Mamelodi Sundowns all but sealed a Women’s African Champions Leaguesemi-final place as the holders thrashed Egypt’s Wadi Degla 5-0 in Marrakech on Thursday.
Lelona Daweti’s third goal of the tournament put the South Africans in front early on before Melinda Kgadiete, a first-half substitute, added another in the 25th minute.
Mahira Ali forced a brilliant save off Sundowns goalkeeper Andile Dlamini three minutes after the restart but Boitumelo Rabale made it 3-0 on the hour mark before quickly adding her second five minutes later.
Bambanani Mbane’s goal in the 76th minute – from Chantelle Esau brilliant cross – added gloss to the scoreline for Sundowns, who need just a point from their final game to reach the last four.
In Group B’s other game, first-half goals from Ogoma Joseph and Grace Igboamalu were enough to give Nigerians Bayelsa Queens a 2-0 victory over DR Congo’s TP Mazembe.
Joseph opened the scoring from the spot in the fourth minute before Igboamalu doubled the lead 20 minutes later.
Sundowns sit top of the group on six points after two games, with Bayelsa Queens and TP Mazembe on three points and Wadi Degla pointless.
The Queens need to beat Wadi Degla in Rabat on Sunday to be sure of progress, while Mazembe have it all to do against Sundowns in the quest for a place in the last four.
A Kenyan company that makes safer indoor burning stoves is among the 15 finalists in the running to win a $1.2m (£1m) environmental award founded by the Prince of Wales.
Charlot Magayi, who used to sell charcoal for fuel, started Mikuru Clean Stoves initiative after suffering repeated respiratory infections due to charcoal and her daughter was severely burnt by a stove.
The company provides cleaner burning stoves to reduce unhealthy indoor pollution and a safer way to cook.
Her eco-stoves use processed biomass made from charcoal, wood and sugar cane, and claims they cause 90% less pollution than an open fire. She hopes to create an even cleaner version which burns ethanol.
Mozambique isn’t a country I report a lot on, but DJ Tarico is putting it firmly on the musical map.
He’s a super versatile producer who seems to be able to turn out hit after hit with different artists and in several musical genres.
Now he’s conquered the amapiano scene with tracks so good even the South Africans are fooled.
Already making waves across the continent with his 2020 hit Yaba Buluku, he gained global exposure the following year when Burna Boy collaborated on a remix of the song.
DJ Tarico began experimenting in music back in 2010 when a school friend taught him how to play with sounds on a computer.
He also had a friend who was a DJ so he had two people to guide him at the start, and in the beginning he was producing hip hop because that was what he listened to most.
“When I felt I was producing good, I tried to change a bit. One thing that I like is to keep growing. I don’t like to be static.”
So he changed from hip hop to Kuduro.
“Kuduro is the style of Angola. Kuduro at that time was rocking all over the place. So then I moved from Kuduro to Kizomba, that dance when people are too close!,” he laughs.
“After that I changed to Panza, our regional style here. That time I became a big producer here in Mozambique when I started producing local styles here.”
He says that Panza was invented by DJ Ardiles and Ziqo.
“They tried to mix Raga music with Marabenta. We tried to put more electronics on the traditional sounds.”
He says it was quite hard back then as they didn’t know anything about the music industry, “we were just doing it”.
He later switched again to Amapiano. “At that time amapiano was growing in Moz, so why not?”
Burna Boy heard Yaba Buluku in a club and jumped on board the track propelling to the global stage with the remix.
DJ Tarico says the track changed his life.
“Now DJ Tarico is not a local artist, he’s an international artist. It’s the first time in Mozambique you see? It’s a hope for more Mozambican artists. It’s like a spark. They are now working more because they know that it’s possible. I became like an example here in Mozambique.”
As a result he says the music industry is now changing in Mozambique, with artists becoming more aware of digital platforms on which to promote their work.
But DJ Tarico has no plans to leave Mozambique in order to enhance his career.
“From Southern Africa we don’t like to emigrate too much. It’s sweet bro!”
Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has ruled the West African country for 43 years, launched his bid for a sixth term on Thursday.
Mr Obiang, 80, seized power in 1979 from President Francisco Macias Nguema, who was the leader at independence and whose rule prompted a mass exodus and thousands of deaths.
The general elections are scheduled for 20 November.
The president told a rally that his party had chosen him to run “because I am the symbol of peace that reigns in Equatorial Guinea”, the AFP news agency reports.
AFP adds that the country has 425,000 registered voters out of a population of around 1.4 million.
The economy of Ghana was described as a model economy for a developing country and praised by many experts as one of the fast-growing economies in the world. In 2021, Bloomberg published a report that Ghana’s economic growth was faster for two years running, outperforming forecasts of government and the International Monetary Fund. The IMF described the economy as better than expected. The World Bank also indicated a growth of about 7% for 2017-19. With all these impressive testimonies and figures, one question remains: what went wrong? Well, journey with me as we explore the ‘why’ behind the economic recession and the Ghanaian cedi being forced to its knees.
Bonds
A debt (bond) in itself is not a bad thing, but the use of the proceeds can make a whole lot of difference. Although when sovereign bonds are issued government assumes a liability, foreign currency flowed into the economy. Every tranche of the bond proceeds received into the economy supplied more US dollarsthan demanded by the market. This gave strength to the cedi. The US dollars needed for importing production materials were readily available at a relatively cheaper price, thus production increased at a cheaper cost.
Ghana’s economic fundamentals showed resilience, with impressive numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic when the rest of the world struggled. One of the main reasons accounting for this was the covid restrictions. Yes, the covid restrictions. Ghana, just like most of its peers on this continent, is an import-based economy that spends billions of dollars on imports annually. There was less demand for the US dollar as a result of covid-restrictive measures on importation. This resulted in the cedi holding up strongly against the US dollar.
There are two sides to the many reasons that have been attributed to depreciation of the cedi and economic recession. One side is government blaming depreciation of the cedi on naysayers and speculators, COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war. On the other hand, a section of the citizenry is blaming it on corruption and the failure of economic managers. Let’s journey together as we find out if these accusations indeed have any merit.
COVID-19
COVID-19 sent a great shock-wave through the global economy. Rising fears of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the global economy toward recession. Global commodity prices came tumbling down. And one of the main sources of income streams and foreign exchange earnings for Ghana is commodity exports. Many investors – in an attempt to avoid the exposure upon seeing the hits to the commodity market – fled the emerging-market assets; thus creating a huge trade deficit. This increased pressure on the cedi. And the covid pandemic fears brought the global economy to a stop with all the restrictions.
At the pandemic’s peak, many companies recorded losses. When the covid restrictions were eased, economies went into overdrive in an attempt to rapidly recover from the impact of covid; and Ghana was no exception. Countries in a bid to revive their economies increased production. The demand for production materials increased more than the market could supply. This resulted in price increases. Ghana, an import-based economy, faced the challenge of high prices on the international market, thus creating high demand for the US dollar and further weakening the cedi.
The high prices on the international market together with depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar triggered inflation in the local market.
The Russia-Ukraine war
The Russia-Ukraine war is a global catastrophe. Russia and Ukraine are the production factories of the world. Russia produces 31.2% of the total grain imported. In the first two months of 2022, 50.0% and 39.2% of flour and fertiliser imports, respectively, were also from Russia. Over 60% of Ghana’s iron ore and steel imports were from Ukraine. The construction and agricultural sectors of Ghana’s economy were greatly hit by the supply disruptions and price increase of these commodities. This also fuelled the local market’s inflation, consequently weakening the cedi.
There have been arguments about the impact of speculation on depreciation of the cedi: but if history is anything to go by, we can make reference to black Wednesday – popularly known as the day speculators, led by George Soros, broke the British pound sterling. In the early 1990s, the UK joined the ERM (Exchange Rate Mechanism) to stimulate unification of the European economies. The UK, trailing in the Germans’ shadow, increased interest rates in its desperation to attract investors to the depreciating pound sterling. George Soros backed his speculation by taking a short position in the pound sterling. George Soros pocketed a profit of US$1billion from the £3.3billion the British Treasury lost in its failed attempt to hold up the pound.
The use of policy rate
The fear of covid pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war have greatly disrupted the demand and supply chain, and triggered inflation across the globe. Most central banks in their attempt to combat inflation are raising their policy rate, and Ghana did the same. The question, then, is why did this strategy rather increase the rate of inflation? This can be attributed to the fact that the policy rate was raised too slowly. This allowed inflation to gather momentum and thus become too difficult to stop.
The longer high prices linger, the more future inflation expectations build. This resulted in people buying more in anticipation of prices rising further – perpetuating high demand and speeding up inflation in the process. The US Federal Reserve led by Paul Volcker raised the policy rate from 11.20% to 20% in the 1980s. The economy went into a recession, but the double-digit inflation was tamed. Paul Volcker raising the rates too quickly is like slamming the brakes on a car that’s speeding downhill: the economy came to a standstill, allowing economic managers to press the reset button and take control of affairs.
Printing and Introduction of the New Note
Contrary to slowing inflation, printing and introducing new notes into the economy did not increase Ghana’s economic output. It only increased the inflation. When the new notes were introduced, the amount of cash circulating in the economy increased. Now more money was chasing fewer goods in the economy. When the demand for goods became more than the supply, the market responded by adjusting price upward triggering inflation. This also resulted in the cedi losing value against the US dollar.
Rising debt
Ghana has relied on the international bonds market to fund government expenditures. This has increased the country’s interest costs on international bonds in the capital market. Repayment of maturing interests created high demand for the US dollar. Labelled junk, Ghana’s bond market saw investors flee our securities. With its inability to raise funds on the international capital market, Ghana was forced to supply debit domestically – crowding out businesses and slowing down productivity. The value of the cedi dropped.
Reset button
The country’s economic predicaments have gone beyond the fundamentals. Panic and speculation rule the day. People are rushing for the US dollar as a safe haven. Investments and savings are no longer appealing as a result of the ‘haircut’ speculation. Some traders are holding up their products in anticipation of a price increase. Other traders are also increasing prices in anticipation of future cedi depreciation. There is a loss of confidence in the economic managers.
The country’s economic outlook looks gloomy, but not all hope is lost. This is the right time to press the reset button and start from scratch. Government should make a deliberate attempt to restore confidence. This is the period when government must come clean on the true state of the nation with enhanced debt transparency; because hidden debts, most of the time, become known at the worst possible time and thereby deepen any crisis. The country’s leadership must communicate the challenges facing us as a nation. Government should reshuffle its economic managers. The president’s team of communicators should sing the same version of the song, and not otherwise.
The president should let the citizenry see that he recognises we are in difficult times, by drastically reducing the size of his government and budget allocations. This will create a little fiscal space for government. Government should communicate a pragmatic programme to get us out of this situation, and this should be backed by actions.
Social interventions
Targetted social interventions toward the poor and vulnerable are highly recommended, as depreciation of the cedi and the high inflation level have left the majority of Ghanaians impoverished. Research shows that more than 50% of Ghanaian households’ income goes into food expenditure. In the short-term, Ghanaians should revise the planting-for-food programme as a top priority project. Crops with harvesting times of three months to a year should be prioritised. This is to enable the citizenry get access to cheaper foods within the shortest time possible. Abundant food supplies will lower food prices and reduce inflation. Also, the cedi will start gaining strength against the US dollars since the importation of some food items will decline.
