Africa Straight Talk: Recent Episodes
Emmanuel Nado, Edwin Okong'o and Khaboshi Imbukwa
Emmanuel Nado and Edwin Okong'o, two award-winning African journalists and radio personalities, offer their unique, bold and unapologetic perspectives on African life, news, and culture.
They go beyond the simplistic and lazy explanations of colonialism, slavery, and "brain drain" to argue that unless we Africans become brave enough to point fingers at ourselves, we'll always be at mercy of foreigners. This podcast discusses some of the ways we can start talking straight about the flaws that make us an attractive target for those looking for a continent to loot.
Africa Straight Talk is produced by Khaboshi Imbukwa.
We are re-posting some of our favourite past episodes!!!! The goal is to support, elevate and empower our fellow brothers and sisters from the continent to keep the momentum going. Stay tuned for more episodes.
Kenyan-born artist, educator and entrepreneur, Kimani Muturi, tells us how he is turning the waste products of banana farming in Uganda into beautiful, export-quality fabrics and rugs.
TexFad weaver working on a rug. Picture courtesy of http://www.texfad.co.ug
There are African immigrants who say they support MAGA and Trump. Are they genuine, naive, or just optimistic opportunists?
We were a little all over the place on this episode (in a good way of course) – what’s hot in America aka Kamala Harris, and how the diaspora can grow a spine.
Africans in the west need to stop “suffering and smiling” and do more to stand up for themselves against anti-immigrant hate
Young people in Kenya have finally woken up and taken President Ruto and his government by the horns. It’s a bold and commendable and commendable in a continent where young people rarely question when old politicians tell them they are the leaders of tomorrow.
Now the question is: what strategies do young people have to ensure this isn’t just another political dust storm that passes with the wind?
Did you know that Nado, my co-host, met Bob Marley in Oakland and he autographed his record? I must add that Nado spoke about it as if he was meeting a friend on a random weekend! I don’t know how to feel about that…but I KNOW Kwesi must be extremely jealous
Bob Marley looking at records at Wausi Records, Oakland in 1981 – Photo courtesy of NadoVinyl record autographed by Bob Marley – Photo courtesy of Nado
Update: Kevin Kangethe, the man accused of murdering Maggie Mbitu in Boston has been re captured and is awaiting extradition to the US to face murder charges. Hopefully this time he won’t escape in a matatu!
I know… but some are still writing 2023 as their year or are still on holiday-mode. The truth is …it would feel weird not to post this very exciting episode!
Did you know Dr. Kwame Nkruma’s plan for Africa unification was a blueprint for European Union?
Niger is the latest but definitely not the last African country to have a coup. The question is, are coups the answer to getting the change Africans are searching for?
Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, a former taxi driver in Kenya, managed to convince his followers to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus. At least 600 people are missing, and of the more than 200 bodies recovered appear to have be missing organs, according to authorities. Have religious organizations become too powerful to regulate?
After nearly 40 years in power, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has nothing to show for it. He’s blaming #homosexuality. Yes, it’s not the rampant corruption but adults having consensual same sex. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?
“Until lions learn to tell their own stories, the tale of the lion hunt will always glorify the African hunter,” goes one African saying. We look at the lionesses who are bravely challenging the archaic Eurocentric tale of the hunt.
We discuss the role films like the new Netflix docudrama series, “African Queens: Njinga,” are playing in telling Africa’s true story. The film stars British Nigerian Adesuwa Oni as Queen Njinga, who ruled the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba in present-day Angola from 1624 until her death on Dec. 17, 1663. It is was written by Kenyan filmmaker Peres Owino and another British Nigerian, NneNne Iwuji, and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith.
Pope Francis was in South Sudan recently, but unlike his 2019 visit, no pictures have emerged of the pontiff kneeling down to kiss the feet of President Salva Kiir Mayardit. We think it’s because the Pope has probably seen the video showing Kiir peeing on himself, which the president somehow blamed on journalists.
We are back for the 2023 season! As always, we’re talking straight. Two of us are complaining about working too hard, as one of us bitches about being fired. One thing we can all agree on, though, is that when you are an African, your job belongs to your relatives. But isn’t it time to reclaim our freedom and encourage personal responsibility?
Happy New Year to you, our fellow Africa Straight Talk fans! We are thankful that you have supported us over the years!
We are on a short break BUT lookout for our first episode in February.
If you hear or know anyone making waves (small and big) in Africa, email us africastraighttalk@gmail.com. We want to highlight their greatness.
