americas, including Cologne, Berlin, Antwerp, Salvador de Bahia, New York, and the Canary Islands, Donderer aims to establish a lasting legacy for West African art through the construction of a modern art gallery in the Gambia. The proposed gallery is designed to serve as a dedicated venue for local and African artists to exhibit their work…

Politicians and policymakers in Africa are increasingly incorporating historical tourism into national development agendas. They are renewing efforts to make museums and archives central to preserving collective memory, fostering cultural identity, and promoting social cohesion, while also seeking to boost economic growth through heritage tourism. Yet, museums and heritage institutions in Africa face hurdles, including underfunding, inadequate climate control, and postcolonial identity crises. These challenges are compounded by urbanization, community disputes over ownership of artifacts, and the struggle to repatriate historical treasures from Europe and elsewhere. However, the main challenges limiting the growth and sustainability of African heritage institutions include reduced government funding, low visitor numbers, and a lack of both public and private patronage. In the Gambia, the National Center for Arts and Culture (NCAC) is leading efforts to advance the country’s history and cultural heritage as…

This episode examines the Aboudi Bookstore and its role in Egyptology, the scientific and academic study of ancient Egypt. Established in 1909 in Luxor by Egyptologist and tour guide Professor Mohamed El Aboudi and his cousin, businessman Hamed El Aboudi, the Aboudi Bookstore is now run by third-generation family owners Taher Aboudi and his siblings. For more than 100 years, it has remained central to Luxor's cultural life, promoted the scientific study of ancient Egypt, and housed the largest collection of literature on Egyptology. Its collection encompasses materials on archaeology, language, religion, art, and Egyptian history. We interview Taher Aboudi about the bookstore's development and its role in Egyptian history, tradition, and culture.

When Tanzania gained independence in 1961, Julius Nyerere saw publishing as a key part of decolonization and nation-building. In 1966, he founded the Tanzania Publishing House (TPH), putting state publishing at the center of building national identity and culture, and of bringing people together through language. Tanzania’s influence grew throughout the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, Dar es Salaam served as the headquarters for several Southern African liberation movements, such as FRELIMO, SWAPO, and the ANC. TPH was central in this era, publishing and distributing anti-imperialist works like Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Agostinho Neto's Sacred Hope, Samora Machel's Establishing People's Power to Serve the Masses, and Issa Shivji's Class Struggle in Tanzania. Integral to TPH’s influence during these years was Walter Bgoya, who served as managing director from 1972 to 1990 and played a major role in making TPH and Dar es Salaam a center for progressive intellectuals from around the…

In this episode, we spotlight the Writers Association of the Gambia and its efforts to build a vibrant literary community, featuring Dr. Cherno Omar Barry, the Association's President, who shares inspiring insights into how Gambian writers are boldly shaping the nation's literary and intellectual landscape. Osman Kargo conducted this interview in Banjul, Gambia. This episode is part of the Africanist Press New Democracy Series.

In this episode, we explore how national libraries drive African development. Drawing on insights from Bakary Sanyang, Director General of the Gambia National Library Service Authority, we examine the real challenges facing Africa's national libraries and highlight how Artificial Intelligence and innovative digital tools can transform their management and operations. Osman Kargbo conducted this interview in Banjul, Gambia.

In this podcast episode, we talk with Ousainou and Kathy Jagne, founders of Timbooktoo Bookstore in Banjul, Gambia. With 28 years of experience running an independent bookstore, they explain how bookstores shape communities and discuss ways to strengthen Africa’s reading culture. This episode of the Africanist Press New Democracy series uses Timbooktoo Bookstore as a case study to explore how bookstores and libraries support Africa’s nation-building. This interview was conducted by Osman Kargbo in Banjul, The Gambia.

In this episode, we feature a conversation with Laetitia Musheche, founder of BauHouse Arts Academy, on reimagining new technology in African classrooms and the need to build an all-African-centered curriculum for primary and secondary education across the continent. This episode is part of the Africanist Press's New Democracy Series.

