Focus on Africa

Why is galamsey such a big deal in Ghana?

A coalition of civil society organizations, labor unions, media outlets and religious leaders in Ghana have intensified pressure on the government to act decisively against illegal mining, known as galamsey. What impact does galamsey have on the country?

Also, an appeal from Amnesty International to release four activists detained in Angola. There's concern over their detriorating health. We'll hear from the wife of one of those detained.

And a challenge to the organisers of Fashion Week in Nigeria..to add plus size models to the catwalk!

Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Rob Wilson in London. Frenny Jowi in Nairobi and Todah Opeyemi in Lagos. Technical Producer: Jonathan Greer Senior Journalist: Karnie Sharp Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi

Broadcast on:: 25 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

Hello and welcome to this podcast from the BBC World Service. Please let us know what you think and tell other people about us on social media. Podcasts from the BBC World Service are supported by advertising. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile unlimited, premium wireless. Have it to get 30, 30, 30, 30, ready to get 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, ready to get 15, 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month. So give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up front for three months plus taxes and fees, from a rate for new customers for limited time. Unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month. Slow, full turns at mintmobile.com. From the BBC, the 2024 US election, full coverage from the campaign trail. No agendas, no one-sided opinions. Just the issues covered. We're not here to tell you what to think. We're made to make you think. Visit bbc.com/us-election. Hello, I'm Audrey Brown, and today in Focus in Africa, we are talking to Rosa Mendej, who is demanding the release of her husband, Adolfo Campos, and three other activists, while in jail for political offenses in Angola. She told me the health is deteriorating. We don't understand. It's not just adults. Four of them is having those problems. Do they have the same kinds of illnesses? No, one of them is in a wheelchair right now. And when they work in normal, when I spoke to the authority, they say that they have no idea why this is happening. And we meet Fatunista, the plus-size model who is calling out the fashion industry for excluding women like her in Nigeria. People have told me, oh, you shouldn't be a model. You shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do this because I am plus-size, right? But I wear clothes as much as I present. The thing is, as a customer, it would want to sell it for you. So if you can sell for me as a customer, why am I not good enough to be on the runway? Why am I not good enough to be in your campaigns? It's Wednesday, the 25th of September. First, we go to Ghana. Now, when we cover elections in Africa, the same issues come up, jobs, healthcare, corruption. All parties are judged on what they've done or what they can do or what they haven't done about these issues. Issues like gay rights, reproductive health choices, or what to do about immigration, these are the things that are steering debate in the US presidential election never really make it onto the agenda in African elections. Neither does the environment. That's why we're interested in talking about Galamse, illegal gold mining in Ghana. It is definitely on the agenda for elections due in December. There were protests against it earlier this week. At least 44 people were injured when police dispersed crowds were demonstrating against illegal mining. Even the churches are campaigning against it, asking people to wear red on Sundays to demonstrate their concern over the issue. So why is Galamse such a big deal in Ghana? Dr. Yau Graham is a lawyer and head of policy advocacy at Third World Network, Africa. Yau has been answering my questions, starting with an explanation of what Galamse actually is. Galamse is illegal small-scale gold mining. The gold, of course, it's all over the country. Quite a bit of it, it's in the south of the country and also happens in the south to be in the forest belt. So any mining which is being done without a license, because in Ghana to mining in the mineral, you need a permit. So on permitted mining, it's Galamse. So because it's artisanal, it gives the impression of being small-scale, but so who does it and who organizes it and other people that do it able to make a good living out of it? It is not only artisanal. I think that's an important thing that needs to be clarified because the problem with a Galamse now is that the top end of it, the highly organized, politically protected, full-time criminal activity, separate from those who are scratching for a living. The big boys, they are using as cavitas, which can dig very deep and move a lot of earth and dig out trees and so on. So big people, politicians, business people, chiefs, security bosses. In the current moment also, there's an uproar about people linked to the government, many party people who have been given licenses to dig in protected forest reserves. Whilst they have a license, it's basically a license granted to carry out ecological destruction in areas which until this government came to power. Nobody was allowed to mine in. - You say that it's politically protected, but the current president, Nanakufuado, has said he's pleased that, for instance, the churches have been raising this question. He calls