(August 28, 2006) The state of Africa, says Charlayne Hunter-Gault in her most recent book, New News Out of Africa, is in many ways shaped by the public’s image of the continent – and the image of Africa is in the hands of the media.

(August 18, 2006) A new report by Kenya’s National Anti-Corruption Campaign Steering Committee claims that Kenyans rate corruption as the country’s Number One issue and want President Kibaki to lead the way in the fight against graft – an issue citizens consider even more grave than poverty, unemployment and famine.

(July 18, 2006) It is true that corruption represents a huge obstacle to economic and social development in many African countries. And it is true that so-called entrenched networks of socially connected businesspeople and public officials make life very hard for corruption fighters. But there are fresh signs of success in some countries, such as Nigeria and South Africa, and other countries that already enjoy good governance and strong institutions.

(July 8, 2006) In a recent address on western aid to Africa, outspoken Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda said "the best thing the West can do" for Africa "is nothing."

(July 7, 2006) The World Bank’s high-profile focus on curbing corruption looks set to continue but to what effect can the Bank implement its anti-graft agenda when the Bank itself has been "the cause of corruption, and odious and illegitimate debts, in the past?" asks Gail Hurley of the
Brussels-based NGO network Eurodad.

(June 19, 2006) Countries in the midst of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative have seen a worsening of their debt and fiscal management, claims a new World Bank evaluation; other countries went back into debt trouble after completing the programme.