Category: Politics

{Civic groups and rights defenders in Burundi face growing repression amid sporadic violence stemming from the president’s disputed third term, a group of United Nations human rights experts said Monday.}

The U.N. experts believe actions by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government against civil society are “alarming in view of the overall situation for human rights defenders in the country,” a statement from the U.N. office in Geneva said.

A number of groups have been banned and a new bill passed by the national assembly last December compels local NGOs to obtain authorization from the interior minister for any activity and to transfer funds of foreign origin through the central bank.

“Disturbingly, these measures take particular aim at human rights defenders and independent civil society, and are being used to unduly obstruct and criminalize their work on broad and often fallacious grounds,” the statement said, quoting the U.N. experts, who urged Burundi’s government to end impunity and collaborate with a U.N. team investigating alleged rights violations, including murder and forced disappearances often blamed on Burundi’s security agencies.

Last October Burundi’s government banned three U.N. human rights investigators from entering the country following the release of a report that cited massive rights violations allegedly perpetrated by security agencies.

The U.N. statement Monday said rights defenders who have not fled Burundi are under relentless intimidation, threat of arbitrary detention, torture and disappearance. The group cited the example of Marie-Claudette Kwizera, former treasurer of the group Ligue ITEKA, who disappeared in December 2015 and is still missing.

Hundreds have died in Burundi since Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term that many said was unconstitutional. Burundi has seen violent street protests, forced disappearances and assassinations since the ruling party announced Nkurunziza’s candidacy in April 2015.

Source:AP

{Former presidents Mwai Kibaki and Daniel arap Moi are among thousands of Kenyans whose names were used to register other people to vote.}

Mr Moi’s ID number 1 – or 0000001 – has been used to register one Joseph Marrion Nchabani Mwika, indicated to have been born on January 1, 1968, and whose unique identity in the BVR system is 575114.

Mr Moi’s name does not appear in the BVR registers when his ID number is keyed in. Instead it is Mwika’s name that pops up, giving credence to fears that the electoral commission register may have been corrupted.

Mr Kibaki’s ID number – 2 or 00000002 – has been used to register eight different voters, namely Gitonga Wilson Kimathii, Kanja Julius Ngede Kihinge, Evans Kariuki Kirinya, Victoria Gatwiri, Mu Ko Mugara, Duncan Muia, Mbinya Wanjiru, and Caroline Nduta.

All the eight people, registered under Mr Kibaki’s ID card, have been assigned unique identification numbers in the BVR system.

On Thursday, we established that Mr Kibaki’s ID, replaced as a duplicate on October 11, 2005, is not registered as his in the voter’s list.

Mr Kibaki’s spokesperson, Gituku Ngare, said it was alarming that people “have the temerity to manipulate such rare ID numbers” and claimed that the whistle-blowers were probably behind the scheme.

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He also accused the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission clerks, who agree to use such numbers to register voters of “suffering from idiocy”.

“The people who are receiving those ID numbers and registering people using them are to blame first because of their idiocy. It is common sense that such rare numbers can only be used by VIPs. I am alarmed,” he said.

Mr Moi’s press secretary, Mr Lee Njiru, described the use of the former president’s ID number as unfortunate and urged the electoral commission to correct the anomaly.

Identity card numbers 0 and 00, also used to register individuals as voters, were found to be non-existent at the Registrar of Persons’ records.

But our investigations had established that in the BVR kit, ID number 00 has been used to register one Awiti Otieno, listed as having been born on January 1, 1994.

We also established that ID number 11 is assigned to one Darius Msaga Mbela; 20 to John Muguku Wachira; 21 to James Kasyula Mutua; 22 to Githiuni Simon Danson; 23 to Joseph Kainga Mutunga; 24 to Kipyator Nicholas Kiprono Kibet; 25 to John Chelagat Kipto; 28 to Ephantus Kamuri Gathuri; 29 to Simon Reuben Njage; and 40 to Henry Luwis Thiongo Njihia.