The Bank of Ghana
The central bank plays a pivotal role in every economy, but can only do so much with its foreign reserves and management of the banking system; it cannot control inflation. Over-reliance on the central bank by government as the fallback lender depleted the foreign reserves, which caused currency depreciation. Government should leave the central bank to attend to its business – managing the banking system and creating liquidity in the economy.
Government should desist from monetisation of the debt (financing debts by printing money). The public debt should be brought to sustainable levels with economic growth, spearheaded by the agricultural sector and taxation. The tax regime must be reviewed. Some taxes on fuel and the import of essential commodities must be scrapped to further lower the price of fuel and essentials to lessen the difficulties of Ghanaians in turbulent times. The tax managers must be tasked to find innovative methods of ensuring everybody in the informal sector pays tax.
Government should improve the quality of its spending. Public spending should be more performance-oriented. Government should reduce its reliance on high-cost, short-term funding. Economic managers should be more prudent in managing debt so as to reduce debt service costs. There should be massive reforms in the state-owned enterprises to make them profitable.
Now the verdict
The cedi’s fall cannot be attributed to any single isolated cause but a collective one: external uncontrollable events (covid, Russia-Ukraine war), mismanagement, wrong economic decisions and speculation by citizens.
Yes, the cedi will regain its strength. Yes, we will recover from this recession. But we all have to play our part, as citizens and as government, to fight the uncontrollable external events. Now more than ever, we will have to live the adage “a single broomstick breaks easily when bent; but together with other broomsticks and bent from every angle, it will not break”.
Globe Productions Limited, organiser of the Ghana Business Awards, has honoured industry players and businesses at the fifth edition of the Awards. The event was held at the Kempiski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra, and featured deserving people and businesses receiving competitive honourary recognition awards.
Themed ‘Promoting Investment in Ghana and Africa’, the event saw the CEOs of National Petroleum Authority, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, and Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai, winning the CEO of the Year awards for the Public and Private Sectors respectively; while Nick Danso Adjei of Ghana Link Network Services Ltd. was adjudged Entrepreneur of the Year.
The Board Chairman of MTN Ghana, Dr. Ishmael Yamson, and the Quiz Mistress of the National Science and Maths Quiz, Prof Elsie Effah Kaufmann, received the Lifetime Achievement and Woman of Excellence awards; while the Founder and Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of Companies, Joseph Siaw Agyepong, was adjudged CEO of the Decade.
The CEO Of Duncs Consult Ltd., Sarfowaa Duncan, emerged as Promising CEO of the Year; with the Promising Entrepreneur of the Year award going to Bethel Logistics Company’s CEO, Kofi Annor-Adu, in the young and emerging categories. The CEO of ECOM Ghana, Muhammadu Muzzammi, was adjudged Social Entrepreneur of the Year
All award-winners and dignitaries
In a keynote address delivered on his behalf by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Mark Okraku-Mantey, the sector minister Dr. Ibrahim Awal urged businesses to partner government to scale challenges facing the economy.
He said regarding the recent economic challenges, of which government is aware, it will take a combined effort to address them.
Touching on tourism, Dr. Awal described the country as the third-best destination for tourists in West Africa and encouraged businesses to prepare and take advantage of prospective visitors during the Yuletide – adding that hotels, restaurants, air-bus and transport service providers stand to benefit more.
The occasion’s Chairperson, Madam Samia Nkrumah, in her address said she is happy to see the captains and queens of industry celebrating the successes of their hard work, and urged them to work even harder to realise the country’s first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s vision of economic freedom.
For his part, Dr. Ishmael Yamson – who received the Lifetime Achievement award, advised businesses to have faith in the country, noting that the country has always emerged victorious after going through difficulties. “Having been in corporate life for 56 years, I have seen this many times in the country, and I have only one advice to give entrepreneurs here: stay with Ghana,” he said.
Considered a benchmark of excellence, the event has arguably been the biggest and most prestigious gathering of businesses and business owners in Ghana and seeks to promote business excellence nationally and internationally, and as well as provide an unparalleled opportunity for networking among industry players.
The event brought together corporate executives in the private and public sector to dine, wine, celebrate excellence and share ideas on how to improve their operations.
In attendance were the Spanish and United Arab Emirates Ambassadors to Ghana, Messrs Javier Gutiérrez and Khalifa Yousif Alzaabi, as well as the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Mr. Charles Abani.
The event was in partnership with the World Leader Summit; Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture; Ghana Investment Promotion Centre and the Institute of Directors (IoD), and supported by the Graphic Communications Group Limited and Media General.
One would have thought that corporate workers doing full-time jobs would opt to use their weekends and other free time to take some rest. But that is far from the present situation, as workers are now adding more work to maintain their standard of living.
Data from Ghana Statistical Services show that consumer inflation has further increased to 37.2 percent in September 2022 – inching ever-closer to the 40 percent mark last seen in the early 2000s. The annual inflation rate accelerated for the 16th straight month by 4.7 percentage points from 33.9 percent in August, the highest reading since June of 2001 when inflation recorded 36.8 percent. This makes it the highest rate recorded in 243 months, equivalent to 21 years, three months.
The increase in price pressures continue to be fuelled by elevated petroleum and transport costs, as well as higher food costs and a weakening local currency.
The current economic hardships, characterised by hikes in price of almost every commodity on the market, has eroded the value of consumers’ income; thereby creating uncertainty about the future. This has compelled some of workers to engage in various small businesses to beef-up their income to survive.
Some who spoke to the B&FT said the move has become necessary, as their regular income is no longer able to cater for all their needs.
A journalist for an Accra-based online news platform, Beyonce Diamond Kpogli, says the only way she is surviving is by taking on additional side-jobs – the preparation and sale of chilli-sauce, popularly known as shito.
“Without my side-business, I don’t know what would have happened to me now. I prepare chilli-sauce (shito) and sell. I also work with a borehole drilling company as a social media manager.
“I engage in other businesses due to the current standard of living in the country. Things are really expensive; and with what I earn from corporate work, I cannot survive on it alone,” Ms. Kpogli said.
Rahmat Sulaiman, a public servant, works full-time and also runs a mobile money business as a merchant – and also sells fragrances and veils on the side to support her salary.
According to her, it is due to hardship and the unstable economic conditions that she has had to stress to work so much.
“Times are very hard, and I am unable to survive on my salary. When the salary comes in at the end of the month, it can get finished in about week because of how prices of commodities have shot up and keep increasing each day. If I wasn’t doing all these businesses, I don’t know how I would survive.”
She also lamented that even though there are constant price hikes in commodities, salaries are not being raised – a situation she said is worrying.
Asked how she manages to combine all these duties, Rahmat said she mostly does it remotely. For instance, with the mobile money, she facilitates transactions for her colleagues and operates at home, too, when she closes from work and during weekends. The fragrances and veils, she said, are done online based on orders.
Inna Hajar Osman’s story is no different. She is currently a process clerk at the Judicial Service of Ghana, but also planning on starting a small online business aside from her job. Before she got her job at the Judicial Service she was running a small food business; however, she was sent to a different region, which made her quit the food business.
According to her, her current salary is not enough; and so adding a business will enable her to cater for her needs and also enhance her savings.
She said: “My monthly salary is not dependable; it vanishes into thin air after I receive it. So if I should add any side-business, it will help sustain me before my salary comes in; and I will even be able to save”.
A well retooled Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) could offer Ghanaians much needed relief in the face of a rising economic crisis that has seen pump prices of fuel products shoot up by more than 100 percent this year, the energy think-tank Institute for Energy Security (IES) has said.
In the current economic climate where countries are increasingly looking for more home-grown solutions to weather the storm, it said there is no better time than now to finally revamp the ailing refinery – since this could be pivotal in transforming the country’s economic fortunes.
The IES’ comments come on the back of reports about top government functionaries having to leave the country’s shores to hunt for what they describe as ‘reliable and regular sources of affordable petroleum products’.
The IES therefore believes that government’s continual appetite for reliable and affordable fuel elsewhere defeats the president’s proclaimed intention for TOR and the economy of Ghana.
“Instead of giving priority to domestic refining of Ghana’s indigenous crude oil, government is rather resorting to gambling on the importation of liquid fuels without giving a thought to the guarantee of sufficient and reliable supply of same,” an IES statement said.
It said the search for that heavily discounted fuel price from elsewhere is an unrealistic hope, and the team may return empty handed unless the expectation/request is exchanged with something valuable to the would-be supplier.
“It is shocking to hear that the energy ministry is actually leading a group roaming the world looking for reliable and regular sources of affordable petroleum products for Ghanaians,abandoning its role of urgently bringing TOR into an operational mode to provide that reliability for an uninterrupted supply of fuel to the country,” the statement further lamented.
It also described government’s sudden appetite for imported fuels to address reliability and cost-related issues at the expense of revamping the country’s only refinery as reactionary, morally indefensible, a misplaced priority and a deliberate attempt to increase the Ghanaian economy’s fiscal burden.
Rather, it noted, the search for a reliable and affordable source of petroleum products starts with the Tema Oil Refinery, which has been down since March 2021 due to lack of crude oil – the refinery’s main raw material.
The statement, signed by Fritz Moses – a research analyst at IES, insisted that the state is better-off prioritising local crude refining instead of importing refined products.
“It beats one’s imagination how an oil-producing country with a refinery capacity of 45,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) will have its top government officials abandon its domestic competitive advantage and rather seek to import refined petroleum product from elsewhere in the name of reliability and affordability,” part of the statement said.
“Once more, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) wishes to appeal to the president to look within – bring back TOR in the shortest possible time, refine Ghana’s crude domestically, work to strengthen the local currency, and ensure an adequate amount of dollars is made available to importers of fuel,” it further added.
Glo customers in Ghana are now unable to load airtime from Glo recharge cards because the cards have been rendered invalid without prior notice to customers.
A Glo customer wrote to Techgh24 today, complaining that he only found out the recharge cards were invalid after he had bought one and tried to load it.
Upon trying to load the card, he got feedback which read as follows:
Dear Customer,
Please be informed that, all Glo scratch cards are invalid. To recharge, kindly use AirtelTigo scratch cards only. Thanks.
Meanwhile, when the customer reached out to AirtelTigo to find out how they could recharge the Glo scratch cards they already have in their possession, he was told that AirtelTigo is now working on how to make that happen.
It would be recalled that Glo Ghana, on April 23, 2022, migrated all of it 800,000 plus customers to AirtelTigo claiming it was part of national roaming arrangement.
But industry analysts debunked the national roaming claim, saying that the complete migration of customers pointed more to acquisition or a merger than national roaming.
This new development about invalidating Glo scratch cards clearly vindicates the notion that Glo and AirtelTigo are merging.
Staff left in the woods
Meanwhile, it appears that apart from customers, even the staff of Glo Ghana, particularly the Ghanaians, have also been left in the woods, while over 90 expatriate staff, comprising of Nigerian, Ivorians and Indians, have been moved to Nigeria, except for about six of them who are here to help complete the merger.
Techgh24 has gathered that the owner of Glo Ghana, Dr. Mike Adenuga Junior and his lieutenants in Ghana have not bothered to give any official information about his intentions to the Ghanaian staff since the migration of customers to AirtelTigo.
Following the migration, senior staff at Glo Ghana were asked to park their official cars and working tools, at designated places, but they were not told anything further about the way forward.
After months of enduring the deafening silence from the founder and his skeletal team in Ghana, the staff sought audience with the Director-General of National Communications Authority (NCA), Joe Anokye, and later with the Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, but to no avail.
