Africa Eye - Season 5 / Year 2022

When COVID-19 pandemic hit Kenya, cases of gender-based violence exploded. But a combination of fear, stigma and a lack of trust in the police mean the majority of cases are never reported. It has been described as Kenya's ‘hidden epidemic'.

Africa Eye reporter Tom Odula investigates the deep-seated roots behind the violence, discovers the trauma behind the shocking statistics, and explores the police and government inaction that leaves survivors with little hope of justice.

Kush - a cheap, new, illegal drug high is taking the youth of Sierra Leone to a dark place. Young people driven mad. Young people killing themselves. Young people harming themselves and others. Psychiatric wards are filling up with Kush cases and police are battling to win the war against the drug.

With Kush use spreading like wildfire, with ever-younger users being exposed to it, Africa Eye reporter, Tyson Conteh, investigates the drug and asks whether Sierra Leone can stop the march of this dangerously addictive high?

Dozens of people were killed in clashes with government forces across the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016. They were protesting President Joseph Kabila's decision to postpone elections for another two years.

Africa Eye follows the leading members of a non-violent citizen group called La Lucha, who campaign for political reform in DRC and for Kabila to step down. But will their call for free and fair elections ever become a reality?

Africa Eye exposes dodgy driving licences and dangerous vehicles on Kenya's killer roads.

For hundreds of millions of Africans, Christianity is the cornerstone of their existence. But an explosion of rogue pastors exploiting the trust and belief of their followers for profit and power has led to a fight for the soul of Christianity in Africa.

Africa Eye reporter Peter MacJob travels to Uganda to meet the new religious movements rejecting Christian conventions, the traditional pastors working hard to maintain their flocks, the families who have suffered tragic losses at the hands of rogue pastors, and those who have abandoned religion altogether. With charlatans and con men preying on the faith of millions, what is the future for believers in Uganda and across Africa?

t's estimated thousands of Africans were among more than five million refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As they tried to escape the carnage, many Africans were treated like second class citizens. Reports of discrimination at Ukraine's western borders were widespread with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees acknowledging racist treatment. BBC Africa journalist, Peter Okwoche, was at the Polish border reporting on the African experience days after war broke out. In the weeks which followed he also spoke to many Africans still caught up in the conflict. Did they make it to safety? Africa Eye investigates.

In February 2020 a shocking video began to circulate on Chinese social media. A group of African children are being instructed, by a voice off-camera, to chant phrases in Chinese. The kids repeat the words with smiles and enthusiasm — but they don't understand that what they're being told to say is "I am a black monster and my IQ is low." The clip ignited outrage in China and beyond. But no-one ever answered the crucial questions: Why was this filmed? Where was it shot? Who made it? These questions send BBC Africa Eye reporters Runako Celina and Henry Mhango on a journey into a Chinese video-making industry that exploits vulnerable children across the continent.

Impoverished families in Tanzania are being tricked into giving up their disabled children by human traffickers. Promised a better life, the children are instead smuggled into Kenya and forced to beg, often for years. Africa Eye goes undercover to expose the traffickers trading in human misery and helps one young victim escape his captors.

In north western Nigeria ultra-violent bandit gangs raid villages, attack drivers, abduct schoolchildren, and kill anyone who resists. But who are these men, and what do they want? A new documentary from BBC Africa Eye talks us into the heart of Nigeria's worst security crisis, and brings us face to face with some of the most feared bandit leaders in Zamfara state.

Africa Eye follows one woman's personal journey in search of the father she has never known, exploring a reality shared by over a third of Kenyans, who grow up without at least one biological parent.

In June 2022, shocking videos started circulating online, showing violent clashes between African migrants and Moroccan border guards. They were filmed on a tiny piece of land where Morocco meets Spain – a gateway into Europe – and show the bodies of African migrants being thrown to the ground, beaten and crushed. Twenty-four people died in the incident, and many more are still missing. Africa Eye verified dozens of videos, collected testimonies from survivors and gained exclusive access to the border infrastructure to piece together the most comprehensive investigation into the tragedy and ask – was it preventable?

Three years ago, BBC Africa Eye's Nancy Kacungira reported on the plight of three young women, Mercy, Scovia and Esther who left their homes to find jobs as domestic workers. Commonly referred to as ‘housegirls', the film chronicled their hard lives and illustrated how being employed as a domestic worker can sometimes lead to mistreatment and even abuse.

Now Nancy is back and catching up with the three young women to find out how their lives have changed since she last saw them. From babies to boutiques to back to school, Nancy discovers how each former domestic worker has overcome difficulties and embraced their new lives.