Pambazuka News 474: The failures of Nigerian democracy
Pambazuka News 474: The failures of Nigerian democracy
South Africa is to fast-track a comprehensive new law against human trafficking before the start of the soccer World Cup, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe has said. South Africa hosts the month-long event from June 11 and some child rights groups have warned that trafficking, mainly for sexual exploitation, could rise during the tournament.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce its 2010 Child and Youth Studies Institute and invites interested scholars to send applications for consideration for selection as laureates and resource persons in the session scheduled for September 2010. The Institute is an offshoot of the Child and Youth Studies programme and is designed to strengthen analytic capacity on all questions affecting children and youth in Africa and elsewhere in the world.
The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African Regional Organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), strongly criticized the Press and Journalists Bill in Uganda on the grounds that it is unsound and constitutes a major stumbling block to press freedom and democratic standards in the country.
Church leaders in Kenya are opposing a provision in a draft of a national constitution that includes emergency exceptions to the country's abortion ban. A recent study links the ban to the deaths of at least hundreds of women a year.
On Saturday March 13, in the auditorium of the Lavonya DeJean Middle School, in the City of Richmond California, a large number of people gathered to commemorate International Women's Day for the third consecutive year. Under the title "Women in Solidarity: Healing Our Beloved Community" more than 300 people, the great majority women, met to share the problems that affect all of them at the local, national and international level.
In 2008 refugee journalists in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, set up KANERE, a news reporting project 'to counter the monopoly on information enjoyed by humanitarian organisations that largely control access to and information about refugee camps.' They believed that a refugee free press could ‘open up new spaces for public debate and action on refugee encampment.’ But KANERE’s unwillingness to allow aid agencies to play a role in the publication appears to be putting both the future of the project and the safety of its team in jeopardy, as this background note outlines.
Following the passing of Fatima Meer on 12 March, Ashwin Desai pays tribute to a figure who 'was nothing less than the spiritual leader of the strivings for social justice and equality' in post-1994 South Africa.
This latest report from the International Crisis Group, analyses the underlying causes and offers a new approach to unlock the negotiation stalemate. Power-sharing agreements signed in Maputo in August 2009 and Addis Ababa in November offered opportunities to promote a consensual transition. But though he signed, de facto President Andry Rajoelina and his entourage have blocked implementation of the accords, so were hit by African Union (AU) personal sanctions on 17 March.
As Namibia marks two decades of independence on 21 March, Henning Melber takes stock of what liberation has meant for the country’s socio-economic and political landscape. Namibia is still one of the most unequal societies in the world, writes Melber, and there’s little evidence of strong political will to improve the living standards of formerly marginalised people. With solidarity ‘only visible among the haves, aiming to protect their old and new privileges’, says Melber, not everyone will have reasons to celebrate this Sunday.
It has been called the “new Great Trek” by South Africans who remember their history. Presently, over 30-million hectares in almost 30 African countries have been auctioned to a host of corporations and governments, from China — housing one fifth of the world’s population on 8% of the world’s arable land — to oil-rich, water-poor Gulf nations.
The Congolese conflict is considered the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, and the deadliest since World War II. Since 1998, more than six million people have died as a result of this war. Over two million people have been forced to flee their homes, and some 400,000 Congolese have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been kidnapped, raped, and tortured.
Nigeria has recalled its ambassador to Libya after leader Muammar Gaddafi suggested Nigeria be divided into two states - one Christian and one Muslim. The foreign ministry said the Libyan leader's statement was "irresponsible". Earlier in the week a senator had called Col Gaddafi a "mad man".
Africa’s economic future and the challenge of uniting people and nations drew eminent politicians and scholars into a historic public debate in Nairobi. They examined the role of a free Press in Africa, debated the path to regional integration and spoke out on the continent’s quality of leadership as the curtain rose on the Nation Media Group’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
Nigeria's acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, has dissolved the country's cabinet. Mr Jonathan became acting president in February amid the continuing illness of President Umaru Yar'Adua.
