In this episode, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah, editor of Africanist Press, discusses the ongoing political crisis in Sierra Leone, focusing on issues of accountability, extrajudicial killings, and the recent resignation of U.S. Ambassador Bryan David Hunt, whose involvement in local politics has raised concerns amongSierra Leoneans.

The conversation also delves into the implications of foreign debts, particularly from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and the lack of progress on a promised power plant project in Freetown, raising questions about the use of development funds and the need for transparency and justice in Sierra Leone.

This episode is part of our "New Democracy Project," sponsored by Northwestern University's Program of African Studies, Write4Justice and SolidarityForAfrica campaigns.

In this episode, we explore Sierra Leone's political landscape, focusing on the crisis marked by corruption, extrajudicial killings, and ongoing debt and development challenges since Maada Bio took office in 2018. We highlight the implications of these human rights violations for the 2028 elections and the future of democracy in the country.

In this episode, we discuss the increasing legitimacy crisis facing the Maada Bio regime in Sierra Leone. We examine the regime's agenda as it prepares for the upcoming 2028 elections. Additionally, we highlight why the 2028 elections pose a significant challenge to the political and elite alliances that have maintained power in Sierra Leone since 1961.

This episode is part of the Voice from Exile series of the Africanist Press.

In this exclusive interview, Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah talks to journalists Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky of the Counter Point Show about "USAID Cuts and the Need to Rethink Future US-Africa Relations.”

You can order the book, The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: Corporate Gangsters, Multinationals, and Rogue Politicians, here: https://www.amazon.com/Ebola-Outbreak-West-Africa-Multinationals/dp/0996973923

This episode presents RSF's Sadibou Marong's keynote address at the conference on “Media and Democracy in Africa” held from April 17-18, 2025 at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. 

The conference, which brought together journalists, academics, and press freedom advocates from Africa, Europe, and USA, was organized by Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah and sponsored by the Africa Initiative at Brown University. 

This episode is a presentation by Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah during a two-day conference on "Media and Democracy in Africa" held from April 17-18, 2025 at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

The conference, which brought together journalists from Africa, Europe, and United States, was organized by Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah and sponsored by the Africa Initiative.

In this episode, Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah gives a report on free speech and academic freedom violations in Sierra Leone.

The presentation, which highlighted the harassment and attacks on the Africanist Press by Sierra Leone politicians, is part of 2025 annual meeting of the Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS).

To watch the full video of the proceedings, click here.

In mid-January, unidentified individuals broke into the offices of a human rights organization, Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme (NDH) in Yaoundé, Cameroon taking away essential documents and office equipment. The looted materials included laptops and desktop computers, hard drives, projectors, video cameras, and other data storage devices.

In this exclusive interview, NDH's executive director, Cyrille Roland Bechon, highlights the dangers faced by human rights defenders in Cameroon.

The interview is conducted by Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah.

In this episode, Evidence Chipadza discusses civil society and youth empowerment in Zimbabwe with Tafadzwa Makore and Leniel Gava.

This episode is part of the Africanist Press community voices series.

Sierra Leonean politicians have created a new anti-terrorism law that contains unconstitutional provisions designed to curtail citizens’ fundamental civil rights.

In this episode, we examine the law's implication for free speech and multiparty democracy in Sierra Leone.

This episode is part of the Voice from Exile series.

In this episode, Evidence Chipadza and Hazel Dendere discuss young women and politics in Zimbabwe.

This episode is part of our community voices series.

The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has called on members of Liberia’s House of Representatives  to unite and end the ongoing parliamentary deadlock that has affected the country’s legislative activities since October 2024.

In this episode, we talk to Tyson Smith Berry Jr. about the IPB’s petition and the need for unity and peace in the Liberian House of Representatives.

To sign the IPB petition to the Liberian House of Representatives, click here.

In this episode, Yeukai Ottilia Munetsi talks to Didmus Dewa about climate change and adaptation in Zimbabwe.

Didmus Dewa is a lecturer at the Open University of Zimbabwe.

This episode is part of the Africanist Press Community Voices series.

In this episode, Cornelia Seliphiwe talks about the impact of party politics on social service delivery and human rights in Gweru, Zimbabwe's midlands province.

This interview was conducted by Yeukai Ottilia Munetsi.

This episode is part of our new African community voices series.

In this exclusive interview Africanist Press editor Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah discusses his investigation into West Africa's Ebola outbreak, and why there is still need for an independent investigation into the origin of the outbreak.

Bah is the author of the book, The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: Corporate Gangsters, Multinationals, and Rogue Politicians.

The book is available here on ⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Barnes & Noble.⁠⁠

In recent months, more voices have emerged demanding a fresh investigation into the origin of West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, one of the deadliest human catastrophes in recent history.

 In this episode, journalist Ryan Grim interviews Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah about his investigation that challenged the origin story of the outbreak. Dr. Bah’s book, The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: Corporate Gangsters, Multinationals, and Rogues Politicians, published in 2015 was the first indigenous account to question the credibility of the zoonotic theory on the origin of West Africa’s Ebola epidemic. 

Almost ten years after the publication of his book, more voices are now demanding an investigation into the outbreak.

In this episode, Dr. Chernoh Bah discusses his investigation and ongoing threats he has faced in retaliation to his anti-corruption work in Sierra Leone. 

The book is available here on ⁠Amazon⁠ and ⁠Barnes & Noble.⁠

In this episode, we continue to examine the secret efforts of the Maada Bio regime to legalize abortion in Sierra Leone without public debate and public participation. 

We also highlight the role of individual politicians in the past and present regimes in these efforts to legalize abortion in the country without public debate and consultation.

In this episode, we continue to examine Maada Bio’s effort to smuggle through Parliament an Abortion Law without the knowledge and participation of Sierra Leonean women.

We also examine the differences between Ernest Bai Koroma’s 2015 Abortion Bill and Maada Bio’s 2024 Secret Abortion Bill.

Politicians in Sierra Leone have secretly tabled an Abortion Bill in Parliament and are working to speedily pass it into law without public consultation and debate.

The proposed law gives married women and girls the sole right to abort any pregnancy; and to decide whether they want to have a baby or not; and the number and spacing of babies. The abortion law also proposes monetary fines and 12 months imprisonment for dissenting husbands and anyone “discriminating” against the pregnancy decisions and reproductive choices of women and girls. 

In this special episode, we discuss the secret efforts of Sierra Leonean politicians to enact an Abortion Bill through Parliament without public consultation and public debate.  

In this exclusive interview, Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah talks to Kelley Lane, editor of the Assange Countdown to Freedom Series, about his more than 20 years work to expose multinational exploitation in West Africa, and his ongoing campaign against political corruption and state orchestrated violence in Sierra Leone today.

This special episode is part of the events marking the 22nd anniversary of the Africanist Press.