‘When a colonised state gains its independence, its troubles are not over. They are just beginning.’

Frantz Fanon played a key role in ‘legitimising violent struggle’ among ‘African liberation movements’, writes Cameron Duodu, in an exploration of Fanon’s relationship with Pan-Africanism, in particular in Ghana.

Disturbed by two incidents involving elderly women suspected of witchcraft – one of whom was burnt alive, while the other was denied medical treatment – Cameron Duodu calls for Ghana to value the lives of all its citizens.

Following the death of Gaddafi, Libyan communities ‘will have to work together to prevent the nation from disintegrating or being recolonised,’ writes Cameron Duodu.

‘Mention South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and those with good memories can attest to the lesson of history, which is that if you want to remain friendly with the USA, keep its military at arm’s length.’ So why would Ghana risk souring its relationship with the US, as Pakistan has already done, by allowing it to use Ghanaian territory for military purposes, asks Cameron Duodu.

Following reports of racist attacks on black migrants in Libya by anti-Gaddafi forces, Cameron Duodu says it’s ‘shameful that after touting “African unity” since 1963, Africans still have to seek NATO’S protection, because Africans are killing Africans.’

I heard of Samir Amin long before I met him. As a member of the Ghana Youth Council, I was involved in organising a conference that we thought would bring together youth movements throughout Africa to plan how we could plan together to advance the cause of Africa's political and economic development.

With UK Prime Minister David Cameron continuing to face pressure over the News International scandal, Cameron Duodu considers the parallels with Watergate in the US in the 1970s.

At the time of a bid for a majority stake in BSkyB, the revelations of phone hacking and subsequent closure of the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World have rocked the British body politic, writes Cameron Duodu.

While George Padmore is well known as the ‘father of African emancipation’, Cameron Duodu reminds us of the life and ideas of Edward Wilmot Blyden, ‘the grandfather of African emancipation’.

With ‘father of African liberation’ George Padmore commemorated with a plaque in London this week, Cameron Duodu reflects on Padmore’s enormous influence on the anti-colonial movement and his experiences in Trinidad, the US, the USSR, the UK and across Africa.

In the second part of a two-part article, Cameron Duodu reflects on the exciting and challenging times he had in the Congo in the 1960s and the experiences of George Padmore, Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba in seeking to support Africa’s liberation movements. Part one is available to read at

Cameron Duodu reflects on the exciting and challenging times he had in the Congo in the 1960s.

Although Ghana’s alliance with Congo was ultimately unable to save Patrice Lumumba’s life or avert Mobutu’s 40-year dictatorship, the ‘African Union (AU) would do well to rediscover the spirit of those days, when Africans knew what was good for their continent, and what was not so good,’ says Cameron Duodu.

US preacher Harold Camping conned people into paying him $80 million in donations, by persuading them that the world was ending on 21 May. In the US, Camping is ‘exercising his constitutional right to practise “freedom of religion”,' says Cameron Duodu, but in Nigeria that’s what people call a ‘419’.

With the IMF’s (International Monetary Fund) Dominique Strauss-Kahn in hot water over accusations of sexual assault in a New York hotel, Cameron Duodu revisits the effects of the fund’s structural adjustment programme in his home country of Ghana.

In the wake of President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in Nigeria, the government is faced with the tricky task of how to diffuse the violent northern Boko Haram sect, writes Cameron Duodu.

Reflecting on discussions with the audience at the screening of a documentary about the assassination of Congo’s first prime minister Patrice Lumumba, Cameron Duodu shares a less known fact that ‘the fiery politician was also as very good poet.’

As evidenced by Ivorians’ experiences in the wake of their country’s disputed election results and the looming threat of civil war, African leaders’ insistence on ignoring pre-established rules severely jeopardises their constituents, writes Cameron Duodu.

The ‘people of Libya deserve all our sympathy – for having been obliged to endure the calamitous rule of a man, apparently destined to inflict so much suffering on them,’ writes Cameron Duodu.