What can we learn from the life and execution of Mahmood Mattan?

09/23/22 • 17 min

Mahmood Mattan was born in 1923 and was a young man when he left his home in Hargeisa, in what later became Somaliland, to live in Cardiff in Wales. He settled in a community called Tiger Bay, worked as a seaman, got married and had three children. In 1952 he was accused of murdering Lily Volpert, a local businesswoman. He was found guilty and executed by hanging in prison.

For years Mahmood Mattan’s family maintained his innocence and his conviction was quashed in 1998. Last week, 70 years after Mahmood Mattan’s execution, South Wales police apologised and admitted the prosecution was "flawed".

In today’s Africa Daily, Victoria Uwonkunda has been finding out more about the life and death of Mahmood Mattan from Danielle Fahiya, the presenter/producer of a new BBC podcast called Mattan: Injustice of a Hanged Man.

Previous Episode

Why are so many people dying on Uganda’s roads?

When former journalist, Joseph Bayanga, witnessed the death of three generations of a family on a Kampala road - a mother, daughter and grandchild – he decided enough was enough.

More people die on Uganda’s roads – 14 every day – than anywhere else in East Africa.

Kampala’s Mulago National Referral Hospital even has a special ward just for the drivers of boda bodas who account for the highest number of deaths. Boda bodas are the motorbike taxis which weave precariously through the traffic at every junction with one, two or even three passengers on their backs.

So Joe reinvented himself as a road safety campaigner ‘Joe Walker’ and walked 340 km in just 10 days from Kampala to his home town of Bushenyi to raise awareness on the subject.

For Africa Daily Alan Kasujja takes a drive round Kampala’s roads with Joe and asks: can anything be done to make Uganda’s roads safer?

Presenter: Alan Kasujja @kasujja Guest: Joe Beyanga @akeda4

Next Episode

What has William Ruto been up to since becoming Kenya’s president?

Within ten days of being sworn in as Kenya’s 5th president, William Ruto found himself attending two of the largest global events this year with other heads of state - Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) - a gathering of leaders and NGOs and activists alike in the US state of New York.

Away from the glitzy streets of New York and the UN, loads await the new president back home.

A struggling economy, now made worse with the cost of living crisis, unemployment is still a struggle for many and these are some of the top issues President Ruto and his government have to tackle.

Away from the big tasks at hand, there’s also that now infamous fallout between him and his former boss Uhuru Kenyatta, who snubbed him and instead supported another candidate during the election.

So when Alan Kasujja sat down with him in New York during the UNGA to find out what Kenya’s new president, William Samoei Ruto, has been up to in his first couple of weeks in charge, there was plenty to talk about.