See you soon!
In our last episode of the year, we wind up our coverage of the World Cup and get back to the business of talking about Africa. Are extravagant weddings necessary? Why do African leaders rush to Washington at the snap of President Joe Biden’s fingers?
After this episode, we’re taking a well-deserved month-long break. Once again, thank you so much for supporting Africa Straight Talk. We wish you a very merry and safe holiday season.
For true fans of the beautiful game, there are values we just have to set aside every four years to enjoy the World Cup. This is a candid discussion about how we become bigoted, vile, and even openly racist for those few weeks.
We begin the 2022 World Cup with a unique analysis of the tournament organized by FIFA, the only corrupt institution the world loves.
When it emerged that Rishi Sunak, the first non-white Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, traces part of his ancestry to East Africa, some people in the region became very excited. The excitement wasn't quite to the level it was when Barack Obama became President of the United States, but people were equally proud. Why?
President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, probably thinks banning free speech will allow him to stay in power for another 40 years. We think Ugandans should just send their seditious thoughts to their allies outside the country an we'll share them on social media.
We don't think so, but across Africa, leaders who are short of ideas are preying on the gullibility of the continent's staunchly religious people. From prayer breakfasts to government bans of anything that even remotely resembles homosexuality in the media, religious myths have taken precedence over common-sense
Hana Njau-Okolo, a Kenyan-Tanzanian writer and poet based in Atlanta, Georgia, talks about how a simple conversation with a friend converted her from being an admirer of Queen Elizabeth II to asking tough questions about the departed monarch's legacy.
Hana Njau-Okolo, a Kenyan-Tanzanian writer and poet based in Atlanta, Georgia, talks about how a simple conversation with a friend converted her from being an admirer of Queen Elizabeth II to asking tough questions about the departed monarch's legacy.
Kwesi Wilson returns to the show to talk about the proliferation of evangelical churches in his country of birth, Ghana, and how their around-the-clock “speaking in tongues” ruined what was supposed to be his summer of recuperation and rejuvenation.
Kwesi Wilson returns to the show to talk about the proliferation of evangelical churches in his country of birth, Ghana, and how their around-the-clock “speaking in tongues” ruined what was supposed to be his summer of recuperation and rejuvenation.
On Aug. 9, two of the wealthy goons suspected of colluding to perpetrate the worst post-election violence Kenya has ever seen went against each other for the right to continue the economic molestation of the country. Which one will prevail?
On Aug. 9, two of the wealthy goons suspected of colluding to perpetrate the worst post-election violence Kenya has ever seen went against each other for the right to continue the economic molestation of the country. Which one will prevail?
Aurelio De Lourentiis, the president of Napoli, said recently that the Italian football club will no longer hire Africans who won’t agree not to play in the African Cup of Nations. Although, prominent Africans have spoken against the Italian, none has responded with the anger this blatant racism warrants. Are we being too soft?
Kenya goes to the polls on Tuesday Aug. 9. From the presidential contenders all the way down, the pool (or cesspool) of candidates is filled with people with questionable morals. One of them, a Nairobi gubernatorial candidate named Johnson Sakaja, has been under fire for failing to prove that he has a university degree, as required by law. Does an African really need a university degree in western education to be a good leader?
When we started this podcast, it was difficult to imagine us coming this far--from 40 downloads of our first episode, to thousands. That's all thanks to our loyal listeners, who have shown that there is a need for African stories and perspectives in this podcasting space. Episode 100 is a look back the motivation behind the founding of Africa Straight Talk, our present challenges, and what we think the future holds.
We are about to celebrate a major milestone….our 100th episode!!! As we prepare, we encourage you to listen to some of our past episodes where we talked to some great guests and discussed interesting topics. We can’t wait to be back!!!!
We speak with Jori Lewis about her new book, Slaves for Peanuts, a story about the role the crop played in slavery and colonization of Africa. Lewis is an award–winning African American journalist who writes about agriculture and the environment.
What do the elections, and porta parties have in common? They can make people question their sanity. Hence our discussion on mental health. May is Mental Health Awareness month and our discussion was about the upcoming Kenyan elections and how some rules could easily lead to mistrust and unrest in an otherwise peaceful nation. We … Continue reading Episode 98: News from around Africa
Journalists in many parts of the world have changed policies and countries. Is it possible to have the same in Africa?
