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Uganda is experiencing a shortage of healthcare professionals and many of its hospitals are understaffed. The health minister says there's as little as two doctors to every 10,000 people.
Critics have called it a stunt to invite sympathy. Yet Amuriat says campaigning without shoes is a protest and that those who do not get its symbolism are missing a point.
Uganda is due to hold a general election on January 14. Amuriat and another opposition candidate, Bobi Wine have had their rallies violently dispersed by security forces or been arrested.
In mid-November, scores of people were killed as security forces attempted to quell protests against the arrest and detention of Bobi Wine.
Police has accused the candidates of addressing huge gatherings in contravention of regulations on COVID-19 prevention.
Swollen feet
In an interview with one of the dailies in Uganda, Amuriat said his feet hurt a lot and has to pour cold water on them in between campaign stops for some relief.
Doctors have cautioned him on the potential danger of contracting tetanus from cuts to his feet.
Yet Amuriat remains adamant. He says by refusing to wear shoes, he’s standing in solidarity with people whose wealth and opportunities have been stolen by the country’s longtime ruler Yoweri Museveni.
JUST IN: FDC presidential candidate Patrick Amuriat has been arrested at the border of Rubirizi and Bushenyi districts. The reason for his arrest is yet to be known📹 @MukhayeD#MonitorUpdates#UGDecides2021 pic.twitter.com/xopK4FMoD0
— Daily Monitor (@DailyMonitor) December 4, 2020
Museveni, in power since 1986 is seeking a new term. In 2017, he changed the constitution to remove age limits that would have stopped him from seeking re-election.
FDC is Uganda’s largest opposition party. In 3 previous elections, the party fronted veteran activist and retired army colonel Kizza Besigye for president.
By ROBERT BURNS, MICHAEL BALSAMO, JONATHAN LEMIRE and ZEKE MILLER WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon. Biden selected […]
The post Biden picks Lloyd Austin as secretary of defense appeared first on Afro.
The Gauteng Department of Health said contact tracing of Gauteng students who attended the matric rage event in KZN is currently underway.
DYNAMITE comes in small packages, the saying goes, but it is also the best way to describe feminist writer and first-year Lupane State University (LSU) student, John Mabuyane BY SHARON SIBINDI Mabuyane is the brains behind Scars/Amanxeba, a production that won the outstanding Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards 2020 short film gong. Besides Scars/Amanxeba, Mabuyane wrote, directed and produced another feminist short film titled WarCry which he claims was inspired by real events in Bulawayo and South Africa. “I have left no stone unturned in my career as a filmmaker. Regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic I have worked tirelessly to be heard. I believe in the voice of the silent cries,” he said. “I am a feminist writer who craves for the empowerment of women and girls and strongly advocates for the rights and education of the girl child.” Mabuyane, who is studying Languages and Communication at LSU said his inspiration to script for Scars/Amanxeba came after he read an article in 2012 about 2 000 girls who were dropping out of school annually. “My stories are real life stories and I have never written fiction as I am inspired by true stories. In the film Scars/Amanxeba, I speak about gender-based violence (GBV), no to early marriages, no to rape and stress the importance of educating the girl child,” he said. “I further wrote WarCry a short film that speaks against GBV and femicide. I also became the assistant director of the award-winning European film festival 2020 short film 18 months later. This is the beginning, I am not yet done, the journey ahead is long and I must persevere.” Mabuyane said he believed that he was destined for greater exploits, adding that he would not stop until the silent cries are heard. “It is my wish to strengthen Lupane State University’s film department and I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel in the film industry. Never give up, many doors are going to be shut and rejection is power,” he said. “One must, however, go back to the drawing board and plan. Rise up again and grind. Begin a fight and win the war. There is a beast in the inside of each and every one of us waiting to be set free. Rise and shine Bulawayo omuhle.” Follow Sharon on Twitter @SibindiSharon
S.E. Williams | Executive Editor California’s Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) Chair, Dr. Shirley Weber, recently teamed with California’s Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and hosted a virtual town hall to engage and inform the Black community and others around issues related to COVID-19. The timing was right as the virus is, once again, exploding […]
The post A Conversation with Black Leaders about COVID-19 and CA’s Black Communities appeared first on Black Voice News.
