Since mayors are elected not hired, we don’t get feisty kids who grew up in Lagos, Jo-burg or New York City for Mayors. We get God fearing, decent family people, straight from the ‘hood’. Luckily they don’t run this town; we do! You see, people don’t visit cities because of the niceness of their citizens, the affordability of their hotels ...

A tribute to my Uncle Musafiri Ntwali Ruhumuliza Rwandan Independence Day doesn’t mean much to me – or at least nothing worth celebrating- that’s the day my grandparents were being chased like animals and killed. My real independence is on the 4th of July when, I and my people finally returned to the land of my ancestors after 30 years ...

For a gunslinger coming out of town to challenge the sheriff, one must be a sharp shooter – well Frank isn’t, or if he is, he has no bullets. This isn’t a campaigning piece. Like I’d declared to the Supreme Court when I filed an amicus curiae in his support, I am not affiliated to the Green Party, I am ...

GPS is a new technology. Just over two decades ago ships navigated on the high seas using stars. My father was a Navigant. He’d been regional best in maths and physics, so Mobutu paid his astronomy and maritime Science. Predictably, Mobutu’s fleet had gone bankrupt by the time he graduated, he spent his young adulthood aboard Belgian supertankers navigating away ...

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” –Aristotle In addition to really wise sages I’ve encountered in my short experience, there are three types of ignorant, facing critical information that if acquired would make them better, stronger and more open human beings. 1 Ignorant of the ignorance Blissful oxymoron  …Critical information 2 Restless Ignorant Curious 3 Ignorant Arrogant Idiots ...

Much has been said about the tragedy, but as far as we are concerned our learned friend Counsel Toy Nzamwita was innocent. He paid the ultimate price for no crime whatsoever. Speaking as a young brother to Toy, a learned friend but also a citizen, I must thank the magistrates in general; the Bar Associations of France and Burundi, which ...

“What has really differentiated Koffi Olomide to his emblematic predecessors in Congolese music was the role he assigned to the ‘atalaku’”. Who is an ‘atalaku’? It is the annoying guy in the background of a soft and southing rumba, announcing random names of random people that no one cares about, throughout the entire song. For your name to be mentioned, ...

Since yesterday, John Lennon’s song has been playing through my mind: Yesterday: ‘Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, Now it looks as though they’re here to stay, Oh I believe, in yesterday…’   I hear it and I cry, for dire news’ coming from afar. News of death, news of despair… Somebody keep the news away from me, ...

Overtime, some of us had given up on reading the New Times. We felt life was too short, so we’d perused the headings and move on. Every now and then, someone we admire would be published in there and share the link – then we’d read. So when Lonzen Rugira came about, I was clueless. My father was the first ...

‘You may write me down in history; With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise… Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room… … You may shoot me with your words, You may ...