IGIHE

Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Uganda Beats Liberia 1-0

    {{With a Goal from Midfield Maestro Tonny Mawejje Uganda cranes Have managed to Beat Liberia’s Lone stars 1-0 in the Fifa 2014 world cup qualifier, In the Process defended there 8 year record. }}

    Uganda is Still unbeaten at Home and Namboole Remains a fortress for all teams that come here.

    The Victory Brings a sigh of Relief on New cranes Coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic face considering this was his Home debut following the 3-nil Thrashing in Libya, the Match also exposed Uganda’s continued Attacking Woes,with only one Goal scored out of the over 10 attempts on Goal, however the match also continued to show why Geoffrey Massa as Uganda’s Main Man upfront,with one of his attempts actually Tearing the Goal net.

    With Massa Upfront, AIK Stockholm’s Martin Mutumba Started on the beach and was brought in later in the second half to cover the wings, while st George’s Robert Odongkara was in goal,and with his spectacular saves, it may be a long time before other cranes Goal Keepers stand in those Goal posts again.

    Uganda Now goes second in group J and has to win two matches in a Raw to Stand a chance of qualifying for the World cup in 2012 which will take place in in Brazil. Uganda will play Angola Next weekend.

  • Kenya Finally Lifts Ban on Uganda Sugar

    {{Eight months after blocking Uganda’s sugar at the Busia border, Kenyan authorities have allowed 220,000 metric tonnes of the commodity into its market.}}

    In October last year, the Kenyan authorities—Kenya Sugar Board and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) — intercepted a number of trucks at the Busia border, on the grounds that they carried duty free sugar.

    Kenya accused Uganda of allegedly re-exporting sugar to their country that was imported at a time when the government had waived taxes on the commodity as it sought to correct a supply shortage created at the height of the Walk-to-Work protests.

    Despite several attempts to resolve the matter, Kenya remained adamant and other Common Market for East and Central Africa (Comesa) member states started doubting Kenya’s commitment to the East African community (EAC) treaty that allows for free movement of goods and services in the common market.

    Ideally there should be free movement of people, goods and services across borders but recently, some goods have been stopped from entering either country’s borders.

    Zambia accused Kenya of blocking her goods into her market forcing it to retaliate by also blocking out Kenyan goods from her market.

    Despite several interventions by Uganda Revenue Authority and the Ministry of Trade to have the matter resolved, KRA was reluctant to resolve the matter until the Kenyan government set up a committee to come and investigate the matter.

    {agencies}

  • Intra-EAC trade Highest in African Economic Groups

    {{Intra-regional trade in the East African Community (EAC) rose to 23 per cent of the total value of exports in 2011.}}

    It was the highest increase in African economic blocs. The economic grouping is also rated as one of the fastest growing and reforming economies in the world, according to the Doing Business Report 2012.

    “The average annual growth rate of the regional economy remains at over six per cent with each country performing within a band of between four to eleven per cent,” EAC secretary general Richard Sezibera, said at the start of a workshop on competitiveness in East African countries.

    The event was organised by EAC Secretariat, the World Economic Forum and the African Commission.

    He asserted that several key issues with regard to competitiveness need to be addressed to ensure that the EAC states reap the benefits of what they have to offer on the world economic stage. These include, public-private partnerships, infrastructure development, trade liberalisation and the improvement of financial markets.

    On information and communication technology as one of the key drivers of competitiveness, Dr Sezibera said the technology transfer had seen productivity gains made easier and that the ICT sector had facilitated economic growth in the region by at least 40 per cent.

    Opening the one-day workshop, Vice President Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal noted that in the first decade of EAC existence, the community had witnessed a fourfold growth of its gross domestic product from $20 billion to $80 billion.

    He urged EAC member states to sustain the growth for the region to attain a middle income status by 2025 and become more competitive on the global scene. “We must think as a region, plan as a region, aspire as a region and implement as a region,” Dr Bilal noted.

    He challenged the regional leaders and their respective governments to utilise the abundant natural resources such as minerals, oil and gas for developing the bloc but with special focus on poverty alleviation for the majority of the citizens.

    He called for a better examination on the management of natural resources and formulation of agricultural policies to enhance EAC competitiveness at the global scene.

