Tag: GreatLakesNews

Uhuru Kenyatta, a presidential candidate under kenya’s Jubilee coalition has challenged his political rivals in CORD to provide evidence he stole public wealth.

“If you have any evidence that I have stolen anything, table it,” said Uhuru.

He was responding to Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s remark that Jubilee leaders must return stolen public property, including land.

Uhuru spoke when he led leaders from Jubilee coalition to a rally at Githunguri Stadium in Kiambu.

He was accompanied by among others his running mate and URP party leader William Ruto.

A visibly angry Uhuru challenged Raila to tell Kenyans what he had in store for them or quit the presidential race.

Uhuru accused the PM of engaging in cheap politics.

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{{Russia hopes to compensate for lost weapons markets by building new ones and expanding the geographic reach of its arms exports, head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Alexander Fomin said Tuesday.}}

“We are losing [weapons] markets and gaining new ones at the same time,” Fomin told journalists ahead of the Aero India-2013 international exhibition in Bangalor, where he is heading the Russian delegation.

“We lost a lot of markets, unfortunately, to tragic events, connected to political conflicts, civil wars in the Middle East, Maghrib, North Africa. Cooperation with Libya has been halted — temporarily, I hope. There’s a temporary drop in deliveries.”

“Though we are in touch with Egypt and Iran. We’re prevented from working with Syria, that’s a fact. We lost Iraq. We’ve almost lost Afghanistan,” Fomin said, Interfax reported.

Despite setbacks, however, Russian arms manufacturers have managed to develop new markets in Venezuela and Peru, as well as in places forgotten since Soviet times, like Mali, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Oman, Fomin said.

He attributed the current trend to a tense international situation and a “redrawing of the world’s map,” adding that Russian-made arms would nonetheless remain competitive on the international level.

“We have plenty of problems, of course, but so do our competitors,” he said.

Russia’s overseas arms sales exceeded $14 billion in 2012, making it the world’s second-largest arms exporter after the United States.

{{The Sudanese government voiced its objection to Uganda’s election to a senior position at Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) during its ministerial meeting in Cairo, Sudan state media reported.}}

Egypt was elected as president of the OIC commission’s office with Palestine, Pakistan and Uganda named as members and Senegal as rapporteur.

Sudan’s representative at the OIC, Abdel-Hafiz Ibrahim, who is also its ambassador in Saudi Arabia, said in remarks at the meeting that his country made its views known in writing on Uganda’s ascension to the high-level position, calling it a violation of the organisation’s charter.

Ibrahim asked that Sudan’s reservations be included as part of the meeting’s minutes.

Khartoum and Kampala have a long history of troubled relations over alleged support to rebel groups on both sides of their borders.

Kampala says that Khartoum is providing support and refuge to the notorious Ugandan rebels Lord Resistance Army (LRA) even after South Sudan’s secession created a buffer zone between Sudan and Uganda.

Khartoum on the other hand says that Kampala has become a safe harbour for Sudanese rebel leaders. A recent report published on US news website McClatchy by Alan Boswell speaks of seeing munitions crates carrying the tag of the Ugandan ministry of defence in the hands of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan.

Last month, Sudanese opposition parties and rebel groups signed a charter in Kampala, putting their stated goal to topple the Khartoum government via different political and military means.

This triggered Sudan to lodge three complaints against Uganda with the African Union (AU), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

However, Uganda’s foreign affairs state minister, Henry Okello Oryem, dismissed the allegations at the time, calling it “the usual Sudanese rubbish”.

Cairo will be hosting leaders from 56 countries which make up the OIC at the summit which is due to start on Wednesday.

About 26 heads of state from OIC member countries, including Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir, have confirmed their participation in the summit.

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{{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.

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{{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.