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- By ZAM Reporter
- Investigations
Millions of EU money in “elections support” prop up bad African leaders
An estimated hundred+ million euros of EU taxpayers’ money, intended to support democratic elections in five African countries, has instead strengthened autocratic and corrupt leaders in these countries over the past decade. Expensive training programmes and workshops for state officials, ruling parties and police have been funded with this money, while countless “voter education” programmes continue to prop up a façade of democracy in places where even the best-educated citizens are cheated out of their votes. EU observer missions have regularly pointed out failings, but change has not followed.
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- By Selay Kouassi
- Investigations
It is March 2025, seven months before the much-anticipated presidential elections. In the brightly lit conference room of the Plateau Mövenpick Hotel in Abidjan, government representatives, diplomats, political party leaders, religious figures, electoral commission officials, and civil society representatives gather to loud applause. The EU delegation to Ivory Coast has just announced a €7 million package to support violence-free and transparent elections through its programme, “Tous engagés #ElectionsSansGbangban”.
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- By Theophilus Abbah
- Investigations
“I was so frustrated and exhausted,” Josephine Ochadamu says when asked about her experiences as an Assistant Presiding Officer at a polling unit in Nasarawa State during Nigeria’s 2023 elections. Connected through a mutual acquaintance, she has agreed to a telephonic interview to share her struggles with the new technology that was meant to deliver, in the words of the then-national electoral commission chair, the “best election ever.” Through state-of-the-art machines, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was intended to upload votes directly to a connected Result Viewing Portal.
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- By ZAM Reporters
- Investigations
The European Union does not provide electoral support to the Ugandan state because of human rights abuses by its government, led by 81-year-old autocrat Yoweri Museveni. But it is also not supporting grassroots activists in their fight for democracy in the country. “We were told we should not support troublemakers.”
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- By Eric Mugendi, Africa Uncensored
- Investigations
As Kenyan voters, we have become used to experiencing, every five years, a high-stakes drama full of sound and fury, in which the stage is set years in advance, the actors are meticulously costumed, and the script is written in a language only the elite truly speak. EU funds provide the software for the show.
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- By Charles Mafa
- Investigations
For more than four decades, Caesar Masina (62), a resident of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, has participated in his country’s elections, lining up at polling stations, casting his ballot, and watching governments change through the vote. This year, however, may be different. With elections approaching in August, he says his trust in the country’s institutions has gradually eroded. “The forthcoming election is ridiculous. I may not vote.”
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- By Jimmy Kitiro
- Investigations
This photo essay pulls back the curtain on the “Democracy Mirage”: the paradox of EU funding meant to fortify African elections but instead reinforcing the grip of the powerful. From high-tech biometric kits used to fraudulently procure victory in Nigeria to the chilling silence in Uganda where activists are branded “troublemakers,” these images capture a disturbing reality: while billions flow into state commissions controlled by ruling parties, the true pulse of democracy, civil society, is left to beat in the dark.
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- By Samba Baldé
- Investigations
The government of Guinea-Bissau has cancelled a controversial Hepatitis B vaccine trial involving 14,000 newborns that was about to start in the capital, Bissau. The trial raises considerable ethical issues and the cancellation represents a victory for those who contested the experiment both nationally and globally.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Investigations
In the interviews, Siele, Sys, and Cabello shed light on a chaotic picture marked by ineffective land-based carbon offsets, the reinforcement of exploitative neo-colonial structures, and the abuse of power by local political opportunists. Science urges us to address the climate crisis, the interviewees argue, but the solutions must be both non-exploitative and effective. They also question whether current practices constitute solutions at all.
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- By ZAM reporter
- Investigations
Battery recycling, often portrayed as a ‘green’ process that protects the environment, provides employment for many in the Ogijo community in Nigeria. Refurbished batteries from the town are sold to car manufacturers around the world. Yet while Western companies centre this recycled “green” solution in their marketing, unsafe production practices and regulatory violations have poisoned the very Nigerian communities where these batteries are processed.
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- By Estacio Valoi and Evelyn Groenink
- Investigations
Very little has changed in Montepuez since the lawsuit. The Gemfields mining company, with its London head office and its local ruling party co-owners, still guards its concession avidly. Poverty reigns behind the “forbidden to enter” gates.
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- By Martin Siele/Africa Uncensored
- Investigations
On April 30th 2025, Maasai youth disrupted the signing of a carbon offsetting project agreement in Kajiado county, Kenya. On the face of it, they had simply rejected a controversial carbon project.
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- By Burundi reporter
- Investigations
Burundi’s new capital, the showcase city of Gitega, is dressed to the nines, celebrating itself — in the words of the president — as a “Garden of Eden”. Yet behind this façade lie deep-seated economic and political crises.
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- By Evelyn Groenink
- Investigations
They have often had to survive on very little, faced threats both physical and legal, been routinely slandered in online campaigns orchestrated by the powerful, and sometimes forced to work undercover or from exile, but they enter 2026 smiling.
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- By Aziz Badarou, Matin Libre
- Investigations
Ivory trafficking in the West African country of Benin is endangering the elephant population, causing losses to the tourism sector, linked to terrorist activities, and driving the outflow of millions of dollars that fuel international organised crime.
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- By Tim Luimes, Zuza Nazaruk, and Grzegorz Szymanowski
- Investigations
Western consumers, regulations, and “fair” and “green” certification agencies and companies have sought to make mineral sourcing in the DRC more responsible. Yet as the conflict persists, “blood minerals” continue to mingle with green ambitions.
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- By Estacio Valoi
- Investigations
Exactly ten years ago, in 2015, ZAM published the investigation The Ruby Plunder Wars of Montepuez. It revealed that in Montepuez, Mozambique — home to the world’s richest ruby deposit — a “local general pockets proceeds while artisanal miners get shot by Special Forces.”
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- By By Stijn Bakker, Parcival Weijnen, Marian Ansah, and ZAM
- Investigations
Ghanaian fishermen who migrated to Europe because of overfishing along Ghana’s coastline have found themselves exploited in the European fishing industry. The companies that depend on their labour do little to ensure decent working conditions.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Investigations
Kleptocracy, a society or system ruled by those who use political power to appropriate their country’s resources for personal gain, became one of ZAM’s central themes
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- By ZAM reporter
- Investigations
The transnational investigation into the recruitment of African young women for Russia’s Alabuga drone site (see link to main story) was conducted by investigative journalists from seven African countries. They are...
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- By William Moige
- Investigations
Kenya’s Principal Secretary for Diaspora Affairs, Roseline Njogu, recently appealed to Kenyans to verify every job opportunity they come across. “The National Employment Authority can inform you about credible and licensed agents,”
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- By Beloved John
- Investigations
The Alabuga Start Programme says on its Telegram page that only those of us between 18 and 22 can apply, because “this is considered an ideal age range to begin building a career from scratch.” Maybe they just target impressionable youth?
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- By Garikai Mafirakureva
- Investigations
I am 47, I live in Harare, and my daughter is 19. She was active in various youth programmes (1), and when she told me she was leaving for Russia, I was not surprised, and I wished her well. My daughter and I are very close, so when she stopped calling, I became very worried about her.
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- By Emmanuel Mutaizibwa
- Investigations
When, on 12 August 2025, nine men were intercepted at Uganda’s Entebbe airport, ready to be flown as mercenaries to Russia, the scandal made headlines for days. The former private military contractors,...
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- By Josephine Chinele
- Investigations
A Malawi flag on a stage where young women are dancing to celebrate their welcome into Alabuga is the only physical sign of participants from my country in all the material emanating from this industrial compound east of Moscow.