Tag: GreatLakesNews

United States President Barrack Obama on Tuesday issued an assurance that his government will respect the eventual winner of Kenya’s forthcoming presidential contest.

President Obama said his government has no preferred candidate and will support the outcome of a free and fair vote.

He also urged Kenyans to vote peacefully and to let the courts handle any election disputes.

“The choice of who will lead Kenya is up to the Kenyan people. The United States does not endorse any candidate for office, but we do support an election that is peaceful and reflects the will of the people,” said President Obama in a video message released on Tuesday.

One of Kenya’s leading presidential candidate, deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto are facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The two, rallying under the Jubilee alliance, have insisted on their innocence to the charges.

In the video message, President Obama called on Kenyans to “reject intimidation and violence, and allow a free and fair vote.”

He also urged political candidates to “resolve disputes in the courts, not in the streets.”

“This is a moment for the people of Kenya to come together, instead of tearing apart. If you do, you can show the world that you are not just members of a tribe or ethnic group, but citizens of a great and proud nation,” President Obama said.

“This election can be another milestone toward a truly democratic Kenya defined by the rule of law and strong institutions. If you take that step, and reject a path of violence and division, then Kenya can move forward towards prosperity and opportunity that unleashes the extraordinary talents of your people – especially young people.”

“I can’t imagine a better way to mark the 50th anniversary of Kenyan independence. And I say to all of you who are willing to walk this path of progress—you will continue to have a strong friend and partner in the United States of America.”

The RSE share index (RSI) went up 1.82 points to close at 184.30 and mainly pushed by the rising Bralirwa share price which closed at Rwf 696.

The total turnover for the day was Rwf 16,131,400 from 23,400 Bralirwa shares traded in seven deals compared to the previous trading session which recorded a turnover of Rwf 153,526,900 from 30,700 BK shares and 216,700 Bralirwa shares traded in 16 deals.

Bralirwa shares traded between Rwf 686 and Rwf 696 and closed at Rwf 696, registering an increase of Rwf 9 compared to the last Thursday’s closing price whereas BK counter was quiet and remained unchanged from Thursday’s closing price of Rwf 165. KCB shares last transacted at Rwf 169 while NMG shares last transacted at Rwf 1,200.

At the end of formal trading hours, there were outstanding bids of 308,600 BK shares between Rwf 166 and Rwf 172 and no outstanding offers. On Bralirwa counter, there were outstanding bids of 90,000 shares between Rwf 661 and Rwf 690 and no outstanding offers.

Oxford East Africa — the publisher caught in a corruption storm last year — has hired a new managing director to replace Muriuki Njeru who left in July.

The company appointed Peter Kimanthi, a former manager at Nation Media Group, as its new MD.

Mr Njeru’s left the firm alongside the company’s Nairobi-based finance director also exited the company together with the managing director, finance manager and the publishing manager of the Tanzania unit.

The five left soon after the World Bank and UK’s Serious Fraud Office fined Oxford Sh292 million after establishing that the publisher’s executives had bribed government officials in East Africa to win contracts.

The company said that their exit arose from a reorganisation of the business and was not linked to the fraud.

The World Bank and other multi-lateral development banks such as the African Development Bank also locked out the publisher from their contracts for three years.

In Tanzania, the government — the biggest buyer of textbooks — banned it from seeking contracts for seven years. Oxford is said to have reported itself to the World Bank and UK authorities.

NMG

A row between Kenya and Ghana over who carries Africa’s mantle in the race for the WTO top job has intensified as nominees formally made their submissions as part of the selection process.

Ms Amina Mohamed of Kenya and Ghana’s trade minister Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen are the only candidates from Africa hoping to succeed Pascal Lamy as director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Mr Lamy retires in August after completing two four-year terms at the helm of the global trade body.

The candidature of Kenya and Ghana for the WTO job has caused divisions in Africa amid concerns that having more than one nominee in the race could jeopardise the continent’s chances of clinching the prestigious position.

Only last week, the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (Igad) backed Kenya’s candidate, nearly six months after the Africa Union (AU) said it would back Ghana’s choice.

These differences persisted on Wednesday in Geneva as the nominees from Kenya and Ghana prepared to make their submissions as part of the selection process.

Ms Mohamed maintained she was in the race for the WTO position by merit despite claims that Kenya’s candidature could ruin Africa’s chance of clinching the post. She also said her candidacy was not intended to split the African vote.

“As a lawyer, I clearly understand what the procedure for endorsement of Africa candidates is all about. The procedures are not intended for selection but election purposes,” she told a media briefing at the WTO headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday.

She said that Kenya picked her to run for the seat last March, four months before Mr Kyerematen was given the nod.

“I am hoping the members of this organisation are going to judge my candidature based on merit, competence, my track record here at the WTO and fair hearing,” Ms Amina said.

Bank of Uganda on Monday held its key lending rate at 12 percent for a second month as expected and said subdued domestic demand was a risk to growth.

Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile said the Bank of Uganda’s priority was to keep inflation anchored at around 5 percent.

“The downside risk to the economic outlook is the projection for continued subdued private sector credit growth and high lending rates, which have continued to impact on the private sector spending decisions,” Tumusiime-Mutebile told a news conference in Kampala.

Year-on-year inflation slowed to 4.9 percent in January from a revised 5.3 percent a month earlier.

But stubborn core inflation – which excludes food crops, fuel, electricity and metered water – reduced the scope for a rate cut, analysts had said ahead of Monday’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

The town of Bunia, the regional capital of the Ituri district, Province Orientale, has been under water for the past week, after a heavy rains hit the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The rare intensity of the downpour battering Bunia since the early morning hours of Wednesday, 30 January, caused an overflow of the local Nyamukau River, with the resulting floodwaters cutting through the town.

The floods destroyed several houses, swept away a considerable amount of property, and injured three people.

Over a hundred houses were submerged or swept away with the waters, according to Bunia’s mayor, who blamed the heavy damage on unlawful constructions, especially in the river bed.

Stringent measures will soon be taken to discourage such uncontrolled constructions in the future, the mayor added.

Uganda has asked donors supporting the reconstruction of Somalia to work in partnership with each other instead of competing, if the challenges facing the devastated Horn of Africa nation are to be addressed.

The minister of defence Dr. Crispus Kiyonga was at the close of the week officiating at the pass out of 551 recruits into the Somali National Army (SNA) at Bihanga Military Training School in the western Uganda district of Ibanda.

The Somali soldiers were trained by the UPDF and the European Union Training Mission (EUTM). Also during the same event, over 260 Uganda recruits completed training.

The Somalis are expected to return home and constitute part of the SNA infantry deployed to fight the Al-shabaab Islamist insurgents.

Minister Kiyonga said Somalia needs a strong army in order to protect and defend the country as well as the economy.

He also called on the recruits to remain united regardless of their different clans.

Uganda presently has close to 7,000 troops in Somalia serving under AMISOM to fight the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab insurgents.

A new coalition of armed groups mainly based in South Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) today Sunday, 3rd February, 2013 announced its creation, with the aim of overthrowing the regime of President Joseph Kabila, elected in late 2011 after contested elections.

In a note published in Kinshasa, the Union of Revolutionary Forces of Congo (UFRC) announced its formation in mid-January, is defined as a movement of “politico-military” rule.

It is based in Bukavu, capital of the province of South Kivu.

The UFRC demand “lawsuits (…) for high treason” against Joseph Kabila, “wrote Gustave Bagayamukwe Taji, President of the Coordinating Committee of the coalition.

The coalition said President Kabila had been poorly re-elected in disputed elections of 28 November 2011.

UFRC want new political order in DRC which is capable of alleviating the misery of the Congolese people and place the foundations of a true republic and a truly participatory democracy in this country.

The provinces of North and South Kivu, rich in minerals like coltan, cassiterite, and gold …, are plagued by local and foreign armed groups.
Since May, the army concentrated its efforts on the March 23 Movement (M23).

The briefing of the coalition must be submitted Monday to the National Assembly and the Senate to “all relevant embassies” to Kinshasa.

The experts, who belong to the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) met early last week to discuss, review reports on the development of the water Resources Management plan phase I for the Lake Victoria Basin commission.

The LVBC Executive Secretary Dr Canisius Kanangire said that over the last decade, it has become evident that lake Victoria Basin’s landscapes, ecosystems and the human population are threatened by both natural and human persuaded factors and these have made ecosystem in the world at present under considerable threat.

He noted that the experts’ inception report review on the development of the water Resources Management plan phase I for the lake Victoria Basin is a legal requirement in Tanzania to put in place plans that can help curb the rampant water need and develop the water resources management.

All riparian countries are facing the same water resources management plan as the basin’s population has increased and demand for resources from the basin and wastes generated from the use of basin resources.

He said that as a result, the basin has witnessed fast degradation, decline of water quality and quantity, land degradation, Lake Victoria level decline with negative consequences to navigation and fisheries, propagation of invasive species like water hyacinth and increase in incidence of absolute poverty.

Dr Kanangire stressed that extensive catchment degradation within the Mau forest complex in the republic of Kenya and accelerating land degradation in the republics of Burundi, Rwanda and forest and water land degradation of the republic of Uganda and the united republic of Tanzania as well as renaissance of water hyacinth, are evidence of the magnitude of the problems the basin is facing.

It is known that in Rwanda, the hyacinth was removed from Lake Ihema in 2010 using manual methods and taken out of Akagera National Park and re-used as fertilisers in neighbouring agricultural fields.

Dr. Canisius Kanangire, the Executive Secretary of LVBC, said the commission was doing all its best to guarantee that projects in the partner countries become vital to the livelihood of the regional population.

The Lake Victoria Basin covers an estimated 194,000 square kilometres. It has a population of about 40 million people; a GDP of $40 billion; and, a wealth of resources of economic importance.