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The administrative court on Tuesday upheld his appeal allowing him to resume his bid to become the country's next president.
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.
Ugandan opposition candidate Bobi Wine has rejected the results declared so far and calls himself the president-elect, despite the electoral body saying not all votes have yet been counted. Bobi Wine alleges Thursday's polls saw the worst vote-rigging in Uganda's history, but did not provide any evidence to back up his claims. He declared the struggle is just beginning. Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, says he'll address the press again in a few hours on the way forward. Early results from the electoral commission give the incumbent, President Yoweri Museveni, a commanding lead of almost two-thirds of the votes so far counted. The military have surrounded Bobi Wine’s house. - BBC
[Monitor] Vote counting ended Saturday, with results from the Electoral Commission (EC) confirming National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as president elect, stretching his stay in office to 40 years.
Vice-President Saulos Chilima has returned to court Tuesday to press President Peter Mutharika to sack Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson, Jane Ansah and her fellow commissioners after Parliament, the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Appeal found them incompetent and their positions untenable.
Chilima has been accusing the head of the electoral body of misconduct and is backed by electoral stakeholders that Ansah should not preside over the fresh presidential elections.
But Ansah, a judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal, has defiantly refused to step down.
This month Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the High Court sitting as the Constitutional Court which found Ansah and MEC incompetent.
On April 1 2020 MEC chief elections officer Sam Alfandika told Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee that the commission wrote President Peter Mutharika to consider hiring new commissioners as the current ones' tenure is expiring on June 5.
Tunisia, at the northernmost bulge of Africa, thrusts out toward Sicily to mark the division between the eastern and western Mediterranean Sea. Twice the size of South Carolina, it is bordered on the west by Algeria and by Libya on the south. Coastal plains on the east rise to a north-south escarpment that slopes gently to the west. The Sahara Desert lies in the southernmost part. Tunisia is more mountainous in the north, where the Atlas range continues from Algeria.
Tunisia was settled by the Phoenicians in the 12th century B.C. By the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., the great city-state of Carthage (derived from the Phoenician name for “new city”) dominated much of the western Mediterranean. The three Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage (the second was the most famous, pitting the Roman general Scipio Africanus against Carthages Hannibal) led to the complete destruction of Carthage by 146 B.C.
Except for an interval of Vandal conquest in A.D. 439–533, Carthage was part of the Roman Empire until the Arab conquest of 648–669. It was then ruled by various Arab and Berber dynasties, followed by the Turks, who took it in 1570–1574 and made it part of the Ottoman Empire until the 19th century. In the late 16th century, it was a stronghold for the Barbary pirates. French troops occupied the country in 1881, and the bey, the local Tunisian ruler, signed a treaty acknowledging it as a French protectorate.
Nationalist agitation forced France to recognize Tunisian independence and sovereignty in 1956. The constituent assembly deposed the bey on July 25, 1957, declared Tunisia a republic, and elected Habib Bourguiba as president. Bourguiba maintained a pro-Western foreign policy that earned him enemies. Tunisia refused to break relations with the U.S. during the Arab-Israeli War in June 1967. Concerned with Islamic fundamentalist plots against the state, the government stepped up efforts to eradicate the movement, including censorship and frequent detention of suspects.
In 1987, the aged Bourguiba was declared
At least 11 people died in intercommunal clashes in an Ivory Coast port town as tensions rise before an October election.
[DW] US Democratic candidate Joe Biden has secured enough votes to become the next US leader. President Donald Trump has alleged fraud. And Africans are watching events with a mixture of bemusement and concern.
The emergence of Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, in Uganda’s political landscape, has given hope that Yoweri Museveni could be defeated in the next presidential election scheduled 2021. For many Ugandan political analysts, a united opposition front behind Wine could bring victory that has eluded the Uganda opposition for years. However, the divisions among opposition...