In this episode, we focus on the Tripartite Agreement’s creation of a triangle of illegality, examining how it violated Sierra Leone’s Constitution and public election laws, and its ongoing threat to democracy and future elections. This episode is part of the Africanist Press's New Democracy Project series.

In this episode, we focus on why the Tripartite Agreement is regarded as illegal, specifically highlighting its legal and political implications. We also analyze how foreign organizations are actively working to uphold and strengthen the APC and SLPP’s ongoing practice of undemocratic power rotation in Sierra Leone. This episode is part of the Africanist Press New Democracy Project series.

In this episode, we expose how both the Maada Bio regime and its opposition allies undermine democracy in Sierra Leone by using deception, disinformation, and distraction to avoid accountability for social service failures. We show that these 3D tactics are not just tactics, but the driving force behind failed governance and a hallmark of illegitimate regimes. This episode is part of the Africanist Press's new democracy project.

In this episode, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah, editor of Africanist Press, discusses the ongoing political crisis in Sierra Leone, focusing on issues of accountability, extrajudicial killings, and the recent resignation of U.S. Ambassador Bryan David Hunt, whose involvement in local politics has raised concerns amongSierra Leoneans. The conversation also delves into the implications of foreign debts, particularly from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and the lack of progress on a promised power plant project in Freetown, raising questions about the use of development funds and the need for transparency and justice in Sierra Leone. This episode is part of our "New Democracy Project," sponsored by Northwestern University's Program of African Studies, Write4Justice and SolidarityForAfrica campaigns.

In this episode, we explore Sierra Leone's political landscape, focusing on the crisis marked by corruption, extrajudicial killings, and ongoing debt and development challenges since Maada Bio took office in 2018. We highlight the implications of these human rights violations for the 2028 elections and the future of democracy in the country.

In this episode, we discuss the increasing legitimacy crisis facing the Maada Bio regime in Sierra Leone. We examine the regime's agenda as it prepares for the upcoming 2028 elections. Additionally, we highlight why the 2028 elections pose a significant challenge to the political and elite alliances that have maintained power in Sierra Leone since 1961. This episode is part of the Voice from Exile series of the Africanist Press.

In this exclusive interview, Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah talks to journalists Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky of the Counter Point Show about "USAID Cuts and the Need to Rethink Future US-Africa Relations.” You can order the book, The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: Corporate Gangsters, Multinationals, and Rogue Politicians, here: https://www.amazon.com/Ebola-Outbreak-West-Africa-Multinationals/dp/0996973923

This episode presents RSF's Sadibou Marong's keynote address at the conference on “Media and Democracy in Africa” held from April 17-18, 2025 at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. The conference, which brought together journalists, academics, and press freedom advocates from Africa, Europe, and USA, was organized by Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah and sponsored by the Africa Initiative at Brown University.

This episode is a presentation by Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah during a two-day conference on "Media and Democracy in Africa" held from April 17-18, 2025 at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. The conference, which brought together journalists from Africa, Europe, and United States, was organized by Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah and sponsored by the Africa Initiative.

In this episode, Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah gives a report on free speech and academic freedom violations in Sierra Leone. The presentation, which highlighted the harassment and attacks on the Africanist Press by Sierra Leone politicians, is part of 2025 annual meeting of the Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS). To watch the full video of the proceedings, click here.

In mid-January, unidentified individuals broke into the offices of a human rights organization, Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme (NDH) in Yaoundé, Cameroon taking away essential documents and office equipment. The looted materials included laptops and desktop computers, hard drives, projectors, video cameras, and other data storage devices. In this exclusive interview, NDH's executive director, Cyrille Roland Bechon, highlights the dangers faced by human rights defenders in Cameroon. The interview is conducted by Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah.

In this episode, Evidence Chipadza discusses civil society and youth empowerment in Zimbabwe with Tafadzwa Makore and Leniel Gava. This episode is part of the Africanist Press community voices series.

Sierra Leonean politicians have created a new anti-terrorism law that contains unconstitutional provisions designed to curtail citizens’ fundamental civil rights. In this episode, we examine the law's implication for free speech and multiparty democracy in Sierra Leone. This episode is part of the Voice from Exile series.

