Tag: GreatLakesNews

{Tanzania on Monday backed out of its plan to publish a list of names of gay people accused of selling sex online, saying this would “destroy evidence”.}

Deputy health minister Hamisi Kigwangalla had called a press conference on Monday to publicise the list, after announcing the plan earlier this month.

“We cancelled the press conference. We are not going to announce the names of (LGBTs) who publicly market themselves for technical reasons,” he wrote on Twitter.

“For strategic reasons and to avoid destroying evidence we will deal with this issue differently and will keep you informed at every step.”

He also said that releasing the names would be akin to “freeing a devil in a bottle.”

{{ANTI-GAY RHETORIC}}

Kigwangalla’s threat to publish such a list came just days after the government announced it was stopping many privately run health centres from providing AIDS-related services, which Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said promoted homosexuality.

The United States criticised a move which “could impact US government funded programs and impede progress made over the past several years in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Tanzania.”

Gay male sex is punishable by anything from 30 years to life imprisonment under Tanzanian law, but there is no such ban on lesbian relations.

However, politicians have largely ignored the gay community — which was not subject to levels of discrimination seen in other countries such as neighbouring Uganda — until a recent spike in anti-gay rhetoric by the government.

{{ANAL EXAMINATIONS}}

In July last year, the regional commissioner for the port city of Dar es Salaam, Paul Makonda, announced a crackdown against gays, followed by arrests in clubs.

Dozens of men suspected of being gay have been detained and taken to hospital for anal exams to confirm their homosexuality.

Also in July last year the government banned the import and sales of sexual lubricants, which Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said encouraged homosexuality which led to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Homosexuality is illegal in 38 of 54 countries in Africa, and is punishable by death in Mauritania, Sudan and Somalia, according to Amnesty International.

Uganda in 2014 tried to impose the death penalty on those found guilty of being homosexual, however the controversial law was later repealed.

Source:AFP

{The president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi has today begun her visit to victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels benefiting from Trust Fund’s assistance projects in Northern Uganda.}

Ms Fernandez arrived in the country on February 23 at the invitation of the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV), an independent body associated with the ICC.

She is accompanied by the board members and the Director of the TFV.

The TFV provides assistance to victims and their families in ICC situation countries through programmes of psychological rehabilitation, physical rehabilitation and material support.

Ms Fernandez first visited Awach Sub-county headquarters in Gulu District this morning where she is interacting with over 100 war victims from the districts of Omoro, Amuru and Nwoya benefiting from TFV project.

In the four districts, ICC funded Gulu Women’s Economic Development and Globolization [GWED-G], an NGO supporting a total of 1,427 LRA war victims.

Ms Fernandez will later visit Lukodi village in Bungatira Sub-county where 54 rrsidents were massacred allegedly under the command of former LRA rebel commander Dominic Ongwen in May 2004.

Mr Ongwen is currently at ICC Detention centrE in The Netherlands facing 70 counts of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity he allegedly committed in northern Uganda.

An estimated 44,368 (26,264 Females and 18,104 males) have benefited under TFV. Of those figures, 35,460 victims were in the DRC and 8,908 in Uganda.

Source:Daily Monitor

{The National Super Alliance on Monday went vote-hunting in Jubilee’s Mt Kenya stronghold, where they accused the government of tribalism and corruption and promised to fix the problems facing the people.}

Mr Raila Odinga and Mr Kalonzo Musyoka campaigned in Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties where they told locals that President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, Mr William Ruto, were practising tribal politics but that will not help them in the August election.

The two were earlier blocked from the Meru bus terminus by youth chanting Jubilee slogans who barricaded the entrance with rocks.

But they were able to speak at an alternative venue in Meru town as well as Laare and Kiutine markets in Igembe North and Central sub-counties.

Speaking at Laare market, Mr Odinga said it was time Kenyans and their politicians focused on politics that brought unity and fostered development. The former Prime Minister said some counties labelled as Jubilee strongholds have shifted their support to Nasa.

