December 02, 2025
Date: Tuesday 9 December 2025
Time: 4pm Harare, 5pm Nairobi, 8am Chicago
Meeting Description
Join us for the launch of Afronomicslaw’s latest quarterly report, “Debt, Protest, and the Burden of Post-Colonial Promises in Africa” by Miracle Mudeyi, Nqobizitha Mlambo, and Treasure Basopo. The report advocates for a comprehensive reform of the international debt architecture, one that challenges predatory lending practices, prioritizes equitable debt restructuring, and protects fiscal sovereignty.
Throughout the 1990s, African governments continued to prioritize debt repayment over social welfare, exacerbating public discontent. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program in the early 2000s offered partial fiscal relief, but inconsistent implementation and ongoing mismanagement perpetuated a cycle of unrest. In recent years, protests in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe have intensified, often led by youth groups mobilizing against hidden debt scandals, rising costs of living, and the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report critically examines the legal, social, and economic dimensions of this crisis, arguing that the accumulation of sovereign debt is a consequence of both post-colonial mismanagement and the alignment of local elites with global capital, which together perpetuate the structural inequalities inherited from colonial administrations. Without attendant reforms, African nations will remain trapped in a cycle where the need to service unsustainable debts undermines both social development and democratic accountability.