Africanist Press Podcast Service

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 CPJ's Mohamed Abdelfattah'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 with journalist Sam Husseni, 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 have not been made public to Sierra Leoneans. In this episode, we examine the proposed privatization of Sherbro Island and its planned transformation into a “Casino Republic” in Sierra Leone. We highlight the legal and political implications of the proposed takeover of Sherbro Island by multinational corporations. This episode is part of the Voice of Exile series of the Africanist Press.

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 similarly received over US$400 million in DFC debt financing for a corruptly awarded energy project in Freetown. The contract relating to the Western Area Power Generation Project was never advertised or put on a public tender, and was secretly awarded to Milele Energy executives by Julius Maada Bio following deal arrangements and negotiations brokered in Lebanon, Nairobi, Dubai, and Freetown between 2021 and 2023. In this episode, we ask what are the implications of the Adani Group indictment for Milele Energy's corrupt acquisition of Sierra Leone's Western Area Power Generation Project? Also, what is the relationship between the Adani Group corruption case and our ongoing efforts to scrutinize corrupt acquisition of critical infrastructure and service related contracts by US financed corporations in Sierra Leone, including Milele Energy and the Summa Group? Thus, we point out the need to investigate DFC's operation in Sierra Leone from 2021 to present. This episode is part of the Voice from Exile series of the Africanist Press.

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, expansion of four teacher training colleges, and development of 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 to address access to housing and land for poor communities, was corruptly used to reward political party organizers and members, depriving the actual beneficiaries for whom the program was allegedly designed. We conclude by examining how finance companies used a Ponzi Scheme investment operation to capture Jamaica's political elites and media. Here, we use the Olint Scandal of the mid-2000s, and the extradition of Christopher "Dudus" Coke to illustrate the extent of state and media capture in Jamaica. This episode is based on material produced by Jamaica's National Integrity Action (NIA), a non-profit organization established in December 2011 to address corruption in Jamaica from a non-partisan perspective.

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 participated in planning the assassination of Samora Machel.  Material for this episode was adapted from the 2011 Journeyman Pictures documentary, “Was Samora Machel Assassinated by a Conspiracy?” 

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 to the US Congress.  Several months ahead of Freetown launching ceremony, DFC executives and US Embassy staff in Sierra Leone have been repeating that up to $412 million in loans and risk insurance have been approved by the US government to provide finance and risk insurance for the project. Two foreign companies, Milele Energy and TCQ Power Limited are listed as co-sponsors and joint recipients of the $412 million loan (including $120m in risk insurance) for the construction of the said electricity infrastructure project. TCQ Power's controversial presence and involvement in Sierra Leone's energy sector dates to the early 2010s, but Milele Energy is a newcomer, arriving in Sierra Leone after the election of Julius Maada Bio in 2018.  In public communication documents, the DFC and the US Embassy in Sierra Leone present Milele Energy as an independent Kenyan-based power generation company, failing to reveal complete details of the company's profile and real ownership; details that are required to enable public scrutiny of Milele Energy's track record and whether it has a proven capacity to deliver on its contractual responsibilities. Corporate records reviewed by Africanist Press shows that Milele Energy's corporate shareholders include Gemcorp Fund (GP) Limited, a company registered in George Town, Cayman Islands, holding the majority 80% shares in Milele Energy; Verkanda LLC registered in Delaware, US, also holding 10% shares in Milele Energy; JWI III LLC also registered in Delaware, US, holding 5% shares in Milele Energy; and Empower Africa Consulting Limited registered in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, holding 5% shares in Milele Energy. There is no record of any competitive bidding and public tender process that Milele Energy and DFC went through to take over the Western Area Power Generation Project. Worse, Sierra Leoneans are also unaware of the loan conditions, including the interest rates attached to DFC's development finance loans. DFC is yet to disclose the process used to issue the $412 million debt to the US owned company Milele Energy for the alleged purpose of building an electricity infrastructure in Sierra Leone.  In this episode, we examine Milele Energy's corporate ownership and the DFC's takeover of the Western Area Power Generation Project.  We ask whether the DFC's operations in Sierra Leone complies with the provisions of the US BUILD Act of 2018? We also highlighted the need for oversight agencies of the US government (Congress and Senate Foreign Affairs Committee) to institute an independent investigation to help determine how Milele Energy and DFC took over the Western Area Power Generation Project, and the role played by the United States Embassy in Freetown in these corporate developments in Sierra Leone. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