Zimbabwe's leaders have agreed to a "package of measures" to help rescue its fragile unity government, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday. Regional mediator Zuma met President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare on Wednesday and Thursday to solve problems that risked unravelling a power-sharing deal meant to rebuild Zimbabwe from economic ruin.
Zimbabwe's central bank governor on Thursday attacked as "reckless" a drive by President Robert Mugabe's party to force foreign-owned companies to cede majority shareholdings to local black businessmen
On Tuesday, March 16, thousands of Nigerians marched on the capital, Abuja, to show their frustration with the woes that continue to besiege the country. This sort of protest has not been a common feature of the Nigerian political scene – at least not in this decade– though this demonstration is one of several that have taken place this year.
Ethiopia has admitted it is jamming the Voice of America's (VOA) broadcasts in Amharic, accusing the radio station of engaging in "destabilising propaganda".
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia had been testing jamming equipment, although there had been no formal decision to bloc the US station.
South African President Jacob Zuma has survived a vote of no-confidence called by opposition parties. The vote - the first such move since the ANC came to power in 1994 - was defeated by 241 votes to 84 with eight abstentions.
Sudan has signed a ceasefire with a major Darfur rebel group, the second deal in recent weeks, leaving just one band of rebels in open conflict. The Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) - a newly formed umbrella group of 10 movements - signed the framework deal paving the way for further talks.
The African Union has put sanctions on Madagascar's leader Andry Rajoelina, after he failed to meet a deadline to set up a unity government. Mr Rajoelina and 108 of his backers will face travel restrictions and have any foreign assets frozen, the AU said.
At least two protesters have been shot dead by Ugandan police after they tried to stop the president from visiting the site of a fire at a royal mausoleum. The protesters booed President Yoweri Museveni and set up a barricade to stop him from reaching the tombs at Kasubi.
Many Africans blame themselves for climate change even though fossil fuel emissions there are less than 4% of the global total, a new survey suggests. The report, the most extensive survey ever conducted on public understanding of the issue, found that others blamed God for changes in weather patterns.
Kenyan farmer Zack Matere pulls his mobile out of his pocket holds it up and takes a couple of photos. "It seems they have come back and are digging here again." He is referring to a group of people who have encroached on a water catchment area and are endangering the whole community's water supply.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has in recent months stepped up targeting tourists and aid workers for murder and kidnapping in Mali, Niger, and Mauritania, Human Rights Watch has said. AQIM should immediately and unconditionally free hostages in its custody and end attacks on civilians, Human Rights Watch said.
The thickest book on secondary school teacher Hellen Ndalama’s desk is her indigenous language dictionary. It is also her most-used book. The front cover is partly ripped and the upper end of the spine is secured with adhesive tape. With 35,000 entries, the new book which translates Chichewa to English (CE) and English to Chichewa (EC) is the first comprehensive dictionary of its kind in Malawi.
Despite the financial sector boom in Senegal, small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), which represent over 90 percent of the industrial fabric of the country, struggle to access funding for their development, their representatives claim.
On average women constitute 18.8 percent of representatives in parliaments across the world according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). This gender imbalance has been subject to much feminist criticism and many campaigns for change have been staged to address the status quo. The situation is however different in Rwanda.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners hope to eliminate the circulation of the polio virus in West Africa as soon as June by launching the first round of national synchronised immunisation days against the debilitating disease
Togo's Constitutional Court declared Thursday incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe Essozimna winner of the presidential polls held 4 March, with 60.88 per cent of the votes cast, PANA reported from here. According to the final results, Gnassingbe, candidate of the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), won 1,242,409 votes or 60.88 per cent, followed by Jean-Pierre Fabre, candidate of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC opposition) with 692,554 votes or 33.93 per cent.
The first international conference on HIV/AIDS ended Wednesday in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, with a call on the people to fight against stigmatization and seek ways of re-integrating HIV-positive patients into the society.
