IGIHE

Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Kenya Power Exports to Uganda Rise

    {{Kenya has recently seen a surge in Electricity Exports to Uganda despite the fact that the country also imports power from Uganda and Tanzania to meet rising demands.}}

    Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicates that the country exports an average of 2.98 million kilowatts per hour (KWh) every month to Uganda.

    Power exports to Uganda have been on the rise since last year even as Kenya steps up electricity imports from the same nation. As at April, Kenya had exported over 12 million KWh to Uganda.

    This, however, is a drop of about 4 million KWh of power during a similar period last year when Kenya exported 16 million KWh, noted KNBS’ Leading Economic Indicators analysis received yesterday.

    In January, Kenya’s power exports to Uganda stood at 2.45 million KWh, from 2.32 million KWh last December.

    Electricity exports rose to 2.95 million KWh in February before increasing further to 3.68 million KWh in March, the highest since the beginning of the year. In April, the exports slowed to 2.84 million KWh.

    Compared to a similar period last year, Kenya has not performed well during this quarter. In January last year, exports to Uganda stood at 5.7 million KWh, in February 3.7 million KWh, in March 4.4 million KWh and in April 2.1 million KWh.

    The data also indicated that since the beginning of the year, Kenya has not exported any power to Tanzania. The last export to the country was made in December last year, when Kenya exported 0.12 million KWh.

    The only other months Kenya exported power to Tanzania was January, February, March, April and June, a total of 0.10 million KWh each month.

    But even as Kenya intensifies its power exports, its imports from its East African Community neighbours has also risen.

    {Standard}

  • Odinga Denied Access to VIP lounge at Airport

    The Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has been denied access to VIP section at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

    On Monday afternoon, Odinga was waiting to board a plane to Kisumu when he was denied access of the VIP lounge at Unit III at the JKIA.

    Odinga is now demanding an apology from the highest levels of government following what he described as “ill treatment”.

    Airport officials said that they had received a memo from the Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia listing individuals who should be accorded access to the VIP lounge and Odinga doesn’t appear on the list.

    Odinga’s Aide Eliud Owalo said, “It is becoming clearly evident that some people in government with narrow and parochial interests are intent on deploying acts of intimidation reminiscent of the single party era with the false hope that such machinations will make Hon Raila Odinga submissive.”

  • Tanzania New Constitution for 3-Tier Government

    {{Tanzania’s Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) Monday unveiled the first draft mother law, which proposes a radical change in the structure of the union.}}

    The commission has proposed a federal union comprised of three governments, CRC chairman Joseph Warioba said at the launch in Dar es Salaam.

    The retired judge said the decision came after consideration of all views on the contentious union issue. This would essentially take the country back to the Tanganyika government that ceased to exist when the United Republic of Tanzania was formed on April 26, 1964.

    In the new scheme of things, the Tanganyika government would have its own President, parliament and other organs.

    The union government would be leaner, with about 15 cabinet members and a parliament that does not exceed 75 members.

    The Zanzibar Isles will retain their own semi-autonomous government under the new arrangement as was the case under the old. Zanzibar and the mainland united in April 1964 to form the union government.

    “The union issue was the most contentious of all,” Judge Warioba said. “We received many views, some of which called for the break-up of the union itself.”

    Some groups had advocated a one-government union while others backed the status quo of two governments. Yet others proposed a four-government structure.

    “We weighed the pros and cons and arrived at the conclusion that the three-government structure was best,” said the CRC chairman.

    NMG

  • ICC Considering to Hold Trial of William Ruto in Africa

    {{The International Criminal Court could hold a trial outside The Hague for the first time, after ICC judges said on Monday they may hear the case against Kenya’s deputy president in his own country or neighboring Tanzania.}}

    Judges were responding to requests from William Ruto’s lawyers, who said it would be “in the interests of justice” for the politician’s trial to be held closer to home.

    Both Ruto and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta – elected on a joint ticket in March – face charges of orchestrating violence after the previous election, five years ago, in which 1,200 people died.

    The attempt to prosecute the leaders of one of Africa’s biggest economies comes as the ICC is under increasing criticism from leaders on the continent who accuse it of unfairly targeting Africans.

    Ruto has said he would attend hearings in The Hague if ordered to do so, but has also asked to participate by video link.

    Though no final decision has been taken, the ICC judges said holding parts of the trial in Kenya, or Tanzania, where a U.N. court is trying alleged perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, would bring it closer to victims and affected communities.

    Prosecutors have warned that moving the trial to Kenya could make it harder to provide protection to witnesses who, they say, have been threatened into withdrawing their testimonies.

    The trial would still be conducted by the ICC, regardless of where it was held. Kenyatta’s lawyers have submitted a similar request to relocate the trial.

