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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.
Some governments across the African continent are cautiously coming out of Covid-19 lockdown, such as Nigeria, which on Tuesday reopened churches and mosques, with social distancing restrictions in place.
In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni announced that schools for final-year students would be postponed one more month as not enough test kits are available to test students every two weeks as proscribed.
Boda boda's employ over 1.2 million youths in Uganda, their source of income provides a livelihood to over 6 million Ugandans,how will they survive if they are to wait for the Covid pandemic to subside, President Museveni should rethink his decision #WhatIMissAboutMyBodaGuy pic.twitter.com/p8ZnXBISFu
- Nick Spartan (@nicksakwa) June 2, 2020
Part of the government concern is the slight spike in coronavirus cases over the weekend, with 84 new infections.
Nigeria returns to places of worshippers
While churches and mosques in Uganda remain shut, Nigeria has decided to open all places of worship on Tuesday as part of lifting its Covid-19 restrictions.
Surge in Covid-19 cases in Africa after lockdowns lifted in some countries
Nigeria needs to increase food production to feed itself, experts say
The coronavirus task force stipulated that only regular religious gatherings would be possible, and social distancing necessary in order to keep the churches and mosques open.
Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo and Kumi Municipality MP Monica Amoding last week during a press conference said they had been informed by their friends that money was being dished out but that they had failed to access the venues where the distribution was taking place.
The two were joined by Ntungamo Municipality MP Gerald Karuhanga and Kalungu West MP Joseph Ssewungu who attacked NRM MPs for wasting taxpayers' money.
Addressing a press conference yesterday at Parliament, the ruling party MPs accused the above mentioned MPs of hiding under immunity of Parliament to blackmail their colleagues.
\"Any person who said that I was giving out money to NRM MPs was under the influence of drugs.
\"I have never received or distributed any money to any MP.
[Nation] The Public Service Commission (PSC) has scaled down operations to minimise the spread of coronavirus after 10 employees tested positive.
Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) has designated Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital and South B Level 3 Hospital as Covid-19 isolation centres with numbers of positive cases soaring in Nairobi.
The two health facilities join Mbagathi Isolation Unit which is under Kenyatta National Hospital as three isolation centres in the capital with Covid-19 cases now above 1, 000 with informal settlements including Kibera, Mathare, Kawangware, Lang'ata and Eastleigh worst affected.
NMS Director for Health Services Dr Josephine Kibaru Mbae said NMS, through the Public Service Commission, is also set to recruit 225 health workers as part of the 5, 000 additional health workers announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta in his May address, to add to the 2, 750 health professionals under the county.
The new office has also deployed health workers at all border points to identify and isolate any suspected Covid-19 case as part of management and containment programme in addition to dedicating Ngara Health Centre and South B Clinic for testing.
NMS working together with the Ministry of Health two weeks ago launched an 11-day free Covid-19 mass testing, which ended on Sunday, targeting informal settlements in the capital.
The Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of Congo has waded into the political crisis that has gripped the country calling for a divorce between the two coalitions running the affairs of the state.
On Tuesday (June 30) Archbishop of Kinshasa, Frindolin Ambongo has called for the dissolution of the political alliance between President Tshisekedi and his predecessor Kabila.
The cleric cited mistrust among members of Kabila’s Common Front of Congo, FCC and the president’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress, UPDS.
He noted the current political tension has been stoked by MPs of former president Joseph Kabila’s Common Front for Congo which has a parliamentary majority.
Monsignor Ambongo also accused the president of the Congolese national assembly of ‘contempt’ by renewing the mandate of the head of the country’s electoral commission.
[Monitor] Kampala -- Uganda has missed its target to become a Middle Income country, according to rankings released by the World Bank.
[Monitor] It is 109 days since President Museveni communicated a March 16 Cabinet decision to place the country under a partial lockdown for 32 days as one of the measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Finance minister, Matia Kasaija has said the government has introduced some taxes to raise revenue and announced that the import duty on agricultural products have been increased to 60 per cent and other products to 35 per cent.
The minister further said modest adjustments to tax rates that have been made include the excise duty rate on fuel; and adjustments to improve competitiveness in the region, support compliance, remove ambiguities in the legislations as well as close loopholes that may lead to revenue leakage.
\"The modest adjustments to tax rates that have been made include the excise duty rate on fuel; and adjustments to improve competitiveness in the region, support compliance, remove ambiguities in the legislations as well as close loopholes that may lead to revenue leakage,\" he said.