for an open discussion about it in 2021, just a few months after he began his second term in office and he says that he will eradicate it. That's the call that he made then. When he began his first term in office in 2017, he classified Galamse as a major challenge to the country. So, who is protecting these high-end bosses that you talk about? - I mean, there has been controversy inside the government itself. Some years ago, the government appointed a task force to deal with Galamse when they banned all small scale mining, whether legal or legal, and launched what they call operation, thank God, using the military and so on, the high points of this government's attempt at separation. Later on, internal controversy came out about the fact that part of the problem, why it was proven so difficult, was because they were a politically connected people who were involved in it, and also that there were people who were enjoying protection. I mean, we have been working on this issue for a long-term table in Mexico, Africa, and as one of our roundtables, a security official told us that they discovered in the field that sending a few hundred soldiers out would not deal with the problem, 'cause when they arrest people, the next day those people have been free because somebody has placed a phone call. So, the president may have declared that he's taking his reputation on it, but actually, the truth is, this has become an issue of high crisis of legitimization, because the population does not believe that this government is generally committed. Now, the churches have come out to campaign against it. There's a way something red campaign being organized by churches who've actually presented a united front against Calamse. Just explain to us why ordinary people are that concerned about it, because it's not usual that an environmental on the face of it becomes an electoral issue in African elections, and Calamse has become that in Ghana. One of the most potent images you find in all Ghana media, particularly on TV, you know, in social media, are just these images of polluted rivers. Rivers that were clean, so many of them are brown. The Ghana Water Company has made clear that it's become very expensive for it to process water for drinking. In some places, they even stop trying to process the water, and of course, they have the reports too of the level of harmful chemicals, which are in the water, because the reason why the water is polluted is that you need loads of water to wash gold in the processing, and illegal gold miners wash directly into the rivers. The divers, rivers, or create channels, and the water flows right back into the rivers. Some people are even digging on the edge of the river, or even dredging in our river. So this, and of course, the arsenic, the cyanide, the mercury, all these things, you know, get into the water, and there have been also been reports of tests done which have shown high levels of these chemicals in food, because in the villages, people use these water sources for drinking, for processing. There have been reports of FITA malformation because of the poisoning of pregnant women and so on. So there's also not only a problem with water, but also the threat of a public health crisis. - The outrage that people feel, I'm not saying that it's manufactured or anything, but is it driven by genuine concern around the issues, like the health issues, the environmental desperation, it's causing the corruption and bad governance that it exposes, or is it actually driven by the opposition making a political issue out of it? - No, no, no, no, no, the opposition is a list of it. I mean, in one of the last demonstrations, there's a woman who was sold, say, I don't want my grandchild to come and drink this water. I think that's a graphic indication of some of the book. So it's not simply me, but also some who are late enough to see the intergenerational threats that this thing represents, fundamentally to the purity of the nation's health. So the NDC, the position part is definitely not driving it. If anything, ordinary people have put this thing on the agenda and all the parts of the pressure to respond. - That's Dr. Yau Graham from Third World Network Africa in Ghana. (upbeat music) There's an appeal from Amnesty International to the ongoing government to release four activists detained last year after planning peaceful protests. Among them is the social media influencer, Anna Da Silva Miguel, also known as Net Nahara. She criticized the president in a TikTok video. The others are Adolfo Campos, Ermeni Gildow, Viktor Jose, known as Gildow Dasruas, and Gilson Moreira. Amnesty says there is now concern that the health of three of them has deteriorated sharply in prison, hence the call for their release. What we already know about Angola is that the government regularly clamps down on dissent. It wasn't meant to be like the Sander President Joao Lorenzo, who took over from longtime ruler Eduardo dos Santos in 2017. dos Santos was notorious for stamping out dissent, but Mr. Lorenzo seems to be catching up. In August, he signed into law two sweeping bills that extended security forces control over the media and permitted prison sentences of up to 25 years for protests that caused, and this is in quotes, vandalism or service disruptions. We're here from Rosa Mendej, the wife of Adolfo Campos, on the state of the people in prison right now, also about her husband. But let's first listen to Amnesty International campaigner, Sidya Alcido Chisungo. The main concern is the health of the detainees. So she told me how the health system works in Angolan