The Africana Voice

Is the global reforestation rush actually making the planet hotter? Steve Mokaya investigates a groundbreaking ETH Zurich study that reveals that while forests in the snowy North can actually trap heat, Africa’s tropical belt is the world’s most powerful cooling engine. Host Steve Mokaya and researcher Nora Fahrenbach break down why location, not just the...

In this second part of my conversation, we step fully into the life that brings Namatai Kwekweza to the German Africa Prize stage. She is one of Zimbabwe’s most persistent civic voices, challenging constitutional overreach, political intimidation, and a system that tries to silence young people before they even speak. Namatai talks about the turning...

I was in Berlin in late November 2025 for the German Africa Prize gala, where the then 26-year-old Zimbabwean activist Namatai Kwekweza was being honoured for her bold work defending democracy and youth rights back home. But before the ceremony, I sat down with her to trace the beginning, the girl she once was, long...

There’s a place in Kilifi, near Malindi, Kenya’s North Coast’s touristy town, that glows at sunset like it’s on the verge of confessing something. They call it Hell’s Kitchen. The heat there can swallow you whole in daylight, but the name is attributed to what is believed to happen at night. You see at night,...

In this special episode of The Africana Voice, Steve Mokaya reflects on the life, legacy, and final chapter of Raila Amolo Odinga, a man who defined Kenya’s political soul for over half a century. It’s a deeply human, powerful look at the end of an era, and the echoes of a life that changed a...

Kenya is becoming the proving ground for one of the world’s boldest education experiments. I this episode of The Africana Voice podcast, host Steve Mokaya explores how  EIDU, born in Berlin and tested in Nairobi, is showing how technology can equalize classrooms, empower teachers and accelerate learning. Don’t miss it. Stream the episode and follow...

Sabine Odhiambo heads Germany’s Africa Foundation and spends her days wrestling with the gap between how Africa is imagined in Berlin and how it really works. In this episode with Steve Mokaya, she talks bluntly about visa walls and migration debates that shut out the very talent Germany says it needs, German schoolbooks stuck in...

Alan Turing once dreamed of a machine that could echo a lost friend. Decades later, students are now able to outsource essays to AI, and governments risk autonomy in the cloud. Joanna Bryson, professor of ethics and technology at the Hertie School in Berlin, tells Steve Mokaya why she isn’t afraid of machines but of...

For decades, Kisumu’s informal settlements lived under a haze of smoke from burning garbage. Now, in Obunga, Nyalenda, and Nyawita, a new UN-backed pilot is testing a different future, one where waste is sorted at home, youth are paid to collect it, and the skyline is free of smoke. This episode follows the people making...

Africa has some of the best solar, wind, and geothermal potential on the planet. However, millions on the continent still live without reliable power, and poverty is a daily reality. But why is this the case? On this episode, Steve Mokaya, sits down with Wanjira Maathai, Managing Director for Africa and Global Partnerships at the...