No-one knows whether the 1964 union between Zanzibar and Tanganyika was dictated by cold war considerations first, with pan-African ideals of unity playing second fiddle to ideology and personal survival, writes Haroub Othman. But what is clear, Othman argues, is that despite Tanzania’s controversial history, the union brought peace and stability to the region, in contrast with the secessionism and violence seen elsewhere. While corrective measures – supported by the people – are required to ensure that it is fit for purpose, the union is a better option than breaking into a federal structure with Kenya and Uganda, says Othman.

cc Vision 2030 may be a good blueprint for Kenya’s development, but the government must remember that people are more important than plans, Mars Group writes. As politicians shilly-shally in parliament without implementing promised reforms – from civil liberties to the resettlement of IDPs – desperation is setting in among Kenyans too hungry to wait until 2030 for food and jobs.

© Poet and performer Shailja Patel celebrates the life of Bantu Mwaura (1969-2009) – Kenyan artist, activist and academic – through a series of reminiscences about what he meant to different people. Mwaura, husband of Susan and father of Makeba and Me Katilili, died on 26 April. ‘He was expression without hindrance; the way Africa used to be. He left behind power and energy; people speaking. In his dreadlocks and movements and smile and dress, Bantu carried an entire people.’

cc Following the director of Kenya's largest referral hospital's blocking of an operation for a transsexual person, Audrey Mbugua argues that the director's actions constitute a basic infringement of a person's human rights. Denouncing the insistence on a 'no objection letter' from the 25-year-old individual's parents as 'insane and barbaric', Mgubua underlines that one does not have to be transsexual to understand the injustices transsexuals face. With anecdotal reports indicating a 97 per cent success rate for male-to-female reassignments and gender-identity disorder well-established within international psychological knowledge, Mgubua emphasises the underlying ignorance informing the director's actions.

© In an interview with S’bu Zikode, Richard Pithouse questions the president of South Africa's Abahlali baseMjondolo shackdwellers’ movement about his understanding of a living politics and the considerable struggles faced by the movement. Zikode, the elected leader of the group, discusses the core importance of looking to ordinary people for political direction and beginning within the needs of your community as part of an inclusive approach which embraces debate and differences of opinion. As an antidote to the South African state's domination, Abahlali, Zikode explains, works to challenge the underlying greed advanced by the state's endeavour to sustain social divisions through empowering people to engage and shape the struggle in a way sensitive to the needs and roles of all.

cc Thoroughly dissatisfied with the persistent failure of Kenya's leadership to rise above its petty squabbles for the country's greater interest, a coalition of women's groups known as the G10 is calling for a one-week sex strike. In a bid to oblige President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to settle their differences once and for all and begin to effectively serve the nation they represent, the G10 will be delivering performance contracts to Kenya's leaders at the end of the week-long strike.

cc In response to Mahmood Mamdani's article

cc In the second of a two-part article exploring the implications of the US AFRICOM (the United States Africa Command) programme, Daniel Volman and William Minter continue their discussion of the increasing prominence of the African continent within US strategic interests. Underlining the US' need to prioritise dialogue with African governments and civil society groups over merely assisting repressive regimes and emphasising military-to-military relationships, Volman and Minter argue that AFRICOM's activities should be fully integrated within overall US policy. While Africa's serious conflict-related problems will ultimately not be resolved by external interests, the authors contend, the US needs to take its responsibilities around not inflaming conflict seriously, responsibilities which can only be sustainably fulfilled through genuinely supporting measures to improve African livelihoods.

cc Jacques Depelchin is disturbed by

© South Africa’s constitution guarantees rights but it doesn’t set out reciprocal responsibilities and that’s where this young democracy’s problems start, argues Alfred Mafuleka. Some people feel the country has gone down on morals, says Mafuleka, and this year’s general elections are a huge test of its character. Outlining the internal problems that led to a split within the ANC (African National Congress) and the subsequent formation of splinter group the Congress of the People (COPE), Mafuleka suggests that opposition parties hoping to secure a victory over Jacob Zuma at the elections by presenting themselves as moral and corruption-free will be disappointed when this year’s results are announced.

cc The right to food, as an enforceable human right, should be at the centre of our efforts to reform the global food system, writes UN special rapporteur Olivier De Schutter in a statement to the United Nations General Assembly. A right to food means that ‘victims must have a right to recourse mechanisms; that governments must be held accountable if they adopt policies which violate that right; and that courts are empowered to protect this right’ writes De Schutter. He argues that ‘the daily and massive denial of the right to food has its source, not in an insufficient quantity of food produced, but in a system of production whose limits have now become clear.’ De Schutter calls for support for states, an assessment of different models of agricultural production, the redesign of trade, improvements in the situation of agricultural workers and incentives and regulations for agri-food companies, with a view to realising the right to food.

cc As Zimbabwe celebrates 29 years of independence, Nyaradzai Mugaragumbo-Gumbonzvanda honours the ordinary women who fought for freedom and life with dignity, and reflects on the meaning of the liberation struggle both for her late mother Mbuya Rozaria Dizha and for Zimbabwean women of different generations. Mbuya Dizha ‘gave her daughters and sons to the liberation’, provided food and financial contributions for freedom fighters and was among the many thousands of rural women who voted for the first time in 1980, her contribution to creating ‘a new nation’. While the early eighties ‘were sweet moments for us, as girls old enough to understand the…dynamics brought by this wave of change and its possibilities,’ writes Mugaragumbo-Gumbonzvanda, ‘today’s young Zimbabwean girls are desperately looking for education, employment and hope.’