Los Angeles County hit another milestone, with the number of COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized surpassing 3,000 for the first time, the state reported Monday, Dec. 7, the same day the county’s health department reported that the number of health care workers testing positive for the coronavirus has more than doubled in one week’s time. Although […]
An Eco-Friendly Manufacturing Plant is Turning Plastic into Bricks
After Kenya imposed a ground-breaking law in 2017 on the use, manufacturing and import of plastic bags as part of global efforts to limit plastic waste, four engineers in Nairobi saw an opportunity in the estimated 500 tonnes of plastic waste the city generates daily and founded Gjenge Makers — a company that recycles plastic bottle tops and cooking oil containers into environmentally friendly bricks. Nzambi Matee, a co-founder of Gjenge Makers, explains how it came about.
\"So we started by collecting plastic waste and selling it to recyclers. That was in 2017, and then we realised three to six months later that we were collecting more waste than we could sell, than the recyclers could absorb. So that's when we decided what more we could do with the remaining plastic, as a value-added aspect, to see if we could put a product on the market using the plastic waste, and that's how we started making the paving stones\".
Grey pavers sell for around 8 euros per square meter, while coloured pavers sell for around 10 euros.
Matee describes the logic behind the ecologically-sound operation, \" Once the manufacturers package the soft drinks, or whatever product they are packaging, once the consumer finishes with that product, they have nowhere else to take it other than the litter box. And so, with that, we decided why don't we create a plug where instead of having the plastic to go the dumpsite, we intercept it on the way, and hence we started the making business.\"
The waste is then crushed into small pellets, sorted according to colour, mixed with sand and the desired colour pigment — before being taken onto the production line where they are moulded and put into a hydraulic press.
Ann Muthoni, the Programme Coordinator at Mukuru Slums Development Projects, shares some inside information, \"We had used the ballast before, but most of the trainees were complaining the ballast was damaging their shoes, so the Gjenge pavers, we find them very friendly. Walking on them feels like you are walking on rubber*
Gjenge Makers can currently produce up to 1,500 bricks a day with homeowners and schools as clients.
The West Dumping Plastic Waste in Africa
Although many African countries are making an effort to overcome the pressing issue of plastic waste, their efforts are often thwarted — as many countries in the Western world have used many nations in Africa as their plastic waste dumîng ground.
In April, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) - whose members include Shell, Exxon, Total, DuPont and Dow, companies already guilty of polluting many rivers in Africa via oil drilling and oil spills, proposed investments in recycling in Kenya with a catch.
The recycling investment deal is one only provided that the recipient country accepts US plastic waste i.e. Kenya would get about 500 million tonnes of plastic waste exports from the US per year.
Plastic But Not a Superficial Issue
According to a 2018 United Nations (UN) report, an esti
A Senegalese court on Tuesday handed down jail terms to three fathers accused of pushing their sons to migrate to Europe by sea, sending them on a trip that left one of them dead, a defence lawyer said.
In a high-profile case, the trio were given two-year jail terms, 23 months of which were suspended, on a charge of \"placing the lives of others in danger,\" attorney Assane Dioma Ndiaye said.
They were acquitted of the charge of abetting migrant trafficking, the lawyer said.
The sons were with other migrants who boarded a canoe to make the crossing from Senegal to Spain's Canary Islands, the first step in a plan to reach continental Europe.
But one of them, a teenager nicknamed Doudou, fell ill and died during the trip.
The fathers of the three, all of them fishermen in the coastal town of Mbour, were arrested a couple of weeks later.
Doudou's fate triggered uproar in Senegal, prompting debate about poverty, parental pressure and the allure of life in wealthy but distant Europe.
