Tag: GreatLakesNews

{The top UN human rights forum will set up a commission of inquiry to identify perpetrators of alleged international crimes in Burundi, including killings and torture, and ensure that they are brought to justice.
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The 47-member state forum adopted a resolution submitted by the European Union by a vote of 19 states in favour and seven against with 21 abstentions on Friday.

Burundi’s delegation took the floor after the vote to reject the resolution as containing ‘a lot of lies’ about the situation in the central African country which it said had stabilised.

{President Michel was 10 months into his third and final five-year term in office when he resigned on Wednesday.}

Ugandan-born Danny Faure is tipped to become the new president of the Seychelles to complete the five- year term of outgoing President James Michel, a statement from the country’s presidency issued on Wednesday stated.

“I am leaving the Office of the President with a sense of mission accomplished.
During these 12 years that you gave me the honour and privilege to lead our nation, I have completed my responsibility and my duty,” president Michel said in a statement.

The statement said vice president Faure would take over and will be sworn in as president of the Indian Ocean country located 900 miles off East Africa’s east coast on October 16.

President Michel was 10 months into his third and final five-year term in office when he resigned on Wednesday.

Mr Faure, a member of the country’s longest ruling People’s Party (known previously as the Seychelles People’s Progressive Front/SPPF), has been serving as vice president since July 2010 and has been holding the portfolio of Minister of Finance since 2006.

The 54-year-old was born in Uganda at Kilembe mines in Kasese, 345km from Kampala, to Seychellois parents working at the mines at the time but moved back to Seychelles when Faure was only nine.

According to the Seychelles presidency website, Faure completed his primary and secondary education in the Seychelles and later in the 1980s moved to socialist Cuba where he graduated with a degree in Political Science.

Upon his return to Seychelles in 1985, Mr Faure worked as an assistant curriculum officer in the ministry of education, but at the same time moonlighting as a lecturer at both the now defunct National Youth Service (NYS) and the Seychelles Polytechnic.
In June 1989, he was appointed director of the NYS but was strongly criticised by the opposition until it was phased out in 1998.

At the same time, Mr Faure worked in the structures of the SPPF and would later be appointed chairman of its youth wing and later as member of the party’s elite Central Committee. The SPPF was founded in 1964 by one of the country’s leading political figures, France-Albert René, who also until his death in 2004 served as its chairman.
Several Ugandans have been known to occupy key positions in the Seychelles government, notably Justice Fredrick Egonda-Ntende, who is the country’s Chief Justice and most recently Justice Duncan Gaswaga who was re-appointed as judge of the Supreme Court.

During René’s early presidency, Seychelles was closed off as a one-party state but with the return of multi-party politics in 1993, Mr Faure was tapped as leader of government business in the National Assembly, a position he held until 1998.

In 1998 he was appointed Minister of Education, and in 2001 was added the youth docket to become the Minister of Education and Youth until 2006 when he was tapped as Finance minister.

As Vice President, Mr Faure also doubled as the country’s governor of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and African Development Bank.

The resignation of President Michel, who had served 12 years in office, on Wednesday coincided with last month’s election of an opposition majority in the National Assembly under the coalition Linyon Demokratik (LDS) amidst growing public frustration over economic inequality in the country. President Michel, however, did not offer reasons for his decision.

Mr Faure is married with four children, and among other languages understands Swahili.

Several Ugandans have been known to occupy key positions in the Seychelles government, notably Justice Fredrick Egonda-Ntende, who is the country’s Chief Justice and most recently Justice Duncan Gaswaga who was re-appointed as judge of the Supreme Court.

Seychelles has connections with Uganda, most prominently when the British colonialists exiled Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda and Omukama of Bunyoro Kabalega, who were opposed to their administration to the island in 1899.

{A firearm recovered from the house of terror suspect Ismail Mohammed Shosi, who was killed on Tuesday, belongs to an officer shot dead by unknown gunmen in January.}

The firearm, a G3 rifle, was stolen by the gangsters on a motorcycle after killing the officer in Kwale County.

The officer was identified as Nelson Mwadime from Likoni Police Station.

The policeman was shot three times at close range and died instantly as the criminals fled on a motorcycle.

The gangsters stole the officer’s loaded G3 rifle when he was escorting a van ferrying maize flour to Pungu area, Shika Adabu, Kwale County.

The van was ambushed on the Likoni-Ukunda road.

Mombasa County Police Commander Patterson Maelo has confirmed to the Nation that the firearm, serial number KP 005698, belonged to the slain officer.