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, Asia, and the Americas? What roles have the United States Embassy and British High Commission in Freetown played in these corporate developments in Sierra Leone in the last 15 years? Most importantly, what is the relationship between Milele Energy's corporate network and Julius Maada Bio and other Sierra Leone Peoples Party politicians? And did Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) play a role in these dubious corporate arrangements, and what benefits did the ACC derive from the DFC and Milele's corporate operations in Sierra Leone? This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

Launched in early December 2023, the Africanist Press Podcast aims to give voice to African communities through the production of weekly audio broadcasts that analyzes ongoing events in Africa as part of an effort to contribute to better understanding of key developments in the region. In the first six months since its launch, the Africanist Press Podcast produced over 30 episodes covering various issues ranging from electoral and political corruption in Sierra Leone, the impact of economic sanctions in Zimbabwe, to the black experience in Britain, and the history of African liberation in the United States and Africa. With support from Northwestern University's Program of African Studies (PAS), Africanist Press Podcast has reached listeners in over 70 countries across the world. In this episode, we provide an overview of the various issues covered by the Africanist Press Podcast in the last six months. We also offer our appreciation to our growing global community of supporters and listeners for their dedicated commitment to our work.

In this episode, we continue to examine the privatization of Sierra Leone's National Power Authority (NPA) in 2011 and the history of the Western Area Power Generation Project. We discuss details of transactions between various agencies of the Sierra Leone government and multinational corporations like Blue Flare Power Ltd (BVI), TCQ Power Ltd, Copperbelt Energy Corporation Africa (CECA Sierra Leone) Ltd, and Milele Energy. We point out the involvement of the World Bank Group, and other development agencies in these transaction, and we begin to highlight the role of Lebanon as an operational conduit for these corporate transactions. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

In this episode, we examine the role of the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) in Sierra Leone's electricity corruption, showing how the DFC inherited a corrupt electricity contract from British financed corporations, and how US international investment is now financing corruption and deepening underdevelopment in Sierra Leone.    This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.  

In 2011, Sierra Leone politicians enacted a new electricity legislation that created two parallel institutions, the Electricity Generation and Transmission Company (EGTC) and the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) to replace the state-owned National Power Authority (NPA). Since 1982, NPA oversaw electricity supply in Sierra Leone, including the fixing of consumer tariffs. In 2016, international financial institutions ranked Sierra Leone 178 out of 189 countries with lowest electricity access. Development agencies stated that weak oversight of the electricity sector was responsible for the poor ranking, and they suggested that dismantling NPA and privatizing electricity supply would enhance electricity transmission and distribution capacity in the country. However, the dismantling of NPA and the privatization of electricity supply in Sierra Leone has not resolved the country's perennial electricity crisis but has further worsened access to electricity and fueled corruption.  In this episode, we reveal how local politicians, international financial institutions, and British and United States financed multinational corporations created a transnational project that exploited the dismantling of NPA and the privatization of electricity supply in Sierra Leone to corruptly enrich elites and corporations, whilst imposing fictitious foreign debts on the country. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

Sierra Leone's Energy Minister, Kanja Sesay announced on Friday that he is resigning from the Maada Bio regime because of the alleged failure to pay outstanding debts owed to the Turkish Karpowership contracted to sell electricity to Freetown residents. Kanja Sesay's resignation was later followed by Maada Bio's announcement that the energy ministry has now been placed under his direct supervision as president. These dramatic developments came after the Africanist Press Podcast revealed how political leaders of the All Peoples Congress (APC) and Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) use shell companies registered and operating out of British Virgin Islands, Mauritius, Zambia, Lebanon, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and Kenya to impose fictitious debts on Sierra Leone using the promise of providing reliable electricity that is still unavailable to citizens. In this episode, we examine the reported "resignation" of Kanja Sesay, pointing out its relationship to the organized corporate corruption associated with the Western Area Power Generation Project, and how Ernest Bai Koroma and Julius Maada Bio, acting on behalf British companies and American corporations, are responsible for over US$500 million in manufactured electricity debts arising from the Western Area Power Generation Project between 2013 and 2023. Thus, we highlight that Kanja Sesay's "resignation" is part of an organized effort of SLPP and APC politicians to cover-up one of the biggest corruption scandals in Sierra Leone's energy sector involving leading politicians and international financial institutions. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