Thirteen lives were lost, six injured while 9,516 people were rendered homeless during heavy rains recorded in the southern Huíla Province of Angola from January 2009 to February 2010, an official source disclosed to the nation's news agency, ANGOP
Human rights groups, under the umbrella Coalition for International Criminal Court (CICC), have urged governments that are not yet party to ICC, to demonstrate their commitment to international justice and the rule of law by ratifying Rome Statute, the founding treaty, before 1 April, 2010
Ministers of Environment from ECOWAS Member States will meet on Thursday in Accra, Ghana, to adopt a draft regional programme of action to reduce vulnerability to climate change in West Africa. Experts from the region, currently meeting in Accra to validate the document, will present their recommendations to the ministers for consideration, according to a communique from the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
All Pherebonia Nyiramatabaro, 85, wants is land where she and her 15-year-old grandson can grow a few crops. Nyiramatabaro, living in a two-roomed hut in Juru A camp in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement, southwestern Uganda, is one of thousands of Rwandans hit by a Uganda government directive barring refugees from cultivation
The Inner Circle (TIC) will host the Annual International Retreat (AIR) aimed at challenging Muslim extremism as well as engaging the impact of this on gender and sexual minorities.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is deeply concerned about the security and safety of journalists in Somalia following the detention of Mohamed Salad Abdulle, of Somali Broadcasting Corporation and correspondent of Markabley radio in Kismayo and Mohamed Abdikarim, a correspondent with Hornafrik and Markabley radio station. The two were arrested on Tuesday 16 March 2010 by the Al Shabaab Administration in Jubba and Gedo regions.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the ruling of Monday, 8 March by the Ethiopian Supreme Court which reinstated the hefty fines which had been imposed by the country’s High Court against four publishing houses which had successfully appealed a judgment of the High Court following the infamous treason trial of 2005.
Welcoming the recognition by Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma that corruption poses a serious threat to the West African country, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that while he is encouraged by some improvements in its political climate, challenges to fostering political tolerance and promoting non-violence remain.
United Nations aid workers in eastern Madagascar are helping local officials mount relief efforts in the wake of Tropical Storm Hubert, which has killed dozens of people in the Indian Ocean country and left an estimated 11,000 others homeless.
A United Nations tribunal has affirmed the conviction and 15-year sentence of a famous Rwandan singer and composer for his role during the mass killings that engulfed the country in 1994, and reduced the sentence handed down against a top official after reversing a number of his convictions.
South African President Jacob Zuma has come under fire for his failure to denounce the resurgent political violence in the rural areas, spearheaded by ZANU PF supporters. Zuma ended a two-day ‘mediation’ visit to Zimbabwe on Thursday without mentioning the escalation in violence or calling on the political leaders to rein in their supporters.
The number of cases of typhoid fever in Harare is increasing, raising fears of another serious health crisis in the country. More than 140 cases of typhoid have been reported in the Mabvuku-Tafara suburb of Harare, up from 40 cases reported last week. At least five people are known to have died so far from the mainly water borne disease. Typhoid, which is very similar to cholera, is transmitted by food or water contaminated with waste from an infected person. The Harare City Council has now ordered all food handlers to undergo medical tests to try curb what appears to be the rapid spread of the disease.
Will commercial oil production (due to begin later this year) build or break the back of Ghana’s democracy? This may seem an unnecessarily inflammatory question, but history demonstrates that healthy caution is necessary in managing oil revenues. Ghana, however, has made history by hosting a series of free and fair elections in recent years. Twice the opposition party has won and the incumbent has stepped down in a display of due respect for democracy. This is groundbreaking progress as less than a handful of African countries have attained such a benchmark of democratic consolidation
From April 15, everyone attending a clinic or hospital will be offered an HIV test, regardless of whether they have symptoms of the disease or not. Dubbed the HIV Counselling and Testing campaign, or HCT, this is the most ambitious HIV testing campain in the world, according to SA National AIDS Council (SANAC) co-chairperson Mark Heywood.
Global telecoms giant Tata Communications was set to increase its investments in Africa to capitalise on the arrival of new submarine data cables, CEO Srinath Narasimhan said last week.