prisons. - The health system in Angola, in general, it's problematic. But then we noticed that when it comes to activists in jail, the treatment that they are receiving is very concerning. Because one thing, for example, is that to have proper facilities that specialize to, let's say, treat specific type of disease or things like that. But the other issue that we have seen is that even when the families want to deliver medicines, and they are also restricted from doing that. So it shows that there is no will to help this activist in jail to get medical care. That's why we keep saying that there is a tendency here, specifically for activists to not receive any type of medical care. - Let's talk about the state of human rights in Angola, generally. I believe that there's a new bill that was signed into law in August in a text and security forces control over the media, and permits prison sentences of up to 25 years for protesters found guilty of political crimes. Can you tell us a little bit more about that, and what effect it will have on people's ability to criticize the state? - Actually, we have been monitoring in Angola the way repressive laws are being passed almost every year. Since 2020 with the panel court, specifically Article 333, that criminalize or trash against the president. So we have seen that whoever criticized the president now, they are being arrested and they stay all these years simply for criticizing the president the same way that is happening with Netanyahu. Then we had also last year in May, the Nagio bill that was passed, specifically targeting civil society organizations. Then these year we saw right now the national security bill and also the vandalism one, and they are all meant to limit the civic space in Angola. So it's very concerning. Such pieces of laws continue to restrict protest and indicates a clampdown on fundamental freedoms in Angola. And very interesting is that civil society tried to protest against those laws that you're talking about on 31st August, but guess what happened? Organizers were arrested before the protest began. They were detained for more than 10 hours. So we do see that there is a tendency here to make sure that people are restricted at all costs. - I'm Nasti International campaigner, Sidia Alcido Chisungu. And now Rosa Mendej, who spoke to me from Luanda. - Hi. - Is this Rosa Mendej? - Yes, you're speaking to Rosa Mendej. - Hello, my name is Audrey. How are you? - I'm doing well, Audrey. How about you? - I'm fine, thank you very much. We're all good for the line. If you're happy to start the interview, we can start recording. You okay? - No, but I can start now. - All right then. Okay, so we're talking about your husband who's in prison at the moment. Tell me, when was the last time you saw him? - Actually, I was there yesterday around nine o'clock in the morning. - And you saw him? - I went to look, yeah, yes, I saw him. I went to get food. Normally, I take it three times a week, which is on Monday. And when it stays in Fridays. - How was he when you saw him? - Like, I think already, no. Adolf is not a very good, wealth wise. He has a problem with his left eyes become blind. And also his ears. I really don't understand why both eyes and ears, both of the left ones, are not okay currently. He's also having an upper right. It's a kind of, I saw that it's coming because he was sleeping on the floor. And it was very cold. They would not allow him to have in black at those stuff like that. And it give him this kind of sickness. So they say he's supposed to go for an operation. But I denied because with the system that we have, I do not trust them to do this operation. So I said it's better if he can continue holding on until he comes out. And then we'll find a private hospital for him to go and do the operation. - How was he when he went into jail? Was he unwelled? Was there anything wrong with him? - Health. It was very health. Actually, he's a very athletic person. He likes to chugging a lot. And he was in a very conditioned health. I really don't understand why everyone is having these problems, health, that side. We don't understand. I've been requesting them why it's possible, what is happening for them to having problems. It's not just adults. Both of them is having those problems. I will do understand what's going on. That's why I don't trust them on this. - So the other people that have been arrested with him and facing the same charges are also unwell. And do they have the same kinds of illnesses? - No, they do not have the same illness. - But they are not well? - They have different one. One of them is Yildo. He's in a wheelchair right now. And he went there walking normal. But right now he's in a wheelchair. I was still two weeks ago and he would not stand. He needs to be operated. This illness for two years, which is getting worse as well. So we don't understand exactly what's going on concerning the wealth of that side. - And when you raise it with the authorities, what do they say? - When I spoke to the authority, they say that they have no idea why this is happening. And they just request me that I have to continue and bring the medication for him. That's what they tell me, because they cannot say exactly what's happening. - And tell me about the conditions under which he is being kept. You said that he didn't have a blanket to sleep on or a mattress he was sleeping on the floor. And you have to bring him food, right? You bring food three times a day. - Yeah, they are in a cell with 127 now. Right now it's 27 prisoners. And they don't have beds or stuff like that to sleep on. They