“Kenyans have the reason, ability and will to remove Jubilee from power. Corruption and tribalism in the country are on an immeasurable level and we must change for the betterment of our people,” Mr Odinga said, criticising the President and his deputy for allegedly ruling the country on an ethnic basis.

Mr Musyoka said a wave of change is blowing across Africa and Kenya will not be left behind.

MISTAKE TO MERGE PARTIES

“Before election you’ll hear talk about Mt Kenya which diminishes after the polls. That has a political meaning and voters should be wary,” Mr Musyoka said in Meru town.

He said Jubilee supporters, including Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi, have now realised that it was a mistake to merge parties to form Jubilee and asked those unhappy to jump ship and join Nasa.

They went out of their way to woo Meru governor Peter Munya who is the Party of National Unity leader to join the outfit. Governor Munya, said Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka, was supportive of devolution, just like Nasa is.

“As a government, we will allocate 45 per cent of national resources to counties instead of the meagre 15 per cent given by Jubilee,” said Mr Odinga.

“Mr Munya stands for what is truthful and just. We welcome him to Nasa,” he said.

On the miraa issue, they questioned a government initiative allocating Sh1 billion to cushion farmers from the effects of an international ban. They said a task force formed to look into the issue is yet to make public its report after the deadline elapsed.

They accused the government of failing to find a diplomatic solution to the problem.

READ: Crisis in Baringo as Red Cross pulls out over insecurity

Mr Odinga promised that within 90 days in office, he would ensure miraa farmers get better prices for their produce.

He accused the government of failing to tackle runaway corruption and insecurity, which has plagued parts of Baringo, Meru and Isiolo counties, saying it is the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens. “If the Deputy President can be ambushed by bandits, how safe are Kenyans?” he asked.

This is the second visit by Mr Odinga to Meru in less than a month.

Speaking at Wilson Airport before they flew to Meru, Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka promised to stick together after Nasa’s flagbearer is named.

RESPECT VERDICT

The former Prime Minister said Nasa leaders would respect the verdict of a special technical committee mandated to spearhead the process of picking a presidential candidate.

“We will respect the outcome of the committee’s process. In the meantime, we urge our followers not to be anxious, as the greatest task is not who will be our flagbearer, but how we will redeem Kenyans from the jaws of Jubilee’s misrule,” he said.

Mr Odinga said rumours being spread of a possible Nasa break-up over the flagbearer are “baseless propaganda”.

“This has been a long journey. At this juncture, no amount of political witch-hunt is going to break Nasa. Kenyans are already tired of runaway corruption, ethnic exclusion in government appointments and collapse of the health sector,” he said.

He added that nothing was impossible, given that in 2002, he endorsed retired president Mwai Kibaki for presidency despite him being a Kikuyu.

“Most people believed that I could not say ‘Kibaki Tosha’ because (he) Kibaki was a Kikuyu, while I am a Luo. However, the naysayers were proved wrong because more than 90 per cent of the Luo voted for Kibaki,” he said.

Mr Musyoka said that since each of the member parties has three representatives in the committee, there should be no fear about who will eventually be named the flagbearer.

The committee is made up of 12 members, three from each of the four affiliate parties. Apart from Wiper and ODM, other parties represented are Ford Kenya led by Senator Moses Wetang’ula (Bungoma) and Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress.

Source:Daily Nation

{Following a series of attacks against the Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a senior Catholic leader has spoken about “a resurgence of fear, anger and indeed insecurity” in the country. }

Speaking to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, the Archbishop of Kinshasa described the second consecutive weekend attack as an “alarming security situation”. He said: “On Saturday, 18th February 2017 we learned with indignation of the arson attack on a section of the major seminary in Malole by violent thugs, who have [also] sown terror among the Carmelite Sisters”. The Carmelites are located in Kananga, in the DRC’s central province of Lulua.

