The latest unbelievably thoughtless statements by President Uhuru Kenyatta about runaway insecurity in Kenya are testimony enough that the lives of citizens mean little to him. It was not their votes that put him to power, but his wealth and tribe.

A negotiated, relatively “peaceful” resolution of the conflict is impossible. People who believe that Israel would grant sovereignty and respect the human rights of Palestinians within the context of either a one or two state solution are either naive regarding the nature of Israel’s settler project or are fundamentally dishonest.

There are legitimate concerns in the Afrikan community and among police accountability advocates about racist policing in racialized working-class communities. After years of denial, racial profiling of Afrikans by the cops in Toronto is now a well-documented fact.

The late leader was not a visionary. No one can point out to exactly what he stood for in the transformation of the Zambian nation. In their search for a leader to replace Sata, Zambians must awaken to the reality that a person’s popularity is not sufficient.

Funds are needed to fight Ebola; yes, people are suffering; yes, it can be good to “do good”. But it is never good to parade the suffering of others without their consent, especially when showing them stripped of dignity.

A recent article published by Pambazuka News raises many issues that relate to Rwanda’s internal politics under President Paul Kagame. But through misrepresentations, the authors reached conclusions that are untenable with regard to three key legal issues.

A World Bank report makes the incredible claim that the South African Treasury has been exceedingly generous in social spending. With that, neoliberals can now justify social spending caps or even cuts. In reality, though, South Africa has the fourth lowest public social spending amongst the world’s largest 40 countries.

The commission of enquiry is both politically inconvenient and fundamentally important for justice and healing in Guyana. It is important that the friends and family of Walter Rodney internationally remain vigilant to ensure that the full truth of the circumstances surrounding the his assassination are brought to light.

The powerful are now united in a global hegemonic project of neo-liberalism. And everyone else pursues their own profits or growth to the detriment of everything around us under the fundamental capitalist tenet of self-interest.

Led by Western self-interest, NATO embarked on a massive military intervention in Libya in 2011 that leaves many lessons for the Global South. Above all stands the lesson that Western military intervention cannot bring about the desired change, but rather creates failed states.

Many observers, including Paul Kagame’s critics of his horrendous human rights record, seem to have swallowed his storyline that he has built a formidable economic powerhouse. But the facts and figures expose the myth.

A reflective poem by a Kenyan activist who visited Mukura Massacre Memorial site in Soroti region of Uganda where on July 11, 1989, the 106th battalion of the National Resistance Army (NRA) allegedly rounded up 300 men from Mukura and other surrounding areas and incarcerated some of them in a train wagon. These men were suspected of being rebel collaborators against the NRA regime, but there is little evidence to suggest that most of them were anything other than innocent civilians.

Sustainable and lasting peace in Africa’s conflict states would be better guaranteed if transitional justice included the rule of law, separation of powers, electoral reforms, decentralization and a democratic ethos nurtured by free media and a vibrant civil society.

The quest for justice for past wrongs is often hindered by restrictions on which violations to investigate and how far back to look into history. Across Africa, tjustice mechanisms tend to restrict themselves to uncontested periods and rarely probe into complex injustices.

Transitional Justice has rarely taken into account all forms of oppression, economic discrimination, globalized injustice and a wider understanding of dignity and freedom. African societies need to theorize on transitional justice holistically in order to create social transformation.

The flashy branding of the transitional justice process as ‘TJ’ does more to keep oppressive systems in place than to bring real progress where it is needed. Transitional justice must be used as a catalyst to foment real, case-by-case systemic changes instead of as a one-size-fits-all neoliberal template.

Kenya’s transitional justice processes have been crudely politicized to protect the interests of the powerful. The country typifies the dilemma that plagues most African countries today. While most of the regimes are beginning to acknowledge that there have been atrocities, human rights abuses and various forms of injustice, they simultanesouly appear to be perplexed by the demands for peace and justice.

The debate around how to deal with Zimbabwe’s violent past is currently dominated by the transitional justice model and the human rights discourse which accompanies it. But an analysis of the country’s history as well as its present moment presents different ways of considering ideas of justice and healing – ways that may be better suited to Zimbabwe’s particular circumstances.

Transitional Justice seeks to enable societies to come to terms with legacies of large-scale past abuse, in order to secure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation towards a future that is democratic and free from violence, but its groundings and mechanisms are fraught with multiple dilemmas.

It will be impossible to reconstruct Somalia without addressing its complex past. Yet the current definition of transitional justice appears too narrow to be beneficial, since it limits the space for local-based procedures in favour of Western concepts like the state, rule of law and democracy.