At both NCA and the Ministry, they were asked to submit their complaints to either the secretaries or personal assistants of the top official, which they did, but nothing became of it.
In fact, one top official was said to have retorted that “I don’t want trouble o!”
The Glo staff were therefore left with no choice than to go to the National Labour Commission, where specific directives were given to the management of the company with regards to following due process in laying off workers, but till date nothing fruitful has become of that either.
As a result of the feet dragging, by Glo management, the staff through their representative, UNICOF, petitioned the Chief Labour Officer (CLO), at the Labour Department, and the CLO directed the management of Glo, as a matter of urgency, to begin negotiations with the workers, at the NLC as per the Labour Law.
But till date, the Glo management are still dragging their feet, so the staff, are now left with no choice than to speak out on the matter, particularly under these harsh economic conditions, characterized by skyrocketing food and fuel prices, and the scandalous free fall of the local currency.
Back Story
It would be recalled that Techgh24 reported, quoting deep throat sources, that the Glo migration to AirtelTigo was on the direct instructions of Dr. Adenuga, after he held a meeting with some very top government officials about some merger and shareholder deal involving AirtelTigo, Glo and Ghana Telecom (Vodafone Ghana).
Months after Glo migrated its customers to AirtelTigo, it emerged that Vodafone Ghana had agreed to sell its Ghana operations to Telecel Group, but the deal was in a limbo.
Following a report by Techgh24 that government was blocking the sale, the NCA came out and said the sale failed to meet regulatory requirements, without stating which specific regulatory requirements the deal failed to meet.
Later on, the Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful also stated in another forum that Telecel lacked the technical capacity and financial muscle to takeover and run Vodafone Ghana.
So, it became apparent that government had found reasons why the Vodafone-Telecel deal could not be allowed to happen.
Meanwhile, Techgh24 had gathered that government was only buying time till close of this year, when Vodafone will walk away without renewing its license in Ghana, so that government, being the minority shareholder in Ghana Telecom (Vodafone Ghana), would become the de facto owner of all the shares, so it can exact its AirtelTigo-Glo-Vodafone merger.
The idea is to create a formidable competitor for the runaway market leader, MTN Ghana, in a duopoly.
Meanwhile, the Glo staff have not been told officially what Dr. Adenuga’s actual intentions are, and they have been left hanging till date after being asked to park their official cars and working tools.
All the MPs in the New Patriotic Party Caucus in Parliament want Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta out of office, according to Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.
After a recent meeting, the Suame MP said the whole caucus now supports calls for the Finance Minister to resign or be sacked.
“Even though the issue started with a group of 80-plus, the caucus meeting aligned with the decision of that group.”
“So it is no longer the cause of the 80-plus group. It is the agenda for the entire caucus,” Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said to journalists in Parliament.
Last week, 80 majority MPs demanded the removal of Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister and the removal of Charles Adu Boahene as Minister of State at the Finance Ministry.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu had initially criticised the timing of the NPP MPs call for the Finance Minister to be removed because Ghana is currently pursuing support from the IMF.
In response to the calls from his own party’s MPs, President Akufo-Addo urged the MPs to hold on till Ghana concludes negotiations with the IMF.
Previous calls for the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta have been rebuffed by President Akufo-Addo, who said he would continue to back Mr. Ofori-Atta.
All the MPs on the Minority side are signatories to a motion for a vote of censure on Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister.
The Minority cited the overall mismanagement of the economy and ethical concerns, among others.
A Nigerian, Nicolas Aina, has been charged with murdering his mother Caroline Adeyelu, 64, and seriously wounding his sister Angel Adeyelu, 33, at their family home in Dagenham, East London, United Kingdom.
The 28-year-old is accused of entering his sister’s bedroom and repeatedly stabbing her with a knife, according to the international media.
Caroline reportedly stepped inside after hearing her daughter’s screams to find out what was happening, but the suspect allegedly lunged at her with the knife before running from the scene in Auriel Avenue.
Aina’s mother was pronounced dead at the scene, while his sister was treated in hospital for stab wounds and discharged.
A neighbour, Samantha Southey, who lived adjacent to the victims’ home, reportedly stated that she heard the commotion resulting from the incident.
She said, “I just heard a bit of commotion last night. The police knocked on the door and said they caught the person. It’s a little bit frightening.”
Aina was reported to have appeared at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court before Judge Philip Katz KC, on Tuesday, November 1, where he was charged with murder and attempted murder.
He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey Court on Thursday.
A detective of the East Area Command Unit, Superintendent Richard Vandenbergh, described the incident as ‘truly shocking’.
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The government has said GH¢2 million will be allocated for the construction of 15 two-bedroom apartments to resettle some victims displaced by tidal waves flooding in the Ketu South area.
Hundreds of residents in the Anlo district, Keta and Ketu South Municipalities were displaced by tidal waves some months ago.
Answering questions about plans by the government to have the victims relocated, the Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Letsa said the first batch of 150 victims will be relocated to the apartments by the end of the second quarter of 2023.
“The municipal assembly has initiated the construction of 15 two-bedroom apartments at Salakope to resettle about 150 victims of tidal waves in the municipality,” Dr. Letsa said.
The Minister said the project is expected to be completed by the end of June 2023 “to accommodate the first batch of victims.”
Residents in the Anlo district, Keta, and Ketu South Municipalities struggled with tidal waves flooding as they lost some of their communities to the ocean.
The flooding in November 2021, in particular, gained national attention after hundreds of residents were displaced.
Relief from the government in the immediate aftermath of the incident was described and as inadequate, with corporate organisations and former President John Mahama, among others, taking the lead in offering significant support.
After some criticism of the government’s response, the budget was revised and GHS10 million was allocated for feasibility studies for sea walls in affected communities.
Governance Watch Ghanahas described the government’s newly proposed property rate as illegal and counterproductive.
According to the group, the government’s new arrangement flies in the face of the Local Government Act, adding that it has the potential of depriving the already under-financed and impoverished Municipal Metropolitan and District Assemblies (MMDAs) funds if allowed.
The Government has proposed a new property rate, but Governance Watch has kicked against the initiative.
In a statement issued by Governance Watch Ghana, it said, “We do appreciate government’s efforts to enhance its revenue mobilization through innovation and strengthening of tax compliance. However, this does not justify the government hiding behind enhancing revenue collection to violate the laws of the country and, in effect, short-change the Ghanaian people.”
“It is against this backdrop that we have through our continuous vigilance uncovered a dubious single-sourced contract signed by the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development with a service provider to develop a unified common platform for property rate collection. The amorphous service provider, who has no track record whatsoever in the area of revenue collections, is expected to provide the funding for the evaluation of properties and to undertake the collection of property rates,” the statement claimed.
It cautioned the government to cease any further steps towards awarding the said illegal contract.
“We wish to serve notice, and notice is hereby served, that Government must forthwith, cease any further steps towards implementing the said illegal contract awarded, failing which we will be compelled to resist same through every lawful means, including massive street protests,” the press release said.
Read below Governance Watch Ghana’s statement.
Government approach to new property rate regime illegal and counterproductive – Governance Watch Ghana
After a painstaking analysis and consideration of government’s newly proposed Property Rate regime, Governance Watch has come to the conclusion that the initiative although laudable in principle, is unlawful and counterproductive in its current form.
We have taken this view because the new arrangement flies in the face of the Local Government Act and has the potential of depriving our already under-financed and impoverished MMDAs of funds if allowed.
The Finance Minister in his presentation of the 2022 Budget Statement and Fiscal Policy of Government, specifically at paragraph 303, recognizing the potential contribution of property rates to Government’s revenue mobilization effort stated in part:
“Government, through the Ghana Revenue Authority will from January 2022, assist the MMDAs to implement a common platform for property rate administration to enhance Property rate collections and its accountability.”
While underscoring the critical role and mandate of MMDA’s to collect Property Rates, the Minister made a commitment to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) thus;
“To ensure cost recovery by Government in providing the infrastructure for the collection of the Property Rate, a sharing ratio will be agreed with the Assemblies.”
We do appreciate government’s efforts to enhance its revenue mobilization through innovation and strengthening of tax compliance. However, this does not justify government hiding behind enhancing revenue collection to violate the laws of the country and in effect, shortchange the Ghanaian people.
It is against this backdrop that we have through our continuous vigilance uncovered a dubious single-sourced contract signed by the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development with a service provider to develop a unified common platform for property rate collection. The amorphous service provider who has no track record whatsoever in the area of revenue collections, is expected to provide the funding for the evaluation of properties and to undertake the collection of property rates.
This arrangement contravenes Section 144 of the Local Governance Act 2016, (Act 936), which provides that: “A District Assembly shall be the only authority to levy rates for a District despite any customary law to the contrary.”
Per the provisions of Act 936, the Minister of Finance and by extension, the Ministry of Finance has no power to sign a deal that seeks to centralize the collection of property rates and give responsibilities of MMDAs across the country to a single company.
It is worthy of note that, under the new property rate regime, only 30% of property rates collected by the service provider through the common platform will be remitted to MMDAs. The remaining 70% will be shared among the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ministry of Finance and the service provider. This arrangement is not only unlawful, but has the potential of depriving MMDAs of a substantial chunk of property rate revenues thereby weakening them further and stifling local level development.
We are deeply concerned that this arrangement and the profit-sharing arrangement therein, if not immediately halted, can become yet another vehicle for misappropriation and misapplication of public funds as we have seen in times past.
The mandate of MMDAs to mobilize resources at their level to aid development at the local level strikes at the core of decentralization.
Under the laws of this country, only MMDAs have the mandate to undertake or to engage third parties to on their behalf, to undertake revenue collections in their jurisdictions. Section 161 Subsection (2) of Act 936 is clear about this, stating thus: “A District Assembly may, in writing, authorise any suitable person, to be a rate collector in respect of a specified area of a district”.
It goes without saying therefore, that mandating the Ghana Revenue Authority to develop a common platform for the collection of property rates which is what has culminated in the award of a single-sourced contract to a service provider to collect property rates in the country, is illegal as no such mandate has been extended to any body or institution apart from District Assemblies.
Section 153 of Act 936 provides clarity on the entities and individuals responsible for rate assessment which specifically are the Regional Minister and District Assembly. No such responsibility is extended to the Minister of Finance or the Ghana Revenue Authority.
Also, in furtherance of the mandate of the Assemblies and to ensure that revenues accruing from property rates are properly accounted for, Sections 161 and 162 of Act 936 make clear where payments accruing from such rates are to be channeled. Particularly, Section 161, Subsection 3(c) states that: “A rate collector shall pay the amounts collected to the District Assembly concerned”. This renders a complete illegality, the engagement of an agent for the collection of these revenues into a centralized GRA account.
In view of the forgoing, we are of the conviction that the new property rate regime the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government is seeking to introduce is illegal and counterproductive, as it portends grave danger for the finances of local assemblies and local level development. This is particularly so, given the devastating effects of the undue delay in Common Fund releases and the debilitating effects of the obnoxious Capping and Realignment program on the finances of MMDAs and local level development.
It is totally unacceptable for government to disregard the law and award a contract that constitutes a usurpation of the powers of MMDAs in the name of property rate collections. We are of the considered view that any attempts to review and/or strengthen the property rate regime of the country as a means of increasing revenue must be done at the local level by MMDAs and not the Finance Ministry and/or the Ghana Revenue Authority. At best, efforts can be geared towards building the capacity of the District Assemblies to undertake this exercise which falls directly within their legal mandate.