Kenyan lawyer, Cindano wa Gakuru, talks about the "different monkeys" who are fighting it out in the "same forest" that is the the Kenyan elections, which are scheduled for August 9.
Alpha Lewis, an educator and workforce development professional, talks about how important it is for African nations to trade and collaborate amongst themselves. Lewis is currently a professor at Skyline College in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Christian Obumseli, a 27-year-old Nigerian American, was killed in Miami by his white girlfriend, Courtney Clenney. Immediately, police and U.S. media started hinting at "self defense." That was expected. What was shocking was seeing so many Black women say that he deserved it for dating a white woman -- as if it's unheard of for a Black woman to kill a spouse.
California intends to give reparations to Black residents of the state, but only if they are descendants of African slaves. How do we feel about it? And of course, we can’t be the only ones not talking about Will Smith, Chris Rock, and the Oscars slap that ended Russia’s war on Ukraine (for a week … Continue reading Episode 93: Should Africans in California get reparations?
There is no shortage of Africans with ingenious ideas. Many have created prototypes of their inventions, but why do they continue to struggle to scale up? We talk about some of the geniuses we've interviewed on Africa Straight Talk.
Kenyan-born artist, educator and entrepreneur, Kimani Muturi, tells us how he is turning the waste products of banana farming in Uganda into beautiful, export-quality fabrics and rugs.
We discuss various topics, including Black people in positions of power who harass and sabotage other Black people because they don't want to be seen as engaging in the same cronyism white people practice in the workplace every damn day.
They say when the world sneezes, Africa catches the cold. Putin’s war on Ukraine is no exception, and we offer an unapologetic analysis. (WARNING: This one got heated. Some language might be offensive).
When Daniel Leinhardt and his family lost all their savings to an international cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, he decided to go after the Ugandan director of OneCoin scam. He speaks about the scheme that derailed his university education, and how he was pleasantly shocked when Ugandan authorities arrested John Mwangutsya. Mwangutsya was Uganda’s director of OneCoin, … Continue reading Episode 88: How a young Ugandan brought down the Ponzi schemer who stole from the poor
It used to be that the only way Africans stole from Americans was from far away by means like the infamous 419 e-mail scam. Nowadays we are doing in the United States, and a lot of us are getting busted and going to prison.
As part of our Black History coverage, Emmanuel Nado speaks with Samuel Pieh, the great-great-grandson of Joseph Cinqué of the Amistad fame. Born Sengbe Pieh in what’s now Sierra Leone, Cinqué was captured as slaves and shipped to the Spanish colony of Cuba. In 1839, Cinqué led a slave revolt on La Amistad, a ship that was transporting him and other slaves within Cuba. They commandeered intending to sail to Africa, but ended up in the east coast of the United States. After a saga that only ended when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against surrendering the slaves to Spain, Cinqué and 52 other Africans sailed back to Sierra Leone as free men.
Cinqué’s revolt was captured in Stephen Spielberg’s 1997 film, Amistad, for which Samuel Pieh was a consultant.
Pieh works for the United States Department of States and is currently in service in Haiti. He has lived and worked in several African countries as an officer of the U.S.Department of State. He founded many youth organizations while in service in these countries and provided mentorship to the youth. Check out his autobiography, Beyond the Amistad Saga.
Is this the decade of military coups in Africa? We ask because there in the last two years, there have been five coups on the continent. Thankfully, most of them have been bloodless. That’s perhaps because in countries like Guinea and Burkina Faso, people have taken to the streets in support of military takeover of civilian governments. Is the experiment of western-style democracy in Africa over?
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South Africa has major problems ranging from failed post-Apartheid land reforms to racial inequality to rampant corruption. But none of them, it seems, is larger than having a near-naked indigenous king who grows and smoked dagga, as marijuana is know down there.
The new season of Africa Straight Talk begins with at tribute to three recently departed African men who loved and believed in Africa. South African Arch. Desmond Tutu, Kenyan paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey, and trailblazing, Academy Award-winning actor, Sidney Poitier, showed their love for Africa in their own special ways. The episode ends with yet another foreigner — the American junk food company KFC — insulting the quality of Kenyan food.
In this last episode of the year, we look back at how Africa coped with a difficult 2021. We also revisited some of the amazing guests we had here on Africa Straight Talk. As we complete our second year of podcasting, we’d like to thank you, our dear listeners, for bringing us this far. You have nurtured us from that new podcast that had a couple of hundred downloads a week, to one listened to by more than 15,000 people every month. Now we must take some much-needed time off to replenish our energies so that we may come back stronger. Finally, we wish you a safe and happy festive season, and a happy new year. Once again, thank you, and see you in 2022!