The post A fragmented opposition poses no threat to Museveni in Uganda's upcoming election appeared first on Face2Face Africa.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has asked the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to report the state agency to the police if the party has any evidence to back its election rigging allegations made against the Authority on Thursday, 14 May 2020.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), at a press conference, raised fears that the decision of the Electoral Commission to compile a new register of voters using passports and the NIA's Ghana card as proof of eligibility may give undue advantage to the governing New Patriotic Party and President Nana Akufo-Addo and also help the incumbent to rig the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2020.
According to the biggest opposition party, over 10 million Ghanaians are unable to retrieve their Ghana cards from the NIA several months after they were registered, a situation which the Chairman of the party, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, said will make it impossible for them to be captured on the new electoral roll.
At a counter-press conference on Friday, 15 May 2020, the Executive Director of the NIA, Prof Ken Attafuah, said it was a \"disturbing allegation that the NIA, in consent with the Electoral Commission, embarked on an election-rigging agenda in order to benefit the New Patriotic Party, and most disturbingly, to disenfranchise a significant portion of the Ghanaian populace from their rights to exercise their franchise\".
\"I want to assure the good people of this country that the NIA is not involved in any such criminal design or enterprise with the EC, with the government of Ghana or any with any person or entity whatsoever described.
… such as Kobe Bryant, an African-American basketball legend; Chadwick Boseman, a …
Former president of Niger Mahamane Ousmane, who was driven from power by a military coup after three years, is locked in a second-round election runoff with Mohamed Bazoum.
[Nation] The electoral commission has joined the anti-graft agency in warning impeached governors that they won't secure clearance to contest elections even as politicians fought the sanctions, rekindling how Parliament watered down integrity laws.
Opposition parties on both sides of the border slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa's envoys to Zimbabwe for leaving the country before speaking to opposition parties and civil society organisations.
The International Court of Justice has postponed a hearing into Somalia and Kenya's long-running maritime dispute by another 10 months following Kenya's petition.
A letter sent by the court to both parties and seen by BBC states that that the hearing scheduled for early June is now is delayed to 15 March 2021 due to the exceptional circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic.
Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohammed Gulaid told the BBC last week that his country objected to a new petition from Kenya asking to delay the hearing because of the virus outbreak.
Kenya said the pandemic had wreaked havoc on its economy and its plans to defend itself, according to documents sent to the court and seen by the BBC.
Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister told the BBC that his government is not happy with the court's decision, but will adhere to it.
R16 billion needed to unclip the wings of the 'new' SAA - how will Mboweni fund it?
In June 2000 the World Bank agreed to provide more than $200 million to build a $3.7-billion pipeline connecting the oil fields in Chad to those in Cameroon. Oil revenues are estimated to earn $2.5 billion over the next 30 years. Human rights groups were concerned that the project would only benefit the oil companies and the political elite in Cameroon and Chad. The World Bank, however, forced Chad to agree to spend 80% of the resulting oil revenues on education, health, infrastructure, and other social welfare projects desperately needed by this impoverished country. The deal was hailed as a novel approach to ensuring that developing countries with authoritarian governments manage to spend revenues to alleviate the poverty of their people rather than enrich its elite. (In 2005, Transparency International listed Chad as the worlds most corrupt country.) Over the next 25 years, Chad is expected to make $80 million per year, increasing the government treasury by 50%. But in 2006, after the pipeline was completed, Déby reneged on the deal with the World Bank, saying he would spend the oil revenues to finance the military, to buttress his nearly insolvent government, and to shore up his fragile hold on power. In response, the World Bank suspended its loans and froze Chads bank accounts. In May, the World Bank and Chad reached a compromise: Chads government would receive 30% of the oil revenues, instead of the 10% originally agreed to, and the remaining 70% of revenues would be spent exclusively on programs to alleviate the countrys poverty.
By 2006, about 250,000 Sudanese refugees had fled to Chad to escape the fighting in Sudans Darfur region, where they face hunger and disease in desperately under supplied refugee camps.
In April 2006, a coup to oust Déby was averted with the help of French troops stationed in the country. Opposition parties boycotted the May presidential elections, and Déby retained the presidency.
Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji died in February 2007. President Déby named Delwa Kassire
Tanzania's President Magufuli has not been seen for two weeks, sparking rumours the coronavirus sceptic leader is ill with Covid-19 or unwell and incapacitated.