There was also an attack on Saint Dominic’s Church in Limete, Kinshasa, west DRC on Sunday 12th February, that was carried out by about 20 youths. The cardinal said: “They overturned the tabernacle, ransacked the altar, smashed some of the benches and attempted to set fire to the church. The material damage is considerable”. He added that these incidents “lead one to believe that the Catholic Church is being targeted deliberately, in order to sabotage her mission of peace and reconciliation.”

ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World 2016 report noted that state authorities and the DRC’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CENCO) had been “on a collision course since 2014” over proposals to extend the presidency beyond the two terms permitted in the constitution. The report added that the DRC opposition suspected that these proposals would be used as “delay tactics to put off upcoming elections… with the potential to delay an election for years”.

According to the Religious Freedom in the World 2016 report, in response to CENCO criticism “on 16th January 2015 the government closed the signal of Radio Television Catholique Elilya (RTCE), which remained shut down for six months”. But in December 2016 there was a political agreement in the DRC that President Joseph Kabila would step down.

The Church has acted as a mediator trying to achieve a peaceful transition in the forthcoming presidential elections, due to be held in late 2017. Cardinal Pasinya called on politicians to “demonstrate wisdom, self-restraint and a democratic spirit in order to resolve the question regarding the designation of the Prime Minister and the other related issues, [and not risk] imperiling the planned elections scheduled for the end of this year.” He said: “It is now down to the men of politics to acknowledge with humility, both before the nation and before the international community, their political weakness and the turpitude of their selfish choices that have led to a political impasse and the paralysis of the institutions.”

ACN continues to provide emergency aid for religious sisters, including the Daughters of Resurrection, who were forced to close seven of their convents in the Bukavu region, east DRC after some sisters were killed in the violence spreading across this region. Also in the Bukavu region the charity has supported a number of reconstruction projects because of the earthquakes in 2005 and 2008. As well as helping with, in the rebuilding of churches and presbyteries it is supporting the formation of the clergy, including the yearly spiritual retreats for the priests because of the high psychological pressures exerted on them within the DRC.

Source:ACN News

{The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation-CVR started a month ago to identify the number of mass graves existing in Burundi from 1972 to 2008, but there is a long way to go.}

“From 1972 up to date, there is an estimated number of 2,500 mass graves in Burundi”, says Aloys Batungwanayo, Chairperson of the Association for the Memory and Protection of Humanity against International Crimes- AMEPCI-Gira Ubuntu. He says, according to the survey conducted by the association, those mass graves are located in each headquarters of Burundi communes, each military installation, toilets, brick pits while other dead bodies were thrown in the rivers. “The mass graves are scattered throughout the country. Even in 2016, two mass graves were discovered in Mutakura and Kanyosha neighborhoods of the capital Bujumbura”, he says.

Nicodème Bugwabari, Lecturer at the University of Burundi, says, in collaboration with students, the University conducted an investigation in seven former provinces of Burundi and recorded about 140 mass graves of people killed in 1972 and 34 mass graves of people killed in 1988. “The CVR should consider our investigations even if there were oral ones. They were based on testimonies and questions. Concerning the massacres that took place in 1988, 18 mass graves have been discovered in Ntega Commune of Kirundo Province while 16 others have been found in Marangara commune of Ngozi Province,” he says.

Tatien Sibomana, a political opponent is concerned about the short term given to the National Commission of Truth and Reconciliation to identify the number of mass graves in the country. “We really need to know the number of mass graves and their locations in the country. I don’t think that we expect good results when the CVR term will expire after two years. Or is it going to speculate on victims? ” he says.

Jean Louis Nahimana, Chairman of CVR says each time they are informed, they do field work. “ We have already discovered mass graves in Kivyuka area of Musigati Commune in Cibitoke Province, Bugarama zone in Muramvya Province, Gasenyi hill of Mwaro Province and recently in Buyenzi neighborhood of Bujumbura City Council”, he says. He also says that when those mass graves are discovered, CVR protects them and suspend all activities carried out in the areas.