sleep straight on the floor. And the other thing that I've been so worried about is because some of them they have blankets. So we request if you can bring in some, but they have fused as to bring in a blanket or stuff like that for them to sleep on. - And the quality of the food that they have? It sounds like that cell is very overcrowded. - No, there's no quality on the food. That's why I have to take the food for them to eat. It's a little bit hard for me because the adoption is in another province. And I have to travel two hours to get to that province for them to be able to have food. So it's not possible for me to go there every day. That's why I do some days ago and the other, I don't go. So that's why I do only three times a week. On this day that I do not go, it's on the fruit, that I take fruit and biscuit that I take for him to eat. - They don't feed them at all in prison or is the quality really bad and it makes them ill? - Is the quality and also because we do not trust them because they can poison them. They have done it before. In 2016, they tried to poison him. We had to travel to South Africa to clean him up. So that's why we don't trust the system. - This must be making you very, very anxious. I hear children in the background. How is it affecting you and your family? - It's very, very difficult and very painful for the kids because they were useful to his father to take him to school and stuff like that. And now that he's not here, I think that's very, very hard. They are four kids and they are all under 12. The first one is only 11. The last one is two years old. And it's very painful and very difficult to take care of them. And they are so used to be with his father. I think he's a very tough father. He's closely with the child so much and they were becoming sick at the beginning. Only afterward is when they were trying to adapt to the system and not see him. Every day it's been difficult. This one year, they only saw him once. Which was on his birthday. They allowed the kids to see him. So it's been very painful. They were crying and stuff like that. So it was a very painful situation to see them. - And what do you tell the older ones about why their father is in jail? - Actually, the older ones are very proud of their father because when they born, they already found their father doing this. They know that their father's fight goal, they will be of their people. And they are very, very proud and most understandable of what's going on. But the two last ones, they do not understand the absence of their father. But the first one, they are much, much understandable about the situation. - And tell me, when is he meant to come out? - We are hoping that by November they might be out because they'll be spent over a half time of what they were condemned to. So we expect that November they might be out. We are not sure. But because of the system, we are not sure if this will happen. - President Joe Biden is coming to Angola. Are you going to make an appeal to him and the American government? - Actually, on Saturday after we had that demonstration, we sat down and we decided that we have to create awareness. He's probably become on the 14th of October. And then we are going to go to the airport and try to do a demonstration there so that they can hear us. We have to let them know that we have five people who are being in prison in legal for trying to protect our rights, trying to speak out for those who do not have voice. - Okay. Thank you very much and good luck. - Thank you. - Thank you Rosa, bye bye. - That's Rosa Mendej, wife of Adolfo Kambos, but speaking on behalf of several political detainees in jail in Angola. We have reached out to the government in Angola for a comment on the situation, but we have yet to hear back from them. This is Focus on Africa from the BBC World Service. (upbeat music) - Explaining football to the friend who's just there for the nachos, hard. Tailgating from home like a pro with snacks and drinks everyone will love, any easy win. And with Instacart helping deliver the snack time MVPs to your door, you're ready for the game in as fast as 30 minutes. So you never miss a play or lose your seat on the couch or have to go head to head for the last chicken wing. Shop game day favs on Instacart and enjoy zero dollar delivery fees on your first three gross reorders. Offer valid for a limited time, other fees in terms apply. - Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer which is apparently a thing. - Mint Mobile unlimited, premium wireless. - Ready to get 30, 30, 30, ready to get 30, ready to get 20, 20, 20, ready to get 20, 20, 20, ready to get 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month. So. - To try at mintmobile.com/switch. - $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes of detail. (upbeat music) - Fashion Week is a big deal for designers and models and lovers of fashion in the clothing industry. Held all over the world at different times of the year, models wearing cutting edge clothing showcase ideas by designers unveiling their new collections. Captivated audiences who and are imagining themselves in those clothes. As Nigeria gives up for its own fashion season, Alex Obuchi, a fashion influencer known as fashionista has found herself at the center of a heated online debate after saying that plus size models like her should be featured in a runway show organized by one of Nigeria's leading banks. Obuchi's video went viral. - My name is Alexandra Obuchi. I am 176 centimeters tall based in Abuja, Nigeria and this is my entry for Jitiko Fashion Week. Jitiko, if you're