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[Monitor] Finance minister Matia Kasaija was last night on the defensive following accusations that he irregularly dangled a top government job to secure the exit of his opponent in a parliamentary contest.
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
Judy Rugasira, the managing director of estate agency Knight Frank, says closing retail businesses that depend on the day-to-day cash flows for 60-days was damaging.
But as the country started to close down, sales in the retail sector slumped by 68 per cent, Rugasira said.
For the real estate sector, coronavirus came at a time when it was already struggling to attract demand and more properties were flooding the market.
A lot of space was being given up by government ministries as they built their own buildings, there was reduced Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the sector and more expatriates were leaving the country.
Rugasira says coronavirus will have a long term impact on the real estate sector, indicating that the non-performing loans that might come out of this might see interest rates up and reduce the ability of developers to borrow.
The Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr George Bakunda, said the government of Rwanda has put in place stringent measures against the truckers entering into the country which has in turn paralysed movement at the border.
\"We have a challenge of trucks currently being held at Mirama border because of the strict measures Rwanda government has introduced to manage the truck drivers in their country.
He said truckers who have spent about two weeks at the border post have parked their trucks as they wait for Rwanda to ease the measures.
\"When a driver reaches at the border, he has to hand over this truck to another driver who is supposed to be stationed at the border in Rwanda and takes it to its destination or he can choose to offload the goods and put them on another truck which is based in Rwanda to take these items to where they are supposed to be delivered,\" Mr Bakunda said.
However, one of the stranded drivers, Mr Jonathan Wanyama wondered why only trucks, especially those transporting fuel and gas are allowed to enter Rwanda yet others carrying food items are not allowed.
Government has said it has so far implemented 77.9 per cent of its manifesto in the last four years and that the remaining threshold will be completed before the next General Election.
Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, during the launch of the manifesto week at the Office of the President last Friday, said government is on course to achieve its targets.
Dr Rugunda also mentioned other achievements as completion of the one-stop border points to facilitate cross border trade, completion of Entebbe-Kampala Expressway and the Nile Bridge.
Dr Rugunda also said while implementing the manifesto, there have been some challenges such as delays in acquisition of land for flagship projects across sectors.
Ms Esther Mbayo, the minister for Presidency, under which the Manifesto Implementation Unit operates, said the manifesto week offers Ugandans a chance to take stock of the achievements made in the year and analyse the government performance.
Uganda will go ahead with its planned re-opening of the country despite recording more than 150 Covid-19 cases in three days, according to President Yoweri Museveni.
In an address to the nation on Monday evening, President Museveni said that public transport will resume but with necessary health and safety measures in place.
\"For the next 21 days, no private or public transport is allowed in the border districts.
Meanwhile, Uganda on Tuesday recorded 32 new Covid-19 cases raising the national tally to 489.
\"Nineteen of the new confirmed cases are from 1,693 samples from points of entry while 13 are from 423 samples of contacts and alerts,\" the Health Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Benin was the seat of one of the great medieval African kingdoms called Dahomey. Europeans began arriving in the area in the 18th century, as the kingdom of Dahomey was expanding its territory. The Portuguese, the French, and the Dutch established trading posts along the coast (Porto-Novo, Ouidah, Cotonou), and traded weapons for slaves. Slave trade ended in 1848. Then, the French signed treaties with Kings of Abomey (Guézo, Toffa, Glèlè) to establish French protectorates in the main cities and ports.
However, King Behanzin fought the French influence, which cost him deportation to Martinique.
From a Colony of France to Independence:
In 1892 Dahomey became a French protectorate and part of French West Africa in 1904. Expansion continued to the North (kingdoms of Parakou, Nikki, Kandi), up to the border with former Upper Volta. On 4 December 1958, it became the République du Dahomey, self-governing within the French community, and on 1 August 1960, the Republic of Dahomey gained full independence from France. T he country was renamed Benin in 1975
Between 1960 and 1972, a succession of military coups brought about many changes of government. The last of these brought to power Major Mathieu Kérékou as the head of a regime professing strict Marxist-Leninist principles. The Parti de la Révolution Populaire Béninoise (Revolutionary Party of the People of Benin, PRPB) remained in complete power until the beginning of the 1990s.