François Xavier Nsabimana, Chairman of survivors and victims’ of 1972 killings says it will be difficult to identify all mass graves in Burundi given that the majority of infrastructures are built on them. “Bujumbura International Airport, schools, hospitals… are all erected on mass graves. How will we succeed to bury our relatives with dignity?” he says.

The chairman of CVR says the commission has not yet decided what will be done for the infrastructures erected on mass graves. “When we finish investigating all mass graves discovered by those organizations will make a request for the construction of memorial sites if there are infrastructures erected on them ”, he says.

On this 27 February, CVR in collaboration with some experts are exhuming some dead bodies from the mass grave discovered in Makamba zone of Rusaka Commune in Mwaro Province.

The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation-CVR has been created since December 2014 with a four -year term. It has the main objective of establishing the truth on what happened in Burundi including identifying the mass graves and reconciling Burundians.

Source:Iwacu

{Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Hillary Onek has said on average, Uganda receives 4,000 refugees daily mainly from its neigbouring countries.}

He made the remarks after West Nile leaders raised a red flag regarding the influx of refugees and how their presence was impacting negatively on the country’s limited resources.

The leaders during the launch of the 10 million Euros European Union (EU) Trust Fund for northern Uganda in Mungula Refugee Settlement, Adjumani District last Thursday also highlighted the continued presence of the refugees they said had led to more substantial demands on natural resources.

Mr Onek (Lamwo County MP) said Uganda is now a home to 1.2 million refugees of which 700,000 are South Sudanese.
He appealed to the international community to take keen interest in resolving the conflicts at the neighborhood, adding that being a refugee is an unpleasant experience.

He added that the only solution to refugee influx is for the development partners to push for political stability in the war affected countries to restore some calm.

“President Museveni is working hard to ensure that peace returns in South Sudan, at least I am his cabinet minister and I know what he is going through to restore peace in the youngest nation,” Mr Onek said.

Meanwhile, Gen Moses Ali, the First deputy Prime Minister, faulted Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) saying it has not done much to restore lasting peace in South Sudan.

He called for a combined effort of the UN Security Council and other players to come up with deliberate measures of ensuring that peace returns to South Sudan.

Source:Daily Monitor

{The government has banned advertising of its services, including tenders and job applications, in commercial media.}

Accounting officers have been warned, in an official memo from the Head of Public Service, that if they place their ads in the media, then they would be forced to pay the cost from their pockets.

All ministries, departments and agencies have been instructed to advertise through a government newspaper, My.Gov, which the government is circulating by inserting in the Star and People Daily.

In a memo stamped ‘secret’ to all ministries, departments and agencies, President Kenyatta’s Chief of Staff and Head of Civil Service Joseph Kinyua argued that the government is trying to save money.

The memo is dated February 8, 2017, apparently the same day as a special Cabinet meeting that ordered the establishment of a government paper to “articulate” its agenda to the public.

“In line with the government’s desire to cut cost in the provision of services to the public and consequent to the Cabinet decision, there will be no need for MDA’s (ministries, departments and agencies) to use resources allocated to them to advertise their services and convey requests for services from the market,” he said in the memo that was copied to Attorney-General Githu Muigai.

“In this regard, each accounting officer shall ensure that any request for services by them shall be done through ‘MY.GOV’ publication. Any officer found violating this requirement will be liable to surcharge of the amount spent, besides other disciplinary action,” he warned.

The Cabinet, according to the memo, was not satisfied with the role being played by commercial newspapers and TV stations.

“During the special Cabinet meeting held on February 8, 2017, the Cabinet discussed and approved establishment of a wide circulation newspaper to be known as MY.GOV that will articulate the government agenda in a deeper and more accurate way for a better appreciation of government’s effort to improve the livelihood of the citizens,” the memo said.