Having failed to create “one nation under God” to match the words of their country’s Pledge of Allegiance, U.S. Evangelicals are trying create it in Africa by sponsoring anti-LGBTQ laws. We speak with two U.S.-based Ghanaians — Arthur Musah, and Kwesi Wilson — about how lawmakers in Ghana are taking cues from American Evangelicals to introduce a hateful law to crack down on the country’s LGBTQ community. If passed, the draconian law would not only punish suspected gay people, but also any person — including family members — who fails to report them to authorities. Behind the bill is an American right-wing extremist group known as World Congress of Families, which has ties to white supremacist organizations.
Born to Ghanaian father and a Ukrainian mother, Musah is an award-winning filmmaker, whose films explore African identities in a globalized age. He is gay and has become one of the leading figures in opposition to Ghana’s proposed hateful bill.
Wilson is a professor of communication, social commentator, and founder of the Afrikan Trumpet, a blog and podcast exploring how art can be used to create change.
African countries will suffer the worst consequences of climate change, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the continent’s negotiators at the COP26 talks in Glasgow. Their strategy seem to be stretching their hands out for billions of dollars in handouts as compensation for wealthy countries role on climate change.
What Africa needs to do is cut the pipeline that supplies the resources that wealthy countries use to fuel the greedy overconsumption that is threatening the continent’s future. Accepting money from the countries that are mostly responsible for the impeding climatic catastrophe only helps the polluters shed their guilt. And, frankly, given the corrupt nature of African governments, chances are that the money will be shipped back out to offshore banks in the same wealthy countries.
If you thought former U.S. President Donald Trump — the wannabe despot — was crazy when he sided with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman after the murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi, you haven’t met David ole Sankok. On a recent visit to Saudi Arabia, the Kenyan lawmaker said women from his country have been raped, tortured and murdered by their employers because they are prostitutes.
Here is what he wrote on his Facebook page after a meeting with Saudi officials, Kenyans workers, and the employment agencies that recruit them:
“From my assessment, the problem is that Kenya recruitment agents pick girls from Koinange Street, [an Nairobi areas known for prostitution] bars and brothels and export them as immigrant workers without pre-departure training on laws, traditions and cultures of foreign countries. Even back home you can not pick a househelp from Koinange Street or Sabina Joy [a famous Nairobi brothel] and expect house services without parental control.”
He has faced backlash on social media, but perhaps because he is not an elected member of Parliament, it’s unlikely he’ll pay a political price for his ignorance and sheer lack of empathy. What’s not appalling is that this is a guy who should know something about empathy. The only reason he was nominated to Parliament is because Kenyans were compassionate enough to enshrine into these words into their constitution:
“The State shall ensure the progressive implementation of the principle that at least five percent of the members of the public in elective and appointive bodies are persons with disabilities.”
To repay them, ole Sankok has pissed on the young people forced to leave the country because goons like him have failed to create opportunities for them.
Shame on him.
The Gusii highlands of southwestern Kenya are a Paradise. But as in any Paradise, there is a snake: Ignorance mixed with religious extremism, which have led to savage murders and lynchings of hundreds of people — mostly elderly women — on suspicion of practicing witchcraft. Following the recent murder of four people, Africa Straight Talk co-host Edwin “Baba Nani” Okong’o, who was born and raised in the Gusii, speaks about this ugly blemish on his beautiful homeland.
Busted: Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his family hides at least $30 million in offshore tax havens, according to the Pandora Papers leak. Photo: Uhuru Kenyatta licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists recently released a list of 35 current and former world leaders who have been using offshore accounts to evade taxes. Representing Africa are Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, and Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo. Do Africans care?
Namibian President Hage Geingob addresses the 70th United Nations General Assembly. Photo: United Nations. Every year, the United Nations General Assembly presents an opportunity for Africa’s leaders to embarrass themselves on the international stage. During this year’s assembly, which took part in New York recently, it was Namibian President Hage Geingob’s turn to show the world how unbelievably naive our leaders are. Geingob used the term “vaccine Apartheid” to describe rich countries’ hoarding of the coronavirus vaccine. How ridiculous is that? Why can’t the wealthiest continent in the world just figure out how to create its own vaccines? And when are we going to realize that the west doesn’t — and will never — have our best interest at heart?