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Uganda’s inter-religious council called off the eagerly awaited presidential candidates’ debate.
The council said the debate, that was due on Thursday 03 was cancelled due to limited resources.
Local media reported that a total of ten presidential candidates were expected to grace the occasion.
This comes amid numerous complaints majorly from the opposition who have constantly blamed the security apparatus for rights violations.
Uganda opposition have in most cases face wrath of the police especially the renowned musician-turned politician, Bobi Wine.
Two weeks ago, 54 people died in protests after Wines supporters called for his release following a brief arrest at campaign rally.
They have defended themselves by claiming that they were only implementing Covid-19 guidelines to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
Bobi Wine was later charged with violating pandemic restrictions on gathering of crowds and granted bail.
The embattled singer later met the electoral commission and asked them to ensure that there should be equitable campaigns and police should be stopped from intimidating the opposition leaders and their members.
\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.
There will be no extension of the presidential mandate under the cover of coronavirus in the Central African Republic.
This was the final verdict issued by the constitutional court in Bangui, ending a wrangle between the ruling party and the opposition last week.
The government had intended to continue its mandate due to the prevailing coronavirus outbreak arguing that the country will not be ready to hold an election by the end of the year.
A Bangui resident said he was shocked by the decision: “This verdict surprised us because we thought that the constitutional court should give a favorable verdict to those who initiated this project in partial modification of the constitution going in the direction of the extension of the mandate of the president of the republic and that of the MPs.”
A number of African countries are expected to hold elections later this year.
Announcement creates formal process to ensure community input informs UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial’s care and outreach The University of Chicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial recently announced the creation of its first community advisory council (CAC). The CAC will seek community input on health issues of importance to its primary service area and surrounding communities. This council []
[Monitor] Presidential hopeful Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine will launch his manifesto a day later \"in light of the untimely death of senior leader Sheikh Anas Kaliisa.\"
[Daily News] Zanzibar -- ZANZIBAR Electoral Commission (ZEC) has announced September 11, the official day for commencing election campaigns, which are scheduled to last after 46 days.
More than 3,200 Ivorians have fled the ongoing post-election violence in their country to Liberia, Ghana and Togo, the U.N. refugee agency says. Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara won a controversial third term in office in an election on Saturday that was marred by violence, intimidation and electoral malpractice. Opposition leaders who boycotted the election...
The post In Ivory Coast, thousands have fled ongoing post-election violence to Liberia, Ghana and Togo appeared first on Face2Face Africa.
Donald Trump’s decision to stage a campaign rally in a sports stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is spurring a renewed push for reparations for the racial massacre that devastated the city’s black community just 10 blocks away from where the president will be speaking on Saturday.
But his scheduled visit is also providing a boost to a justice movement that has coalesced around the 1921 massacre that struck a thriving area of the city known as “Black Wall Street”.
Forcibly displaced now account for 1% of humanity – UN report
“The visit is galvanising people,” said Damario Solomon-Simmons, a civil rights lawyer who represents the last known survivor of the massacre living in Tulsa.
“We are all very concerned about Trump coming to Tulsa as he creates violence and intimidation among his supporters, but on the other end it has put the spotlight on the massacre.”
The Tulsa race massacre is widely considered to be one of the worst single acts of racial violence in US history.
Main opposition parties in the Oromia region – Abiy’s home region – have kicked against the HoF decision calling it a unilateral and illegal extension of the term of government.
“A political consensus whereby the views of the opposition political parties were taken into consideration and a climate of trust and fruitful collaboration was promoted would have been more likely to create an environment where the promised peaceful and comprehensive democratic transformation of Ethiopia would have been possible,” their statement read in part.
He has serially insisted that he did not fear elections and was ready to hand over power if he loses
\tThe Council of Constitutional Inquiry held public hearings last month on possible next steps, though critics said these were insufficiently inclusive of opposition voices.
Dawud Ibsa, chairman of the opposition Oromo Liberation Front, told AFP Wednesday that the House of Federation vote “does not have any constitutional basis”.
If major opposition parties reject the recommendations from the Council of Constitutional Inquiry, “protests or election boycotts could become a reality, reducing the chances of successful competitive polls in 2021,” said William Davison of the International Crisis Group (ICG), a conflict-prevention organisation.
Malawians return to the polls on Tuesday for the second time in just over a year to vote for a new president after Peter Mutharika's re-election was annulled over rigging.
The election is much anticipated after the Constitutional Court early this year ruled that the May 2019 vote, won narrowly by Mutharika, was fraught with \"grave and widespread irregularities\" including the use of correction fluid on results sheets.
Tuesday's election is practically a two-horse race between the president and his main rival Lazarus Chakwera, who lost the May 2019 election by 159,000 votes.
Last week Kachale vowed \"the highest commitment of myself and the entire commission to deliver a credible election whose results will be acceptable by all stakeholders\".
Gift Trapence of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition, which led months-long countrywide street protests against last year's election results, has high hopes this time around.