    Dr Sezibera applauded the massive penetration of mobile telephone innovation such as mobile commerce.

    which simplified financial transactions and made banking more widely available to people in the region.

    On infrastructure, he said, for the region to be competitive it needs to embrace strong infrastructure partnerships with neighbouring states. He informed the delegates that a mechanism is in place to ensure a joint contribution to the implementation of regional infrastructure projects.

    The workshop was convened to engage business and government leaders, policy makers, the media and civil society in a results-oriented dialogue on policy reforms to meet international standards and to seek ways of integrating the countries’ markets.

    {Thecitizen}

  • 8,000 More Seek Mau Mau Cash

    {{The British government may have paid out Sh2.6 billion (£19.9mn) to 5,228 victims of atrocities during the Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s, but its battle with Kenya’s war veterans is far from over.}}

    UK law firm Tandem AVH and its Kenyan partner Miller and Company Advocates already has a case lodged in the High Court in London on behalf of at least 8,000 additional claimants.

    Notably, the pending claim that was lodged in March this year is spearheaded by Eloise Mukami Kimathi, the widow of Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi.

    Capital FM News has seen court documents filed in March this year by Mukami and others as part of a suit by 8,061 claimants who are seeking compensation.

    Already, a precedent has been set for an out-of-court settlement after Foreign Secretary William Hague announced last Thursday that £19.9mn would be paid out following a legal battle lodged in the UK.

    Hague who fell short of making a full apology said: “The British government recognises that Kenyans were subject to torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration.”

    The declaration has created anxiety with all Mau Mau victims expecting to receive payments, but settlement only applies to 5,228 victims, while the actual number of those entitled to compensation may be in the region of 15,000.

    Majority of those who legitimately suffered at the hands of British colonialists have however since died.

    The lead lawyer at Tandem AVH Bryan Cox QC speaking on the settlement secured by another UK firm Leigh Day, said regret expressed by Hague was welcome but pointed out: “With many more thousands of claims currently unresolved, the matter is far from over.

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has agreed a compensation package with just one law firm representing 5,228 victims, there are many more victims still waiting an agreement. We are currently working with over 8,000 Kenyan claimants who have received no such offer.”

    The reparation litigation by Mukami, James Karanja Nyoro and others through Tandem AVH-Miller and Company Advocates is seeking unquantified damages for personal injury and ensuing losses from torture, mistreatment, forced labour and wrongful detention by the British colonial administration in Kenya during the state of emergency.

    The claim that was settled last Thursday relates to a case filed by Leigh Day which was working with lawyer Paul Muite.

    In that case, the Kenya Human Rights Commission registered claimants who sought compensation.

    The watershed case was lodged by Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambugu Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara who last year told the High Court in London how they were subjected to torture and sexual mutilation.

    Nyingi severely beaten, Nzili castrated while Mara was subjected to horrendous sexual abuse in detention camps during the Mau Mau uprising.

    Reports after the settlement suggested that each of the 5,228 victims would get roughly Sh300,000 which Tandem AVH says is “worryingly modest.”

    “We are very concerned about this. Having been in Kenya for the past 14 months taking very detailed witness statements, it is absolutely crucial that the FCO understands, in detail, the very great suffering of all the victims to ensure they are properly compensated,” Cox said of the sum.

    After the settlement, more victims of the torture have come out to lay claim to the billions being paid out, and it’s expected that they will join the pending case by Tandem AVH-Miller and Company Advocates.

    “It is on public record that there are considerably more genuine victims of torture and abuse. Tandem AVH are confident that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will fairly consider genuine claims irrespective of which firm acts on their behalf as the interests of justice cannot be served any other way. We await and expect contact from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office forthwith,” Cox opined.

    KHRC had claimed it registered at least 50,000 claimants on behalf of Leigh Day and questions have been raised that only 5,000 of them were considered genuine victims.

    But since there is the Tandem AVH-Miller and Company Advocates case pending, it is believed authentic claimants will seek to be enlisted in the suit.

    The case by Mukami, Nyoro and others was lodged through claim no. HQ13XO2162 Queen’s Bench Division in March 2013.