The government is proposing a ban on second-hand computers to curb dumping and encourage local assembling. A study on electronic waste conducted in Kenya in 2008 indicated that the country generated 3,000 tonnes of e-waste from computers, monitors and printers in 2007. Information and Communications PS, Dr Bitange Ndemo, says his ministry is proposing to Treasury to include in the next year's Budget a ban on used computers.
About Rwf60 million has been moved in daily transactions, with the use of the 'Mobile Money' facility, a month after it was launched, MTN Rwanda officials said. Andrew Rugege, the MTN Chief Executive Officer (COO) told Business Times on Friday that daily transactions had increased since the 'Mobile Money' platform was launched and added that active subscribers are close to 30,000 of the over 1 million MTN mobile clients.
There is a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis amongst patients with HIV in South Africa, investigators report in the April 1st edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Among adolescents in Harare, Zimbabwe, HIV is now the single most common cause of acute admission and in-hospital death, Rashida A. Ferrand and colleagues reported in a study published in the February online edition of PLoS Medicine.
For many Moroccan working women, the trade-off between home lives and jobs occurs at the expense of time and peace of mind. While women have acquired some freedom in the working environment, attitudes have not changed as regards the role of a woman within the family. The equality they seek has not yet been achieved on the domestic front.
Today, more than half the world's population lives in cities. Every year, hundreds of thousands are uprooted when neighborhoods are cleared to make way for “development”. On 22-26 March, the fifth session of the World Urban Forum will be held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro to address these issues.
Kate Ofwono recently visited Geneva to join UNHCR events linked to International Women's Day. The 23-year-old refugee from Uganda took part in a panel discussion and presented a film she made about her life in Kakuma camp. She fled to the camp in north-west Kenya four years ago after her father was killed and her mother kidnapped in eastern Uganda.
Mercy Gondwe, 51, from Rumphi in northern Malawi, was married for 34 years. When her husband died in 2008, she assumed she would inherit the land they had been cultivating together since they got married. But this was not the case.
Poverty is on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and various forms of corruption threaten to undermine the impact of investments made to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the continent, said the World Bank in a report released Monday on Africa's development.
Ismail Conteh has been teaching for the past year-and-a-half at a primary school in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown – without receiving a single cent. He is one of hundreds of teachers recruited by schools to match the ever-growing number of pupils. Since the country’s government started to aim for universal primary education in 2003, classes have continuously become larger, with an average of about 50 pupils per teacher. Yet, the national department of education has employed only few additional teachers so far.
We must end the false dichotomy between prevention and treatment. If we choose one over the other we will fail. We know from our experiences in the 1990s, that if treatment isnt there, people will not come to the health centers and doctors and nurses will not stay. We know from our long experience that it is virtually impossible to have successful public sector health and AIDS treatment programs where some people get therapy and others in dire need dont. - Dr. Peter Mugyenyi, Joint Clinical Research Centre, Kampala.
Constitutional rights of South Africa¡¯s gay people are facing an increasing threat from radical elements in the conservative sector, Christina Engela of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said also stating that gays and lesbians still have a long way to go before they can be equal to heterosexuals in terms of human rights.
The final verdict in the case of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga of Malawi, detained for performing a same-sex engagement ceremony, is expected to be on Monday 22 March 2010 and Amnesty International has urged people to send appeal letters of protest to the Malawian government opposing arrest and trial of the two men.
He gives computer advice to his fellow-teachers and fixes broken printers. He also uses digital material to enrich his classes and by using a school blog he helped to set up a partnership with a French school. Through IICD-supported trainings, teacher Christophe Hien of Bogodogo College in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso is now an ICT expert at his scho
Rape in wartime is a scar on modern society that must be stamped out by ending impunity and changing men's attitudes towards women, says Margot Wallstrom, the United Nations' first special representative on sexual violence in conflict.