Virtual event takes place on Oct. 20 With just weeks to go before Election Day on Nov. 3, now is the time to make sure everyone’s vote counts. That’s why ten publishers of the leading Black newspapers in America will come together for a live event to discuss voting with purpose in the upcoming … Continued
The post 10 leading Black newspapers join forces to host ‘Voting With Purpose’ live event appeared first on New Pittsburgh Courier.
Analysis - The killing of a prominent Oromo musician has unleashed a wave of protests that have left dozens dead, highlighting anew the fragility of the country's transition. Authorities and opposition leaders should call for calm and engage in sustained dialogue to bridge the bitter divisions.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has offered concessions in a move to unblock a stalemate with opposition leaders.
Jayasekara, also known as Chokka Malli, was found guilty by the High Court of Ratnapura on July 31 of murdering activist Sunil Perera, popularly known as Shantha Dodamgoda, ahead of presidential elections in 2015. He was sentenced to death along with two others convicted of the same crime. Nonetheless, he took the oath as a […]
The post Murderer on Death Row Sworn In as Member of Sri Lanka’s Parliament appeared first on L.A. Focus Newspaper.
With popular frustrations running high, and opposition leader Agathon Rwasa warning that he will not accept a \"stolen\" election, fears are mounting that a contested poll could lead to violence along the lines of what the country saw in 2015, when Nkurunziza's controversial bid for a third term prompted street protests, a failed coup, a crackdown and the exodus of over 400,000 people.
It now also appears that the EAC will be unable to send an observation team in time for the elections; Burundi's authorities have cited the COVID-19 outbreak as a reason to quarantine the observers for fourteen days upon arrival, though it is unclear whether the decision was genuinely made for legitimate public health reasons, given that the government has otherwise played down the outbreak.
Ruling-party nominee Ndayishimiye and long-time opposition leader Rwasa, who both fought as rebels in Burundi's 1993-2005 civil war, are the clear front runners, and emblematic of the former fighters' continued influence in national politics.
They say Nkurunziza, who pushed for the selection of his ally Pascal Nyabenda, the president of the National Assembly (the lower chamber of Burundi's parliament), only agreed to Ndayishimiye's candidacy after intense lobbying by generals.
While Rwasa has announced that he will not allow the election to be \"stolen\", CNDD-FDD officials believe that their party structures and ability to register and mobilise voters across the country cannot but deliver victory.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed an executive order to make Juneteenth a holiday for New York state employees and has said that he will propose legislation next year to make June 19 a state holiday.
Celebrity activist Pharrell Williams was on hand as Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced legislation that could make Juneteenth a paid holiday in his state.
On Wednesday, June 17, a press conference by the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF) was set to encourage Congress to send President Donald Trump legislation that would include Juneteenth as a National Day of Observance.
Jamaal Bowman, a candidate for a New York congressional seat, tweeted, “RT if you think Congress should make Juneteenth a national holiday.”
Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has introduced a resolution every year to make Juneteenth a national holiday.
Uganda's 2021 election candidates will have to campaign online and through the media to reach voters as part of new rules to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Uganda's electoral commission banned mass gatherings during campaigning, which critics say will disadvantage opposition parties and voters, and may be unconstitutional.
Simon Byamukama, chairman of the electoral commission, says his team will meet with the minister of information, the Media Council and the Uganda Communications Commission about the guidelines.
The RDCs, along with the police, have been known to deny members of the opposition access to the media – which has Uganda election observers worried.
Sarah Birete, associate director of the Center for Constitutional Governance, a Ugandan NGO, says the new campaign rules put older and rural voters – who are less likely to be online or have access to electronic media – at a disadvantage during an election campaign.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has asked the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to report the state agency to the police if the party has any evidence to back its election rigging allegations made against the Authority on Thursday, 14 May 2020.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), at a press conference, raised fears that the decision of the Electoral Commission to compile a new register of voters using passports and the NIA's Ghana card as proof of eligibility may give undue advantage to the governing New Patriotic Party and President Nana Akufo-Addo and also help the incumbent to rig the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2020.
According to the biggest opposition party, over 10 million Ghanaians are unable to retrieve their Ghana cards from the NIA several months after they were registered, a situation which the Chairman of the party, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, said will make it impossible for them to be captured on the new electoral roll.
At a counter-press conference on Friday, 15 May 2020, the Executive Director of the NIA, Prof Ken Attafuah, said it was a \"disturbing allegation that the NIA, in consent with the Electoral Commission, embarked on an election-rigging agenda in order to benefit the New Patriotic Party, and most disturbingly, to disenfranchise a significant portion of the Ghanaian populace from their rights to exercise their franchise\".
\"I want to assure the good people of this country that the NIA is not involved in any such criminal design or enterprise with the EC, with the government of Ghana or any with any person or entity whatsoever described.
Donald Trump is reportedly planning to hold a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 19, a day marked for remembrance and reverence in the hearts of Black residents of Oklahoma, and those who resoundingly state “Black Lives Matter.”