Mr Kasaija appealed to Ugandans not to look at paying tax as a burden before explaining that tax administration will be strengthened to improve efficiency in revenue collection, pointing out that the capacity of local governments, including the roll-out of the digital collection of fees and rates, will also be enhanced to improve local revenue generation.
Mr Kasaija said digital stamps will also ensure that goods on the market meet the required health and safety standards; Widen the scope of the income tax withholding agents across all sectors in order to broaden the tax base; Enhance rental income tax collection and compliance by implementing a digital collection solution, as well as gazette rental income tax chargeable in different geographical areas for taxpayers who do not voluntarily declare their rental income.
Land complaints review office in the pipeline
Thursday, June 4, 2020 0:01
By EDWIN MUTAI |
National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale.
The Land Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2020, sponsored by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale establishes the office of a Complaints Reviewer at the Land Registry and the Survey of Kenya.
The office shall be responsible for providing “free, effective and impartial complaints review mechanism” by reviewing and determining complaints regarding land registration and survey services.
“This is geared towards ensuring the effective delivery of land registration and survey services by giving the public an avenue for lodging complaints and having their complaints resolved effectively,” Mr Duale says in the Bill’s memorandum of objects and reasons.
The reviewer shall only consider complaints that have been fully considered within the internal complaints procedures at the Land Registry and Survey of Kenya,” the bill states.
Evariste Ndayishimiye, a retired general, will take over from President Pierre Nkurunziza, after he beat the main opposition candidate Agathon Rwasa, and five others, avoiding a runoff by securing more than 50% of the vote.
The main opposition candidate, Agathon Rwasa, president of the National Council for Liberty (CNL), has already described these results as “fanciful” and accused the government of “cheating” and “pure manipulation”.
Election held in the midst of COVID-19
\tAccording to partial results compiled by AFP covering 105 communes, Mr. Ndayishimiye obtained an absolute majority of the votes in 101 communes.
The CNL is also outraged at the case of the Musigati commune (west), where Mr. Ndayishimiye received 99.9% of the vote.
Burundi is ranked among the three poorest countries in the world according to the World Bank, which estimates that 75% of the population lives below the poverty line, compared to 65% when Mr. Nkurunziza came to power in 2005.
President Museveni's message on the effects on Covid-19 was yesterday delivered by the Secretary General of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), Ms Justine Kasule Lumumba, to the Inter-party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) meeting where Justice Forum (Jeema) took over its leadership from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
Appeal
Ms Lumumba also challenged Jeema to prioritise a meeting between the IPOD members and the Electoral Commission officials to discuss alternative ways the elections can be conducted based on the recommendations from scientists.
However, the FDC party president, Mr Patrick Amuriat Oboi, said it should not be scientists to determine the fate of the elections but stakeholders including the political parties.
The deputy president of the Democratic Party (DP), Mr Mukasa Mbidde, told the meeting that elections are not \"scientific expeditions\" for scientists to decide.
Follow Constitution
The president of Jeema, Mr Asuman Basalirwa, said elections are guided by the Constitution and other electoral laws and it should not be scientists to determine how, when and who should contest for elections.
The Law Society of Kenya has filed a case challenging the legality of an Executive order issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta that allegedly sought to place the Judiciary, commissions as well as independent offices under ministries and government departments.
Through lawyers Manwa Hosea and Arnold Ochieng, the LSK terms the move as unconstitutional since the executive arm of government cannot restructure or assign functions to other arms and independent commissions.
The LSK claims the disputed Executive order No. 1 of 2020 offends the principles of the constitution, doctrine of separation of powers, democracy and independence of constitutional offices.
According to the LSK, the May 11 Executive Order titled 'The Organisation of Government' can impair the independence of the Judiciary, commissions and independent offices.
The order, the LSK argues, places the various tribunals, constitutional commissions and independent agencies under the control and direction of the respective departments.
[Monitor] I first saw President Museveni physically in 1988 when I was in secondary school. He was on a whistle-stop tour of Mpigi District and travelled by helicopter from Gombe (his first stop) to Kanoni, the headquarters of Gomba District, then a county, and the birthplace of presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi.
[Monitor] The government is proposing to test all teachers for Covid-19 ahead of school reopening.
President Museveni has written to the Public Service Commission (PSU) nominating Dorothy Kisaka as the new Kampala Capital City Authority executive director.