Five other IDs presented by Mr Odinga are listed as pending replacement. They are 12, assigned to Okumu Peter Mark; 231 to Onyango Omondi Mathaye; 111 to Benson Musa Nzioka; 26 to Joseph Augustine Githenji; and 27 to Philip Ndegwa.

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On Thursday, Mr Odinga said his team had written to the electoral commission to complain.

“We want to have a meeting with the new commission to discuss some of these things. It is serious to note that we have an unreliable voters’ register,” Mr Odinga said.

Some Opposition leaders have called for the overhaul of the commission’s ICT department. They say it had been infiltrated.

But electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati called for calm, adding that the register will be cleaned to make it credible.

Mr Chebukati blamed the mess on the 2012 registration, conducted under commissioners who retired last month, and said such anomalies should not be used to discredit the entire polling process.

“We wish to confirm that some of the numbers highlighted by the Cord leader are indeed part of the 128,926 ID numbers that are [the] subject of the ongoing clean-up,” said the commission’s chief executive Ezra Chiloba.

“Most of these numbers were keyed into the system during the 2012 registration and do not relate to the current mass voter registration campaign.”

He described the matter as historical and promised to effectively address it to ensure the hitches are not transferred into the 2017 polls.

{President John Magufuli yesterday blamed the judiciary on delayed tax evasion cases involving 7.5 trillion/-, asking the courts to play an effective role in boosting the treasury coffers through timely dispensation of justice.}

Dr Magufuli on the other hand expressed concerns over what he described as ‘bad-blood’ between the Attorney General’s Chamber and the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), directing the two public institutions to mend their differences.

The hostility between the AG and DPP offices, Dr Magufuli noted, was to blame for ‘watered down evidences’ presented before courts of law in which eventually the government, as a plaintiff, loses cases to defendants.

“These cases have been pending since the year 2005, the total amount involved is 7.5tri/-,” President Magufuli remarked at the Law Day and new judiciary year in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The day was marked under a theme, “Timely justice for economic growth.

” The president argued that the colossal amount being contested in court cases could have played a critical role in improving social amenities for the benefits of all Tanzanians. “Even the judiciary faces acute shortage of funds for development projects, but these cases are still pending and as a result denying the country revenues for growth,” he observed.

He added; “I am told that when these cases are heard and ruling comes in favour of the government, the offenders appeal at high courts and when they lose they turn to what is described in court circles as ‘case parking.’

Dr Magufuli further pledged to present details of the cases to the Acting Chief Justice of Tanzania, Prof Ibrahim Juma, for review and further actions. “I fail to understand whether it is lack of communication between the judiciary and the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) or what, these revenues should be claimed for development,” he noted with concerns. Stating further; “To me, dispensation of justice means (among others) sourcing funds to serve the people.”

Due to financial constraints, said the president, only six of 80 judges who were on foreign visits last year had their trips Dr Magufuli as well took issues with the police force and the Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), which he accused of sloppy investigations and at times destroying evidence.

“Why, for instance, should investigations take long when a criminal has been apprehended red-handed with illicit drugs or elephant tusks?” wondered President Magufuli, adding: “I know these criminals have a lot of money which they use to bribe the law enforcers to destroy exhibits…this should stop.” At the event, Dr Magufuli urged the judiciary to use members of the law enforcement agencies to provide security at its premises to reduce redundant employees in the state organs.

The Acting CJ had earlier complained that the judiciary faces a shortage of workers, stating that its current workforce stand at 6,500. “Why should you hire guards for your facilities and yet you can make use of the police?” he queried and challenged the judiciary to reduce the number of redundant workers.

“The number of employees you have at the moment exceeds by far the workforce of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.

” President Magufuli as well lashed at the Tanzania Law Society (TLS), accusing it of embracing partisan politics, urging the association to operate neutrally.

Present at the ceremony yesterday were Speaker of the National Assembly Job Ndugai, Minister for Constitution and Legal Affairs, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, Chief Secretary John Kijazi, Principal Judge Ferdinand Wambali, as well as heads of security and defence forces and other high ranking government officials.