truly celebrating fashion, then it's time to showcase all men. Let's make room for everybody on the runway. So here I am, like you. But this time, not just for me, but for every plus size woman who wants to see themselves on that speed. Jitiko, are you ready for us? This is a call for change. - Prashaun belongs to all of us, it's time to catch up. - Some people applauded her stance challenging the industry in the way that she did. She wants a rethink of beauty standards in Africa, in particular. Alex and I had a delightful conversation about the issues. - For those of us who are as tall as we are wide, this has always been an issue. (laughs) - We love fashion. We love clothes, as we all wear clothes. But we don't always necessarily wear fashionable clothes. And you have a problem with that. - I do. (laughs) Tell me why. - Well, right from when I was little, I've always been on the bigger side. So I've always been bigger than other children. Even when looking back now and seeing some of those images, I see that I really wasn't as big, you know, as they made this thing. But I always felt like I was on the bigger side. And as I grew up to love fashion and everything, you know, beauty and all of that, it just became harder and harder for me to find clothing that I would love, that I would really love to see myself in. And it also became kind of hard to also see people that look like me in those clothing, whether it's be campaigns, runways, or otherwise, I've always had a problem with that. - And well, I guess I just decided to try and do something about it. - Tell us a little bit more about your experiences as a fashion model. Did people say things to you? Did you find that you didn't have enough work? Did you find that, you know, you were in the language of today, fat-shamed? - Yes, yes. I have always been fat-shamed, whether, and, you know, through sharing from sharing my story on social media and sharing photo shoots and all of that, there's always that opinion of wishes bigger than others. So it kind of makes you miss a lot of opportunities. For example, now, GT CO. With GT CO, you know, I attended last year just because I wanted to see what was happening and I wanted to see what the runway looked like. And even after applying back here and I didn't get in, well, I decided to apply this year. Now, when I went there and I saw that there were no models that looked like me on the runway. And the highest, the biggest plus model you could find was a size 12 model. And in my opinion, a size 12 model is not a plus size model. So this has always been an issue in one way or the other. - And then you decided to make a direct call on the bank that was sponsoring this particular show on the runway in Nigeria. - That was a very brave, bold move to make. What made you decide to do that, to take it to them? - When the application started again, I already told myself last year that I know obviously that they are not gonna pick me, right? But I wasn't going to apply again. I know, so there was no need. And then I saw all the applications as, if once the application starts, it usually starts to go viral on TikTok. So I just said, you know what? Let me try and do something. Let me make a stand. Let me talk about it. And, you know, I had the inkling that this would actually be a viral video because of the amount of hits that I would get because I was expecting it quite frankly, because my injuries, once you give them something to pick up, something that involves a controversial opinion like this, they just keep pecking and pecking and pecking. Now, I know that physical may not pick me. In many people's opinion, I did not work well. And that's fine, you know? I don't think that plus-size bodies can move the same way that slimmer bodies can. I just wanted to be sure that my voice got to the right people in a day to get some. - Did you get any good comments or did you get people in support? - Yes, of course, there were a lot of people in support. I feel like a really great community for myself while sharing as an influencer and model all these years. So, of course, I always have people that support me and I'm so grateful for that. But the bad comments quite overshad with the good ones, especially on Twitter and on TikTok on X, this blog, Hia Ballet, who said the video, and it had almost 10 million views on Twitter. And, you know, it was just a lot of backlash even people sending me DMs, like, as such, as such, you know, how it goes. - I mean, I know how it goes, but I haven't had people DMing me, you know, hateful comments to the extent that you have because of this. Did it surprise you? I mean, you know, the extent of it, not so much the fact that it would happen because we know what social media is like. But 10 million views and then people coming at you is a lot. - It is a lot, it is a lot. And for a minute there, I kind of almost, you know, fell into that dark space by reading the comments. But I have people around me who are really supportive. And I've always been a really, really confident person. Even when it came to my body, I feel like I was physically born with tears. - Did you get a personal and fat shaming comments from within your family when you were a child? - Yeah, I think I always do. People, like even members of my family, they just kind of say it's even without thinking of how it's gonna affect the person. You know, it could just be off-handed comments about how you get it bigger or stuff like that. And eventually you just kind of go back going against it. - I like your strut on the video. I saw it. - Thank you so much. - So body positivity has been an