In this episode, Evidence Chipadza and Hazel Dendere discuss young women and politics in Zimbabwe. This episode is part of our community voices series.

The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has called on members of Liberia’s House of Representatives to unite and end the ongoing parliamentary deadlock that has affected the country’s legislative activities since October 2024. In this episode, we talk to Tyson Smith Berry Jr. about the IPB’s petition and the need for unity and peace in the Liberian House of Representatives. To sign the IPB petition to the Liberian House of Representatives, click here.

In this episode, Yeukai Ottilia Munetsi talks to Didmus Dewa about climate change and adaptation in Zimbabwe. Didmus Dewa is a lecturer at the Open University of Zimbabwe. This episode is part of the Africanist Press Community Voices series.

In this episode, Cornelia Seliphiwe talks about the impact of party politics on social service delivery and human rights in Gweru, Zimbabwe's midlands province. This interview was conducted by Yeukai Ottilia Munetsi. This episode is part of our new African community voices series.

In this exclusive interview Africanist Press editor Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah discusses his investigation into West Africa's Ebola outbreak, and why there is still need for an independent investigation into the origin of the outbreak. Bah is the author of the book, The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: Corporate Gangsters, Multinationals, and Rogue Politicians. The book is available here on ⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Barnes & Noble.⁠⁠

In recent months, more voices have emerged demanding a fresh investigation into the origin of West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, one of the deadliest human catastrophes in recent history. In this episode, journalist Ryan Grim interviews Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah about his investigation that challenged the origin story of the outbreak. Dr. Bah’s book, The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: Corporate Gangsters, Multinationals, and Rogues Politicians, published in 2015 was the first indigenous account to question the credibility of the zoonotic theory on the origin of West Africa’s Ebola epidemic. Almost ten years after the publication of his book, more voices are now demanding an investigation into the outbreak. In this episode, Dr. Chernoh Bah discusses his investigation and ongoing threats he has faced in retaliation to his anti-corruption work in Sierra Leone. The book is available here on ⁠Amazon⁠ and ⁠Barnes & Noble.⁠

In this episode, we continue to examine the secret efforts of the Maada Bio regime to legalize abortion in Sierra Leone without public debate and public participation. We also highlight the role of individual politicians in the past and present regimes in these efforts to legalize abortion in the country without public debate and consultation.

In this episode, we continue to examine Maada Bio’s effort to smuggle through Parliament an Abortion Law without the knowledge and participation of Sierra Leonean women. We also examine the differences between Ernest Bai Koroma’s 2015 Abortion Bill and Maada Bio’s 2024 Secret Abortion Bill.

Politicians in Sierra Leone have secretly tabled an Abortion Bill in Parliament and are working to speedily pass it into law without public consultation and debate. The proposed law gives married women and girls the sole right to abort any pregnancy; and to decide whether they want to have a baby or not; and the number and spacing of babies. The abortion law also proposes monetary fines and 12 months imprisonment for dissenting husbands and anyone “discriminating” against the pregnancy decisions and reproductive choices of women and girls. In this special episode, we discuss the secret efforts of Sierra Leonean politicians to enact an Abortion Bill through Parliament without public consultation and public debate.

In this exclusive interview, Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah talks to Kelley Lane, editor of the Assange Countdown to Freedom Series, about his more than 20 years work to expose multinational exploitation in West Africa, and his ongoing campaign against political corruption and state orchestrated violence in Sierra Leone today. This special episode is part of the events marking the 22nd anniversary of the Africanist Press.

In this exclusive interview, Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah talks to Kelley Lane, editor of the Assange Countdown to Freedom Series, about his more than 20 years work to expose multinational exploitation in West Africa, and his ongoing campaign against political corruption and state orchestrated violence in Sierra Leone today. This special episode is part of the events marking the 22nd anniversary of the Africanist Press.