    Judges also ruled on Monday that the trial of Ruto and his co-accused, broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang, would start on September 10, rather than the original start date of May 28, accepting defense requests for more time to prepare their cases.

    Kenyatta’s is a separate case, currently scheduled to start in July, though his defense has requested a delay which judges are considering.

    {wirestory}

  • Sudan’s Economy Crippling–Minister

    {{The Sudanese minister of finance and national economy Ali Mahmoud Abdel-Rasool has acknowledged that the country’s economy is facing significant headwinds despite an austerity program implemented in the wake of South Sudan’s secession.}}

    Last year, the government launched a package of tough austerity measures, including scaling back fuel subsidies to close a fiscal gap, sparking short-lived protests.

    Khartoum also moved to effectively devalue the currency which came under enormous pressures as a result of a big shortage in foreign currencies.

    Abdel-Rasool listed what he said was signs of trouble in Sudan’s economy which included a deficit in balance of payments deficit, meager outcome to the tripartite economic program, high food prices, growing gap between official and black market exchange rates and the declining rates of economic growth.

    The Sudanese official, who spoke at an economic conference in Khartoum on Monday, pledged to curb inflation rate which reached 46% last April frustrating efforts by the government to tame commodity prices which have risen by 300% since 2010.

    He also warned against recurrence of the global financial crisis saying that it had negatively impacted African countries including Sudan due to the drop it caused in demand for exports.

    Abdel-Rasool said that the government is making strenuous efforts to expand the social security network and fight poverty as well as managing parity in exchange rate and continuing to subsidize wheat and oil.

    Statistics indicate that 2 million Sudanese families live in poverty including 300,000 who do not have access to food and drink.

    The ministry of social welfare has designated a monthly payment of 100 pounds SDG for poor families out of 450 million pounds SDG allocated for social support.

    But economists say that the monthly grant doesn’t meet the basic needs of these families given the high rate of poverty and the significant rise in commodity prices.

    The World Economic Outlook (WEO) released last April by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed Sudan’s economy shrinking by -4.4% in 2012.

    In 2013, Sudan is expected to achieve a 1.2% growth which is higher than the -0.6% projected by the IMF last year. Next year’s GDP is also forecasted to stand at 2.6% which is slightly better than the 2.1% predicted in the IMF last assessment of Sudan’s economy.

    {ST}

  • Report: LRA Rebels Accused of Poaching Elephants

    {{The Lords Resistance Army LRA, Rebels are reportedly killing elephants across Central Africa to support their militia group, according to a report by watchdog organizations that are urging the expansion of programs to encourage defections from the Lord’s Resistance Army.}}

    The Enough Project, the Satellite Sentinel Project and two other groups said in the report released Monday that the LRA has turned to elephant poaching “as a means to sustain itself,” and that the militia uses money from the illegal trade in ivory to acquire food and other supplies.

    “With prices at record-high levels, trading illegal ivory offers the LRA another way to sustain itself in addition to its habitual pillaging,” the report said. “Former senior fighters who defected from the group report that the LRA trades ivory for arms, ammunition, and food.”

    Experts say that Africa’s elephants are under increased threat from habitat loss and poachers motivated by rising demand for ivory in Asia. About 70 years ago, up to 5 million elephants are believed to have roamed sub-Saharan Africa.

    Today fewer than a million remain. The elephants of Central Africa, a region long plagued by armed conflict and lawlessness, are especially vulnerable. Much of the harvested ivory ends up as small trinkets.

    The new report said Congo’s expansive but poorly protected Garamba National Park, which once was used by LRA commanders as safe haven, is the source of some of the ivory that ends up before Kony.

    But Garamba’s elephants also are being targeted by “members of the armed forces of (Congo), South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda,” the report said, citing the concerns of park rangers there.

    It said the LRA is part of “the larger poaching crisis that puts wild African elephants at risk of local extinction.”

    Facing pressure from U.S.-backed African Union troops tasked with eliminating its leaders, the LRA —which used to have several thousand men — is now degraded and scattered in small numbers in Congo, South Sudan, and Central African Republic.

    Fewer than 500 LRA rebels are still active in the bush, according to the Ugandan military, but they can conduct hit-and-run operations that terrorize villagers and move across the region’s porous borders in small groups.

    {wirestory}

  • Investors Focus on Somalia Opportunities

    {{ After 22 years of civil strife and political turmoil, a new era has dawned on Somalia and the country is embarking on a dynamic path of political and economic renewal.}}

    This is after the successful liberation of large territory from the control of Al Shabaab militia last year by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) which widened a window of opportunity for lasting peace in Somalia.

    Many investors are now seeing Somalia as an increasingly enticing market for investment as the country starts rebuilding itself from scratch.