Kérékou, encouraged by France and other democratic powers, convened a national conference that introduced a new democratic constitution and held presidential and legislative elections. Kérékous principal opponent at the presidential poll, and the ultimate victor, was Prime Minister Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo.
Supporters of Soglo also secured a majority in the National Assembly.
Benin was thus the first African country to effect successfully the transition from dictatorship to a pluralistic political system. In the second round of National Assembly elections held in March 1995, Soglos
Malawi's opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera won last week's presidential election re-run with 58.57 per cent of the vote, the electoral commission said Saturday.
And on Saturday, electoral commission chairman Chifundo Kachale told journalists: \"The commission declares that Lazarus Chakwera, having attained 58.57 percent of the vote, has been duly elected as the president of Malawi.\"
In February, Malawi's top court found the first election had been marred by widespread irregularities, including the use of correction fluid to tamper with result sheets.
The landmark ruling made Malawi just the second African country south of the Sahara to have presidential poll results set aside, after Kenya in 2017.
The outgoing president's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had on Friday called on Malawi's Electoral Commission (MEC) to annul the results of the second vote and declare a third election.
[Monitor] Uganda will next month start tests for Covid-19 vaccine as the country steps up its efforts in search of medication for the virus that has so far killed 201 citizens and infected 20,145, President Museveni has said.
President Museveni yesterday told Parliament that after analysing the 2020/2021 Budget, they found a lot of wastes, which will necessitate a review to align the expenditure to the country's priorities.
we are coming back to engage our people,\" Mr Museveni said during the 2020/2021 televised Budget address at State House, Entebbe.
Mr Kasaija is going to review the Budget,\" the source said.
Presenting the Budget from Parliament, Mr Kasaija said the interventions for the pandemic came in after the Budget was approved.
Consequently, the budgets of all ministries, agencies and local governments will be revised to align them with the nine strategic priorities and fourteen production lines.
[DW] On October 31, Ivorians will elect a new leader. President Alassane Ouattara is running for a third controversial term. The opposition is urging supporters to shun the poll -- a political crisis appears imminent.
A cloud of corruption hangs over the head of Public Service Commission director-general Dovhani Mamphiswana.
[Monitor] President Museveni yesterday kick-started his re-election campaign trail at Kawumu in Luweero District.
President Museveni has rejected a proposal to split oversight over the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), saying it should be placed wholly under the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
However, in a separate letter that Daily Monitor has seen and addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, President Museveni indicates that the full control of NSSF must be transferred to the Finance ministry.
Ms Margaret Rwabushaija, the Workers MP, said NSSF is a fund for workers and cannot be managed by the Ministry of Finance.
Mr Kenneth Lubogo, the Bulamogi County MP in Kaliro District, said the Ministry of Gender should not be completely locked out of NSSF because NSSF funds are private funds contributed by workers and not appropriated by Parliament.
Meanwhile, Mr Patrick Isiagi, the vice chairperson of the Finance Committee, said he okayed the proposal of President Museveni having the Ministry of Finance control the fund since it has more knowledge as far as financial modeling is concerned.
Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika has appointed a new electoral commission chairperson ahead of a presidential re-run.
The country’s Constitutional Court in February ordered a fresh presidential election be held within 150 days after annulling last year’s re-election of President Mutharika – a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court.
The former commission chairperson Jane Ansah resigned amid criticism by the opposition on how she managed the disputed election.
President Mutharika on Sunday appointed Justice Chifundo Kachale to head the electoral commission.
The new chairperson is expected by voters to deliver a credible presidential election devoid of irregularities as ordered by the courts.
Sand mining has resumed on the shores of Lake Victoria despite the recent presidential directive to the Minister of Water and Environment to clear all wetlands, riverbanks and lakeshores of encroachers.