We therefore call on Government to immediately halt this unlawful and counterproductive initiative. More importantly, we wish to call on Parliament to exercise its oversight responsibility over the Executive on this matter by ensuring strict compliance with the laws of the country by the government.
We wish to serve notice, and notice is hereby served, that Government must forthwith, cease any further steps towards implementing the said illegal contract awarded, failing which we will be compelled to resist same through every lawful means, including massive street protests.
**END**
The food will be straight from the farm gate to reduce the price build-up on the items.
Speaking at a meeting with farmers in Sefwi Wiaso in the Western North Region, sector Minister Dr. Owusu Akoto Afriyie said “the ministry itself is going to take its own initiative.”
“We are going to link up with the farm gate so that we make all the arrangements to ensure that we put up kiosks on our compounds at the ministry, specifically for food from here [Sefwi Wiaso] and we are going to give it a lot of publicity,” the minister said.
Source: Ghana Statistical Service
As of September, inflation for food items stood at 37.8 percent while transport inflation stood at 43.6 percent.
Cereals and cereal products, from food like maize, had an inflation rate of 46 percent.
The minister has in the past called traders greedy because of the level of food inflation.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto held that inflation was not a function of food shortages, but among other things, overpricing by traders.
A senior lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Managementand Public Administration (GIMPA), Dr. Adwoa Yirenkyi Fianko is proposing the use of local materials in the treatment of polluted water due to illegal mining (galamsey) activities.
She says moringa seeds, coconut and corn husks have proven to be effective materials in dealing with galamsey-induced water contamination.
This came to light during a media engagement on on Galamsey, held on Thursday, November 3, 2022.
Dr. Fianko’s proposal was based on research findings from her doctoral thesis titled, “Impact of artisanal and small scale mining on water bodies and treatment; a case study of Birim River Basin in Ghana”.
Sharing her thoughts on how to deal with the menace, she said, coconut and corn husks are able to remove 100 percent of lead from polluted water whilst moringa seeds clear about 99 percent of iron particles.
Coconut husk and corn husk again remove about 97 and 88 percent of iron from polluted water, respectively.
Same materials are able to remove about 70 percent of arsenic from the water, “which is generally good”, she said.
Dr. Adwoa Yirenkyi Fianko further disclosed that, Moringa also serves as a coagulant, which has proven to be almost effective as an alum in the treatment of water.
“So these are some of the findings we came back with. With the moringa seeds, what you have to do is wash, dry and crush them and add them to the water and make sure that, there is some contact time. With the research, we used about 30 minutes contact time by just shaking it for about three minutes and allowing it to sit for a while”, the lecturer explained.
The media Galamsey Dialogue dubbed “Galamsey and Ghana’s Water Security” brought together important stakeholders in the water sector to deliberate on the state of Ghana’s water resources and examine the effects of illegal mining on Ghana’s water security.
The upsurge in activities of illegal miners poses threats on many levels to the country, among which national security and water security are the most prominent.
The pollution of water bodies, which provide the raw water for the production of potable water for the population, is particularly concerning as the threat seems to be escalating daily.
There have been concerns that, Ghana risks importing water in the coming years if steps are not taken to remedy the situation.
Drought-stricken Kenya has donated a planeload of relief supplies to neighbouring Somalia.
The donation has been met with an uproar on social media as more than a quarter of Kenyans living in arid and semi-arid areas are facing high levels of food insecurity, according to UN data.
The consignment included assorted food items and various assorted drugs, according to a statement by Kenya’s military.
The Kenyan Government has today delivered a planeload of emergency relief aid to the government of Somalia following the devastating bombings undertaken by Al Shabaab militia in Central Mogadishu. https://t.co/1mdoTEhZVYpic.twitter.com/yTxkkWDn2A
It said the relief aid was in response to last week’s bombings in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, that left 120 people dead.
“We feel the pain that our brothers and sisters in Somalia are feeling and we are grateful to President William Ruto for this initiative which will help alleviate the suffering of our neighbours,” said Colonel Victor Kang’ethe.
Pilots at Kenya’s national airline, Kenya Airways, will go strike this Saturday, union officials have announced.
The action comes days after the expiry of a two-week’s strike notice issued by the pilots’ union, who are demanding that the airline resumes contributions to their retirement fund.
The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa) says their members will not report for duty at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi from Saturday 06:00 local time.
It’s the largest airport in the country and the fourth busiest in Africa.
“Kenya Airways Management’s actions have left us with no other option,” reads the statement signed by union by general secretary Murithi Nyagah.
The union’s 14-day strike notice expired on Wednesday, but operations at the airline remained uninterrupted on Thursday.
Kenya Airways officials are yet to respond to the escalation of calls for a strike.
Earlier in the week, the company said it was unable to resume contributions to the pilots’ provident fund until 2023.
A French Parliament sitting has been adjourned after a Black lawmaker was asked by another to “return to Africa.”
NUPES MP Carlos Martens Bilongo was up standing to make a submission when he was screamed at by an unnamed colleague who is rumored to be from the far-right group.
The comment prompted a clearly stunned Bilongo, a member of the left-leaning France Insoumise party, and others on his side of the House to fiercely object.
Subsequently, a leader of the Parliament demanded which particular MP had uttered the phrase, but no one owned up as the far-right bloc started shouting.
The session was temporarily suspended.
Sickening and worrying. A French far-right MP yelled at NUPES MP Carlos Martens Bilongo to “return to Africa”. The Assembly was shocked. The session was suspended. pic.twitter.com/xh9DnlcyLF
Speaking outside Parliament after the incident, Bilongo expressed grave reservations at the comment and described it as a “shame,” and something he never in his life thought would be raised in Parliament.
Bilongo is a Member of the Foreign AffairsCommittee who was born on December 31, 1990 in Paris, he is the MP for Val-d’Oise (8th district).
The lawmaker is a 31-year-old from a Congolese background.
It appears Dwyane Wade’s ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, is not in support of the legal petition the former basketball star filed to officially change the gender and name of their 15-year-old transgender daughter. As reported by Face2Face Africa, Wade’s daughter, Zaya, came out to the world when she was just 12.
In legal documents obtained by The Blast, Siohvaughn alleges that Zaya is being pushed to make the decision because of financial benefits on the table. Wade had filed his petition at a Los Angeles County Court. In the legal documents, the former Miami Heat star asked the judge to formalize his 15-year-old daughter’s transition and also change her name from Zion Malachi Airamis Wade to Zaya Malachi Airamis Wade. And since Zaya is not yet an adult, the change can only take legal effect if she obtains a court order as well as the consent of her parents.
But in her objection to her ex-husband’s petition, Siohvaughn alleges that Wade is “attempting to circumvent the requirements of the Illinois final custody order judgment entered on March 14, 2011.” She alleges that the final custody order they reached allows for parental consultation, adding that before any important decision about their two children is to be made, Wade is also required to “discuss with and obtain input in the major decisions affecting care, welfare, activities, health, education and religious upbringing.”
Siohvaughn claims there “are multiple factors to be considered by the Court in determining the requests to change the minor child’s name and gender. The minor child is fifteen and one-half years old.” She also alleges that Wade “is positioned to profit from the minor child’s name and gender change with various companies through contacts and marketing opportunities including but not limited to deals with Disney.”
Siohvaughn also writes that the matter in question “has been highly reported in the media and there will likely be media pressure on the minor child.” She also claims Wade personally explained to her that the decision to have Zaya’s name and gender changed was because of financial reasons.
“I have concerns that (Dwyane) may be pressuring our child to move forward with the name and gender change in order to capitalize on the financial opportunities that he has received from companies,” she states.
She adds: “In April 2022, (Dwyane) invited me to one of his residences in Atlanta, Georgia. During this occasion, he informed me that a lot of money had been already made and that additional money will be made in relation to our child’s name and gender issue. (Dwyane) told me that he intended to make our child very famous due to the name and gender issue and also informed me that there would be endorsements/contracts associated therewith.”
Siohvaughn also writes that after she “inquired what companies had made deals, or was willing to make deals, with (Dwyane) regarding our child. Zion, who was present at the time, answered that various companies were interested and that Disney was a prospective company.”
Siohvaughn is therefore asking the court not to approve Wade’s decision and pass a judgment that would require that they wait until Zaya turns 18 before she makes such a decision, per The Blast.
“(Siohvaughn) contends that the minor child be given the opportunity at the age of majority, which is two and one-half years away, to make this monumental decision for themselves. She has strong concerns that (Dwyane) may be pressuring or incentivizing the minor child with lucrative financial opportunities in order to proceed with this instant Petition,” she writes.
She also states in the documents that she’s probably not in full support of their daughter legally changing her gender. She writes that she is “concerned that due to the high profile nature of this case if the minor child is not fully in support of the requested relief (and is being pressured by Dwyane or financial opportunities), the media would pressure and scrutinize her.
Siohvaughn claims that since she and Wade reached their custody agreement in Illinois, her ex-husband is not entitled to make that decision. She said laws pertaining to such cases are unique from state to state, adding that the Illinois Department of Public health demands “an affidavit from the individual AND a declaration of gender transition to be completed, by either a licensed health care professional or licensed mental health professional to confirm that the individual has either undergone clinically appropriate treatment for gender transition or has an intersex condition.”
A judge is set to rule on the case in December. “I am concerned that our child is being commercialized at a young age and also of the uncontrollable consequences of media exposure i.e. cyberbullying, statements and/or pictures taken out of context of our child, and the unwanted spotlight focused on our child,” Siohvaughn states.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has reiterated his resolve to sell Nigeria’s refineries to businessmen if elected president.
Atiku said businessmen would better manage the country’s refineries if they were allowed to manage them. He made the declaration during an interview with the Voice of America, VOA, Hausa Service, in Washington DC.
Asked about the refineries, Atiku said: “My position on this is not new, I already said years ago, I will sell them, because if you give [them] to businessmen, they will run these refineries better.”
The PDP presidential candidate also vowed to deal with the issue of oil theft in the southern part of the country.
Atiku vowed to use the “power of government” to tackle oil theft in the South-South if he emerges Nigeria’s next president.
“This is a different problem that we have to see how we can use the power of the government to stop it because there must be cooperation between the NNPC and the security agencies who are responsible to look after oil pipelines laid,” he said.
Nigeria’s three oil refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt have been dormant for years.
A pregnant Connecticut woman who was six weeks due unexpectedly gave birth to her son during a September flight to the Dominican Republic. In an interview with WFSB, Kendria Rhoden said she was sleeping on the flight when her son decided it was time to be welcomed into the world.
“Everything just happened so fast, it just happened so quick,” Rhoden recalled. “While I was asleep I felt someone kick me in my stomach and then my water broke.”
Rhoden was eventually helped by nurses who were on the flight. But her delivery did not take that long. “They were like ‘oh don’t push, don’t push because we don’t see any head,’” Rhoden recalled. “I’m like ‘the babies [sic] coming!’”
Rhoden decided to name her son Skylen to represent his unexpected place of birth. Following his birth, the mother and son ended up remaining in the Dominican Republic for a few weeks. But they experienced some setbacks. They eventually returned to the United States where little Skylen was evaluated at a hospital.
“I feel good now because I’m home and he’s safe, he’s where he needs to be right now,” said Rhoden. “So, I would say I’m happier than I was in the Dominican Republic.”
Skylen’s place of birth on his passport was listed as “in the air.”
Hanna Tetteh, one-time Minister of Foreign Affairs was part of the high-profile team that mediated peace between Ethiopia’s federal government and rebels in the northern Tigray region.