    The claimants argue that they suffered assault, battery, causing personal injury, forced removal from their homes, forced detention, forced labour, torture, and interference with the right to private and family life.

    They also complain that they suffered from the right to free assembly, the right not to be discriminated due to race, and had their right to education curtailed through closure of schools and forced removal or detention.

    Last week, lawyers acting in the three-pronged cases were summoned to a meeting by the Law Society of Kenya.

    The cases include the one Leigh Day that has been settled, the pending one by Tandem AVH-Miller and Company Advocates and another by GT Law Solicitors of UK, which works in Kenya with Rabala and Company Advocates on behalf of 700 claimants.

    The precedent set by Thursday’s settlement will likely shape the outcome of other cases.

    {CapitalFM}

  • East Africa Joins Push on Property Laws Deadline

    {{The East African Community has thrown its weight behind a campaign to insulate poor countries from stringent international intellectual property laws.}}

    During their seating in Kampala earlier this week, the East African Legislative Assembly resolved to support the extension of the grace period within which developing countries implement the trade related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement.

    The agreement protects intellectual property which was adopted by World Trade Organisation members in 1995. It requires states to implement laws that protect intellectual property of fellow members.

    A deadline of 2005 was imposed on all members to comply.

    However, upon appeals, the deadline for least developed countries was extended by seven years and expires on June 30.

    The East African assembly said it was supporting a formal request by Haiti on behalf of least developed countries last year calling for the extension of the transition period.

    Haiti wants the grace period extended to poor countries on the implementation of property rights agreement to remain in effect.

    {NMG}

  • ICC Says it Won’t investigate Police Killings in Tanzania

    {{The International Criminal Court (ICC) has turned down a petition to investigate Tanzania for alleged extra-judicial killings and gross violation of citizen rights.}}

    The court rejected the appeal filed in September last year by the Legal and Human Right Centre (LHRC) asking the Hague-based institution to consider opening an investigation into crimes against humanity and other human rights violations perpetuated by security forces.

    The LHRC petition accuses the government of complicity and condoning killings by security forces. It claims at least 237 innocent people have been killed since 2003.

    But on Wednesday, the Head of Information and Evidence Unit of the Office of the Prosecutor at ICC, Mr M.P. Dillon, wrote to LHRC announcing the decision not to open the case.

    According to Mr Dillon, the matters raised by the LHRC and evidence available did not meet the threshold for launching local investigations.

    The claims against Tanzania, he added, did not fall within the court’s jurisdiction as they do not meet the definition of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes as defined in Articles 6 to 8 of the Rome Statute.

    In a letter to Dr Helen Kijo-Bisimba, the LHRC executive director, Mr Dillon writes: “The prosecutor has, therefore, determined that there is not a basis at this time to proceed further.”

    “However, the information you have submitted will be maintained in our archives, and the decision not to proceed may be reconsidered in the light of new facts or information.”

    The ICC official advised the petitioner to pursue justice with national authorities within Tanzania or raise the same concerns with other appropriate international authorities.

  • Somalia & Kenya Could Collide over New Water Border Resolution

    {{Somalia Cabinet has announced a new territorial waters boundaries that could put it on a collision cause with Kenya.}}

    A Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Thursday supported a 2009 parliamentary decision, revoking a Memorandum of Understanding between Kenya and Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government.

    “The government reiterates its support for the Transitional Federal Government Parliament’s decision of 1 August 2009 calling ‘null and void’ the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the TFG Minister of International Cooperation and Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs signed in Nairobi on 7 April 2009,” said a statement released in Mogadishu.

    The Mogadishu meeting defined the boundary with Kenya as a line lying at a right angle as opposed to the latter’s envisaged a diagonal delineation.

    Further, the press release said on March 12, 2010, the United Nations stated that the 2009 MOU was to be considered “non-actionable” because it had been rejected by the Somali Parliament.

    “The government’s position is Somali Law No. 37 on the Territorial Sea and Ports, signed on 10 September 1972, which defines Somali territorial sea as 200 nautical miles and continental shelf.”

    On July 24, 1989 Somalia ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

    As a result, the document stated: “The Federal Government of Somalia does not consider it appropriate to open new discussions on maritime demarcation or limitations on the continental shelf with any parties.”