Sherbro Island is one of Sierra Leone’s most beautiful touristic landscape. In 2019, the Maada Bio regime signed an undisclosed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Sherbro Alliance Partners, a company incorporated in early June 2019 as a private limited company (#12040217) under the UK Companies Act 2006 by Idris Akuna Elba and Siaka Stevens, the grandson of Sierra Leone's first president. The non-disclosed agreement proposed to incorporate and establish Sherbro Island into an autonomous economic zone to be governed by a 7-person board of directors who will have sovereign powers to manage Sherbro Island as a distinct legal entity independent of Sierra Leone's financial and economic laws and regulations. The agreement also grants exclusive powers to the proposed authority to establish its own private security, air and sea transport arrangement, its gambling infrastructure, agriculture and health, and the ability to issue its own debt securities and financial markets. However, the details of this agreement…

Few days ago, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an indictment against executives of the Adani Group for orchestrating a massive bribery scheme to secure solar energy contracts worth billions of dollars in India. The indictment specifically states that, between July 2021 and February 2022, the Adanis and their associates promised bribes to Indian government officials to secure agreements with state-run electricity distribution companies, which in turn entered into power supply agreements with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The contracts were expected to generate profits of approximately US$2 billion over the next two decades, according to the petition. However, a year ago in November 2023, Adani (like Milele Energy in Sierra Leone) received US$553 million debt financing from the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to fund the Colombo Port Terminal in Sri Lanka, a project in which the Adani Group held 51% ownership. In Sierra Leone, Milele Energy…

How is United Sates foreign policy affecting democracy in Sierra Leone? What is the difference between electoral democracy and tripartite democracy? Is the United States Embassy in Sierra Leone supporting democracy or helping to consolidate an illegal regime? In this episode, we discuss Sierra Leone's electoral coup of June 2023, and the ongoing international effort, led by the United States Embassy in Freetown, to validate an illegal regime in Sierra Leone despite a fraudulently organized election. This episode is part of the Voice from Exile series of the Africanist Press.

Are there any parallels between the just concluded November 2024 United States elections and the June 2023 Sierra Leone elections? What lessons do the US elections offer to real democratic and genuine progressive forces in Sierra Leone? In this episode, we provide an analysis of the just concluded United States elections, pointing out the lessons and implications for Sierra Leone's democracy , and why the outcome of any democratic election is never decided by tripartite agreements. This episode is part of our ongoing Voice From Exile series of Africanist Press.

This episode spotlights the life and contributions of South African revolutionary leader, Stephen Bantu Biko to the Black Consciousness Movement and the struggle against Apartheid.

December 2024 will mark 22 years since the launch of the Africanist Press. The Africanist Press was established by journalists and academics in December 2002 as an independent media organization to defend free speech, expose corruption, and promote democracy and development in Africa. In 22 years, Africanist Press has grown into a robust media organization known internationally for its groundbreaking investigative journalism exposing corruption, human rights violations, and multinational exploitation. In this episode, editor-in-chief Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah discusses the enduring impact of the Africanist Press, and the planned expansion and official launch of a new Africanist Press multimedia initiative in December 2024 to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the organization.

This episode examines how World Bank's debts, and high interest rates, cripple African and Asian economies, deepening poverty and underdevelopment in the world's most impoverish countries. This episode is based on John Pilger's 1992 award-wining documentary, War by Other Means. This episode honors the life and work of John Pilger, who passed away in December 2023.

This episode examines how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank's structural adjustment policies affected Jamaica’s economic and political development from the early 1970s to the present. The IMF's loan conditions required Jamaica to implement a range of economic reforms that included trade liberalization, privatization, and deregulation of its market. This internationally regulated program resulted in Jamaica accumulating over US$4.6 billion in foreign debts. In a 2001 documentary, Stephanie Black examined the devastating impacts of the IMF’s structural adjustment program in Jamaica, featuring a wide range of voices that included former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, and several workers in Jamaica's Free Economic Zones established by US multinational corporations to exploit cheap labor in the Caribbean. Material for this episode was adapted from Stephanie Black's documentary, Life and Debt.

