Tag: GreatLakesNews

Six out of every 10 Tanzanian students who sat last year’s ordinary secondary level examinations attained the lowest grade possible, government results showed Monday.

Close to 54 per cent of students tested picked up Division Zero in National Form IV exams, a big rise from the 32 per cent who had failed to score in 2011.

Some were so dismal that they instead resorted to writing insults on the answer sheets after the realisation that they were completely unprepared.

Private schools dominated the charts of best performers. Of the top 20, only two public schools made it to the list, with a flustered government blaming inadequate teachers and poor infrastructure.

Some 397,126 students of the 411,230 who were registered sat the national exam. Of these, only 23,520 of these managed to score between Division One and Division Three, just under six per cent of those who were eligible.

Some 1,641 scored Division One, a drop of 0.68 per cent on the number of those who excelled the previous year.

Tanzania has a basic five-tier educational structure, with those who pass Form IV proceeding for two more years of advanced secondary education if they so elect.

The results of 789 pupils were nullified for cheating, a drop from the 3,303 who opted to use unfair means in 2011.

Some 24 students will be charged in a court of law for using insulting language in the examination.

“We cannot tolerate this habit, those who wrote abusive words should be charged as barring them from attempting the exams prepared by [national examining body] Necta is not enough,” Educational and Vocational training minister Shukuru Kawamba said.

NMG

Kenya has confirmed its intention to bid to host the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019.

The East Africans – who last qualified for the tournament in 2004 – have never staged the continent’s biggest sporting event.

They join newly-crowned African champions Nigeria, DR Congo, Liberia, Zambia and Algeria in the race to host the 2019 finals.

DR Congo announced its plans to stage the event last week.

The Kenyans are also bidding to play host to the 2015 African Youth Championships.

“Kenya stands top in Africa as favourites to win these bids,” Football Kenya Federation (FKF) chairman Sam Nyamweya said.

“As a federation we are excited with the support of our parent ministry in this ambitious mission.”

The FKF plans to use two existing stadiums in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and to upgrade venues in the port cities of Mombasa and Kisumu.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has yet to formally accept bids to host the 2019 finals but is expected to do so later this year.

The next two Nations Cups’ hosts have already been decided, with Morocco set to stage the 2015 finals and Libya organising the 2017 edition.

NMG

A U.S. congressman from Minnesota has arrived in Somalia for a rare visit by a United States politician.

Keith Ellison said Tuesday that his visit to Mogadishu fulfills a request from his constituents with ties to Somalia.

Minnesota has one of the largest populations of Somali-Americans in the U.S.

Ellison noted that the U.S. government recently recognized the Somali government for the first time since the country fell into anarchy in 1991.

President Barack Obama’s administration formally recognized the Somali government on Jan. 17.

Ellison was greeted by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The president said that Ellison’s visit was a big day for Somalia.

Ellison is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, the Minnesota affiliate of the Democratic Party.

Mogadishu has experienced about 18 months of relative peace, after the August 2011 ouster of the Islamic extremists of al-Shabab from the capital by African Union forces.

wirestory

The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has delivered its judgment in which the East Africa Law Society had filed a reference seeking declaratory orders that Article 24 of the Protocol on the Establishment of the EAC Customs Union is inconsistent.

The article establishes the EAC Trade Remedies Committee to handle matters pertaining to rules of origin, anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measures and safeguard measures and Article 54 of the Protocol on the Establishment of the EAC Common Market (which provides, inter alia, that national constitutions , laws and administrative procedures, and competent national authorities shall handle disputes under the Common Market).

The complainants were seeking the EAC court to declare that the provisions of the article are inconsistent with the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community.

According to a statement from the secretariat, in its judgment, the Court stated that it has jurisdiction to interpret disputes arising out of the Customs Union and Common Market protocols since these protocols are annexes and integral parts of the Treaty.

“The Court, however, decided that the dispute settlement mechanisms created under the Customs Union Protocol and the Common Market Protocol do not exclude, oust or infringe upon its interpretative jurisdiction and that the impugned provisions (Article 24 of the Customs Union Protocol and Article 54 of the Common Market Protocol) are not in contravention of or in contradiction with the relevant provisions of the Treaty,” notes the statement.

The protocol envisages enhancement and strengthening of partnerships of governments with the private sector and civil society in its implementation in order to achieve sustainable socio-economic and political development.

The EAC is grounded on a number of operational principles, which include: people-centred and market driven co-operation; the principle of subsidiary with emphasis on multi-level participation; and involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in the process of integration.

The treaty also emphasizes in its objective the principle of sustainable development and equitable economic development.