Tulsa, which stands as a marker of Black and brown bloodshed, Juneteenth, a honored celebration in the Black community, and Trump’s dismissive gathering tactics, holding rallies when a pandemic has been largely forgotten, is below despicable.
Over a dozen mostly Black high school students were booted from a January 2016 rally where Trump made his case for president leading up to the November elections, Tulsa World reports.
Many notable voices have led their thoughts on Trump’s irrevocable harm in moving forward with a rally in the same environment where Black people are being killed and mistreated by police in a similar fashion of the local law enforcement in Tulsa in 1921.
Not to mention that the descendants of the white mob who sought to destruct, kill and terrorize, along with the descendants of the Black Tulsa residents who were senselessly murdered, still call Tulsa home.
May 27: Health Minister infected, cases pass 1,000 mark
\tLocal media portals have reported that Zambia’s health minister has tested positive for COVID-19.
Zambia virus stats as of May 24, 2020 at 13:00 GMT
Confirmed cases = 920
Deaths = 7
Recoveries = 336
Active cases = 577
May 20: Nakonde records more new cases
\tNakonde, the border town with Tanzania continues to record more cases of the virus.
The one-stop border post in Nakonde was closed last week by President Lungu amid a spike in cases.
May 14 = 654 cases (208 new cases), 7 deaths, 124 recoveries
\t\tMay 13 = 446 cases (5 new cases), 7 deaths, 117 recoveries
\t\tMay 12 = 441 cases (174 new cases), 7 deaths, 117 recoveries
\t\tMay 11 = 267 cases (0 new cases), 7 deaths, 117 recoveries
\t\tMay 10 = 267 cases, 7 deaths, 117 recoveries
\t
\tThe town of Nakonde was declared a hot spot by the Ministry of Health on May 10 leading to the closure of the frontier with Tanzania.
On Saturday (May 9) 76 new cases were reported in Nakonde, the border town in question.
Tanzania's main opposition party Chadema says its leaders are subject to politically motivated attacks.
It is a continuation of violence against top opposition officials in Tanzania,\" Tumaini Makene, the Chadema party's spokesperson, told DW.
Freeman Mbowe, Tanzania's leader of the main opposition party, was attacked by unknown assailants late Monday in the capital Dodoma.
\"My immediate reaction after hearing the news [of Mbowe's attack] was to tie it to the president of Tanzania and his security apparatus,\" Lissu told DW from his exiled home in Belgium.
\"The leader of the opposition is now not able to hold rallies as planned, he is now not able to speak on the budget proposal which is going to be tabled by the government next week,\" Daniel El-Noshokaty, Resident Representative for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's Tanzania office, told DW.
Wider Says Secret Debt Intensified Poverty; Inequality Is Increasing As Better Off 'Eat' More
There were 1 million more poor people in Mozambique in 2018 than in 2015, largely due to the secret debt, according to research published by the United Nations University - Wider on 3 June.
Two other recent Wider publications, show that inequality is increasing and that Mozambique is failing to tackle child poverty in rural areas and in the north.
Mozambique's population is increasing at the rate of 3% per year, so any annual poverty reduction of less than 3% means the number and share of poor people increases.
Children Poorer Than In Neighbour Countries - And It's Getting Worse
\"A significant, and striking, result of our analysis is that rural poverty incidence for children aged 0-17 is more than three times that of urban areas, and the four poorest provinces are about 50 times poorer than the richest,\" write Kristi Mahrt, Andrea Rossi, Vincenzo Salvucci and Finn Tarp in a paper published 23 April.
Compared to its neighbours, \"Mozambique achieved the greatest reduction in urban poverty index, which once more confirms the impression of an uneven development process\" and particularly excluded children in rural and central/northern regions.
Amid a global pandemic, it has gone by largely unnoticed - not least because the crisis also kept out election observers from the East African Community (EAC), the only foreign group the government accredited.
The ruling party has grown increasingly isolationist since the last election in 2015 when outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to stand for a third term, sparking months of protests.
The results - announced by the electoral commission three days after the vote - give the CNDD-FDD's candidate Evariste Ndayishimiye 68% of the vote.
Ndayishimiye's balancing act
One of the new president's key challenges on taking office will be to balance the various interests within the ruling party.
Ndayishimiye is new in the job and has made subtle overtures to international bodies in recent months, meeting with the AU Chairperson Moussa Faki and EAC officials.
Vice-President Saulos Chilima has returned to court Tuesday to press President Peter Mutharika to sack Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson, Jane Ansah and her fellow commissioners after Parliament, the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Appeal found them incompetent and their positions untenable.
Chilima has been accusing the head of the electoral body of misconduct and is backed by electoral stakeholders that Ansah should not preside over the fresh presidential elections.
But Ansah, a judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal, has defiantly refused to step down.
This month Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the High Court sitting as the Constitutional Court which found Ansah and MEC incompetent.
On April 1 2020 MEC chief elections officer Sam Alfandika told Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee that the commission wrote President Peter Mutharika to consider hiring new commissioners as the current ones' tenure is expiring on June 5.