    Nevertheless, the Cabinet underlined that the Somali government was committed to strong bilateral relations with Kenya and looked forward to working with the government of President (Uhuru) Kenyatta on a number of issues, including the safe repatriation of refugees from Kenya and improving border security.

    The aforementioned MOU has been been controversial in Somalia ever since it was signed in April 2009.

    NMG

  • 3 Killed in Sudan Helicopter Crash

    {{Reports from Sudan indicate that 3 people were killed on Thursday when a military helicopter crashed in the capital of the Blue Nile state.}}

    The army spokesperson Colonel Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad earlier said that two people were killed in the accident which took place in the town of al-Damzain and resulted from the chopper crashing into an electricity tower.

    But the pro-government Ashorooq TV reported that one extra person perished as a result of the crash.

    Col. Sa’ad insisted that the helicopter was on a training mission and offered no further details.

    The governor of the state Hassan Yassin said the swift response helped reduce the toll and hailed the residents’ cooperation with authorities.

    He said there were no casualties among civilians.

    Aviation accidents in Sudan are common and authorities routinely blame it on technical failures.

    The Blue Nile state is the scene of fighting between the government and the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N).

    In 2011, Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir sacked SPLM-N chairman Malik Agar from his post as governor of the state following clashes between the army and SPLM-N fighters. Each side blamed the other for instigating the fighting.

    {Site where military helicopter crashed in Damazin, Sudan June 6}

    ST

  • Museveni Pushes EAC States to Remove non-tariff Barriers

    {{Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has asked East African Community (EAC) member states to put an end to all non-tariff barriers, saying they are the main impediments to the economic development of the region.}}

    Addressing the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) sitting in Kampala June 5, the President also outlined economic bottlenecks that have hampered the growth of the region.

    Among the bottlenecks are ideological disorientation, attacks on the private sector, an underdeveloped human resource, inadequate infrastructure, lack of industries and an underdeveloped agricultural sector, among others.

    He was addressing the meeting both as the host of the Assembly and also the chairman of the EAC summit. “I urge that all partner states should fully implement the treaty by removing all the non-tariff barriers and we head for integration,” he said.

    Currently, the EAC has achieved the protocol of customs union, common market and they are now headed to implementing the protocol of monetary union, which seeks to have a single currency for the five partner states.

    Non-tariff barriers are such restrictions that result from prohibitions, conditions, or specific market requirements that make importation or exportation of products difficult and or costly.

  • Poor Nations Urged to Boost Spending on Nutrition

    The world’s poorest nations are set to nearly triple spending on nutrition programs for mothers and children over the next two years to help cope with volatile food prices, the World Bank said on Thursday.

    The Washington-based global development lender said its direct funds for nutrition programs should rise to $600 million for 2013-14 from $230 million in 2011-12.

    Ninety percent of those funds will be disbursed through the World Bank’s fund for the poorest, the International Development Association (IDA), and go largely to Africa and South Asia.

    Countries ask the World Bank for IDA funds for specific programs, said Keith Hansen, the World Bank’s acting vice president for human development.

    “(The higher funds) signal that there is growing demand from countries themselves, … as countries learn about the high health and social returns that nutrition creates,” Hansen said.

    Worldwide, about 165 million children below the age of 5 are malnourished. Malnutrition is the single biggest cause of child mortality, contributing to a third of all child deaths.

    Even as countries’ incomes rise, better nutrition may not follow. In India, for example, the economy has tripled between 1990 and 2005, but 42 percent of children under 5 were underweight in 2012, similar to rates five years earlier.

    And recent spikes in food prices have made the situation worse, stalling global progress in reducing the rates of child and maternal mortality, the World Bank found in a report last year.

    The United Nations’ food agency has said global food prices are likely to remain high this year, and low stocks pose the risk of sharp price increases if crops fail.

    The world’s poorest are particularly sensitive to big swings in food prices as they spend a large chunk of their income on food. In response to higher prices, households will often buy cheaper foods like rice or maize that have fewer nutrients, Hansen said.

    The World Bank’s nutrition programs focus especially on children 2 years old or younger, when nutrition interventions can have the biggest impact.

    {reuters}