WRONG HANDS

He said they were pursuing other rifles which are in the wrong hands.

“We are committed to this war and we are going to ensure that we recover all those rifles. We will make Mombasa regain its glory soon,” said Mr Maelo.

In July, police said the same gun was believed to be used by the thugs who had been robbing M-Pesa shops in the Likoni.

Shosi, 27, was shot dead on Tuesday after police raided the rental house where he was hiding, at Mwandoni in Kisauni, Mombasa.

Kisauni OCPD, Richard Ngatia said also recovered were 188 rounds of ammunitions, and terror training manuals which Shosi had been using to escape police dragnets.

Police in Mombasa had been trailing Shosi for the last two years before they finally gunned him down Tuesday.

He was killed in the house of a widow of another terror suspect, Kassim Omollo, Fatuma Masuo, who is now being pursued by the police.

Police have announced that Ms Musuo is armed and dangerous and have put a Sh2 million bounty put on her head.

{Police in Rukwa Region have arrested three Standard Six pupils from Nkomolo One Primary School in Nkasi District for allegedly setting fire on a staff room.}

A manhunt for six other suspected offenders has been mounted. Reports from the school had it that the nine pupils have been identified as notorious truants and that they allegedly committed the crime because they oppose the decision reached by the school committee to summon their parents for interrogation over their absenteeism. The names of the suspects have been withheld for investigation purposes.

The Rukwa Regional Police Commander (RPC), Mr George Kyando, confirmed the arrest of the three pupils who are still in police custody in Namanyere Town in Nkasi District for interrogation.fire a staffroom using kerosene. All furniture as well as books were reduced to ashes.

“When interrogated, the three arrested suspects admitted to have committed the crime by sprinkling kerosene in the staff room before setting it on fire. They aimed at setting the entire school on fire,” the RPC said.

Nkomolo One Primary School’s Head Teacher , Mr Richard Kasomo, told the ‘Daily News’ yesterday that the arrested three pupils are among eleven who have been identified as notorious truants.

“On the material day I dispatched letters to parents and guardians on the eleven hardcore truants asking them to attend a school committee meeting where they would be interrogated over the absenteeism of their children.

“If found guilty they would be taken to task together with their children” he said. He added that “ at around 8:00 pm on the same day the suspected pupils torched the school’s staffroom.

It was established that they are against the interrogation of their parents by the school committee over their absenteeism,” added Mr Kasomo. He explained further that the truants engaged themselves in casual labour and since they earned money they are capable of purchasing kerosene which was used in the fire incident.

Narrating the ghastly incident, Mr Kasomo said since the school is located near the highway, people who passed nearby saw the fire erupting at the school premises. They raised alarm which attracted many people including school teachers who live close to the school.

“Neighbours and our teaching staff rushed to the school and extinguished the fire by using water.

The staff room smelt of kerosene which was poured all over in the room mostly on the furniture and the books “ added Mr Kasomo. 3 Rukwa students arrested over arson Continued from Page 1 He said another key driver

{President Museveni has written to the World Bank (WB) promising that his government is addressing the structural gaps and other loopholes that compelled the bank early this month to announce withholding of more than $1.5b (Shs5 trillion) in new lending until further notice.}

The President’s letter to WB, also copied to senior officials in the Ministry of Finance, is part of efforts by government to salvage the loans and save many projects whose failure could have wide economic and political ramifications.

The secretary to the treasury, Mr Keith Muhakanizi, confirmed that the President has engaged the WB to resolve the issue.
Mr Muhakanizi who is scheduled to travel to the Bank’s headquarters in Washington DC next month as part of a delegation led by Finance minister Matia Kasaija to plead Uganda’s case at the International Development Association (IDA) 18 Replenishment negotiation meeting, also told this newspaper on Wednesday that the President has further directed that accounting officers that fail to justifiably absorb loans be punished.

IDA is the bank’s concessional funding arm to low-income and post-conflict countries. The WB in its assessment of performance on external financing said Uganda performed dismally with 72 per cent of projects being unsatisfactory between 2007 and June 2016. Only 15 per cent of projects are considered satisfactory.

The bank thus in a September 13 statement said it “took a decision to withhold new lending to Uganda effective August 22, 2016 while reviewing the country’s portfolio in consultation with the government.” The statement noted that the bank would continue to “work with the Ugandan authorities to address the outstanding performance issues in the portfolio, including delays in project effectiveness, weaknesses in safeguards monitoring and enforcement, and low disbursement.”

