Guests – The New Scramble for Africa
Our guests examine the challenges facing Africa, a continent caught in the middle.
Gao Wei is the vice chairman of the China Information and Culture Communication Ltd (CICCK), a consultancy firm based in Kenya that focuses on developing business communication skills between investors in Kenya and China.
Howard French is a journalist and author of the books A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa and China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants are Building a New Empire. He is also an associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where he teaches journalism and photography.
Parselelo Kantai is a Kenyan writer and investigative journalist. He is also the East and Horn of Africa editor for The Africa Report, a publication about African affairs.
Adan Mohamed is the cabinet secretary at the ministry of Industrialisation and enterprise development in Kenya. He previously served as the managing director of Barclays Bank in East and West Africa.
Jennifer Cooke is the director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Africa Program in Washington DC and author of US Africa Policy beyond the Bush Years: Critical Choices for the Obama Administration. Her research interests include US-Africa policy issues and conflict diplomacy. She previously worked for the House foreign affairs subcommittee on Africa in the US congress.
Michel Rocard is the former French prime minister who served from 1988-1991 under President Francois Mitterand. He was also the first secretary of the Socialist Party from 1993-1994.
Helene Quenot-Suarez is an associate fellow with the French Institute of International Relations, (IFRI) Sub-Saharan Africa Program. Her work focuses on urban issues and the rise of the middle class in Africa.
Douglas Yates is a professor of International and Comparative Politics at The American University of Paris. His books include The Rentier State in Africa: Oil-Rent Dependency and Neo-colonialism in the Republic of Gabon and The French Oil Industry and the Corps des Mines in Africa.
Raila Odinga served as Kenya’s prime minister from 2008-2013 and was a candidate in the presidential elections of 2007 and 2013. His autobiography, The Flame of Freedom, recounts his journey as a politician and statesman.
James Shikwati is an economist and director of the Inter-Region Economic Network, a non-governmental organsation which advocates for free market economics in Africa. Shikwati formerly established the Free Enterprise Students Initiative in Kenyan universities.
Youth Discussion:
Jane Byani: Uganda
Ruth Miyandazi: Kenya
Abubakar Addy: Ghana
Kitaka Musembi: Kenya
Samantha Weya: Kenya
Emmanuel Sampson: Ghana
Duncan Mpusetsang: Botswana
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