World
Lumumba Resonates With Russia’s Geopolitics, Education and Media
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
During the Soviet times, Patrice Lumumba resonated with Soviet propaganda, especially in Africa. It was closely linked with educational institutions for educating and training specialists for Africa’s development and economic growth. Thousands of young African specialists were trained and educated at the Patrice Lumumba University named after the Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, and that practice continues until today. Established in 1960, it primarily provided higher education to Third World students during the Soviet days.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the name of the Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba, was removed. But that was fixed back in April 2023 to influence African leaders to attend the second Russia-Africa summit. It is Russia’s most multidisciplinary university, which boasts the largest number of foreign students and offers various academic disciplines.
With the heightening of a new geopolitical architecture and the rapidly changing multilateral relations which guarantee an emerging multipolar world, Russia has been exploring attractive mechanisms and instruments to influence public perceptions and to establish a foothold across Africa.
Lumumba has indeed become a Russian brand. African students in any part of Russia, it could be in a shopping mall, cultural park or even in a street, are referred to as Lumumba. Early October 2024, after serious negotiations, Russia Today (RT) decided to hire Kenyan Professor Lumumba to boost and boast its media among African and global audiences. It has launched an African TV programme in which the host Lumumba will explore the history, challenges, and opportunities of the continent for its millions of viewers and listeners.
The latest Africa show to premiere on Russia Today is titled ‘Lumumba’s Africa’, which will delve into past and present issues affecting the continent. Filmed in Kenya, the program has been aired globally since October 3, 2024. In addition to the English-language RT International channel, the show will be broadcast in French and Arabic.
Hosted by Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba – a celebrated scholar, author, and former director of Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Commission and the Kenya School of Law – the show will spotlight Pan-Africanism and the pursuit of African-led solutions to the continent’s challenges. Lumumba is a Kenyan lawyer, and social and political activist who graduated with law degrees from the University of Nairobi and from the University of Ghent in Belgium. His Ph.D thesis is entitled Exclusive Economic Zone, the Use Delimitation of Economic Zones. Lumumba has been growing in his profession travelling across Africa, and his estimated net worth stands at about $5 million.
“The history of Africa has always been told by others, and when one looks at the media, one sees a very negative depiction of Africa,” Professor Lumumba said, commenting on the significance of his new role to the channel Russia Today. “Via this platform that we’ll have through RT, we have an opportunity to showcase Africa that is not heaven, but it is not hell. My motivation with this show is to demonstrate that Africans are a people with a history, we are people with a purpose, we are people with conviction.”
According to the RT media report, ‘Lumumba’s Africa’ will explore various themes relevant to modern Africa: why certain economies on the continent succeed while others falter, the roots of conflicts and their lasting impact, and the enduring influence of colonialism on Africa’s progress. The show will pose critical questions and will ask if colonialism has been truly eradicated, or if its remnants continue to hinder Africa’s future.
“Professor Lumumba is recognized and respected across all of Africa,” said Anna Belkina, RT’s deputy editor-in-chief. “We are excited to bring Professor Lumumba’s unique and compelling perspective to RT’s audiences worldwide, and with it to continue debunking colonialist narratives about Africa that remain pervasive in the Western mainstream media.”
The RT report further indicated that Lumumba joined a prestigious list of RT hosts, past and present, including former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, late broadcasting legend Larry King, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Pulitzer Prize winner and Emmy-nominated journalist Chris Hedges, and former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, among others.
Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba was featured in two episodes of ‘Lumumba’s Africa’, where he delved into key issues affecting the future of the continent. Lumumba talked about the relevance of Pan-Africanism in the modern era during the first episode, ‘Pan-Africanism – is it still relevant?’ The second episode, ‘Common African currency’, was followed by a discussion on how a unified African currency could help combat economic manipulation and international financial fraud.
In today’s academic world, Professor Lumumba has been exceptionally one of the highly qualified academics, utilizing the power of modern media to drive political concepts such as pan-Africanism, a well-refined politics without much Western inference, and the ability to create grassroots prosperity, especially in the context of transformative capabilities based the available untapped resources in the African world. Lumumba has fiercely criticized the majority of African leaders who are stuck in ancient mentalities of dependence on Western political concepts, engulfed with foreign debts through excessive borrowing from multinational financial institutions while their economy still stagnates and leaves the population in abject poverty.
Lumumba encouraged African leaders to rise to the challenge of changing the fortunes of the continent. Through his lectures, he preaches new models of education that should be related to employment, emphasizes proven performance and impactful productivity, and internal economic growth that has to be achieved on a grand scale within the framework of a new mindset for advancements. In a nutshell, Lumumba’s revolutionary ideas are focused on practical transformations in multifaceted economic sectors, and based on aspects of the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, and for continental Africa.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Africa stands at the cusp of a transformative digital revolution. With the expansion of mobile connectivity, internet penetration, digital platforms, and financial technology, the continent’s digital economy is poised to become a significant driver of sustainable development, intra-Africa trade, job creation, and economic inclusion.
The African Union’s Agenda 2063, particularly Aspiration 1 (a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development), highlights the importance of leveraging technology and innovation. The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has opened a new chapter in market integration, creating opportunities to unlock the full potential of the digital economy across all sectors.
