African Monitor (www.africanmonitor.org) is commissioning 4 independent studies to be undertaken in the following countries; Ghana, Zambia, Ethiopia and Uganda. Proposals are hereby invited from suitably qualified consultants/organizations to undertake a 3 month comprehensive research and fieldwork survey on “Resource Tracking in the agriculture sector” in each of the above named countries. Deadline is 29 September 2008.

For the last two months, investors at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) have watched in horror as the market dropped to a three years low. The NSE 20 shares index, which is used to gauge the general performance of the market, dipped to a 4,000 low from about 5,400 in mid July (a 26% decline).

Zulu artists working at the Ardmore Ceramic Studio in South Africa’s coastal province of KwaZulu Natal have gone from poverty to international acclaim. Some of them have exhibited internationally and the work created by Ardmore artists can be seen in galleries, shops and embassies across the globe. Thousands of pieces are exported either through people who visit the studio and place orders or order through the internet.

President-elect Kgalema Motlanthe took the Oath of Presidency on Thursday afternoon, swearing faithfulness to the Republic and obedience to the Constitution. Mr Motlanthe, who was elected by a majority vote of MPs in the National Assembly earlier in the day, was officially sworn in by Chief Justice Pius Langa at Tuynhuys, adjacent to Parliament.

Statistics from the Social Welfare Centre indicate that five percent of girls in Buea, Southwest Province, fail to go back to school at the beginning of every academic year due to pregnancy. The same situation cuts across the country, causing the termination of the educational career of most teenage girls, The Post gathered. The rise in pregnancy among teenage girls has been attributed to youthful excitement, especially during holidays.