The mining site, at Buwaya-Nakiwogo in Wakiso District, is said to be owned by a businesswoman in Bugolobi, Kampala.
Mr Matia Lwanga Bwanika, the district chairperson, said his engagement with the executive director of the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema), Dr Tom Okurut, revealed that he was aware of the mining.
Mr Bwanika said they had sought the intervention of Mr Noah Njuki, the Resident District Commissioner of Entebbe.
Other mining activities around Lake Victoria in Wakiso have been halted following the intervention of Mr Matia Lwanga Bwanika, the district chairperson.
And now just emerging from no contact with voters, there are concerns about whether the election calendar and roadmap as set by the National Electoral Commission in December 2018 is still viable considering the time \"lost.\"
\"The Commission has to fulfil Section 8 of the Presidential Elections Act and Section 9 of the Parliamentary Elections Act that provide appointment of nomination days and time,\" reads the commission document, \"for campaigns for presidential elections to commence latest by first week of September 2020 nomination of presidential candidates must have been completed latest third week of August.\"
The first round of nominations must have been completed latest third week of July 2020, while nominations and campaigns for parliamentary elections \"should commence latest by second week August 2020.\"
Sam Rwakoojo, the Secretary to the Electoral Commission told The EastAfrican that the roadmap has been disrupted and some special interest group elections that should have been held around this time (end of May to beginning of June) can't take place, yet they contribute to the national elections and the consequences of those delays are not clear at the moment.
Mr Rwankoojo said no concrete proposals can be generated on specific dates for certain activities because, \"we don't know yet how this disease and lockdown will go,\" he said, adding that while the Constitution is clear on when to hold certain processes, the only available leg room is to determine which activities or elections can be held together to remain within the confines of the law.
The National Assembly and the Senate have differed over the number of persons to be appointed to a panel that will fill four vacancies at the electoral agency.
There were also tax measures such as increased import duty on agricultural imports to 60 per cent, up from 25 per cent.
In Kenya, the tax bracket for people earning rental income was moved up to Kshs15m (Shs525.9m) from Kshs10m.
Kenya, Mr Muhammed Ssempijja, partner tax, E&Y says, also reduced the corporation tax rates and PAYE to 25 per cent from 30 per cent.
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija, while appearing on NTV recently said the measures taken by government are expected to address concerns on purchasing power.
Uganda currently might not afford to amend tax rates since the finance ministry in the Shs45.5 trillion budget set a higher target for the taxman.
[RFI] At least three people have been killed and several others wounded on the streets of Guinea's capital Conakry after main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo declared himself the winner of Sunday's presidential election.
A High Court in the Ugandan capital Kampala earlier this week ruled that the president had the right to decide who follows him on social media platform Twitter.
The court presided over by Justice Andrew Bashaija held that even though personal Twitter handles could be used for official communication by a public official, it remained an individual and private property.
A Ugandan national living in the diaspora, Hillary Innocent Taylor Seguya, took the president and two other public officials to court for blocking him on Twitter.
“The President is a public officer and a holder of a Twitter social media platform handle @KagutaMuseveni and there is no other official handle for his office.
He opened the Twitter handle when he was holding the office of the President and he has since been using it in his official and not in private capacity,” the petitioner’s suit read in part.
Agathon Rwasa, Burundi's opposition leader and deputy speaker of Parliament has filed a petition at the country's constitutional court disputing the win of the ruling CNDD-FDD party's Evariste Ndayishimiye.
Mr Ndayishimiye won the May 20 presidential election with 68 per cent of the vote against Mr Rwasa's 24 per cent.
\"If the constitutional court rules in their favour I will move to the African Court because all the results that were announced by the electoral commission were wrong,\" said Mr Rwasa.
The country's Catholic Church deployed 2,716 observers countrywide, and has also expressed misgivings on the election process and its outcome.
However the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Pierre Claver Kazihise, said that members of the Catholic church observer mission weren't well educated and informed about the electoral process.
[Monitor] Kampala -- Uganda has missed its target to become a Middle Income country, according to rankings released by the World Bank.