Despite remarkable progress, challenges persist. These include limited digital infrastructure, disparities in digital literacy, fragmented regulatory frameworks, inadequate access to financing for tech-based enterprises, and gender gaps in digital participation. Moreover, Africa must assert its digital sovereignty, build local data ecosystems, and secure cyber-infrastructure to thrive in a rapidly changing global digital landscape.
Against this backdrop, the 16th African Union Private Sector Forum provides a timely platform to explore and shape actionable strategies for harnessing Africa’s digital economy to accelerate intra-Africa trade and sustainable development.
The 16th High-Level AU Private Sector forum is set to take place in Djibouti, from the 14 to 16 December 2025, under the theme “Harnessing Africa’s Digital Economy and Innovation for Accelerating Intra-Africa Trade and Sustainable Development”
The three-day Forum will feature high-level plenaries, expert panels, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities. Each day will spotlight a core pillar of Africa’s digital transformation journey.
Day 1: Digital Economy and Trade Integration in Africa
Focus: Leveraging digital platforms and technologies to enhance trade integration and competitiveness under AfCFTA.
Day 2: Innovation, Fintech, and the Future of African Economies
Focus: Driving economic inclusion through fintech, innovation ecosystems, and youth entrepreneurship.
Day 3: Building Policy, Regulatory Frameworks, and Partnerships for Digital Growth
Focus: Creating an enabling environment for digital innovation and infrastructure through effective policy, governance, and partnerships.
To foster strategic dialogue and action-oriented collaboration among key stakeholders in Africa’s digital ecosystem, with the goal of leveraging digital economy and innovation to boost intra-Africa trade, accelerate economic transformation, and support inclusive, sustainable development.
* Promote Digital Trade: Identify mechanisms and policy actions to enable seamless cross-border digital commerce and integration under AfCFTA.
* Foster Innovation and Fintech: Advance inclusive fintech ecosystems and support innovation-driven entrepreneurship, especially among youth and women.
* Policy and Regulatory Harmonization: Build consensus on regional and continental digital regulatory frameworks to foster trust, security, and interoperability.
* Encourage Investment and Public-Private Partnerships: Strengthen collaboration between governments, private sector, and development partners to invest in digital infrastructure, R&D, and skills development.
* Advance Digital Inclusion and Sustainability: Ensure that digital transformation contributes to environmental sustainability and the empowerment of marginalized communities.
The AU Private Sector Forum has held several forums, with key recommendations. These recommendations provide valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities facing the African private sector and offer guidance for policymakers on how to support its growth and development.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Lukoil, Russia’s energy giant, has seriously lost its grounds across Africa, due to United States sanctions. Sanctions have complicated the company’s potential continuity in operating its largest oil field projects, grappling its investment particularly in Republic of Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Reports indicated the sanctions are further dismantling most of Lukoil’s operations, causing significant staff layoffs in its offices worldwide. For instance, Lukoil’s significant upstream operations in the Middle East include a 75% stake in Iraq’s West Qurna 2 oilfield and a 60% stake in Iraq’s Block 10 development. In Egypt, the company holds stakes in various oilfields alongside local partners.
Lukoil has until December 13, 2025, to negotiate the sale of most of its international assets, including those in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It has already terminated several important agreements that were signed with international partners due to difficulties in circumventing the sanctions.
Reports said calculated efforts to diversify exploration business relations is turning extremely complex, and current at the cross-roads, Lukoil will have to ultimately give up existing contracts and agreements it had signed with external countries.
Lukoil’s website reports also pointed to reasons for abandoning oil and gas exploration and drilling project that it began in Sierra Leone. According to those reports, Lukoil could withdraw from almost all of the projects in West Africa.
In addition to geopolitical sanctions, technical and geographical hitches, Lukoil noted on its website, an additional obstacles that “the African leadership and government policies always pose serious problems to operations in the region.” Similarly, the Kremlin-controlled Rosneft abandoned its interest in the southern Africa oil pipeline construction, negatively impacted on Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
United States sanctions has hit Lukoil, one of the Russia’s biggest oil companies, like many other Russian companies, that has had a long history shuttling forth and back with declaration of business intentions or mere interests in tapping into oil and gas resources in Africa.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
In New Delhi, President Vladimir Putin, alongside Editor-in-Chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, took part in the launch ceremony of the RT India TV channel. The TV channel will operate from a new studio complex in New Delhi, marking a new dimension in the bilateral media sphere.
Editor-in-Chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, indicated that the collaboration, naturally, points to India’s hospitality, affirming that this endeavour was not only worthwhile but long overdue.
Vladimir Putin, officially, launching the TV studio, also emphasized that the Russia Today channel in India, RT India, grants millions of Indian citizens clearer, more direct access into insights about contemporary Russia – the realities, aspirations, and perspectives. He reiterated the existing traditional friendship, and the ties between the Indian and Russian peoples go much deeper into the past; which rests on a solid historical foundation. And at the core of relationship lies mutual interest.
Russia Today is a source of truthful and reliable information, focused on serving the interests of its viewers and listeners. Its main mission is merely to promote Russia, its culture, and its positions on domestic and international issues. Above all, Russia Today strives to convey truthful information about the country and about what is happening in the world. This is the absolute value of Russia Today.
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