The bank, however, assured that projects already approved by its board before August 22 worth $1.8b (Shs6 trillion) will remain active. The loans that have not been absorbed also amount to $1.8b. Sources familiar with the matter told this newspaper that the Ministry of Education tops the list of MDAs with the lowest absorption capacity.

Explaining how the country got into this situation, Mr Muhakanizi said: “This is largely inefficiency and a management problem on the part of accounting officers and it definitely bounces back to affect our planning.”

He added that absorption had gone down partly as a result of the ongoing reforms instituted to contain the high frequency leakages (corruption) in the sectors for which the loans are acquired.

“So the accounting officers then decide to sit back on the money,” he explained.

Some of the reforms the Finance ministry has instituted include cleaning-up the payroll to exorcise it of thousands of “ghosts” and tightening the procurement system – especially introduction of the e-procurement system.

The other guidelines that finance officials will table in Washington, he said, is for all projects to have a “component of benchmarking by Parliament” before the loans are approved. Previously, he explained, ministries would push to get loans whose absorption and project implementation plans are not ready.

“For all loans that have not been absorbed, I have evidence where the ministers say they were ready. But by adding a component of benchmarking, they have to justify the request and also satisfy that they are ready.”

Currently, the Bank’s loans go through only four stages, namely Identification (of a project), Pre-appraisal, Appraisal and Negotiations.

{Kenya is lobbying against the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) between US and 12 Asian states for fear of losing the current preferential access under African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).}

The country joined other trade ministers from African countries at this year’s Agoa forum in Washington to urge the US to reconsider the move as it will make the goods coming from Africa uncompetitive in the market.

Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo told the Business Daily that the preferences that Kenya enjoys will be eroded once the US enters into trade agreements with other states outside Africa.

“Other trade agreements such as the Transpacific Partnership Agreement that the US is planning will affect the goods that are currently enjoying preferential rates to America,” said Dr Kiptoo.

TPP eliminates or reduces all tariffs on goods traded between partner countries.The TPP agreement would abolish many of these tariffs.

Dr Kiptoo notes that it would be difficult for Kenya to compete with countries such as Vietnam and other Asian states, which are part of the TPP agreement and a big producer of the textile goods.

“Vietnam is a big producer of textile and this will make it difficult for us to compete with them once they get duty and quota free access to the US market,” he said.

Manufacturers in those countries produce clothing at lower costs than their Kenyan counterparts.

{Tanzania is among a few countries in Africa with robust growth of economy as the continent is expecting growth to fall to its lowest level in two decades due to a slump in commodity prices and continuing weakness in global growth, a World Bank report says.}

With economy on track to expand by 7.2 percent in 2016, up from 7 percent in 2015, the East African country joins Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Ivory Coast as few bright spots in Africa of countries that have continued to record growth rates of above 6 percent, according to “Africa’s Pulse”, the Bank’s twice-yearly analysis of economic trends.

The report, which was unveiled in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan, said Tanzania registered strong growth, underpinned by expansion in construction and services sectors. However, it singled out Ivory Coast and Senegal as top performers in the continent.

The report said economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is likely to slip to 1.6 percent this year, its lowest level in two decades, due to continuing woes in the continent’s largest economies South Africa and Nigeria.

Africa has been one of the world’s fastest growing regions over the past decade, but a commodities slump has hit its oil and mineral exporters hard, bringing growth down to 3 percent in 2015.

“Our analysis shows that the more resilient growth performers tend to have stronger macroeconomic policy frameworks, better business regulatory environment, more diverse structure of exports, and more effective institutions,” said Albert Zeufack, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa.

According to the report, there were some bright spots, mostly among oil importers, where economic activity remained robust.

“Côte d’Ivoire saw broadbased growth, supported by a favourable policy environment, rising investment, and increased consumer spending,” “Ethiopia and Rwanda continued to post solid growth, supported by public infrastructure investment, private consumption, and a growing services sector.

Elsewhere, growth remained buoyant in Kenya, amid improving economic stability.” Meanwhile the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday that economy grew 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2016, compared to 5.8 percent during the same time last year.

“The growth of GDP in the second quarter was driven by mining, manufacturing and energy sectors,” Albina Chuwa, the Director General of the bureau, told a news conference.

“The increased production of natural gas has significantly boosted electricity generation in the country.” Tanzania’s growth in the first quarter was 5.5 percent.