Talks ended in South Africa on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at African Union-led talks led by former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and AU mediator, Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Nigerian president.
“Life is a gift to be cherished,” Madam Tetteh, who is UN Under Secretary General & Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, was quoted to have said after the agreement was signed.
The deal was reached almost two years to the day that conflict broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, a permanent cessation of hostilities is signed between the two sides was hosted by the South African government.
Analysts are now keeping an eye on how the implementation phase of the deal will play out.
Hanna Tetteh has previously served at Special Rep of UN Chief at the UN Office to the AU – between 2019 and 2022. She was Foreign Minister under the John Dramani Mahama government that spanned Jan 2013 -Jan 2017.
2022 African Footballer of the Year, Sadio Mane is currently enjoying life with Bayern Munich after leading the Germain giants to book a place in the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Sadio Mane has been in the trends almost every week but the conversation about him today is not about what he is doing for Bayern Munich but because of a statue that has been raised in his honour.
Mane trending after a statue of him designed and built by a Senegalese artist in the player’s hometown of Bambali hit the internet.
While some are praising the artist for the effort he put in to honor his countryman who is a global football icon, others believe that statue is not a good representation of Mane’s look.
The statue of Sadio Mane was designed with the player wearing the Senegalese national team jersey doing one of his trademarks celebration when he scores.
Here are some of the reactions that met the picture of the Sadio Mane statue:
Arab leaders on Wednesday (Nov 2) concluded the 31st summit of the largest annual Arabconference in Algiers.
The summit expressed “support for efforts to end the Libyan crisis through an inter-Libyan solution” and “a joint effort” by Arab states to end fighting in Syria.
Arab leaders acknowledged the dire consequences of the war for their nations and one after another called for a “collective Arab action” to face common challenges.
Those include food and energy shortages and the effects of climate change on their societies. But they presented no details on a potential mechanism that would help feed their people.
In a nod to Saudi Arabia, it expressed its backing for oil producers after the Saudi-led OPEC cartel and allied producers headed by Russia angered Washington by slashing production by two million barrels a day from November, further pushing up already elevated crude prices.
The statement said the “balanced” policy would help stabilise markets and “help the interests of both producer and consumer nations”.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, however, was the summit’s most notable absentee, staying away with a reported ear infection.
The summit final statement backed moves to make the state of Palestine a full member of the United Nations.
“Palestine is the pivotal cause to the Arab nation and states”, the Arab league secretary general said.
“Therefore, we were determined to continue to issue resolutions and translate them and present them to the United Nations and international organisations as happens every time”, Ahmed Aboul Gheit concluded.
Throughout its 77 years of existence, the Palestinian issue has been a central to the league. It is recently that more and more Arab countries have started to normalize ties with the state of Israel.
The summit took place at a time of heightened tensions in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military has conducted nightly arrest raids in searches for Palestinian militants.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in recent months, including armed gunmen, stone-throwing teenagers and people uninvolved in violence.
The United Nations has warned that nearly eight million people in South Sudan, or two-thirds of the population, are at risk of food insecurity and famine.
“Hunger and malnutrition are on the rise in flood-, drought- and conflict-affected areas of South Sudan, and some communities are at risk of famine unless humanitarian assistance is sustained and climate adaptation measures are strengthened,” the new report released on Thursday said.
The joint report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the U.N. Children’s Fund (Unicef), and the World Food Programme (WFP) says the proportion of people facing high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition “has never been higher,” exceeding levels seen even during the conflict in 2013 and 2016.
According to the report, 7.76 million people are at risk of acute food insecurity during the lean season from April to July 2023, while 1.4 million children will suffer from malnutrition.
Tens of thousands of Somalis face famine as drought enters its fifth year https://t.co/OI6BwxioSf
According to the report, 7.76 million people are at risk of acute food insecurity during the lean season from April to July 2023, while 1.4 million children will suffer from malnutrition.
The report blames a combination of conflict, poor macroeconomic conditions, extreme weather events, and spiraling food and fuel costs, as well as a decline in funding for humanitarian programs.
“We have been in famine prevention mode all year and have avoided the worst outcomes, but that is not enough,” says Makena Walker, WFP’s acting country director in South Sudan, in a statement.
“South Sudan is on the front lines of the climate crisis, and day after day, families are losing their homes, livestock, fields, and hope due to extreme weather conditions,” Walker adds.
“Without humanitarian food aid, millions more will find themselves in an increasingly dire situation and unable to provide the most basic food for their families.”
Famine was declared in South Sudan in 2017 in Leer and Mayendit counties in Unity State, areas that have often been a hot spot for violence.
Last month, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) estimated that about 909,000 people had been affected by flooding in South Sudan, as torrential rains ravage crops and destroy homes.
The world’s youngest country, South Sudan has struggled with deadly conflict, natural disasters, economic malaise, and ongoing political strife since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.
It has spent more than half its life at war, with nearly 400,000 people dying during a five-year civil war that ended in 2018.
The UN climate panel (IPCC) has already written the worst-case scenario: in 2050, “the sea will rise by one meter”. Then it will swallow “a third of the ultra-fertile land of the Nile Delta and historic cities like Alexandria will be flooded”.
Every year, the city of Alexander the Great sinks by three millimeters, weakened by the Nile dams upstream that prevent silt from consolidating its soil and by offshore gas drilling.
Opposite, the sea is rising as much, due to the effect of warming and the melting of the ice cap.
Hundreds of people have already had to leave buildings weakened by floods, in 2015 and in 2020. They are only the first of many, warns the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources.
In the Nile Delta, the sea has advanced 3 km inland since the 1960s. In the 1980s, the Rosetta lighthouse, built by Khedive Ismail at the very end of the 19th century, was engulfed by the waves.
“Climate change is now a reality and no longer just a warning,” says the head of the Egyptian Coastal Protection Authority Ahmed Abdelqader.
Climate change in the Mediterranean will be one of the most radical in the world because its deep waters will warm more than all the oceans, warns the IPCC.
In a best-case scenario, if the Mediterranean rises only 50 centimeters, as other Egyptian and UN studies estimate, “30% of Alexandria will be flooded, 1.5 million or more people will be displaced, 195,000 jobs will be destroyed, and losses in land and construction will reach $30 trillion.”
The disaster will have repercussions on the 104 million Egyptiansbecause “in addition to its history and its vestiges of the past, Alexandria is also home to the largest port in the country”, the nerve centre of the Egyptian economy, recalls Mr. Abdelqader. Abdelqader.
Alexandria has gained almost two million inhabitants in the last ten years and in the country, strangled by inflation and devaluation, investment in public infrastructure has not followed.
The city’s governor, Mohammed al-Sherif, recently explained that “the road drainage system was built to absorb one million cubic meters of rainfall, but now sometimes 18 cubic meters fall in a single day.
Not to mention the extreme weather events – temperature increases, rare rainfall, unprecedented snow events – that Alexandrians face.
“We have never seen such heat in Alexandria at the end of October,” exclaims Mohammed Omar, 36.
26 degrees, or five degrees more than the seasonal norm, while the rain is overdue.
Today, the city that keeps its cosmopolitan golden age of the early twentieth century art-deco cafes and Haussmann buildings can not cope. It didn’t take more than Boris Johnson, the former British Prime Minister, to bid Alexandria “farewell” at COP26 last year in Glasgow, in a speech that chilled Egyptians’ blood.
“Yes, the danger exists and we do not deny it, but we are launching projects to mitigate it,” said Abdelqader.
To protect people and land, a belt of reeds has been planted along 69 kilometers of coastline.
“The sand aggregates around it and together they form a natural barrier,” he explains. Soon, devices for warning and measuring waves will be put in place.
The heritage is also in danger. The citadel of Qaitbay, built in the fifteenth century on a narrow strip of land beaten by ever higher waves, is in the front line.
To protect this Mamluk fortress built on the site of the Alexandria lighthouse that disappeared in antiquity, 5,000 concrete blocks were installed to break the waves and support the building. Other blocks mitigate the damage all along the cornice.
Alexandria, with its long history of construction and destruction, does not want to see its heritage vanish.
There was its lighthouse, the largest library in the world, a temple of knowledge ravaged by fire… Today, its modest heir, an immense architect’s building on the cornice, like the rest of the city, must be saved, pleads Mr. Abdelqader.
For this, “the West has a moral responsibility: it must help to counter the negative effects of climate change, which is the result of its choices of civilization.
The COP27, which will open on November 6 in Egypt, will be there to remind us of this.
Police in Nigeria has mounted a search for some 21 people abducted by gunmen while working on farmland whose owner is believed to have owed the alleged kidnappers coerced payments.
The people kidnapped were teenagers working on a farm in the remote Faskari council area of Katsina state when the gunmen “singled out the farm and abducted them,” Katsina police spokesperson Gambo Isah said on Thursday
“According to our investigation, the bandits placed some levies on some of these farmers, and this particular one refused to comply with their demands. … That was why they went to their farm and kidnapped the workers,” Isah said.
Police and Nigerian soldiers from a nearby military outpost were working to find the abducted farm workers, who are ages 15-18, he said.
Residents in remote parts of the northwest and central regions of Nigeria targeted by armed groups have complained of gunmen requiring farmers to pay huge levies to work their farmland.
The groups mostly consist of young men from the Fulani ethnic group, whose members traditionally worked as nomadic cattle herders and are caught up in a decades-long conflict with Hausa farming communities over access to water and grazing land.
Nigerian security forces carry out aerial bombardments of the known hideouts of the armed groups. Authorities blame their continued operation on the cooperation of some local residents.
Most of those residents are farmers who say they risk getting attacked if they do not pay the levies imposed on their villages.
The police are “worried and disturbed that terrorists are placing levies on people,” police spokesperson Isah said. He said villagers must still “desist from cooperating and from whatever demands made by these terrorists.”
There has been widespread positive reaction to the ceasefire agreement reached between the Ethiopiangovernment and Tigrayan rebels.
World leaders have hailed the agreement signed in the South African capital, Pretoria, as a positive step towards bringing peace to the region.
However, they have encouraged further negotiations in order to reach a permanent ceasefire agreement and launch broader political talks.
But this week’s truce brings an end to two years of a devastating conflict that has left thousands dead, displaced millions, and left hundreds of thousands facing famine.
Ethiopians welcome peace deal
On the streets of the capital, Addis Ababa, residents have welcomed the deal with a sigh of relief that the hostilities are over and that peace can be restored.
‘Peace is better than war. But the truce must be carefully implemented so we don’t relapse back into war,’ says banker, Degswe Assefa.
His sentiments are echoed by many others in the city who were unhappy with both the economic and humanitarian impact of the internal war.
‘It is pleasing to return to our previous peaceful life. Even our economy has been affected because of the war,’ says fellow banker, Selam Worku.
The origins of the conflict are complex. Prime Minister Abiy came to power in April 2018, pledging a raft of political and economic reforms in Ethiopia after almost three decades of government dominated by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
But in November 2020 he sent troops in to topple the TPLF in their regional stronghold after accusing it of attacking federal army camps.
While this new agreement does not address the deeper political tensions that contributed to the conflict, it’s hoped that the truce will hold, and lead to durable and inclusive peace and political stability in the country, for all Ethiopians.
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has been shot in the leg in what his supporters say was an assassination attempt.
The shooting has reportedly left four to five people, including his manager Rashid and Former Governor Sindh Imran Ismail injured.
Asian News International tweeted today: “A firing was reported near the container of former PM and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s container near Zafar Ali Khan chowk in Wazirabad, Pakistan media reports.”