cc Despite Mwai Kibake’s stated commitment to operate a meritocracy with regard to the diversity of Kenya, his appointments to the most sensitive and crucial offices have been biased towards members of a Kikuyu oligarchy, write Maina Kiai and Paul Muite. Calling for their fellow Kikuyus to abandon ‘blind ethnic loyalty to decisions made by some wealthy old men’ who have ‘nothing but disdain for the majority of Kikuyu, who are poor and struggling’, Kiai and Muite reject the elevation of ethnicity ‘beyond all other identities and interests’ in favour of a national outlook and perspective. ‘For us, it does not matter what ethnic group the leadership comes from: We expect and demand a government which has the interests of the nation at heart, which is fair, honest, effective, accountable and transparent. And we expect the government to follow the law, especially with regard to human life, and fundamental rights’.

cc The current global economic crisis is not merely a devastating development, writes Nii Akuetteh, but a clear failure of the Washington consensus, neoliberalism and laissez-faire economics. Lamenting the recent G20 summit's tripling of the power of the IMF in spite of the fund's clear failure to acknowledge its own shortcomings, Akuetteh argues that it is now up to Congress and President Obama to force the fund to answer vital questions around its relentless, dogmatic imposition of neoliberalist policy across Africa.

cc In the first of a two-part article exploring the implications of the US AFRICOM (the United States Africa Command) programme, Daniel Volman and William Minter discuss the growing strategic importance of the African continent to US interests. Arguing that shaping a new US security policy will require more than a mere move towards more active diplomacy, Volman and Minter underline the importance for the US of striving for an inclusive approach encompassing joint action. With AFRICOM having been subject to no official consultation with either the United Nations or the African Union prior to its announcement in 2006, the Pentagon now possesses six geographically oriented commands around the world. While the threats cited by the US military are hardly fictitious, the authors acknowledge, there is little to suggest that they can be tackled through simply emphasising US military engagement.

cc With Sam Nujoma turning 80 in May this year, Henning Melber considers the Namibian leader's role as a uncompromising patriarch and the significance of the notion of 'family' over 'individual' during the country's liberation struggle. Highlighting the overawing hold of a combat mindset on the leader, Melber considers Nujoma's strikingly dispassionate attitude towards the grim realities of the liberation struggle and the extent to which the liberators 'gave away their humanity'.

cc Following the conclusion of a prolonged international metal price increase, this report, published originally by Southern Africa Resource Watch, TWN-Africa, Tax Justice Network for Africa, ActionAid and Christian Aid, questions why Africans of mineral-rich countries continue to live in poverty. Despite a thriving global mining industry, minimal revenue has been contributed to the livelihoods of African citizens; they are excluded from the governance of mining taxation and frequently exposed to conflict as a result of wealth generated from this inequitable industry. In addition to the aggressive tax avoidance strategies employed by mining companies, some African governments have played a complicit role in providing tax subsidies to the industry, thus inhibiting any potential improvement in the quality of the lives of their citizens. The authors of this study suggest that a more equitable and transparent form of mining taxation must be implemented to benefit Africans in the future. In order to achieve this, they propose a reform in the policies, laws and the institutions governing financial payments, as well as an international financial reporting standard.

cc As Kenya and Uganda continue to contest ownership of Lake Victoria's Migingo Island, Stephen Musau cautions against allowing boundary disputes to undermine the greater economic clout to be achieved across the East African region through cooperation. Where countries are small and unable to command a level of influence akin to that of more dominant global players, economic alliances become all the more important, Musau underlines, an importance that should necessitate dialogue and cooperation through a vibrant East African Federation, and not mere petty agendas.

cc With South Africa's election fast approaching, Roger Southall predicts a triumphant yet problematic victory for Jacob Zuma’s African National Congress (ANC). Southall examines the shifting electoral terrain within South Africa, indicating that younger voters are changing the political demographic. Despite the ANC’s respected economic record, increasing concern surrounds government policy, with injustice and inequality still prevalent across the country some 15 years after 1994's 'liberation' election. The author argues that regardless of the ANC’s predictable success in the April 2009 election, the party’s sanctity has been shattered as a result of its corruption and role in worsening the livelihoods of ordinary South Africans. The ANC’s dominance in the electoral arena is subsiding, Southall contends, a reality which will prove key in shaping the future development of South Africa's democracy.

cc Surveying the range of manifestoes and political stances offered by South Africa's political parties, Liepollo Lebohang Pheko exposes a common paternalistic thread underpinning parties' approaches to women's representation and rights. With many women legitimately concerned about politics being a 'dirty' game in the country – as elsewhere across the world – Pheko writes that those championing women's greater involvement face considerable obstacles, not least of which is the lack of space for critical thinking around how a dominant, masculined state fails to provide for women's citizenship. Female political candidates are at once excluded from their parties' strong backing through prejudice and the persistence of a self-serving 'old boys' club' behind the selection of candidates, the author notes. Attaining true liberation for women, Pheko argues, requires tackling injustice at each and every level it is encountered, a strategy that will ultimately necessitate an effective challenge to the state's ghettoisation of women's issues.