issue that the fashion industry supposedly has been addressing for years now. They've spoken about this is one form of diversity that they definitely would like to address. What other forms of diversity do you think the fashion industry should take on? - The fashion industry in Nigeria is still an infant compared to maybe the bigger industries. So there's so much that we can add. For example, not just plus size models, but also maybe short-time models are also fighting for themselves. People that are disabled as well could also be models. And nobody's even thinking about that because they're so focused on the size, age, rate or, you know, and I believe honestly, African women are not all small, we're not all thin and lanky and tall. We actually have more growth and we are on the bigger side actually. So people need to, well, I guess it's one battle at a time. So let's see if we can actually get plus as another runway then from there we take on the next battle. - I actually even have a problem with a word plus size. Why not just have women on the runway? And women come in all different sizes and shapes. - Exactly. - So you also want the Nigerian fashion industry to become more sustainable. So what role do you think models play in this process? - I feel like models are the last point to where it gets, before it gets to the customer, right? So for being able to wear those clothesings and wear them well confidently, I think it plays a big role in whether the customer is gonna buy the outfit or not, right? And for sustainability, when it comes to fashion, it's something that is so important to be able to take care of our planet. So yeah, what role play a big role in sustainable fashion? - There are people who don't believe that your stance on plus size models is valid or sustainable in a sense. They say that fashion is fashion and it's meant to make the clothes look at their best and they look best on women who are real thin. What do you say to those? - Fashion is for everybody. And by everybody, I mean everybody because everyone wears clothes. We all wear clothes. One of the reasons why I decided to even start my own fashion brand was because I wanted to wear couture. I wanted to feel like I'm on top of the world, but it wasn't readily available for me. I hope that people will be able to come to terms with it, that everybody needs to wear clothes. What advice do you give to young people who are struggling with body image or feel pressured to conform to beauty standards that they can't realistically conform to? - The world today is realizing that we need more authenticity. We need more authentic people. And if you're a model and you know what you want to be, you have a goal, be authentic as you can be and make sure that you are not listening to the naysayers on the back by task. Just try to keep focused on your goal and be authentic as possible. Your community will find you eventually. - What I am wondering is, does it matter? Shouldn't we just be talking about be authentic, be yourself? Doesn't matter who you are, what you are, what you do. And some things are not for you. So being a fashion model, a high fashion, could your model is not for you because, you know, we can't all swim, we can't all run fast. This is just one of those things. - If you have dreams and you can work hard to achieve them, then you should be deserving of all the things you want. So people have told me, oh, you shouldn't be a model, you shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do this because I am plus, right? But I wear clothes as much as I person, you know, I go to the market to shop for clothes, as much as other person. I go on designers, pages to look for clothes. And you have those clothes available for me and sometimes they don't. But the thing is, as a customer, they would want to sell it for you. So if you can sell for me as a customer, why am I not good enough to be on the runway? Why am I not good enough to be your campaigns? And we all can be perfect, everyone can't look the same, it's literally impossible. But I believe that women are beginning to see that they are beautiful the way they are, they are beautiful the way they look. And they are really, really, you know, trying to accept themselves for the way they look. So eventually we will get there. It's a journey of a thousand miles, if you could say so. - Cool, fantastic. Thank you very much, it's been lovely talking to you. - Thank you so much. It's been lovely speaking with you as well. - Alex Abuchi, fashion influencer known as fashionista. Now we have reached out to GTO, the organizer of the upcoming fashion show. Models across Nigeria are still sharing their entries on social media, hoping to be selected. And we are waiting for a response. (upbeat music) - Focus in Africa was put together by Rob Wilson here in London. Franny Joey did her bit from Nairobi and Toda Okbeami brought it from Lagos. Karnishap was the senior journalist in charge. Jonathan Greer was our technical manager. Andre Lombard and Alice Moudenki are our editors. I'm Audrey Brown, thanks for listening. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) I'm Gabriel Gatehouse and from BBC Radio 4, this is series two of "The Coming Storm". There's a divide in American politics between those who think democracy is in peril and those who think it's already been subverted, hollowed out from the inside. As America prepares to elect its next president, we go through the looking glass into a world where nothing is as it seems and the institutions of the state are a facade. Listen, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]