Managing director and board member John O’Connor said the parents who dragged the school to court intended to disrupt virtual classes.
“The false assertion that the petitioners represent parents at the school is discredited by the numerous messages of support the institution continues to receive from parents daily regarding its virtual learning programme,” Mr O’Connor said.
In a letter to parents, the board of directors said teachers are keen to work with students and that the school’s key goal has always been that no child is left behind in the learning process.
“The most immediate concern for the school is our desire to see the court reinstate live virtual learning for our younger students in year four and below, this has been achieved and lessons recommenced on Thursday, May 14 as per the normal timetable,” said Mr Rabih Saab, a director.
Considering the fact that the court had asked the school to reduce the fees by 50 per cent, the school has asked the parents to clear that amount by Monday, May 18, regardless of whether the opportunity for live virtual learning is accessed by parents.
In April 2010, Bashir easily won Sudans first multi-party elections since 1986, with 68% of the vote. Several opposition parties boycotted the election, and international observers questioned the fairness of it, citing ballot-box stuffing and other allegations of fraud. Bashirs supporters cite the marked improvement in infrastructure completed during his presidency—new schools, hospitals, and roads. All are products of the oil boom.
Salva Kiir, head of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement, was reelected president of the semi-autonomous South, taking 93% of the vote. A referendum on Southern independence is scheduled for January 2011. President Bashir has vowed to honor the results of the vote. Many fear renewed violence if the referendum passes, as the South is home to about 90% of the countrys oil.
ZIMBABWEANS envy foreign countries. They wish other countries were Zimbabwe. Some even wish to go away without the hope of ever coming back. Not because they are less patriotic or they do not love the country but because they feel betrayed. Muchemwa Silence Mugadzaweta Living in Zimbabwe is a frustrating experience on a day-to-day basis. Everything is normal until you want to process official documents like a National Identity Card, a passport or a driver’s licence. At the heart of this frustration, people mention poor administration of the country’s affairs, corruption and toxic politics. Literally, Zimbabwe has long departed from the principles of good governance. We hear stories of a better Zimbabwe, soon after independence, a country in which all industries were fully operational as many celebrated black majority rule. We hear of a time when the Zimbabwe dollar used to be twice stronger than United States dollar. But when did the rain beat us. How did Zimbabwe become so poor to the extent of importing toothpicks? Today, we import US$1,1 billion worth of steel annually. But we had our own Ziscosteel, a steel manufacturing giant that has been turned into a white elephant. Zimbabweans are frustrated because they saw things deteriorating right in front of their eyes, sometimes even offering advice to government. The government has, however, attributed our suffering to economic sanctions, opposition parties, all sponsored by the West and America. After inheriting an economy characterised by racial imbalance, inequalities in incomes and justice, the government gave itself a task to reorganise and correct the colonial legacy. Zimbabwe recorded the strongest post-independence economic performance in the period 1980-81, with an average gross domestic product of around 5,5%. 2008 recorded a low performance of -17,70%. Contestations remain between government, opposition parties, the general public, labour organisations and civil society as to whether the economy is growing or not. But in real terms, Zimbabwe is confronted with a host of challenges many of which are caused by poor governance. Poor service delivery, violence, slow growth, corruption, natural resource curse are just but a glimpse of problems facing this country. On paper and at Press conferences, the government often mention principles of good governance. However, the level of responsiveness, openness and transparency, competence and the capacity of having sound financial management, accountability is still questionable in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has a reputation of signing various “mega deals”, and MoUs for whose contents are never disclosed to the public. It’s not amusing to see a Chinese company bringing excavators to your residence and starting a project. We may comfort ourselves in lies, saying the economy is on the rebound but the truth of the matter is we have been left behind. The conviction is, until such a time we confront ourselves and reconfigure our governance structure and systems, we shall remain far behind. Dealing with corruption As of 2018, Zimbab
[Nation] The dramatic arrest and release of three senators in what appeared to be a calculated plan to tilt the vote on shareable revenue has added to an increasingly worrying trend where the police target those opposed to the executive.