The privatization program in postwar Sierra Leone was supposedly advanced by international financial institutions – the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank – as a multi-sectoral development strategy aimed at reducing poverty and corruption, and improving economic growth and quality of governance and service delivery in the small West African country.   Since 2005, this World Bank and IMF supported privatization agenda has been called different names by successive regimes in Sierra Leone. Inaugurated by Tejan Kabbah as a "poverty reduction strategy", it was renamed “agenda for change and prosperity” by Ernest Koroma, and now rebranded as a “new direction and medium-term development plan” by Julius Maada Bio. However, its unfulfilled promise remained the same and included the supply of reliable electricity, the creation of value-added agricultural productivity, developing a national transportation network, and sustainable human development through efficient social service delivery. Twenty years later, this IMF/World Bank privatization agenda in Sierra Leone has produced, and still produces, the reverse of its pronounced objectives. Today in Sierra Leone, more than 90% of the population live in absolute poverty, with expenditures below US$1 a day, according to the IMF. With rising youth unemployment, high infant and maternal mortality rates, poor growth performance, lack of income and access to basic social services, and excessive debt overhangs, the country's development prospects still remain grim. Consequently, instead of advancing economic growth and reducing poverty, Sierra Leone's privatization program has heightened political corruption and led to intensified multinational exploitation. At the heart of this development nightmare is the hidden competition between British financed corporations and United States-backed companies for control of non-transparent service-related contracts and corruptly awarded critical infrastructure projects. In this episode, we discuss how the British Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) and the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) used shell companies registered and operating out of British Virgin Islands, Mauritius, Zambia, Lebanon, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Kenya, and elsewhere to impose manufactured debts on Sierra Leone between 2013 and 2023 with the promise of providing reliable electricity that is still unavailable to Sierra Leonean citizens. We highlight how Ernest Bai Koroma and Julius Maada Bio enabled these corrupt energy agreements in the last 15 years, and how various energy and finance ministers of both the All Peoples Congress (APC) and Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) served as agents for British financed companies and United States-backed corporations in the corrupt use of the privatization program to facilitate state corruption and multinational exploitation. Thus, we use the ruthless competition between the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) and United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) over the multimillion dollars non-transparent Western Area Power Generation Project loan agreements involving Blue Flare (BVI), TCQ Power Ltd, CEC Africa Investments Ltd (CECA), Milele Energy, the World Bank, African Development Bank, and other financial institutions to further illustrate how the privatization of social service delivery in Sierra Leone is corruptly enriching multinational companies and the local political elites, while increasing the sovereign debt crisis and worsening living standards for regular citizens. Hence, the current political and economic crisis in Sierra Leone, including the rigged June 2023 elections, skyrocketing taxes, and ongoing human rights violations, are directly linked to the unscrupulous competition between British companies and American financed corporations to exploit Sierra Leone's privatization of social service delivery. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

In previous episodes, we mentioned  how the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) issued more than US$500 million in debts between 2019 and 2023 to the Maada Bio regime through unscrutinized and non-transparent infrastructure and service related contracts awarded to shell companies registered and operating out of Lebanon, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Kenya, and elsewhere. These non-transparent loan agreements include US$150 million to the Summa Group for the expansion of the Freetown airport, US$217 million to Milele Energy and TCQ Power for the supply of electricity to Freetown residents, and a US$100 million to Africell for mobile telecommunication services. These US-funded debts, in addition to about US$172.1 million extended credit facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also issued in the last five years, have worsened Sierra Leone's sovereign debt crisis. In this episode, we assess how these non-transparent foreign debts and corruptly awarded international contracts lead to higher taxes and youth unemployment, and how the national debt burden undermines economic prosperity and contributes to drug abuse and worsening standards of living for regular citizens in Sierra Leone.  We also continue to highlight the role of Ernest Bai Koroma and Julius Maada Bio in these corrupt corporate agreements, and how the All Peoples Congress (APC) and Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) serve as proxies for British financed companies and United States-backed corporations exploiting Sierra Leone.  This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

Walter Rodney was a historian, political activist, and academic. Born in 1942 in Georgetown Guyana, Rodney's research focused on slavery and colonial imperialism in Africa and the Caribbean. His notable works include How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, first published in 1972. Rodney was assassinated in Georgetown, his home city, in 1980 at the age of 38.  In this episode, we produced Walter Rodney's lecture on “Crisis in the Periphery: Africa and the Caribbean.”