His father had paid 250,000 CFA francs ($460) to a smuggler, who was to take the boy to Spain. His destination after that was Italy, where he hoped to sign up for a football training academy.
A source close to the investigation said Doudou \"died after having problems eating\" during the trip.
Further details are unclear, as according to local media his body was tipped overboard after he died.
The children of the two other fathers survived the attempted crossing and returned home.
\"I wanted to open the doors of success to him,\" the father was quoted by a local newspaper as saying during the trial.
\"I took him to see the marabouts (witch doctors) so that they would pray for him. If I knew that he wasn't going to come back I would never have taken the risk.\"
He told the court: \"I am here before you today but my spirit has left me.\"
The prosecution had called for two-year terms against the three, while the defence had urged their acquittal.
The Canaries lie more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the coast of Africa at their closest point.
Over 500 people have died this year, mostly in October and November, according to the UN's International Office for Migration (IOM), compared to 210 fatalities for the whole of last year.
The pressure to migrate is especially strong among fishing communities. Coastal villages in Senegal have been badly hit by dwindling catches, and by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
[Monitor] The government has said they have had to review the National Development Plan programmes as the country struggles to control the spread of Coronavirus and learning to live with it.
While health officials agree face masks help prevent the spread of Covid-19, state and local governments have varied widely on implementation of mask rules. Now, President-elect Joe Biden wants to change that. Biden's office has released plans that his administration intends to implement in the beginning of his term, and one is a national mask mandate 'by working with governors […]
Polaris opened the door for more people to experience the unique-looking vehicles when the company introduced its new AutoDrive transmission system. For the 2021 Slingshot model, Polaris brings back the popular feature with new updates plus some other new features that Slingshot owners have been asking for.
According to Senator Chuck Schumer, President-electJoe Bidenis considering forgiving $50K for student loan borrowers. Schumer made the announcement Monday during... View Article
The post Schumer says Biden ‘considering’ forgiving $50K in student loan borrowers appeared first on TheGrio.
BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA HARARE Mayor Jacob Mafume, who is being accused of parcelling out residential stands, has been granted $30 000 bail by High Court Judge Justice Benjamin Chikowero. Mafume appealed to the High Court after he was denied bail by magistrate Bianca Makwande who said he was likely to interfere with witnesses in the matter. But Justice Chikowero ruled out that Makwande had misdirected herself by denying Mafume bail. He was ordered not interfere with witnesses, to surrender his passport and to continue residing at his given residential address, as part of his bail conditions. It is alleged that Mafume allocated residential stands to his sister Rotina Mafume and secretary at his law firm Rutendo Muvuti without following due process. The State alleges that in March this year Mafume allegedly called housing director Admore Nhekairo asking him to allocate stands to Rotina and Muvuti but the council had closed interviews for home seekers. But Mafume allegedelly used his influenced responsible council employees to allocate the stands to the two. Rotina and Muvuti were allocated the stands valued at $219 938 although they were not on the waiting list. More to follow…
[Daily News] UGANDA has granted environmental approval for a $3.5 billion pipeline to export crude oil from western fields to the Indian Ocean coast in Tanzania.
HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE (AS MAYOR MICHELLE LANSING) AND MARCI T. HOUSE AS HER SISTER SONYA RUKIYA IN CHRISTMAS IN EVERGREEN: BELLS ARE RINGING | PHOTO COURTESY OF CROWN MEDIA Two movies this Christmas season will be featuring a Hollywood darling, Holly Robinson Peete. And while the seasonal cheer might not be as merry and bright as … Continued
The post A Little ‘Holly’ Goes a Long Way This Holiday Season: Holly Robinson Peete Stars in Christmas Movies appeared first on The Michigan Chronicle.
Votes are being counted in Ghana following the presidential and parliamentary elections on Monday.