[East African] Uganda goes to the polls in January and while 10 candidates seek to unseat President Yoweri Museveni -- from a position he has held for the past 34 years -- analysts view the election as a three-horse race.
Analysis - COVID-19 travel restrictions are adding to the growing pressure on observer missions to prove their worth.
Korematsu v. US
Case: Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Parties involved: Fred Korematsu, a twenty year old Japanese American who was born in Oakland, California decided that he did not want to be interned in a relocation camp. Korematsu ignored the relocation order and went into hiding but was arrested and tried for having violated the evacuation order.
Facts of the case: The American Civil Liberties Union defended Korematsu in court, but the case was lost. He received five years probation and was sent off to an internment camp at Topaz, Utah. His actions violated Exclusion Order #34 and Executive Order #9066 of 1942, which had been issued to protect the West Coast from acts of espionage and sabotage. The Acts required all JapaneseAmericans living in restricted areas to go to inland relocation centers. Korematsu believed the order violated his constitutional rights being an American born citizen. After this initial defeat, Korematsus lawyers appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Their argument was based on the grounds that it was unconstitutional to take people out of their homes and put them in internment camps solely on the basis of their race. It was noted that other so-called enemy aliens like Italians and Germans had not been relocated. The lawyers argued that there was no evidence that Korematsu was in any way disloyal to the government including acts of sabotage or espionage. In addition, as an American citizen he had a constitutionally guaranteed right to be treated as an individual and not as a member of a particular racial group. The lawyers for the United States government pleaded that Fred Korematsu and the 112,000 of the other Japanese-Americans were interned under a lawful military order issued for the protection of Americas West Coast. The government lawyers also pointed out that it had been proven that certain Japanese-Americans were loyal to Japan and therefore a threat to the war efforts.
Courts decision: The Supreme Court did not announce its decision until December
Analysis - On 13 and 27 December, some 7.4 million Nigeriens vote in the country's local, legislative and presidential elections. The polls could mark the first peaceful transfer of power between two elected presidents - a potentially significant outcome for a country that has seen four coups since independence in 1960 and repeated interruptions of its democratic processes.
When the economy continued to stagnate, and with it Senghors popularity, he resigned after 20 years at the helm in favor of his protégé, Abdou Diouf. Diouf, who led the country for the next 20 years, initiated further economic and political liberalization, including the sale of government companies and permitting the existence of political parties. In March 2000, opposition party challenger Abdoulaye Wade won 60% of the vote in multiparty elections. Diouf stepped aside in what was hailed as a rare smooth transition of power in Africa. In Jan. 2001, the Senegalese voted in a new constitution that legalized opposition parties and granted women equal property rights with men.
In Sept. 2002, 1,863 passengers were killed when the state-owned Joola ferry sank. The government accepted responsibility for the disaster.
The president removed Prime Minister Idrissa Seck in April 2004. Seck was considered Wades rival. Wade was elected to a second term in February, taking about 56% of the vote—enough to avoid a runoff election. Seck placed second, with about 15%. Wade did not breeze to victory, however, as his opponents accused him of corruption and the electorate has grown impatient with the slow growth in the number of jobs.
Somalia has had a limited central government since 1991 but political infighting is certain to delay the February 8 vote. Africanews spoke to Omar Mahmood, a senior analyst in Somalia at the International Crisis Group.
Malaysian immigration authorities raided apartment buildings in Petaling Jaya Old Town on Wednesday morning, arresting about 200 people who had emigrated to the southeast Asian country.
All 200 arrestees were tested for COVID-19, according to Immigration Department director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud.
Some Malaysians particularly oppose the presence of Rohingya refugees in their country, fearing they might bring COVID-19 when they emigrate.
Petaling Jaya Old Town’s quarantine, ordered when 26 COVID-19 cases were confirmed there, will be lifted Thursday morning.
The post VIDEO: Malaysian Immigration Police Raid Apartments during COVID-19, arrest 200 appeared first on Zenger News.
Opposition parties have slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address as dull and out of touch with the country.