    Simatech Shipping, one of the largest feeder service companies in the Gulf, the Indian Sub-Continent, Far East and East Africa, has started providing shipping services at Mogadishu Port in Somalia.

    Container trade to Mogadishu, the country’s capital city, was suspended some years ago due to the political situation and the risk of piracy.

    With the absence of container services, traders have had to depend on break bulk operations using smaller vessels.

    Simatech Shipping started its services at the port in January this year and has already invested close to Sh1billion.

    Country Manager in Somalia Noaman Akram says things are looking bright and that this was the time for investors to venture into the country.

    “We started looking at Somalia about a year and a half ago and my first visit to Mogadishu was in January 2012. We were motivated after being approached severally by many NGOs and UN organisations to offer logistics services at the port of Mogadishu.

    We went there and luckily enough we found good people who were ready to guide and support and encouraged us to kick off,” Akram said.

    The firm has however urged banks especially from the East African region to take the lead adding that the significant requirement at this stage in Somalia is provision of financial services to allow easy flow of money.

    Jazeera Palace Hotel is another investment in Mogadishu city according to the General Manager Justus Kisaulu. The investors saw the business potential in the country and took the risk.

    Despite the insecurity situation at the time, the five star hotel was constructed in 2010 and as Kisaulu says; they believed that there would be peace at some time in the country for faster economic growth.

    {CapitalFM}

  • Kenyan Man in US Stabs Daughter, 6, to Death

    {{US police are investigating an incident in which a Kenyan national living in South Bend, Indiana stabbed his six-year old daughter to death on Sunday morning.}}

    Mr Edward Mundia Mwaura, who hails from Gatukuyu in Mang’u District also stabbed and wounded his wife in a domestic quarrel.

    However, police shot dead Mr Mwaura after they stormed his apartment following reports of domestic disturbance.

    Police also found Mwaura’s wife in the parking lot covered with blood where she told them that her daughter was in the house.

    Mr Mwaura failed to respond to calls from police after which they stormed the apartment after his daughter’s distress call.

    They found Mr Mwaura already having stabbed his daughter prompting them to shoot him dead.

    The family moved to South Bend area two years ago after Mr Mwaura left Dallas, Texas.

    {NMG}

  • Malawi Protests Tanzania Plans to Deploy Ships on lake

    {{Malawi has protested against plans by its neighbor Tanzania to deploy two ships on Lake Malawi, which it says threaten mediation efforts to resolve a long-standing border dispute.}}

    Malawi’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ephraim Chiume said on Saturday that Tanzanian government officials had stated publicly that the East African nation was buying six new passenger ships, two of which were destined for Lake Malawi.

    “The Malawi government found these developments unfortunate, especially coming at a time when the mediation process over the boundary dispute is going smoothly,” Chiume said.

    Malawi, claims the entire northern half of the lake, while Tanzania, to the east, says it owns half of the northern area. The southern half is shared between Malawi and Mozambique.

    Last month Malawi returned to talks aimed at resolving a dispute over Lake Malawi that has soured relations between the two countries and delayed exploration for oil and gas.

    It had pulled out of the dialogue in October, accusing its neighbor of intimidating Malawi fishermen, a charge Tanzania denied.

    A year ago, impoverished Malawi awarded oil exploration licenses to British-based Surestream Petroleum to search for oil in Lake Malawi, which is known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania.

    {wirestory}

  • Egypt Challenges Studies on Ethiopia Monster Dam

    {{Egypt has criticised Ethiopia saying,it has not thought hard enough about the impact of its ambitious dam project along the Nile.}}

    The Egyptian presidency was citing the findings of a report put together by a panel of experts from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on the impact of the plan to build a $4.7 billion hydroelectric dam.

    Ethiopia triggered deep concern in Egypt last week when it began work to divert the river as part of the project. Egypt depends on the Nile for nearly all its water.

    Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, who met the Egyptian members of the tripartite committee on Sunday, referred the report to his government for “urgent action” with Sudan and Ethiopia to agree on steps to safeguard the river’s flow.

    Citing the findings of the report, the presidency said Ethiopia’s “studies were not adequate for a project of this scale, and the committee’s report recommended more studies of the economic and social aspects, the security of dams and water resources, not to mention the environmental aspects”.

    Ethiopia has laid out plans to invest more than $12 billion in harnessing the rivers that run through its rugged highlands, to become Africa’s leading power exporter.

    Centerpiece to the plan is the Grand Renaissance Dam being built in the Benishangul-Gumuz region bordering Sudan.

    Now 21% complete, it will eventually have a 6,000 megawatt capacity, the government says, equivalent to six nuclear power plants.

    {reuters}