Former Pakistan PM Khan was reportedly injured as shots were fired near his long march container.
It comes a week after a female journalist was crushed to death in Pakistan while covering a political march led by former prime minister Khan.
The death of a three-year-old in China has sparked outrage over social media after the boy’s father blamed the nation’s strict COVID-19 policies for “indirectly” killing his son.
Official records state that the child died of carbon monoxide poisoning, however, speaking to Reuters, the father Tuo Shilei said, “I personally think that he was indirectly killed.”
Shilei recalled that around midday on Tuesday, his wife slipped and fell, affected by gas fumes while cooking. Soon, he noticed that his young son too has been affected.
They are residents of Gansu province, which has for months been under lockdown.
He tried to call for an ambulance but was unable to get through. In just 30 minutes Wenxuan’s condition worsened and after performing CPR Tuo rushed him to his community compound’s entrance. However, due to the strict lockdown, staff at the gate didn’t allow him to go through telling him to call neighbourhood authorities or an ambulance.
Faced with the barrier, the frantic father crashed through the gate, and thanks to some “kind-hearted” people got a taxi to the hospital. However, on the way, they faced another checkpoint, which caused further delay and the child died.
“There was the COVID situation at the checkpoint. The staff did not act, and then ignored and avoided the problem, and then we were blocked by another checkpoint,” said Tuo, adding, “No help was provided. This series of events caused the death of my child.”
On China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, the incident and the hashtag “Three years of COVID was his entire life” has created a storm and 380 million people read what happened before posts were taken down.
Tuo claims that he was contacted by someone claiming to be a retired local official who offered him 100,000 yuan ($13,743) to keep mum about his son’s death. However, the father said he rejected the offer, adding that he demands an explanation for his toddler’s death.
Two high schoolstudents in Iowa (US) killed their Spanish teacher in retaliation over a poor grade she gave one of the students in her class, prosecutors said in court documents on Tuesday. The duo is being tried as adults.
For the first time since Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale were apprehended and accused of killing their 66-year-old teacher Nohema Graber in the little hamlet of Fairfield on November 2, 2021, the new information provided insight into a potential reason.
On the afternoon of her death, Miller and Graber had a meeting at Fairfield High School to address his subpar grade in her class, according to the investigation.
Later that day, according to officials, the teacher drove her vehicle to a park where she was known to go for daily walks after school.
Graber’s brutally battered body was discovered in the park the next day, concealed behind a tarp, a wheelbarrow, and railroad ties.
Investigators think that Miller and Goodale, both 16 at the time, beat the victim to death with a baseball bat and boasted about it online.
Miller admitted to the police that he had been unhappy with the way Graber had taught Spanish and that the poor grade she had given him had hurt his GPA as a whole.
“The poor grade is believed to be the motive behind the murder of Graber which directly connects Miller,” court documents filed by Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding and Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown said.
A “roving group of masked teenagers” killed Graber and compelled Miller to dispose of the body, according to court papers. Although Miller initially claimed he had no knowledge of what had happened, he later “said he had information of everything but did not participate.”
Nohema Graber’s body was found under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties. Photo credits: AP
Less than an hour after the instructor arrived, observers saw two guys driving Graber’s vehicle out of the park. According to detectives, the two adolescent males were found walking down the same route as the vehicle, which had been abandoned at the end of a rural road.
Also watch | Joe Biden: Future of democracy at risk in next week’s midterms
On Snapchat, Goodale reportedly boasted to a friend about the murder. A witness submitted images of a Snapchat discussion in which the adolescent specifically accused himself and Miller of being responsible for the murder of Graber.
However, according to Miller’s attorney Christine Branstad, four search warrants were improperly obtained. She is requesting that the court invalidate all four of them and suppress evidence from Snapchat as well as from her client’s home, statements he made to the police, and data gleaned from his phone.
On Wednesday, a judge will hear arguments to determine whether to suppress any of the evidence.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is almost upon us. The Ryan Coogler directorial is the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the sequel to 2018’s megahit ‘Black Panther’.
While everything about it should make fans excited, there is an undercurrent of poignance in the fans as well, for the original film’ star Chadwick Boseman, who played T’Challa or Black Panther, died of colon cancer in 2020.
The sequel will feature a new Black Panther (most likely Shuri). Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, the co-writers of ‘Wakanda Forever’, had already penned a script with Boseman in mind. Coogler revealed its details while speaking to Variety.
He said, “The tone was going to be similar. The character was going to be grieving the loss of time, you know, coming back after being gone for five years. As a man with so much responsibility to so many, coming back after a forced five years absence, that’s what the film was tackling. He was grieving time he couldn’t get back. Grief was a big part of it.”
In case you do not know, half of all living beings in the universe were erased from existence by Thanos the Mad Titan, in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’.
“Who the protagonist was, the flaws of the protagonist, what the protagonist was dealing with in their journey, all of that stuff had to be different due to us losing him and the decisions that we made about moving forward,” he added.
Twitter has deleted around 2,000 accounts that were supposedly a part of three China-based operations seeking to influence the US midterm elections, Washington Post reported. They were playing up polarising topics, as per data on several foreign influence operations released by Twitter. The tweets these accounts posted were picking up on extreme American ideologies and amplifying them.
Some of these accounts were active until as recently as last month and a few of them are supposedly based in the US. Twitter has not attributed these accounts and their activity to any specific countries.
“The disclosure by Twitter adds to what is known about China-based efforts to influence American audiences by mimicking the strategies Russia-based operatives used to stoke cultural and political tensions during the 2016 election,” the researchers who analyzed the data wrote.
With the US midterms just a week away, reports suggest that Chineseand pro-China operations have been trying to create commotion in the country’s political scene. A poll done by the Cybersecurity 202’s Network group of experts says that cybersecurity experts are much more concerned about China influencing the 2022 midterms than they were in 2020.
The FBI and Meta have also reported similar cases in the run up to the elections. The federal investigative agency warned that what seemed like Chinese government-affiliated hackers have scanned their systems, something usually done before the actual hacking happens.
In September, Meta announced that it took down a China-based operation targetted at US politics ahead of the midterms.
However, the traction and engagement that the Twitter accounts received by much more. “Ultra MAGA BELLA Hot Babe” and “Salome Cliff”, two of the many suspected accounts, had thousands of followers.
The accounts were removed for violating the rules of the platform, manipulation and spam, the company said.
Pro-Chinese accounts aren’t the only ones trying to play a role in the US politics.
An Iran-based network amassed nearly 25,000 followers and millions of likes which dealt with “interspersed liberal, anti-Trump messaging with harsh anti-Israel slogans,” the Washington Post wrote.
One of the accounts posed as an advocacy group and even endorsed candidates standing in the local races. It was a moderator on a Reddit discussion board which has over 100,000 subscribers.
The development comes at a time when the world’s richest man Elon Musk took hold of the reins of the platform. It went through a stormy period before the deal was finalised and things at the company are expected to undergo even more changes.
The social media platform has its first job cut out, to police misinformation ahead of next week’s midterms.
Elon Musk, the new Twitter chief known for his humorous replies, did it again. Replying to an American politician, Musk made it clear that he’s stern about his decision of charging $8 for blue tick.
An American Congress politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez taking it to Twitter mocked Elon Musk over the recent announcement that Twitter will now charge eight dollars for ‘blue tick’ verification. The announcement has flooded the microblogging site with reactions since then.
The politician tweeted, “Lmao at a billionaire earnestly attempting to sell people on the concept that ‘free expression’ is actually an $8/month membership plan.”
Musk responded to Cortez’s tweet by saying, “Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8.” Musk then immediately tweeted again with a screenshot of Cortez’s website charging $58 pointing out that he is costing way much less than Cortez.
Cortez said that her Twitter mentions and notification stopped working after tweeting and later received a text message saying that she “seem to have gotten under a certain billionaire’s skin.”
Musk acknowledged that he has been receiving a lot of criticism after the announcement. He then replied, “To all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8.”
After Musk revealed that verified users must pay $8 to preserve their ‘elite status symbol,” and the platform descended into chaos. Notably, celebrities, politicians, business leaders, and journalists are all given the verification badge, Republic World reported.
However, a lot of individuals have raised concerns over the decision of charging for verification and the high possibility of the spread of false information.
A courtin Paris has sentenced a former Liberian rebel commander to life in jail for complicity in crimes against humanity during Liberia’s civil war.
Kunti Kamara was a senior officer in the Ulimo armed militia, which oversaw a reign of terror in north-west Liberia in the 1990s.
Eyewitnesses gave harrowing testimonies during the three-week trial.
The accusations against him included publicly murdering a school teacher, whose heart he then ate, and allowing soldiers under his command to repeatedly rape two teenage girls.
Kamara’s lawyers had argued that the evidence against him was unreliable.
A court in Paris has sentenced a former Liberian rebel commander to life in jail for complicity in crimes against humanity during Liberia’s civil war.
Kunti Kamara was a senior officer in the Ulimo armed militia, which oversaw a reign of terror in north-west Liberia in the 1990s.
Eyewitnesses gave harrowing testimonies during the three-week trial.
The accusations against him included publicly murdering a school teacher, whose heart he then ate, and allowing soldiers under his command to repeatedly rape two teenage girls.
Kamara’s lawyers had argued that the evidence against him was unreliable.
He was tried in France because he was arrested there, and French law permits prosecution for the most serious crimes, even if they were committed abroad.
Around a quarter of a million people were killed in civil unrest in Liberia in the 10 years from 1993.
No-one in Liberia itself has been tried for war crimes in the country’s courts – this is despite a truth commission calling for the establishment of a special tribunal.
He was tried in France because he was arrested there, and French law permits prosecution for the most serious crimes, even if they were committed abroad.
Around a quarter of a million people were killed in civil unrest in Liberia in the 10 years from 1993.
No-one in Liberia itself has been tried for war crimes in the country’s courts – this is despite a truth commission calling for the establishment of a special tribunal.
Turkey’spresident has said a deal to free up grain exports from Ukraine will consider African countries struggling with supplies.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had discussed sending grain to African countries.
“The situation in Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan is not good at all. If there is a problem in any other less developed countries, we will carry out shipments to these countries,” Mr Erdogan said in an interview with Turkish broadcaster ATV.
The grain deal was brokered by the UN and Turkey in July, bringing to an end a five-month Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports that trapped millions of tonnes of grain and sunflower oil and sent food prices soaring.
The deal ends on 19 November and those involved still have to agree on extending it.
Russia had suspended supportfor grain exports but agreed this week to restart its participation in the agreement.
One of the daughters of Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo has denied receiving a government contract of $25m (£22m) to paint murals in parts of the capital, Accra.
Gyankroma Akufo-Addo said such allegations were a “complete fabrication being propagated by some shameless persons”.
She said the three sites painted by her Creative Arts Agency company were conceived, managed and financed privately.
“This project was not embarked upon to make profit, and there have been no lucrative contracts awarded for it,” she said in a statement.
She said she would seek redress in court against people and media houses that published falsehoods on the project.
Nigerian police say they have found the bodies of 10 young men abandoned “along a bush path” in the southern state of Edo.
In a statement, police spokesperson Chidi Nwabuzor said the bodies had “no noticeable mark of violence” and nearby communities could not identify them.
They were found at a location off the Lagos-Abuja expressway on Tuesday by police officers and local hunters.
The authorities have called for calm with the police commissioner in Edo state saying they have set up a “powerful team” to “fish out the perpetrators of this carnage”.