If vetted and cleared by the PSU, Kisaka will replace Andrew Kitaka the current acting KCCA director whose contract extension expires next week on June 18.
Kitaka's contract was extended in December 2019 for a further six months and has been acting KCCA executive director since December 2018 after being appointed by then Kampala minister Beti Kamya following the resignation of Jennifer Musisi.
Museveni in his letter to the PSU also nominated Eng David Luyimbazi Ssali as deputy executive director, Dr Daniel Okello Ayen as director public health and environment, Sarah Kanyike as director gender, community services and production and Grace Akullo as human resource and administration.
Museveni said the five nominees were headhunted because of their integrity, he nevertheless he asked PSU to interview them and find out if they are suitable for the KCCA positions.
A section of formal workers on Sunday took to social media to air their disgust after the National Response Covid-19 Fund made an appeal asking them to donate Shs10, 000 each, to compliment government's efforts in the fight against coronavirus.
The Shs15 billion could come directly from the 1.5 million employees and if the companies were so gracious enough to match, that would get us another Shs15 billion to get to Shs30 billion,\" said Mr Patrick Mweheire, the chairman Fundraising Subcommittee National Response Fund to Covid-19 which was established by President Museveni to mobilise resources from the private sector to supplement an already strained Ministry of Health in its combat against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Below is a sample of the concerns from social media:
\"The government has refused to relieve us of PAYE, Corporate taxes, our salaries have been cut, companies have closed, they are swindling money in the treasury by way of allocating MPs free millions of shillings, we are grappling to feed our families having lost our jobs or part of our salaries and they have the audacity to ask us again to contribute?
Hours after the appeal, Senior Presidential press secretary, Mr Don Wanyama said President Museveni on Monday (May 18) address Ugandans on government's efforts in the fight against Covid-19.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the country have risen to 227 after 24 people tested positive to the virus on Saturday.
As polls suggest the opposition alliance will win on 23 June, President Mutharika has been trying to forcibly remove the country's chief justice.
When Peter Mutharika was declared the official winner of Malawi's hard-fought presidential elections in May 2019, he would not have expected - or wanted - to be doing it all again just one year later.
Moreover, in his 5 June State of National Address, Mutharika asked parliament to reverse the court ruling that demanded Malawi switch from its first-past-the-post system to one that requires the victor to garner a 50+1 majority.
In the annulled 2019 elections, President Mutharika of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was declared the winner with 38.6% of the vote.
Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) garnered 35.4%; Saulos Chilima of UTM came third with 20.2%; and Atupele Muluzi of the United Democratic Front (UDF) received 4.7%.
Polling station closed across Burundi on Wednesday in a largely incident free process in keenly watched general elections.
Burundians stood in long lines outside polling stations, which opened shortly after six am, most centers had hand washing points for people arriving to vote and election officials had some protective equipments in some instances.
Meanwhile, main opposition candidate, Agathon Rwasa, has protested what he says is fraud in Wednesday’s general election.
He said his party’s election observers were chased away from some polling stations.
In the presidential vote, 5.1 million registered voters are to choose between Nkurunziza’s handpicked heir and frontrunner, 52-year-old general Evariste Ndayishimiye, main opposition competitor Agathon Rwasa, and five other candidates.
Mombasa — President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday nominated Janet Kabui Gathungu for the position of Auditor General.
In a statement sent to newsrooms on Friday, State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena said Gathungu was among three candidates presented to the President for nomination by the Recruitment Panel for the Selection of the Auditor General.
Her nomination comes a month after the Public Service Commission (PSC) published 10 names of candidates shortlisted for the position of Auditor General.
Prior to her nomination, Gathungu worked as the Director of Audit in the Office of the Auditor General.
The selection process for the Auditor General was advertised afresh after seventeen shortlisted candidates failed to reach the threshold for the final shortlist for appointment in December 2019.
Malawi's parliament has endorsed June 23 as the date for the presidential election re-run after a court annulled last year's vote over irregularities, a lawmaker said.
The election had handed President Peter Mutharika a second term, but with just 38.5% of the vote.
Legally parliament had to validate the new polling date.
He said the court ruling \"clearly states that parliament must set a date for the elections\".
Meantime, a new electoral commission was sworn-in on Tuesday to organise the new vote, after the top court also ordered an investigation into the conduct of the previous one.
