From the Editor-in-Chief BBC Focus on Africa Magazine

The future is here. English Premiership football takes place inside your pocket, Kenyan taxis driven remotely from an office cubicle and Rwandan ID cards talking back to people. Confused?

Cover feature Digital Africa - page spread

Our cover story unveils the massive social, political and economic transformation sweeping through Africa as mobile phones wed the internet.

Our spotlight falls on Sierra Leone and Nigeria as two long-serving leaders bow out; we hear from Ghana's Captain Appiah on the Black Stars' revival and cast an eye on the fierce vultures circling Zambia's lean economic meat.

The African musical icon Akon lights up our arts pages and as President George Bush prepares to dim the lights at the White House black America debates if Barack Obama heralds the second coming after Jesse Jackson's last near miss on power.

The future is in the pages of our magazine...

Joseph Warungu, Editor-in-Chief

Also in BBC Focus on Africa Magazine this quarter:

News updates from The Gambia, South Africa, Sudan and Ethiopia

ELECTION SPECIAL

**Magazine page spread Nigeria: Time To Move Out

Nigeria: Judging Obasanjo and waiting for northern rule
Sierra Leone: Mud-slinging politicians and politically polarised musicians

FEATURES

• Guinea: Fed up with putting up
• Tanzania: Face-to-face with President Kikwete
• USA: Is Obama a black Messiah?

COLUMNISTS

Opinion and Forum Opinion: Democratic Islam by Gamal Nkrumah Forum: Is Islam compatible with democracy?

Gamal Nkrumah: Muslims in crisis
Mukoma wa Ngugi: Giving with one hand, taking with another
Dr Ali Mazrui: America's new phobia
Victor Mavedzenge: Giving the voiceless a voice

BUSINESS

Coffee: Rwandan beans make the grade and faking it in Ethiopia
Vulture Funds: Targeting Zambia's millions

ARTS

• MUSIC Akon the rapper, Mor Thiam the drummer
• THEATRE Slaves to the rhythm
• CLASSICAL MUSIC Uganda's piano protégé
• POETRY Verses of protest in Harare

SPORT

Boxing: Nigerian nightmare
Football: One-on-one with Ghana's captain

ABOUT US

**Free online content Kiss FM presenter, Bellinda Massangano talks to Simone Shaw Keeping it clean

• Hassan Arouni heeds the call of home
• She's clean, she's tidy and she's got some hot love tips, meet Bellinda Massangano presenter at Kiss FM in Tanzania
• Welcome to Mariita Eager, the new Kari Blackburn
• The regional winners of the Africa Radio Awards

FROM YOU

Your letters:

African unity; copycat Kenya and Nigerian misconceptions

Snaps:

South African horsemen; boarding school blues and braiding a beauty

My Market:
Hoop-la in Zambia
If I was President:
Making notes for power

BACK PAGE SATIRE

Spin Master: A fly on the wall

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