Police say all of the men are believed to have been in their 20s.
The corpses have now been taken to a mortuary for forensic investigation.
Nigeria is grappling with various security problems with armed groups unleashing violence including killings and kidnappings for ransom.
Communal clashes and inter-gang violence are also common in some parts of the country.
Some unlikely fighters are strengthening the Somali government’s arsenal in its long war against al-Shabab, one of al-Qaeda’s most successful affiliates – and which was behind a twin car bomb explosion in the capital, Mogadishu, last weekend that killed at least 120 people.
Images of men in sarongs and flip-flops running about with guns are one of the most enduring stereotypes of conflict in Somalia.
Footage of these be-skirted fighters careering through smashed-up cities, firing wildly as they go, is shown again and again, much to the annoyance of Somalis who say this is not a fair or accurate representation of their society.
Somalis call these sarongs “ma’awiis”. They usually come in muted colours, decorated with abstract designs originating in Indonesia.
Many men use them as everyday wear, while others put them on to relax in the evenings or to recline more comfortably while chewing the narcotic leaf khat.
Now men in sarongs, or “ma’awiisley”, have become a powerful new weapon in the battle to bring an end to the country’s 15-year Islamist insurgency.
These groups of clan fighters have sprung largely from nomadic and farming communities living under al-Shabab, which controls vast swathes of territory in southern and central Somalia and imposes strict rules on those who live there.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, As drought bites, people cannot afford to pay al-Shabab taxes
Although the Islamist militants have a powerful network of spies who monitor every aspect of people’s lives and punish severely those who disobey, a grassroots movement has risen up against them.
As the worst drought in 40 years takes hold and famine creeps ever closer, people can no longer afford to pay taxes to al-Shabab.
With more than three million heads of livestock perishing from lack of food and water, they can no longer hand over animals demanded by the militants.
They can no longer bear to hand over their sons and daughters to serve as cannon fodder and sex slaves. They have simply had enough.
Small groups of nomads and farmers have periodically risen up against al-Shabab in recent years, only to be crushed mercilessly.
This time the ma’awiisley militias are larger and more co-ordinated, and are provided with ammunition, food and fuel by the government.
Security analysts say some of them are rehatted members of the Somali National Army.
“The insurgents are now facing an insurgency of their own,” says Mohamed Mubarak, chairman of the Mogadishu-based Hiraal security think-tank.
“If this spreads nationwide, I don’t think al-Shabab will survive.”
‘We have no fear’
The jihadists’ reaction to the ma’awiisley shows how seriously they are taking them.
They have embarked on a spree of burning homes, destroying wells and killing business people and elders who belong to the same clans as the ma’awiisley fighters.
Image source, AFPImage caption, Wells are essential for nomads who pull up the water for their animals to drink
In a recent speech to graduates of al-Shabab training camps, its spokesman Sheikh Ali Dheere described the ma’awiisley as “the robbers and rapists that roamed the country before al-Shabab came to power”.
But Musa Idris Hassan, a member of a ma’awiisley militia in central Somalia’s Hiran region, disputes this.
“We are nomads. We have always been warriors. We have lived under the militants for years so we know everything about them including where they hide.
“We will crawl into every bush to find and slaughter them all. We have no fear of al-Shabab or anyone else.”
@XuseenMacallin
I have never seen the international community so excited about the war against al-Shabab”
The ma’awiisley are not acting alone. They form a crucial part of the government’s new strategy to fight al-Shabab, which includes US airpower, African Union (AU) soldiers, foreign-trained Somali elite forces, the national army and troops from the country’s five federal states.
“I have never seen the international community so excited about the war against al-Shabab,” says the architect of this new approach, National Security Adviser Hussein Sheikh-Ali.
“The ma’awiisley are a key addition to the battlefield. They give legitimacy to our war against the militants because they come from the communities they control.
“They play an essential support role by providing the intelligence which enables our special forces to go in and smash the insurgents. We are now on the road to defeating al-Shabab completely.”
Amina Musa lived for 13 years under the control of al-Shabab in the central town of Booco, which was taken back by the government in September.
“The ma’awiisley are much better than the army,” she says. “They fight from their hearts not their stomachs.
“They are more motivated because their lives have been directly affected by the Islamists, who have stolen their children, their animals and everything that is good about nomadic life. Their anger is real.”
The addition of local clan militias to what Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has described as “the total war” against al-Shabab has made a difference on the ground.
Security experts say Somalia has recovered more territory between June and September than it did in the last five years.
Clan war dangers
But beating back al-Shabab is not enough. The challenge is to hold territory.
The militants have a long history of staging tactical withdrawals then marching straight back in once the army and AU troops move on.
BBC
This strategy will only work if the ma’awiisley are disarmed or subsumed into the regular security forces after areas are recovered”
If the government is to succeed in its “total war”, it will need to replace al-Shabab’s far-reaching governance structures and social services, including police forces, courts, taxation systems, schools and health facilities.
According to Mr Mubarak, the authorities will also need to work out what to do with the ma’awiisley, who he warns could turn out to be a poisoned chalice.
“This strategy will only work if the ma’awiisley are disarmed or subsumed into the regular security forces after areas are recovered and their local issues solved before launching liberation operations, especially in areas with existing local conflicts,” the Hiraal security expert says.
“Otherwise, Somalia risks being confronted by the new danger of having clan militias armed to the teeth and turning on each other. This could take us back to the clan wars of the 1990s.”
The recent gains against al-Shabab suggest the current cocktail of international, regional, formal and informal Somali forces is working on the military front.
Dozens of towns and villages have been seized in recent weeks. Combined with the government’s efforts to disrupt financial flows to the militants and challenge their ideology, this could be the answer to weakening the movement significantly, if not defeating it entirely.
A Nigerian prophet identified as Christian Shola has sent a message to singer, Davido and his baby mama Chioma asking them not to bury their deceased son, Ifeanyi.
In a viral video, the prophet told Davido to hold on with the burial of his son as he described him as a destiny child
Mr. Shola directed Davido to his church ‘Solution Ground’ and see what would happen, a statement that has sparked reactions online.
Nigerian prophet Christian Shola is currently making headlines after he sent a message to music star Davido and his baby mama Chioma, who are mourning the death of their son Ifeanyi Adeleke.
Prophet Christian, in his message, appealed to Davido not to bury the dead child, who he described as a destiny child yet.
According to the prophet, God would perform wonders if Ifeanyi is taken to Solution Ground on or before 21hrs from the time he passed his message.
In his words: “I am Prophet Christian Shola, please don’t bury that boy yet, he is a destiny child. take Ifeanyi Adeleke to Solution Ground on or before 21hrs after this message and see what will happen, God of of solution can never fail (2king5v10). Olórun Christian Shola Agbayé.”
The media captured some of the reactions, see them below:
ayomide_02:
“Make them sha no perform alchemy of soul on Omo olomo.”
atoloye_olamide:
“There’s nothing God cannot do, I believe in God.”
tobymagna27:
“This one don dey whine nii oo.”
dd_dic:
“This post reminds me of anikulapo movie hum smh.”
successoluchi6:
“Omo if he no wake up after everything yourself fit follow am go pastor…”
praisebillions1:
“There is no harm in trying they should give it a try and see for themselves as for me I can do anything to revive the boy .”
Portable mourns Davido’s son
Controversial singer Portable Zazu joined the number of celebrities who have reacted to Davido’s son Ifeanyi’s death.
In a statement on his Instagram page, Portable revealed he had been depressed since he learned about the sad incident.
Sharing a picture from Ifeanyi’s third birthday, Portable described his death as a big loss as he appealed to Davido to take heart.
Pope Francis has warned priests and nuns against watching pornography, and has asked them to delete such materials from their phones.
According to the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, entertaining pornographic scenes “weakens the priestly heart” and keeps the Holy Spirit away from the believer.
The 86-year-old sent out the warning in the Vatican while responding to a question about how digital and social media should be properly utilize.
According to the news outlet, the Pope told priests and seminarians that “the devil enters from” watching porn, hence the need to stay away from it.
“…a vice that so many people have… even priests and nun,” the Pope lamented. “The pure heart, the one that Jesus receives every day, cannot receive this pornographic information.”
“…delete this from your phone, so you will not have temptation in hand,” the BBC said.
Pope Francis proceeded to advise priests and seminarians to use for useful purposes, and should not exhaust their time on it.
Not all men of God have the tedency to overcome temptation, so the Pope’s warning is a step in the right direction.
In 2018, a reverend father was put under house arrest while criminal proceedings were initiated against him after he allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl in a car, claiming he “thought she was at least 15 years old”.
Reports at the time indicated that the suspect, Father Paolo Glaentzer, a septuagenarian, was arrested in July of that year in connection with the crime.
The Italian man of God did not deny having sexual intercourse with the victim, but said it was “an exchange of affection” between him and the girl, who, according to him, looked “much more mature than she was”.
“I found out she was 11 years old… I thought she was at least 15,” he cried.
He blamed his conduct on the devil after finding himself on the wrong side of the Italian laws, which recognised age 16 as the legal age for consent to sex.
Some 13 African countries have reported 6,883 monkeypox cases since the start of 2022, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said.
According to data released by the Africa CDC, 173 deaths and a case-fatality ratio of 2.5 per cent have also been registered during the same period. The continental health agency noted that out of the 6,883 cases, 5,992 are suspected cases while 891 are confirmed cases.
The monkeypox cases were reported from eight endemic and five non-endemic countries. The eight endemic countries are Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria; the five non-endemic countries are Egypt, Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa and Sudan, according to the Africa CDC.
Following the announcement by the World Health Organization that declared monkeypox a global public health emergency of international concern in July this year, the Africa CDC has been calling on African countries to strengthen laboratory diagnostic capacities and genomic sequencing capacity for monkeypox.
The continental health body also called on African states to develop and distribute both general and tailored risk communication messages for communities and vulnerable population groups.
Monkeypox, first detected in laboratory monkeys in 1958, is assumed to transmit from wild animals such as rodents to people, or from human to human. It is a rare viral disease usually transmitted through body fluids, respiratory droplets and other contaminated materials. The infection usually results in fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes.
In April 2021, Twitter announced that it was establishing a presence in Africa and specifically chose Ghana to host its headquarters on the continent.
The official announcement of the move read in part: “Twitter’s mission is to serve the public conversation, and it’s essential, for the world and for Twitter, to increase the number of people who feel comfortable participating in it.
“Today (April 12, 2022), in line with our growth strategy, we’re excited to announce that we are now actively building a team in Ghana.”
The company subsequently rolled out vacancies and recruited staff, but it turned out that most of them were working from their respective countries as the headquarters was being set up.
On November 1, 2022, a senior partner manager of the Africa office announced that the headquarters in Accra had been opened.
According to the official who goes by the handle @mistameister, all staff left their respective home desks to work from the headquarters for the first time.
“A year ago Twitter entered Africa via Ghana. Today we officially opened Twitter’s Africa HQ in Accra, and for the first time all Tweeps in the region left their home desks and convened to work as #OneTeam,” he captioned a tweet accompanied by a photo of the team.
A year ago Twitter entered Africa via Ghana. Today we officially opened Twitter’s Africa HQ in Accra, and for the first time all Tweeps in the region left their home desks and convened to work as #OneTeam . Worth celebrating amidst all the back to back news headlines ❤️ pic.twitter.com/O0hOpg4SLW
As a champion of democracy, Ghana is a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate.
Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host The Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa.