Mr Kinyua said that the new free circulating newspaper will, in addition to championing the government agenda and adverts, carry articles of government programmes and opportunities for the youth and vulnerable groups, which is allegedly not carried by commercial media.

“The paper will provide a link between the government and the citizens in providing information on government programmes and activities on a timely basis. It will create nationwide window for dissemination of crucial information on government procurement, request for services, and other vital areas.”

My.Gov was first launched as an online portal in 2015 where citizens could access news and information about government. After two years, the government has now decided to expand it to a free daily newspaper.

During the launch, President Kenyatta directed government institutions to shift from advertising using the traditional media to digital platforms.

The President said cutting reliance on newspapers and television stations for advertisements and other communication would significantly bring down the government’s spending on media.

{{ESTABLISH A NEWSPAPER}}

“We are spending hundreds of millions of shillings in advertising through the media. Let the ministries and other public bodies advertise through the digital platform we just launched and save that money for use in other things,” he said.

The My.Gov publication is the third effort by successive governments to establish a newspaper in Kenya.

In December 2011, the government ceased publication of Kenya Today, amid claims of financial misappropriation. The newspaper, which was run jointly by departments of Information and Communication, had been in existence for three years.

Two years earlier, in November 2009, Kenya Times newspaper was wound up after employees successfully petitioned the court on grounds that it owed them money. The Kanu-era newspaper was first published on April 5, 1983.

Previously thriving media sector in Kenya is shrinking, severely hit, partly by technological changes and a government advertising embargo.

Government advertising is tightly controlled by the Government Advertising Agency and is generally determined by how government officials judge coverage.

About 30 per cent of media advertising revenue comes from the government.

Source:Daily Nation

{Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni yesterday underscored the importance of agro-processing industries as the best way to reduce dependence on imports while increasing foreign exchange reserves.}

Citing the Bakhresa group of companies as a test case, he said such firms were key to a country’s economy because “they integrate different levels of production” under which something from the farm, for instance, is processed for sale in the market before the same lands on the family dinner table.

“These industries are saving money for Tanzania, for Uganda, and they also enable the country earn foreign exchange through exports,” he quipped, during his visit to the mills of Bakhresa Group in Dar es Salaam yesterday. His remarks come at a time when Tanzania is currently stepping up efforts to industrialise.

President Museveni who was in the country for a two-day state visit which ended yesterday said Africa was losing a lot of money to foreign markets through imports of both goods and services, noting that Uganda was, for instance, literally giving away to India some $1.5 million every year in the form of imports.

He added that for want of agroprocessing industries, his country was being forced to export raw maize, hence getting less money from the produce. He therefore encouraged the Tanzanian investors to explore investment opportunities in the Ugandan industrial sector, saying: “So I welcome you (Bakhresa) to Uganda …to come and process (our) maize.” Data indicates that Uganda produces four million tons of maize every year but consumes only a quarter (one million tons); the rest is exported.

He also took a swipe at the businesspeople within East Africa who only think of importing goods instead of investing in the manufacturing sector to enable the region export commodities.

The Ugandan leader commended the Bakhresa Group, saying: “a group like this is very good because if I recall what I read at the University (of Dar es Salaam where he studied), you would be what we used to call the impact of national bourgeois,” meaning these are capitalists who are good for the country because you are adding to the wealth of the country, this is different from another type of capitalist, we call a comprador bourgeois …the ones who are importing from outside.”

“The capitalists who only import are turning our countries into markets, they are agent-capitalists, and in Uganda I have a lot of those, but recently we had a conference and they confessed their sins and they say they are going to change,” he added.

The Minister for Industries, Trade and Investment, Mr Charles Mwijage, said Museveni’s tour was a result of a recent meeting of the African Heads of State held in Addis Ababa, at which they agreed that by December this year the African countries should have agreed to trade among themselves under what is called ‘Continental Free Trade Area.