In this episode, we discuss how hidden competition between British financed corporations and United States-backed companies for control of non-transparent service-related contracts and corruptly awarded critical infrastructure projects in Sierra Leone have worsened the country's foreign debt crisis. We examine the risks such developments pose to democracy and real economic propserity in the small west African nation. We highlight how Ernest Bai Koroma and Julius Maada Bio enabled these corrupt corporate agreements in the last 15 years, and how the All Peoples Congress (APC) and Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) function as political proxies of British financed companies and United States-backed corporations exploiting the country. One such example includes the unscrupulous struggle between the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) and United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) over the multi-million dollars non-transparent Western Area Power Generation Project loan agreements involving Blue Flare (BVI), TCQ Power Ltd, CEC Africa Investments Ltd (CECA), Milele Energy, the Bank World Group, and other financial institutions. The same example applies to the Lungi airport loan arrangement with Summa Group, and the DFC's investment loan pumped into Africell. We point out that the current political and economic crisis in Sierra Leone, including the rigged June 2023 elections and skyrocketing taxes, are directly linked to the unscrupulous competition between British companies and American financed corporations operating in the country. Thus, the United States and Britain, as leading partners of the SLPP and APC political leaders, must ensure that their current political and economic engagements in Sierra Leone include the protection of the lives and freedoms of all Sierra Leoneans. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press. 

Carlos Cardoso was assassinated in the Mozambican capital of Maputo in late November 2000 while investigating the theft of US$14 million from the Commercial Bank of Mozambique (BCM). Born in 1951 to a family of Portuguese exiles, Carlos Cardoso supported Mozambique's armed struggle for independence from Portugal, but as the years went by he became increasingly critical of FRELIMO government policies that mostly benefited wealthy businessmen and leading politicians. Eventually, Cardoso questioned the sudden wealth of FRELIMO government officials, charging that the size of Mozambique's legal economy (around US$4 billion at the time in a country of 19 million people) could not account for Maputo's banking and real estate boom. His investigative reports covered money laundering, drug trafficking, and other illegal financial activities of Maputo's political and business elites. This episode looks at the life and work of Carlos Cardoso, arguably considered by many as "Africa's most creative and fearless investigative journalist." The episode is part of the Africanist Press African History Series that aims to feature voices, institutions, and individuals engaged in the story of Africa's past and present development.

Between July 2021 and June 2023, United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) approved over US$360 million in debts to supposedly finance critical infrastructure projects in Sierra Leone. The debts include US$150 million to the Summa Group for expansion of the Lungi international airport, and US$217 Million loan to Milele Energy and TCQ Power Limited; also to allegedly finance an electricity project in Freetown.  These critical infrastructure projects were awarded to the Summa Group, and Milele Energy and TCQ Power, without public knowledge, and without full compliance with Sierra Leone's transparency laws and procurement regulations. Worse, majority of Sierra Leoneans are still unaware of the terms and conditions of these debt financing arrangements, including the interest rates attached to the loans. For one, the agreements granted exclusive proprietary rights over Sierra Leone's strategic assets (the international airport, and the Kissy Terminal/Oil Refinery) to US and European financed corporations for 20-years.  Additionally, in September 2022, Sierra Leone's Parliament unanimously revised the country's 1960 Arbitration Law and passed a new Arbitration Act that mostly protects the proprietary rights of foreign companies and multinational corporations who secured recent mining concessions, and non-scrutinized and non-transparent debt-financing projects. In this episode, we examine the impacts of non-transparent debt-financing arrangements on Sierra Leone's democracy and electoral politics. We ask: why the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) approved nearly US$400 million in loans to supposedly fund critical infrastructure projects in Sierra Leone after the country's auditor general had been unconstitutionally sacked? In general, how was Summa Group awarded the airport expansion contract? What is the history of Milele Energy and TCQ Power Limited in Sierra Leone? Why has Sierra Leone continuously experienced lack of electricity despite these huge multinational debts imposed on the country in the name of energy and electricity supply? What are the individual roles of Sierra Leone's two recent presidents, Ernest Bai Koroma and Maada Bio, in these secretive multinational debt deals? Most importantly, how did secretive multinational debts affect the democratic conduct of elections in June 2023?  Above all, is it possible to have free, fair, and transparent elections in any African country overloaded with enormous non-transparent debts? This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.     