Cooperation in trade liberalisation and development is one of the fundamental pillars of the East African Community (EAC).

For this purpose, the EAC Partner States agreed in the EAC Treaty of 1999 ‘to establish among themselves a Customs Union, a Common Market, subsequently a Monetary Union and ultimately, a Political Federation.

The East African Community Customs Union (Eaccu) commenced its operations within Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda on 1 January 2005. Burundi and Rwanda acceded to the EAC in July 2007.

Customs is, for instance, deeply involved in controlling goods which cross borders, determining goods’ nomenclature and origin, and collecting revenue as well as administering trade policies.

Hence, the manner in which Customs operates highly affects international trade either negatively or positively.

In other words, the manner in which Customs operates can either complicate or simplify the international trade in goods. And this introduces us to the concept of trade facilitation.

Kenya and Tanzania appended their signatures to the Protocol Establishing the East African Customs Union on the 2nd March, 2004.

The East Africa Law Society was represented by Prof Frederick Ssempebwa, Mr Richard Onsogo and Mr Humphrey Mtuy.

The Counsel to the East African Community, Hon Wilbert T.K. Kaahwa represented the Secretary General who was the Respondent in the Reference.

TheCitizen

South Sudan on Sunday defended its decision to remove 118 senior military officers from active military service and place them on reserve, a move seen as an attempt to transform the security sector, according to the minister of information.

The order, which drew mixed reactions from the general public, includes senior officials serving in the civil administration.

The presidential decree issued on Thursday saw the names of the governor of Unity state, Taban Deng Gai, governor of Eastern Equatoria state Louis Lobong Lojore, governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal state Rizik Hassan Zachariah and the governor of Upper Nile state, Simon Kun Puoc removed from the active military files.

The move followed the removal in January of some 35 top-level military officers, seen as the biggest shake-up to army leadership since South Sudan’s independence in July 2011.

President Salva Kiir issued the order and has since appointed replacements for the officers who were previously serving, most of whom were rebel commanders during the war with the north.

SECURITY REFORM

Senior officials attribute the changes to government policy aimed at transforming the security sector and other institutions in order to provide services effectively and efficiently.

Insiders say the move is the first of a series of broader reforms. Once the army has been overhauled, it is expected that the government will move on to the security forces, police, public services and eventually the cabinet.

South Sudan’s minister information and broadcasting service, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said the president was acting within the law and according to public demands to transform the national army away from perceptions of it as a guerrilla movement to a professional body.

“The president was not acting outside the law. He was exercising the powers conferred upon him by the transitional constitution. The changes were meant to basically promote growth in the system.

It means giving responsibilities of managing the affairs of this country to the fresh group, people with new ideas which needs to be tried since we are living in the fast moving and developing world”, Marial said.

He said there were still many other opportunities in the country in different areas in which the removed army generals could participate in to help the new nation to grow.

“There are a lot of opportunities which these general will exploit. Some of these generals have administrative background, they have security background, they have business background and they have agriculture background.

It will be an opportunity to utilise their knowledge in establishing and managing private security firms in accordance with the parameters of the law.

“Doing so will bring a positive change in the economy of this country. In fact everybody would be happy to hear that all these retired generals have started producing millions of metric tonnes of food in the next harvesting season which they could not have done while in the active service”, Marial told reporters on Sunday.

However, members of the general public remain skeptical about plans to reassign some of the officers who were removed due to perceptions associated with their performance and competence while serving in the army at different levels.

Meanwhile, Marial has dismissed claims of an alleged coup plot purportedly fermented by some of the generals as one of the reasons behind the president’s decision to embark on security reforms.

“The president still trusts them [the generals]. He has hope in them and they should show good examples in accepting the changes. I know the president may be planning to [re-]assign some of them. Others have actually been assigned.

Those who have requested to go for studies will be facilitated so that they can go and get the knowledge they might need to help them while trying to settle and fit into the society”, he explained.

Marial also said that removed officers should feel proud that they had witnessed the birth of the new nation and the achievement of the objectives for which they fought so hard for during the country’s protracted civil war with the north, adding that he encouraged them to support good governance and accept the changes with good grace.

(ST)

A Kenyan is among five film-makers who will launch their short stories to highlight issues affecting them and their communities at the Commonwealth Shorts in New Zealand next week.

The Shorts are a capacity building scheme to give emerging writers /directors the opportunity to make a film on the theme of relationships.

The one documentary and four dramas explore migration, indigenous rights and same-sex relationships from New Zealand, Kenya, Bahamas, Barbados, and Canada.

