Across Africa in five minutes or less

L

NIGERIA

Global African Family Meeting

Kaduna State Government yesterday said it has filed further charges against the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky under the Treason and Treasonable Offences Act before a Federal High Court. This is coming less than 24 hours after a Kaduna State High Court discharged and acquitted El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat. Daily Trust reports that a Kaduna High Court presided by Justice Gideon Kurada on Wednesday ruled that the charges against El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat were not supposed to be filed, as the Kaduna State Government cannot arraign someone for a crime that was not an offence at the time.

ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia has been partaking in the Olympic Games once every four years in a wide variety of Olympic events that bring the world together for the most part in track running, road running and across country running. As Ethiopian athletes turn out to be triumphant over track and field sports over and over again, all and sundry look forward the Olympic day to come and feel over the moon.

GHANA

The United States Embassy in Accra facilitated the ‘unlocking’ and extraction of information from two mobile phones, belonging to slain undercover journalist, Ahmed Hussein Suale, in the United States of America. The mobile phones, iPhone 7 plus and Huawei smart phone were ‘worked on’ by forensic experts in the United States upon a request by the Ghana Police Service (GPS). This came to light on Monday, July 26, when the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame appeared to answer questions asked of him by North Tongu Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, regarding unresolved murders in the country.

MALI

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomes the arrest of the former head of Mali’s intelligence agency, which is alleged to have held a journalist incommunicado for several months after he disappeared in January 2016, as RSF revealed earlier this month. Gen. Moussa Diawara, who headed Mali’s General Directorate for State Security (DGSE) for seven years while Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was president, has been arrested in Bamako, a judicial source confirmed to RSF yesterday.

UGANDA

The minister of Education, Ms Janet Museveni revealed tFriday hat government has finalized plans to open 94 new secondary schools in sub-counties across the country. While releasing the 2020 UCE exam results at State House, Nakasero on Friday, Ms Museveni said she was concerned that 4,324 fewer candidates registered for UCE in 2020 compared to 2019. She said the technical team at Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) and the Ministry attributed the reduction largely to circumstances related to the Covid-19 pandemic thus the need for new secondary schools to try and cover the gap.

TANZANIA

PRESIDENT Hussein Mwinyi yesterday called on African leaders to emulate Asia’s economic transformation strategies to promote development in the continent. The Isle President said that remarkable economic transformation recorded in Asia should be emulated to help Africa to reform its economic development strategies including policies in order to improve the quality of life for its people.

KENYA

Conservationists are up in arms over the killing of more than 10 hippos at Lake Ol Bollosat in Nyandarua County in just one week. The killings are suspected to be part of a conspiracy to wipe out wild animals from the lake, which is a key tourist attraction in the region. Nyandarua County Commissioner Benson Leparmorijo said five of the animals died in the waters as a result of injuries believed to have been inflicted by residents.

ZAMBIA

COPPERBELT Province, with a population of over two million people, has attracted large-scale investments in various sectors. These range from mining, agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, to wholesale and retail trade. In a bid to ensure that investors and passengers enjoy the comfort of flying in and out of the resource endowed province, the Government, through Zambia Airports Corporation Limited (ZACL), recently begun the construction of the $397 million new Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport in Ndola.

CHAD

Following a Special Report General Saleh Bala and I had written for the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) entitled “Civilian-led Governance and Security in the Lake Chad Basin”, we held a follow up round table meeting with the Lake Chad Basin Commission led by its Executive Secretary, Ambassador Mamman Nuhu, to consider recent developments in the sub-region concerning the subject matter. The meeting was hosted by the USIP Country Director, Ambassador Abdu Zango and Dr. Chris Kwaja.

THE GAMBIA

The final report of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, expected to be submitted today to the President of Gambia, has been postponed to September 30. Meanwhile the Commission has clarified what it has spent in reparations up to now. And the budget that is still missing. “Notwithstanding the heavy schedule of work devoted to completing the draft report, the Commission informed the Attorney General on 27 July that it needed more time (about eight weeks) to complete all 16 volumes of the report and other important documents,” Dr Lamin Sise told journalists in Banjul, Gambia’s capital city, on Wednesday. The chairman of the country’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) announced a new date for the submission of its final report: 30 September 2021.

RWANDA

The Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) is set to roll out a Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) for special needs children – with visual impairment and the ones with hearing loss – a curriculum that will be part of a unit called special needs and inclusive education. The special curriculum will start with the next academic year. Nelson Mbarushimana, Director General of REB said they are working with different partners in developing the curriculum that will be followed by recruiting, and professional training of teachers at national level who will teach these subjects.

EGYPT

Culture Minister Inas Abdel Dayem on Thursday attended a performance featuring Egypt’s youngest singer at the Vienna Opera Mariam Tahoun for the first time. Tahoun, 16, joined Cairo Opera’s troupe in the performance that was held on Gomhoreya Theatre in Cairo and attended by head of Cairo Opera House Magdy Saber. Abdel Dayem asserted the state’s support for its talented nationals abroad, who are representatives of Egypt’s soft powers. Tahoun’s participation with the stars of Cairo Opera’s troupe is an incentive to her to continue her excellence, the minister added.

SOUTH AFRICA

Cape Town — South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker won the women’s 200m breaststroke with a stunning world record time of 2:18.95, the Tokyo 2020 website reports. This is South Africa’s first Olympic gold in the Tokyo games. News24 reports that Schoenmaker timed her race to perfection, sitting behind American Lilly King for the first 100m before making her move over the last 100m. The previous world record, set by Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen at the World Championships in 2013, was 2:19.11.

NAMIBIA

Tsumeb — Junior employees are said to have spilled the beans on irregular dealings at Tsumeb, leading to a fresh investigation which resulted in the recent suspension of the municipality’s acting CEO Karolina Damaseb. Damaseb was suspended a fortnight ago, although she has not been charged yet, pending the disciplinary committee’s move to formulate exact charges. The recent investigation centred around the municipality’s procurement and property department, as well as the loss of revenue by council from properties rented out. It is further alleged that Damaseb had in an auditor general’s report of 2018 implicated a senior accountant and a property officer of having been involved in dubious deals, as well as diversion of council revenue.

LIBERIA

Liberia’s Health Minister and head of the Incident Management System Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah says those who are concerned about President George Manneh Weah being vaccinated should ask the president himself and not her. “This question is meant to put me in trouble, but if anyone [is] interested in knowing whether the president has taken his vaccination [they] should ask himself at the Executive Mansion press conference,” Dr. Jallah said Thursday, 29 July 2021 at the Information Ministry’s regular press briefing on Capitol Hill. Many here believe that President Weah will give the public confidence about the vaccines if he takes the lead to be vaccinated.

ZIMABWE

Guo Shaochun — As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world, tracing the origin of the virus is important for preventing possible risks in the future. Study of origins is a matter of science, which should be jointly conducted by scientists all over the world. However, some countries with ulterior motives are trying to politicise the origin-tracing as a way to suppress and contain China’s development, to pin the blame on China and get away with their own failure. These moves will only undermine the global fight against the virus and bring more pain to the international community.

…………………………………………………