Robert Franklin Williams was a black American civil rights leader who served as president of the Monroe, North Carolina chapter of the NAACP in the 1950s and early 1960s. Williams advocated armed self-defense against racism decades before the black power and black nationalist movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s made it a central message of their activism. Rob Williams lived in exile in Cuba for five years, during which he wrote Negroes with Guns in 1962; the book that formed the basis of a documentary on Williams and the Black Power movement. This episode reproduces the very documentary released in 2005 by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Independent Lens. The episode is part of the Africanist Press African History Series that aims to feature voices, institutions, and individuals engaged in the story of Africa's past and present development. 

In October 2023, international organizations and foreign diplomats stationed in Sierra Leone organized a meeting in Freetown to negotiate a political settlement to the electoral crisis without first investigating the disputed elections and the accompanying human rights violations. Held at the Bintumani Hotel in Freetown, the meeting developed an agreement that authorized politicians of the All Peoples Congress (APC) and Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) to take over the institutions of government without the publication and verification of the disputed elections result. Resolution 3 of the "Hotel Agreement" created a "Tripartite Committee" that only included foreign diplomats, and SLPP and APC politicians, to supposedly "undertake an elections system review" even without the necessary legal authority to carry out such an exercise. In this episode, we highlight how the "Tripartite Committee" represents the joint effort of local politicians and international organizations to consolidate the SLPP and APC's political hegemony in Sierra Leone, and also safeguard the politics of rotational governance that characterizes the country's political history since 1961.   This episode uses the composition of the "Tripartite Committee" to demonstrate how foreign diplomats and SLPP/APC politicians have excluded the majority of Sierra Leone's political parties and civil society voices in their joint efforts to consolidate and protect the two-party hegemony at the expense of real democracy in the country. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

In July and August 2023, the United States government announced visa restrictions on officials who undermined democracy in Sierra Leone and called for an investigation into the conduct of the elections and accompanying human rights violations. The move followed the disputed June 2023 general elections, which international and domestic elections observer groups described as "undemocratic and non-transparent." However, in October 2023, the United States Embassy in Sierra Leone issued several statements that endorsed a "Hotel Agreement" between the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and All Peoples Congress (APC), allowing politicians of the two parties to enter into a power-sharing arrangement without first investigating the conduct of the June 2023 elections. In this episode, we review the position of the British government, showing that process that led to the October 2023 "Hotel Agreement" started with the SLPP/APC meeting held at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.   In early May 2023, Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland first met with leaders of the SLPP and APC in London to discuss the "Sierra Leone elections and the values of the Commonwealth." And on 25 May 2023, the Commonwealth Secretariat midwife the signing of a pre-election "Peace Pledge" in Freetown that committed all candidates and political parties to respect democratic election rules. Nonetheless, Sierra Leone's public elections laws and the Commonwealth's pre-election "Peace Pledge" were both violated. In spite of these violations, in August 2023, the Commonwealth Secretariat offered to negotiate a political settlement to the electoral crisis without first investigating the disputed elections and its human rights violations. Consequently, this Commonwealth proposed negotiation, eventually held in October 2023 at the Bintumani Hotel in Freetown, only included leaders of the SLPP and APC. Other political parties that signed the Commonwealth's Pre-Election Peace Pledge, and participated in the elections, were all excluded from the post-elections negotiation that led to the SLPP/APC Hotel Agreement, which foreign diplomats wrongly called "an agreement for national unity." Thus, in this episode, we use the Commonwealth's inconsistent and questionable approach to the political crisis in Sierra Leone to further illustrate the quandary that foreign diplomats and embassies face today in that small West African country. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

Jamaican born Marcus Garvey was a prominent political leader, journalist, and public orator. A leading proponent in the African liberation movement, Garvey founded and led the largest mass movement of black people in the early twentieth century advocating for African liberation and unification. This episode looks at the life and legacy of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the organization he founded. Content for this episode is also adapted from a documentary produced by the Institute of the Black World (IBW21). This episode is part of the African History Series of the Africanist Press featuring voices, individuals, and institutions engaged in shaping the study of Africa's past and present developments.