Kenya’s offering to this event on February 26 is titled New Year’s Eve by Wanjiru Kairu, who describes the ‘short’ as a story of a married man who struggles to come out of a life of deceit and risks losing true love.

“These films are the result of many months’ hard work by five emerging film-makers from across the Commonwealth. As well as being accomplished pieces in their own right, each film highlights an important issue which affects its writer and their community in some way.

Commonwealth Writers is excited to be able to share these films internationally to bring these new voices to a wider audience,” said Lucy Hannah, Programme Manager, Commonwealth Foundation.

“Throughout this journey, I re-learned how to develop, research, and write a universal story with a deep controversial issue.

The insights I’ve gained are excellent and the team’s dedication to the task at hand, particularly through some testing moments, was second to none,” expresses Kairu.

The launch of Commonwealth Shorts takes place at Academy Cinemas in Auckland, New Zealand, in association with Documentary NZ Trust and with support from the New Zealand Film Commission.

The screening marks the end of the 2012 Commonwealth Shorts project and follows a film production lab in Auckland for the five international film-makers along with seven local writers/directors from the Pacific region.

capitalfm

The East African Community has deployed a 40-member election observer team to monitor Kenya’s March 4 polls.

The team is headed by former East African Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdulrahman Kinana.

Kinana urged Kenyans to turn up in large numbers to exercise their civil and legal rights in an environment that promotes competition and tolerance and elect their leaders peacefully.

“Elections are usually characterised by various political temperatures.

There are times that it will go too high to the extent that raises concern that things might tip over, but that is expected of any process that is run by a man, because people have different stands, different ideals and different goals and they all want to win,” he said during the unveiling of the team.

“It is my hope that Kenyans will unite to ensure they have an election that’s free and credible.”

The group’s mandate is to assess the democratic standards in the Kenyan electoral systems, the preparedness of the election process by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the voter education, the voting process and the tallying processes.

The group will be required to submit an independent report and submit it to the EAC in order for the regional body to dissect the level of transparency, free and fairness, as well as democracy in the country.

He said that they will only be in the country to monitor the process but its Kenyans who will determine how to express their democratic rights under the new constitutional and political dispensation.

“The EAC mission, apart from observing elections, will also provide a supportive role that enhances the credibility of the elections, complement the findings of domestic observer groups and increase public confidence in the entire electoral process,” he said.

He said Kenya is an integral part of the EAC in terms of infrastructural, economic and industrial development.

EAC Secretary General Richard Sezibera said that there are plans to ensure for more deployments from IGAD and COMESA to which Kenya is a key member.

He lauded the country’s media for the historic presidential debate saying that the electoral process is people centred.

Commenting ahead of the deployment, Sezibera said: “The membership includes members of the East African Legislative Assembly, National Electoral Commissions, National Human Rights Commissions, and Youth Representatives from EAC Youth Ambassadors Forum.

The nominations were based on the principle of gender balance and youth involvement.”

Sezibera challenged other member states to emulate the developments made by the country as well as join hands to make such events more frequent during the electioneering period.

“In the long term, the mission will contribute to strengthening political accountability amongst partner states, provide an avenue for partner states to share experiences on election management and facilitate peer learning.”

Sezibera said that the regional body will work with whichever government Kenyans put in power and urged the international community mainly from the West to respect the will of the Kenyan electorate.

“Come March 4 the people of Kenya will have spoken, and we will have to listen very carefully to what the people of Kenya have said.

It’s not for anybody else to interpret what the people of Kenya have said, the rest of the world only have to listen, take note and accept their will,” he said.

CapitalFM

Member states of the East African community have endorsed the candidature of Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa for the Presidency of the 69th Session of the United National General Assembly 2014-2015.

The EAC Sectoral Council of Foreign Policy Coordination meeting in Tanzania’s capital of Dar es Salaam over the weekend, in their resolutions also urged the African Union to endorse and mobilize support for Kutesa’s candidature.

The only competitor in Africa for the same office is Cameron. African Union is to decide on a sole candidate in May.

The Council approved several other EAC candidatures including Kenya’s bid for the Non-Permanent seat at the UN Security Council for the period 2017-18. Elections are due late 2016.

In a brief interview on the sidelines of the meeting, Kutesa observed, “currently UN is considering reforms on the Security Council including membership. I intend to push and spearhead reforms so that Africa gets a permanent representation on the Security Council.”

Mean -while, the five partner states of the East African Community on the same weekend signed a Peace and Security Protocol aimed at improving security in the region.

The signing of the agreement in Dar es Salaam on Saturday was followed by the open-air burning of 3,193 illicit firearms at Ukonga Prison Grounds on the outskirts of the city.

NV