Despite the election being largely calm, heavy security is surveilling the count in the capital Accra's Jamestown neighborhood, where Ghanaians are already celebrating the victory of their candidate.
There are 12 candidates in the running but it is expected to be a two-horse race between incumbent president Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and his longtime rival and former president John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress party (NDC).
\"We are supporting the New Patriotic Party, which is the NPP. Probably we’ve won already, so we have nothing much to say. Total knock out,\" said NPP supporter Awo 'Rasta.
But NDC supporter Yunis Day said \"These people are NPP’s people. They are the disturbance. We are the NDC.\"
\"They haven’t finished counting the ballot papers, but they are already making noise. Empty barrels make the most noise.\"
Ghana has ensured peaceful transfers of power on seven occasions its step towards multiparty democracy in 1992.
The two main parties have always accepted electoral outcomes and pursued any issues through the courts.
A few polling stations opened late and isolated cases of ballot tampering were reported by the electoral commission but there were no major incidents across the country's 38,000 polling stations.
Early election results are expected later on Tuesday.
Travel regulations have been revised to make flying less cumbersome over the December holidays.
Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, has announced assistance of $3.5 million to the Kingston YMCA from the Ministry.\tGrange said the Ministry’s action followed a request from Prime Minister Andrew Holness...
NATIONAL University of Science and Technology (NUST) students last week held an online demonstration against failure by the university to release transcripts and other administrative concerns. BY PRAISEMORE SITHOLE On Friday, students were forced to stage an online demonstration after realising that their plans for in person protest would be quashed by security details at the campus clad in civilian clothes. In an interview yesterday, the student representative council (SRC) information secretary Muziwenkosi Moyo said the failure by the institution to issue graduate transcripts triggered the demo. “These graduates need transcripts and it’s a basic thing that should be done to enable them to look for jobs. “The NUST online registration system has been down for about five months, and students cannot access it to re-register,” Moyo said. “We cannot have a whole NUST failing to have something working, such basic things as online registration of students. “We are already beginning to question what our fees money is used for. Failure to offer services is disrespectful because we are paying fees,” he said. Moyo also alleged that there were students who were not attending lectures for almost 11 months. “This stream last saw a book in December 2019 and l don’t think that such a scenario has happened at any institute. “The affected students were enrolled in March 2019 and no communication has been sent to them on the way forward,” he said. Moyo added: “There is also poor communication, for example, fees were hiked at a time students had already registered. “No formal communication is sent. There is no proper orientation of students and as a result some new students threatened to drop out as they now regret enrolling at NUST.” The university director of communication and marketing Thabani Mpofu when contacted for comment said questions should be sent through his email. “Send the questions on my email and I will respond to them,” Mpofu said. He had not responded by the time of going to print.
COVID-19 tests for cross-border traders have been drastically slashed from US$60 to US$15 following an agreement between their association and a laboratory based in Bulawayo. BY RICHARD MUPONDE Zimbabwe opened its borders to the travelling public on December 1 after nearly nine months of lockdown and thousands of cross-border traders have been struggling to pay the US$60 for mandatory COVID-19 tests required for one to cross the borders. Zimbabwe Cross-Border Traders Association president Killer Zivhu told journalists in Harare yesterday that cross-border traders would now be charged US$15 for PCR tests with the association paying the difference. “We have secured 60 000 test kits, but we want to increase them to 500 000 so that our members are able to travel outside the country to trade,” Zivhu said. “Most of our members are poor and have not been working for the past nine months because of the lockdown, hence they cannot afford the $60 currently being charged on the market. “On their way back to the country, they will pay only $10 for another test but this time around they will not be given certificates.” Follow Richard on Twitter @muponderichard
BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) - Brazil’s government will offer COVID-19 vaccines to all Brazilians free of charge, once health regulator Anvisa gives it scientific and legal approval, President Jair Bolsonaro said yesterday.
The article Brazil to offer COVID-19 vaccine for all at no cost, says president appeared first on Stabroek News.