In this week's emerging powers news roundup, China a step closer to securing valuable new oil reserves in Uganda, Tanzania revokes railway management contract with Indian firm, Indian companies invest $277m in six Ghana projects, and Russia plans to take part in Egypt's nuclear power plant tenders.
Trade and economic relations between Zimbabwe-China are expected to grow this year following the full implementation of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation, a senior Chinese official has said.
Despite the criticism of Chinese investors in Zambia, Beijing has once again come to the rescue of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) - a vital link inter-SADC link - by availing a $39-million interest-free loan. TAZARA, which is jointly owned by Tanzania and Zambia, has been teetering on a knife-edge with worn out tracks and wobbling wagons.
The Federal Government has threatened to revoke the N2.75 billion contract for the construction of the Oguta River Port, Osse-Motor in Aguta Local Government Areas of Imo State, following the inability of the contractor to effectively mobilise to site, nine months after the contract was awarded.
Namibia's Ministry of Works says it does a lot to uplift local contractors, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Ministry Permanent Secretary George Simataa last week called a media briefing to refute allegations that the ministry was giving the majority of road construction projects to Chinese companies. He was referring to an article published in the Windhoek Observer, headlined ‘Chinese could dodge tender regulations’.
International World Water Day, held every 22 March, focuses public attention on the importance of fresh water and promotes sustainable management of freshwater resources. This year’s theme, ‘Clean Water for a Healthy World’, reflects the importance of water quality in natural resource management.
Players in the water sector from Africa meet in Kampala this week for talks on how to meet the continent’s needs as the commodity comes under renewed pressure from climate change and rising demand.
African science ministers are hoping to extend a high-speed fibre optic network — currently linking Egypt to the northern hemisphere — to other countries in Africa.
Higher education and research in Africa have largely been neglected, both internally and externally, since the 1980s. If Africa is to join the global knowledge community as an equal partner, it must revolutionise its research, education and training systems.
As coal power stations are demolished, due to environmental damages, in many countries, they are being offered as a "cheap energy supply" for Africa. But specialists warn this will be expensive in the long run, especially as fresh funds are available for renewable energies.
President Fradique de Menezes of São Tomé and Príncipe has decreed that local and legislative elections will be held in July and August, after government had been unable to follow the original election schedule.
The overall population of slums has swelled by nearly 60 million, even though more than 200 million slum dwellers worldwide have escaped their conditions in the past decade, a new United Nations report finds.
Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kenya are set to enjoy greater protection under a national policy that also aims to prevent future displacement and to fulfil the country's obligations under international IDP law, say analysts.
Ethembeni Enrichment Centre, a school in a run-down part of Port Elizabeth, the largest city in Eastern Cape, South Africa's poorest province, has achieved a remarkable 100 percent pass rate for a dozen years. But officials from the education department, sent on a fact-finding mission to learn from the school's success, are running more than two hours late.
Malawi's government has set itself a major challenge this year, announcing plans to more than double the number of people receiving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to half a million by the end of 2010. The country recently adopted new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines that raise the threshold for starting antiretroviral (ARV) therapy from a CD4 count (a measure of immune system strength) of less than 200, to a CD4 count of 350, regardless of whether the patient is displaying symptoms.
As of 15 March, 15 districts nationwide were affected with cholera, with 663 cases confirmed since January, according to a Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation update. At least 15 deaths have been recorded. Worst affected are parts of Coast, Eastern and Rift Valley provinces. Kajiado District, in Rift Valley, has 177 cases.
West Africa can meet its food needs through regional trade, most agricultural experts say, if countries keep their borders open for the free flow of staple grains, especially in times of heightened stress, whether climatic, economic, or brought on by conflict.
Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there.
Pambazuka News 472: Staggering from pillar to post: Zimbabwe's 'unity' government
Pambazuka News 472: Staggering from pillar to post: Zimbabwe's 'unity' government
The United Nations says it will evaluate and refer to a competent authority, which includes the International Criminal Court, any claims of enforced disappearances if there are legitimate grounds for concern. This is contained in the new report released by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.