Pulse List: 5 significant global events in 2024

2024 has been an episodic year which threw up some interesting developments in all spheres of human interactions. From political contestations, social unrest resulting from strife for economic survival, and tragedies involving leaders of state, the outgoing year has been nothing short of a rollercoaster.

Each development, though local, mostly reverberated throughout the world, forcing global citizens to demand actions from leaders to protect the sanctity and continued existence of the shared planet.

As the world continues learning to adjust and adapt to the new realities occasioned by these occurrences, 2024 has once again tested humans' resolve and ability to respond to sudden changes in a complex yet dynamic world.

With 2024 galloping towards the end, Pulse highlights some significant episodes in a series of events, which had significant socioeconomic and political impacts on millions of people across the world.

The political theme for the years was ‘comeback back’ as many opposition figures and candidates recorded huge wins in countries where elections were held to choose new national leaders.

In the United States, former President Donald Trump rose from his defeat to Joe Biden in 2020 to stage a landslide, convincing win in November against Kamala Harris, the incumbent Vice President.

Harris was tossed into the fray to give Trump strong competition after President Biden opted out of the race following his hugely underwhelming outing in a debate with the Republican candidate in June.

However, Trump's return to the Oval Office proved inevitable, as he roundly beat Harris to secure what he described as an “unprecedented and powerful” mandate to rule.

Like the US, like Ghana!

It was a similar case in Ghana where former President John Dramani Mahama defeated incumbent Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, to win another term of office in the December 7 election.

Mahama's victory came as Ghanaians had grown weary of the country's economic struggles under outgoing president, Nana Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party.

Observes attributed Bawumia's defeat to the failure of the outgoing government, which paved the way for Mahama to reclaim the seat after his loss as incumbent in the 2016 election.

Keir Starmer's Labour Party upset the Conservatives

The theme also repeated itself in the United Kingdom where the Conservative Party, under the leadership of Rishi Sunak, lost disastrously in the July parliamentary elections to the Labour Party led by Sir Keir Starmer.

The Conservative Party recorded its worst-ever results in the contest winning 121 seats while Labour Party won 412. Consequently, Sunak stepped down as both PM and party leader, paving the way for Starmer’s emergence at 10 Downing.

The election also claimed a few scalps amongst which is a former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who lost her seat of South West Norfolk. Conversely, Nigel Farage was eighth time lucky as he was elected to the Commons for the first time, marking his comeback to the frontline of politics with his Reform UK emerging as the third-largest party by number of votes.

Another event that caught global attention was the protests in Kenya, which began in the middle of the year. Young people in the East African country trooped to the streets on June 18 to protest against bad governance, corruption and mainly the tax increase in the proposed Financial Bill.

The demonstrations continued for weeks, as protesters grew in numbers courtesy of strong mobilisation by youths on various social media platforms. However, things turned ugly after demonstrators invaded the Kenyan Parliament in Nairobi.

The invaders overwhelmed police and chased them away before setting fire to sections of the parliament building as lawmakers inside passed a bill to raise taxes.

In response, the reinforced police team killed five people while trying to subdue the rioters. Subsequently, the street demonstrations were met with stronger police resistance, resulting in more killings and the destruction of public and private properties.

Rigathi Gachagua, who had supported the protest against raising taxes was later impeached as the Kenyan Vice President.

The Kenyan experience sparked a similar movement in Nigeria, where citizens staged a 10-day nationwide protest against hunger and hardship.

Trump may have coasted to victory in the election but his journey back to Washington was quite perilous with two failed attempts on his life.

While speaking at a campaign outing in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, Trump came under assassination attack as one Thomas Matthew Crooks fired shots into the rally from an elevated position outside the venue.

The former President escaped just by the whiskers as the bullet hit his right ear, which was visibly bleeding as he was rushed out of the venue. The shooter, as well as a rally attendee, were killed while another two were left injured.

The incident led to the resignation of former US Secret Service director Kim Cheatle 10 days later.

Also, Trump survived another potential attempt on September 15 when Ryan Wesley Routh was sighted bearing a rifle in shrubs at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while the former President was golfing at the club.

Secret Service officers shot at Routh, who fled the scene in a flash. The suspect was later arrested while driving away.

The two incidents triggered a global concern about election violence in the US, a country that prides itself as the bastion of democracy.

On 19 May 2024, President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran tragically lost his life in a helicopter crash.

Raisi met President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the Giz Galasi hydroelectric complex along their countries' borders to inaugurate it and to commission the Khoda Afarin hydroelectric complex.

The incident occurred near the village of Uzi, East Azerbaijan after he departed for Tabriz by helicopter to inaugurate a project at an oil refinery.

It was gathered that the Iran Meteorological Organisation had issued an orange weather warning (severe weather that may cause damage or accidents) for the region a day before the crash.

Malawian Vice President, Saulos Chilima suffered a similar fate when he, together with eight others, died in a plane crash in the Chikangawa Forest Reserve in the north of the country on June 10.

He, alongside, eight other victims, were on their way to attend the funeral of former government minister Ralph Kasambara.

An inquiry released on December 14 ruled that the crash was due to weather and human error, ruling out foul play.

After hanging on for well over a decade, President Bashar al-Assad's regime was eventually toppled by the Syrian armed rebel factions, led by the Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Assad fled Syria on December 6 after armed opposition fighters overpowered government forces and seized the capital city of Damascus. The rebels captured Mohammad Ghazi Al-Jalal and forced him to resign as Prime Minister and hand over the reins of power.

This marked the end of the Assad regime which was the only one standing among nations that were affected by the Arab Spring of 2011.

The movement, which led to change of guards in Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, manifested in protests calling for political reforms and the reinstatement of civil rights.