Friday, May 30, 2008

By Rejoice Ngwenya

In Zimbabwe, to expect a liberation war hero to actually PRODUCE food even with FREE inputs is asking for too much. The 21st Century agricultural new order is beyond their call - they wouldn't understand, trapped on isolated islands of utopic hallucinations.

Read on....

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

By Roger Bate

New field research shows that a third of anti-malaria drugs collected in six African cities fail at least one quality test--and aid agencies continue to fund untested substandard drugs: poor medicine for poor people.

The World Health Organisation suggests that one-fifth of the approximately one million children who die every year from malaria die because of substandard and poorly prescribed medicines.

Friday, May 16, 2008

By Bright B. Simons, AfricanLiberty.org

For as long as I can remember the concern of leftist-statists like Mr. Agbodza had been that we were the victims of price-dumping. As a result of the Common Agricultural Policy, they argued, we, here in Africa, were being inundated with cheap food. Now that a temporary blip in food prices is being observed, the argument has taken a 180% turn: we are being hammered with expensive food. The resolution of this false puzzle is a matter of basic economics.

Sunday, May 4, 2008 

By Dr. Emmanuel Martin   

The hunger riots arising from soaring food prices are a terrible human drama. The world price of wheat has nearly tripled in three years, and doubled in the last year; the price of rice has increased by more than 50 % in three months. The cost of a meal is 40% higher than one year ago in many poor countries. When food purchases can represent 75% of a household's budget, those price increases become a nightmare. This could mean the return of millions under the poverty threshold, wiping out several years' development efforts. What are the reasons for this situation? Given that the economy is made of complex interconnections, we shall seek the real reasons of the crisis in more depth than is usually done. The crisis can be interpreted as the unintended consequence -the perverse effect- of several policies which prevent many decision-makers from acting responsibly.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

By Franklin Cudjoe

ACCRA, Ghana -- Should poor governments be allowed to break drug patents for humanitarian reasons?

That question is front-and-center at a major public health conference sponsored by the World Health Organization that started on 28 April in Geneva.

Top-notch policy experts from around the world have gathered to make formal policy recommendations about patents to Third World governments struggling with disease. Many will claim that patents allow Western drug companies to keep drug prices artificially high, and that patent-breaking is a cheap and easy way to get poor patients the drugs they need.

They're wrong on both counts.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

After torrents of pressure from friends of Mwenda including AfricanLiberty.org, the Ugandan authorities finally released him and his colleagues from unlawful detention. But it reminas uncertain if they will not be picked up again as they have vowed to continue publishing the story (deeply worryign human righst violations against Ugandan citizens). We know that the price for liberty is eternal vigilance, but should we risk our lives for the truth in certain circumstances? Mwenda sent me the following reply to the last question.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The ongoing United Nations Conference on Trade and Globalisation in Ghana has given free reign to misguided activist NGOs and many African leaders to demonise globalisation for many of Africa's home grown problems. AfricanLiberty.org Editor speaks in favour of greater openness while admonishing African leaders to give attention to inhibiting local barriers to trade and development. Franklin was a guest on Ghana's widely syndicated and best Talk Radio, Choice FM.

Please listen to the interview here.