Author: admin

{{Members of the African Union high-level observer team began arriving in Zimbabwe yesterday with commissioner for political affairs, Dr Aisha Abdullahi, touching down ahead of the Head of the Short-Term Observer Mission, Mr Olusegun Obasanjo and AU Commission}}

chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Zuma, who are expected today.
Mr Obasanjo is former president of Nigeria.

Speaking on arrival at Harare International Airport, Dr Abdullahi, who has been seized with Zimbabwe since last week, said the team has 70 members, including the 10 who been in the country since last month.

“The African Union has the mandate to observe parliamentary, presidential or general elections like you have here, in all the 54 member states. We are here to do just that,” she said.

She said their coming was a culmination of a deployment that began with the 10-member long-term observer team that came into the country on June 15 2013.

“The election is important for us as African Union, our quality of observation has improved and we should do just that,” she said.

Asked why the AU communiqué of a meeting held last week was silent on claims by some quarters that there was a “securitisation of the State”, Dr Abdullahi said Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa explained to members’ satisfaction the situation in Zimbabwe when he came to Addis Ababa last week.

“That issue was raised but he addressed it adequately and it is no longer an issue anymore. We were convinced by the explanation he gave us,” she said.

Asked why there had been a lot of interest across the globe on the Zimbabwean election, Dr Abdullahi said Harare was an integral member of the continental body.

“Zimbabwe is an important member of the African Union. We are interested, we are happy to be here and we are going to observe the election,” she said.

Dr Abdullahi said the mission would be in Zimbabwe until after the elections.
She said their advance mission had been giving them updates, hence they had an appreciation of the situation on the ground.

“They have been sending us reports and we shall be sharing with you in our pre-election statement on July 25, if you can be patient with us,” she said.

Asked if the 70-member team was adequate to cover the whole country, Dr Abdullahi said the figure of 70 was the standard number that they had used in other countries and no problems had been encountered.

“They are efficient and they will be reporting from the field,” she said.
Zambian legislator Mr Patrick Mucheleka, who is part of the AU observer team said that Zimbabweans should be allowed to choose a leader of their choice.

He said that Africa must have entrenched democracies and good governance, noting that conflicts were inevitable in the absence of these.

“Under the African Union, we have the African Charter, democracy, elections and good governance. When you read the charter, it tries to prescribe some kind of standards of basic free and fair elections. That is what we are going to look at,” said Mucheleka.

“Whether the elections will meet these benchmarks or not, our desire in Zimbabwe and any other African country is to ensure democracy and good governance is entrenched. The rest is up to the Zimbabwean people themselves.”

Meanwhile, South African President Jacob Zuma’s outspoken International Relations advisor Ms Lindiwe Zulu is coming to Zimbabwe this week to observe the July 31 harmonised elections.

Ms Zulu is part of the facilitation team whose team leader Mr Charles Nqakula arrived in the country yesterday.

On his arrival at the Harare International Airport, Mr Nqakula told ZBC that Ms Zulu was heading to Zimbabwe.

He said her utterances on Zimbabwe were unfortunate.

“She will be coming of course tomorrow or the following day. She will be coming. It was not our responsibility (to issue statements on Zimbabwe). Our responsibilities was to talk about technical issues,” said Mr Nqakula.

Mr Nqakula said Zimbabwe had generated a lot of interest because it was an important African country.

Herald

{{The East African Community has launched a branding survey to find out how citizens of partner states perceive it.}}

Secretary General Richard Sezibera has underscored the critical importance of making the EAC a more vibrant and attractive regional bloc.

“Our regional bloc (EAC) has to be most effective, efficient, vibrant and attractive to enable East Africans enjoy the best of everything it can offer,’’ he said at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha when officially launched the baseline study.

The study is being undertaken by the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with German Development Agency (GIZ).

The brief ceremony was attended by the Study Teams and senior officials from the German Development Agency (GIZ), according to EAC press statement.

The study, to be undertaken in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, August, will end on August 24.

It will be conducted through online questionnaires and field face-to-face interviews in selected and strategic cities and border towns.

“The study is expected to give us an insight into how some of the key target audiences perceive EAC, how well they know it, how familiar they are with the symbols of the EAC and how they assess its performance in reaching out to them,’’ Dr Sezibera said.

He said the study would seek to review how key messages get across visually and how EAC is perceived by the East African citizens and what is the way forward.

Dr Sezibera commended the effort, saying that it was in the true spirit of bringing the regional process closer to the people.

{{Lofty goals}}

The Head of EAC Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Owora Richard Othieno said the project’s objective was to find out if EAC’s corporate identity and image were consistent with the aspirations of the East Africans and meet the lofty goals of the Treaty.

“That is to say whether the perception of the external target audience is coherent with what EAC perceives itself and the strategic platform (vision, mission, strategic goals and core values) of the Community,’’ he said.

Mr Owora urged citizens in East Africa to fully participate and demonstrate full support for both, the online and face-to-face interviews.

“I call for full cooperation to enable us carry out a successful study in the interest of our regional integration,’’ he said.

Two core teams have been set out to facilitate the physical interviewing process. One team has headed to Uganda (survey points: Kampala, Lira, Fort Portal and Busia border); Kenya (survey points: Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret) and Tanzania (survey points: Dodoma, Mwanza, Sirari border, Arusha and Zanzibar) whilst the other will cover Burundi (survey points: Makamba, Muyinga and Cibitoke) and Rwanda (survey points: Musanza and Nyagatare).

Nation