Growing up as the daughter of Liberian immigrants, wartime horror stories served as cautionary testimonies, not only about the endless suffering that refugees managed to survive, but also about the power of witchcraft and pure evil that evolved over the course of the conflict. Liberia’s infamous civil war is often framed by the West as a power struggle over resources between cannibal warlords who smoked crack cocaine and weaponized child soldiers. But to understand the flames of violence that engulfed Liberia between 1989 and 2004, and how to move forward from this era, Liberia’s history of superstition and neocolonialism must be addressed… Read More

This week’s Palava Praise is being awarded to the critically acclaimed Ugandan poet and activist, Dr. Stella Nyanzi! She received her doctorate in anthropology in London, studying youth, sexuality, and public health. Dr. Nyanzi was imprisoned in 2017 by the Museveni administration for rightfully calling out misconduct through a controversial poem posted online. After her release in 2020, she gained prominence for her use of satire and unforgiving language in her poetry, and continues to campaign for LGBTQ  and women’s rights, her most notable project being “Pads4girlsUg”, an organization created to provide menstrual products for girls who couldn’t afford them due to being enrolled in school. Dr. Nyanzi now resides in Germany in exile, and you can check out her most recent interview here, along with her Instagram page for her work. We thank you, Stella, for your bravery, resilience, and the efforts you have made for the continent!

In Dakar, weeks of protests by students demanding payment of unpaid financial aid and stipends culminated in violence, when Abdoulaye Ba, a second-year medical student, died due to attacks from security forces at Cheikh Anta Diop University. The unrest started amid a deepening national debt crisis and economic hardship for the youth. Authorities closed the campus “until further notice” as thousands of students were evacuated amid broken barricades and burned buildings, with civil rights groups condemning what they called disproportionate use of force by police against protesters; a recurring theme amongst fights for justice. 

 Across Ghana’s cocoa belt, thousands of cocoa farmers remain unpaid months after delivering beans to licensed buying companies (LBCs) due to liquidity problems at the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), forcing some farmers to cut meals, borrow money, and delay schooling for children while unsold stocks pile up at ports. Political pressure intensified this week with the Minority in Parliament demanding immediate payment to farmers and reimbursement of LBCs for outstanding funds owed by COCOBOD, warning the crisis could destabilise the sector and rural livelihoods. In response, Ghana’s Cabinet ordered immediate payments and has approved reforms to restructure COCOBOD finances. It announced plans to introduce a new cocoa law to tie producer prices more closely to international markets and guarantee minimum compensation to farmers, but nothing has yet come to fruition.

In Monrovia, the African Development Bank Group appointed Rees Mwasambili as its new Country Manager for Liberia, outlining the group’s priorities under the Bank’s 2026 to 2031 Country Strategy Paper, which aligns with Liberia’s ARREST Agenda and promises infrastructure expansion, skills development, and private sector competitiveness. While the Bank frames this agenda as a pathway to improved roads, agricultural value chains, and expanded market access for smallholder farmers, critics argue that AfDB financing models often prioritize large-scale infrastructure and private sector growth over direct structural transformation for subsistence farmers, raising concerns about debt sustainability and whether rural producers will meaningfully control the value chains they supply. Skeptics also question whether mobilizing sovereign loans and co-financing between 2026 and 2028 will deepen Liberia’s external financial obligations rather than strengthen community-owned processing, farmer cooperatives, and publicly accountable infrastructure systems that place food sovereignty and domestic industrialization ahead of export-oriented growth.

What stories are we missing? Want to write an opinion piece? Who deserves Palava Praise next week? Contact our team here!