{Étienne Tshisekedi was set to oversee transition of presidential power but his death means widespread unrest is likely.}

A fragile political deal aimed at averting serious civil conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been jeopardised by the death of veteran opposition leader Étienne Tshisekedi in Brussels.

Tshisekedi, who was 84, was the principal leader of the fragmented opposition in the vast, resource-rich central African country.

His death comes at a critical moment, as talks between opposition parties and representatives of President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled since 2001, falter.

The veteran politician was set to lead a transitional council, part of an agreement put together in December intended to pave the way for Kabila to leave power in 2017 and refrain from running for a third term as president.

The end of Kabila’s mandate on 19 December prompted protests in cities across the DRC. More than 40 people are thought to have died and hundreds were arrested during two days of violence.

Tshisekedi’s son, Felix, is now tipped to be named prime minister in a forthcoming power-sharing government, if the agreement holds.

“The information is confirmed. The [party] president is dead,” the spokesman for Tshisekedi’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party, Augustin Kabuya, told Reuters.

A pivotal figure in Congo, Tshisekedi’s decades of activism meant he could draw huge crowds.

Though in recent years his leadership was largely symbolic, it has been important in maintaining a degree of unity among divided opposition factions.

“Tshisekedi was a giant in Congolese politics,” said Jason Stearns, director of the Congo Research Group at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. “His death is tragic and will have a profound impact on the political scene. There is no heir apparent, either within [his UPDS party] or the broader opposition.

“Even before his death, opposition leaders were vying for the prime ministry and cabinet jobs; there is little doubt that President Kabila will seek to capitalise on this moment to sow discord among his rivals.

“At the same time, the political elite and the broad population are still relatively united on their objectives: Kabila must step down and elections must be held as soon as possible. The question is whether they can overcome their internal division to make those goals a reality,” Stearns added.

Opposition politicians on Thursday pledged to maintain the unity of the main opposition coalition.

However Hans Hoebeke, DRC analyst with the International Crisis Group, said: “We are entering murky waters. No one has the popular legitimacy to take over,” adding there was a real risk of an outbreak of violence.

Tshisekedi stood up to Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator who ruled the country then known as Zaire for more than three decades before being overthrown by Rwanda, Uganda and other forces.

He was also the main civilian opponent of Laurent Kabila, who took power in 1997, and his son, President Joseph Kabila.

Western and African powers fear further political instability could lead to a repeat of the conflicts seen between 1996 and 2003 in which as many as 5 million people may have died, mostly from starvation and disease.

The conflict was the deadliest in modern African history, involving two rounds of fighting in the late 1990s and early 2000s which dragged in at least six countries’ armies.

As word of Tshisekedi’s death spread in the capital Kinshasa, clashes broke out near his house in the Limete district between stone-throwing UDPS supporters and dozens of police, who fired teargas and made several arrests, a Reuters witness said.

Tshisekedi served as a minister under Mobutu before founding the UDPS, the first organised opposition platform in Zaire, in 1982.

He was named prime minister four times in the 1990s as Mobutu contended with pro-democratic currents in the country, but never lasted more than a few months as he repeatedly clashed with the charismatic autocrat.

He finished runner-up to Kabila in the 2011 presidential election. International observers said the vote was marred by fraud and Tshisekedi’s supporters have referred to him ever since as the “elected president”.

“A baobab [tree] has fallen,” Albert Moleka, his chief of staff during the 2011 election, told Reuters. “The baobab protects you from the rain and the sun … People like that can’t be replaced.”

Tshisekedi returned to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, last July to a hero’s welcome after two years in Brussels for medical treatment. The UDPS said he returned to Brussels last week for a checkup.

Analysts suggest two possibilities if opposition factions and the government cannot agree on a process with a minimum of legitimacy: a bloody, popular urban uprising could oust the president, or the slow collapse of the government as economic weakness, meddling by regional powers and international isolation undermine its authority.