’ “We and Uganda can produce and trade among ourselves. For instance, Uganda produces abundant maize and we import from them,” he said.

Mr Hussein Sufian, Director of Public Relations at the Bakhresa Group, expressed gratitude to the government for giving it opportunity to host President Museveni, saying they have had the opportunity to brief him on their investments in Uganda.

Mr Sufiani explained that the company has invested $60 million on a wheat processing plant in Uganda which is currently milling 1,100 tons per day, adding that the company now seeks to double its daily processing capacity to at least 2,000 tons of wheat.

There are also plans to invest $50 million on another plant to process at least 5,000 tons of maize daily. Meanwhile, president Museveni assured his Tanzanian counterpart John Magufuli that he was ready to lay a foundation stone for construction of the crude oil pipeline from Hoima in Uganda to Tanga port in Tanzania.

He made the assurance shortly before departing at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) after his two-day state visit in Tanzania. “We have had fruitful discussions with President Magufuli; we have discussed many issues including the envisaged construction of the pipeline and agreed to lay a foundation stone for its implementation,” Mr Museveni stated.

Other leaders who were present to see-off Mr Museveni included Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa in addition to heads of security and defense forces, among other officials.

Source:Daily News

{The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is ready to do business with Zimbabwe and local companies should take advantage of the cordial relations existing between the two countries to export to that country.}

DRC Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Mawampanga Mwana Nanga, said this in Bulawayo on Friday during a seminar organised by ZimTrade to present export opportunities available in Lubumbashi, DRC, to local exporters.

The seminar follows a recent market survey conducted by ZimTrade and a consultancy firm, Africa Corporate Advisor.

Mr Mwana Nanga said through exporting to DRC, Zimbabwe exporters can bring to an end the prevailing foreign currency shortages.

“DRC is a big country with a lot of investment opportunities in different sectors. And Zimbabwean exporters need to take advantage of the good political ties this country enjoys with DRC to export there. DRC’s big economy can be the answer to Zimbabwe’s quest for foreign currency,” he said.

During the breakfast session, it emerged that DRC has vast opportunities in areas such as engineering, electrical, pharmaceutical, fashion and clothing, agri-business, construction, mining and fast moving consumer goods.

Mr Mwana Nanga said his country has overtaken Zambia as the largest producer of copper on the continent producing about a million tonnes of copper annually.

“In order to produce that copper, there are things that can come from Zimbabwe; for example here in Matabeleland, the region is endowed with coal that you can take to DRC,” he said.

According to 2015 trade figures, DRC’s total import bill was $5,7 billion with Zimbabwe contributing less than one percent of that country’s imports.

Mr Mwana Nanga said Zimbabwe’s regions such as Matabeleland could tap into his country’s market by exporting products such as coal, beef, fruits, fish and kapenta and those can bring forex.

“I suggest that you (Zimbabwean businesses) can break-through the DRC market as a group easily. Land is not a problem in DRC and as Zimbabweans, you can negotiate with the DRC government so that they can give you a piece of land to build a bonded warehouse, and that can be done,” he said.

The DRC Ambassador said his country was also prepared to offer land to Zimbabwean small-scale miners and farmers in sectors such as gold and tobacco.
In light of the trade and investment opportunities in the DRC, Mr Mwana Nanga said, it was imperative for ZimTrade to now conduct a product specific market survey in sectors such as sugarcane, cement and poultry.

Earlier on, Africa Corporate Advisor director, Mr Malvern Rusike, implored Zimbabwe policy makers to review investment and trade policies that support private sector initiatives in accessing export markets.

“From the survey that we conducted in the DRC, there are a lot of opportunities in that country.

“This survey was not a product-specific survey, but it was a general broad market survey. In terms of our recommendations, there is a need for policy makers to review investment and trade policies that support private sector initiatives in accessing export markets,” he said.

Source:Chronicle