Jamaican born Marcus Garvey was a prominent political leader, journalist, and public orator. A leading proponent in the African liberation movement, Garvey founded and led the largest mass movement of black people in the early twentieth century advocating for African liberation and unification. This episode looks at the life and legacy of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the organization he founded. Content for this second episode is adapted from a documentary produced by the Institute of the Black World (IBW21). The third part of this episode will be released later this week. This episode is part of the African History Series of the Africanist Press featuring voices, individuals, and institutions engaged in shaping the study of Africa's past and present developments.

In late August 2023, the United States announced a visa restriction policy against individuals who undermined the democratic process in the June 2023 Sierra Leone elections. This visa restrictions policy followed an earlier United States government statement issued on 14 July 2023 demanding "an independent, outside investigation of the elections process" and integration of "observer recommendations to improve the electoral modalities for future elections" in Sierra Leone. Thus, in the July and August 2023 statements, the United States government expressed unambiguous concerns over "irregularities in the election results announced by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL)." State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller particularly noted that "independent parallel vote tabulations and analyses by accredited national and international observation missions raise questions about the integrity of the official results," and that United States was "disturbed by the reports of intimidation – including death threats – against domestic and international observers, civil society organizations, and ECSL personnel." Yet in October 2023, the United States Embassy in Sierra Leone issued several statements welcoming and endorsing the "Hotel Agreement" between the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and All Peoples Congress (APC) that has allowed politicians of the two parties to enter into a power-sharing arrangement without first addressing the illegalities and irregularities surrounding the June 2023 elections. And in January 2024, the United States announced a US$1.5 million grant to fund an "SLPP/APC Elections Review Committee" also without first investigating the conduct of the June 2023 elections, including human rights violations during the elections. Worse, this internationally backed process excludes the majority of political parties (more than 10 political parties) that contested the June 2023 elections, and it equally fails to consult the majority of civil society voices within and outside the country. In this episode, we highlight how this exclusionary approach to civic engagement in Sierra Leone does not advance democracy in the country. We also use the contradictory position(s) of the United States to illustrate the diplomatic dilemma now facing foreign embassies stationed in Sierra Leone. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

Jamaican born Marcus Garvey was a prominent political leader, journalist, and public orator. A leading proponent in the African liberation movement, Garvey founded and led the largest mass movement of black people in the early twentieth century advocating for African liberation and unification. This episode looks at the life and legacy of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the organization he founded. Content for this episode is adapted from a documentary produced by the Institute of the Black World (IBW21). The second and third parts of this episode will be released later this week. This episode is part of the African History Series of the Africanist Press featuring voices, individuals, and institutions engaged in shaping the study of Africa's past and present developments.

In the previous two episodes of this series, we highlighted how the Sierra Leone elections of June 2023 did not follow the stipulated legal and constitutional procedures for the conduct of presidential, parliamentary, and local council elections. We specifically pointed out that Sierra Leone's Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Konneh did not wait for districts and regions to complete their vote counting and tallying process before announcing alleged winners of the June 2023 presidential, parliamentary, and local governmentelections. Thus, we laid out the legal and political implications of the SLPP and APC's power-sharing agreement that has unprecedentedly inaugurated a President, Members of Parliament, and Local Council representatives in Sierra Leone without a properly conducted election. In this episode, we further examine the continuous violation of Sierra Leone's 1991 Constitution and the Public Elections Act 2022 through the composition of an illegal SLPP/APC Tripartite Committee, now funded by international agencies, to "undertake an elections system review" even without the necessary legal authority to carry out such an exercise. We also underlined the fact that the international community's decision to fund the SLPP/APC's Tripartite Committee does not advance democracy and national cohesion in Sierra Leone. Rather, it is a decision that excludes the majority of political parties (more than 10 political parties) that participated and contested the June 2023 elections. In particular, we highlighted that the exclusionary approach in constituting the supposed "election review committee" is enough reasons why the United States, and other foreign governments, need to rethink their current approach to the political crisis in Sierra Leone if they are serious about supporting real democracy in Sierra Leone. This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.