Having recorded phenomenal success in the multilevel marketing business for more than two decades, Titilope Ejimagwa eventually settled with Longrich, where she not only become the first black 5-star director globally, she became the most recognisable icons of the brand.
The Lagos State University, LASU graduate has inspired millions by teaching them how to achieve her level of know-how, and now tells BL why the Chinese company has invested millions of dollars into building a factory in the Lagos Free Trade Zone.
You are sitting on top of millions of people as your downlines. How did you get here and how do you manage it?
Getting there is not easy. I might not even know up to 0.1 percent of the people in my team. That is the beauty of this industry. It’s not about your effort, it’s leverage. Everybody comes in and they build a team. It’s not about me, it’s about us.
It must be extremely complex, the structure that you have to work on. How do you maintain and manage that?
It’s an extremely simple structure. My responsibility is to bring three people to the business, just three people.
How is it difficult to deal with 3 people? You only have to deal with 3 people and before you know it the growth is exponential. You as a leader is chairman of your own company so it’s your responsibility to deal with your own team. That’s the way it works.
A lot of people do not know that Longrich is building a factory in Nigeria and bringing Foreign Direct Investment. Tell us more about that.
I am someone that believes in my country Nigeria and I have a team of leaders that have the same vision and passion for our country so we looked at it, was it not time for us to empower Nigerians?
Nigerians are in love with our daily use products and they manufacture for a whole lot of Blue Chip companies globally.
Of the top 100 Blue Chip companies in the world in the cosmetic industry, you can be sure that 90% of them are produced by Longrich so why won’t we have the same thing in Nigeria?
I used the opportunity of the president coming in, in 2015, and he said he was going to ban the importation of a lot of products
I went straight to China and told the chairman and today I am so happy, the factory is up and running, employing over 700 Nigerians.
700 families are being touched, not to talk of the over 3 million people that have been empowered through the platform. 3.7 million people in my country have been liberated. None of them can go home hungry.
For me it’s not work, it’s passion.
Most businesses including in Nigeria had problems during the COVID 19 Pandemic.
That period was even when we had a boom. We couldn’t even meet up with the demands because people now saw the reason why they needed a second option. A lot of companies closed down, downsized and everybody started looking out for plan b.
We couldn’t sustain the market in that period. In fact we are still paying the price because the demand was 100 percent more than the supply.
In a nutshell, how would you define network marketing to a novice?
A lot of people believe multilevel marketing is a pyramid but pyramid is every other company. No governor wants another person to come and be governor with him at the same time.
That is not how it is in network marketing, Longrich especially. I want you to grow and meet me at the same level. I will do anything I can to help you. No other MD would want you to be the MD tomorrow morning.
He would do anything to bring you down but in Longrich we will do everything to raise you up so tell me, is that pyramid?
In a pyramid, only one person can be on top. Time is the real worth and the real worth is in people. We have 40 million youth unemployed. Some of them go into crime and they say it’s because they are frustrated.
How can you be begging to become enslaved? I have been to more than 30 states in the United States, I did not see one dollar in the street. UK, I have been to, Asia, I have been to, Middle East, I have been to. You sell your properties to go and look for job?
In the 80s we said Ghana must go, today, Nigerian youths cannot go to Dubai again. You must be 40 years old and you must be married. No country in the world has the kind of youths we have in Nigeria, yet we are running to Canada. The real wealth is in people.
Ukraine’s sole power grid operator has announced that power outages have been implemented in multiple regions as it prepares to stabilise the energy supply damaged by recent Russian drone and missile attacks.
Ukrenergo said in a statement that people in the capital Kyiv, as well as Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Poltava regions were without power as of 6am local time.
Consumption restrictions are necessary to reduce the load on the grid, ensure sustainable balancing of the power grid and avoid repeated accidents, it said.
Poland will build a razor-wire fence on its border with Russia’s Kaliningrad, its defence minister has said, amid concerns that the enclave might become a conduit for illegal migration.
Construction of the temporary 2.5-meter (eight feet) high and 3-meter deep barrier will start immediately, Mariusz Blaszczak told a news conference.
With tensions rising due to the war in Ukraine, he cited security concerns and referred a crisis triggered last autumn when thousands of African and Middle Eastern migrants tried to cross the Belarus border into Poland, some of whom died.
Blaszczak said the Kaliningrad barrier would be similar to the one that Poland set up along the border with Belarus last year.
Ukraine’s grain exports are down year on year in the 2022/23 season so far to almost 13.4 million tonnes from 19.7 million tonnes at the same date a season earlier, data collated by the country’s agriculture ministry has shown.
Ministry data showed that exports so far in the July 2022 to June 2023 season included 5.1 million tonnes of wheat, 7.1 million tonnes of corn and 1.1 million tonnes of barley.
The government has said that Ukraine could harvest between 50 million and 52 million tonnes of grain this year, down from a record 86 million tonnes in 2021, because of the loss of land to Russian forces and lower yields.
AS diversification of the economy remains paramount, PresidentMuhammadu Buhari, Tuesday, expressed satisfaction over inflow of investors into the mining sector since 2015.
Buhari who was represented by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, at opening ceremony of the 2022 Nigerian Mining Week that kicked off on November 1, 2022 in Abuja, maintained that his administration is getting the expected results in the mining sector since the beginning of his administration in 2015, which he prioritised the development of the country’s mineral resources to make the economy virile with the bid of becoming a major global player in the international market based on the abundant mineral resources in all 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
He also commended organisers of 2022 Nigeria Mining Week; the Miners Association of Nigeria, MAN, PwC, and the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development for faithfully organizing the event in the last six years as they have outclassed other editions subsequently by showcasing Nigeria’s mineral assets and its dynamic mining ecosystem to potential local and international investors.
He said: “I must also say that this event is a very significant complement to our vision and sustained effort to accelerate the growth of the mining sector as a major contributor to Nigeria’s economic diversification programme.
“But we all know that The mining sector has always needed a transformational leap to contribute meaningfully to the envisioned economic growth of the country , because despite the glorious contribution of the mining sector to our national economy in the past and the abundance of mineral resources found in almost every state of the Federation, the growth of the sector stagnated for ,many years especially since the early 1970s. And there have been many notable efforts by previous administrations to wake the sleeping giant that is is the mining industry up.
“But at the beginning of our administration in 2015 we intentionally prioritised the development of the country’s mineral resources as one of the frontiers for economic growth. This led to the comprehensive Roadmap for the Growth and Development of the Nigerian Mining Sector and we have steadily followed the steps set out in the roadmap.
“So far, we can say without fear of contradiction that this administration has committed more resources to the development of the mining sector than any other government in the history of this country.
“And we are proud that the indices of development in the sector are rapidly changing. Part of these is the increased revenue generation and of course the unprecedented investment interest that the industry has attracted in the past few years.
“Nigeria, for the first time, has a world-class gold mine in Segilola, Osun state, operated by Thor Exploration. Also, Eta Zuma Mining and Industries limited, Mosra Enerji are mining and supplying the coal needs of Dangote and Bua Cement factories. In the steel industry, African Natural Resources and Mines limited, owners of the Kagarko Integrated Steel plant, is about to produce liquid Steel from its Iron ore mine in Kaduna State.
“Several other investors are at different stages of mine development in various parts of the country, and these strategic milestones will hopefully catalyse more mining investment in the country.”
However, the President acknowledged and pointed that, “The extraction of mineral commodities entails considerable impact on land, water, air and other environmental assets that are central to human living both now and in the future.
“The painful experience of the negative impact of oil and gas exploitation in the Niger Delta cannot be ignored. Therefore, all operators in the mining sector are obliged by law ethics, and our responsibility for the future, to ensure that proper environmental, social and governance principles are practiced in the sector.
“On our part, the government will continue to intensify its regulatory and supervisory role in ensuring that mining Is held to the highest standards of sustainable development and intergenerational equity.”
Meanwhile, he expressed hope that, “On a brighter note, it is now well known that the global energy systems are transiting to clean energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero.
“These massive changes will increase the demand for critical minerals for clean energy generation.
“Leveraging on the opportunities emerging from the market potentials for these minerals, government is encouraged to intensify the exploration of these critical minerals.
“The investment community is also invited to participate in the mining and processing of minerals along the entire value chain of this emerging opportunity.”
Meanwhile, the President allayed fears of Nigerians on Ajaokuta Steel Company, and promised to broke the jinx.
“Our vision for an industrialised nation cannot be achieved without a vibrant steel sector. We understand the huge demand for Steel and iron in our domestic markets and across the sub-region.
“This is why we prioritized the resolution of all the issues constraining the full operation of the Ajaokuta Steel company.
“To this end a transaction adviser has been appointed to concession the Ajaokuta Steel Company and the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company Itakpe.
“The selection process is ongoing. Our commitment is to break the jinx and actualise the dream of a vibrant steel sector”, he said.
Also, the President commissioned the Electronic Mining Cadastre Plus.
Russia is concerned about its security and the obstacles it faces exporting fertiliser and grains, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlu Cavusoglu has said.
Speaking in Ankara, Cavusoglu cited two reasons for Moscow’s move. “Russia has some security demands after the recent attack on its ships,” he said of an attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet over the weekend.
Moscow is also concerned about its fertiliser and grain exports, “which are not on the list of sanctions but the ships that are carrying these still cannot dock,” Cavusoglu said, echoing comments by Russian officials.
“They still cannot get insurance and payments are not made,” he said. “Therefore, a lot of countries’ ships are shying away from carrying these loads.”
Machaze is one of the poorest regions in central Mozambique and that makes this transport hub one of the most important points for those who live here.
Many men often leave from Makaze in search of El Dorado in the mines and agri-fields of South Africa, Africa’s most industrialized economies.
The women stay. Waiting for what their husbands bring them once or twice a year. Be it nice clothes, bicycles or drums so they can collect one of the scarcest goods in Machaze.
“A lot of people from Machaze work in South Africa but without passports. They go to South Africa because these many bicycles that we are seeing here come from South Africa and the jerry cans also to carry water..” Silva Naissone, President of the Transports Association explains.
The men leave in search of a better life. They face South African xenophobia against foreigners. Some flee never to return, others nurture their dreams, for example Santos João .
“With jobs that I do here in Mozambique I can have an income, but it wouldn’t be the same. The income I hope to have in South Africa … as those who come from there say, those who have worked with electricity, at some point it comes out more advantageous because the jobs there are more promising.” says João.
Still single, Fatima Machava, only admits to emigrating if her future husband takes her. “I don’t have dreams of travelling and going to South Africa” she says. “Only maybe if someone comes along. In case someone comes along who wants to marry me. Then I can go to South Africa, yes”.
The Machaze regional government understands the ambitions of the local youth, but is trying to convince them to stay and help the local economy. Joana Guinda is Machaze’s District Administrator. Guinda wants residents to take up a government, I would really like to appeal to all young residents in our Machaze district to embrace entrepreneurship.
“As a government, I would really like to appeal to all young residents in our Machaze district to embrace entrepreneurship. Especially agribusiness and agriculture. We are potential now for sesame production. In the past campaign many made gains from this production. We also produce cashew nuts. Why are the young people not embracing this? Why do we have too much is arable land and so I really advise the youth not to do that (go to South Africa). It is better that they develop their country.”
The government’s arguments do not seem to alter the trend and in the region housing continues to increase in a community where polygamy is accepted. Migrants’ houses in South Africa are growing in Machaze as the number of wives increases and this is also one of the attractions pulling young people from Machaze to South Africa.