In this exclusive interview with KPFA, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah, editor of the Africanist Press, talks about the deteriorating democratic situation in Sierra Leone and West Africa, illicit economic flows in the Mano River region, and the threats and attacks orchestrated against the Africanist Press by government officials in Sierra Leone and allied groups. This exclusive interview was conducted by Walter Turner of KPFA's Africa Today program.

This episode examines three key events to illustrate how political corruption undermined Jamaica's development and fueled the country's debt crisis. First, we look at how a US$9.5 million World Bank loan issued in 1966 to supposedly finance the construction of 50 junior secondary schools, expand four teacher training colleges, and develop Jamaica's School of Agriculture, and the College of Arts, Science, and Technology was misappropriated by Jamaican politicians and international contractors. Next, we examine how Jamaica's 1994 "Operation Pride Program," a housing and land distribution initiative aimed to address access to housing and land for poor communities, was corruptly used to reward political party members and organizers, depriving the actual beneficiaries for whom the program was allegedly designed. We conclude by looking at how finance companies used a Ponzi scheme investment operation to capture Jamaica's political elites and media. We use the Olint Scandal of the mid-2000s, and the extradition of…

Samora Machel was the first President of Mozambique, serving from the country's independence in 1975 until his untimely death in 1986. A leading figure in the struggle for Mozambique’s independence from Portuguese colonial rule, Machel played a significant role in FRELIMO’s struggle for power in Mozambique. As president, he embarked on socialist reforms and efforts to modernize Mozambique. However, his tenure was marked by economic difficulty, owing mostly to external interventions from the neighboring apartheid regime in South Africa, and a devastating civil war fueled by a western-backed insurgency led by RENAMO. In 1986, Machel died in a mysterious plane crash in South Africa while returning to Mozambique from Zambia. Many accused South Africa’s apartheid government for the plane crash, although apartheid leaders continuously denied any involvement or knowledge of the fatal incident. This episode features an exclusive report and testimony of a former South African Special Forces operative who allegedly…

About a month ago, the United States International Development Finance Corporation’s (DFC) Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Nisha Biswal, attended a ceremony in Freetown to launch the “construction of an electricity infrastructure” in Freetown’s Kissy Dockyard, 4km east of the city center. US Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Bryan David Hunt and DFC executives described the launching ceremony as “a seminal development for Sierra Leone and an unprecedented one for the US government.” They stated that the proposed energy power plant is going to be the “largest increase in energy capacity in a single country of any prior DFC project.” DFC is a US-government run “development finance institution,” established in 2019 as part of the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act (BUILD) 2018, which combined the Development Credit Authority Agency with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, both formerly part of the US State Department Agency for International Development (USAID). DFC reports directly…

Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, described as the forgotten leader of the South African independence struggle, was an anti-apartheid revolutionary and founding president of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) of Azania (or South Africa). Sobukwe and the PAC considered themselves “Africanists,” believing that South Africa should be led by Black South Africans, who constitute the majority population. This episode looks at the life and work of Sobuke and the PAC. Material for this episode is adapted from the 2011 Journeyman Pictures documentary, Remember Sobukwe: South Africa's Forgotten Anti-Apartheid Hero. Africanist Press African History Series aims to feature voices, institutions, and individuals engaged in the story of Africa’s past and present development.

In this episode, we discuss the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)'s acquisition of the Western Area Power Generation Project and the role of the US-financed company, Milele Energy in Sierra Leone's corrupt energy sector. We ask, in particular, how Milele Energy Limited, and the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) took over the Western Area Power Generation Project and what are the legal and financial basis for the US$412 million debt financing they are imposing on Sierra Leone in the name of an electricity project whose viability remains highly questionable? In addition to the above, we also ask whether the DFC's takeover of the Western Area Power Generation Project in compliance with the provisions of the US Build Act of 2018? What do the registration details, corporate records, and shareholders arrangements of TCQ Power Limited, Milele Energy Limited, and Milele Topco Limited tell us about the company's profile and transnational operations in Africa, Europe,…