Login to BlackFacts.com using your favorite Social Media Login. Click the appropriate button below and you will be redirected to your Social Media Website for confirmation and then back to Blackfacts.com once successful.
Enter the email address and password you used to join BlackFacts.com. If you cannot remember your login information, click the “Forgot Password” link to reset your password.
[Monitor] The Electoral Commission (EC) was justified to suspend election campaign meetings in 12 districts, court has ruled.
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.
In some nations, there is a body or electoral commission that supervises elections, but that is not the situation in the United States. With each state having its own systems and laws for counting votes, vote-counting is still ongoing with people on the edge of their seats hoping to have a clear winner soon. Joe...
The post Get to know the Black candidates who have made history in the 2020 U.S. Election appeared first on Face2Face Africa.
BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera has won five more years in power by securing more than 53% of votes in an election that was marred by violence, according to provisional results announced on Monday. The electoral commission declared Touadera the winner of the Dec. 27 election, saying he had secured enough votes in the first round to make a second round runoff unnecessary in the gold- and diamond-producing country. Touadera, 63, has struggled to wrest control of vast swathes of the country from armed militias since first winning power in 2016, three years after former President Francois Bozize was ousted by another rebellion. The presidential election went ahead despite an offensive by rebel groups who tried to disrupt the vote after Bozize’s candidacy was rejected by the country’s highest court. “Faustin-Archange Touadera, having received the absolute majority of the vote in the first round with 53.9%, is declared winner,” Mathias Morouba, the electoral commission’s president, told a news conference in the capital, Bangui. He said about half of the country’s electorate, or around 910,000 people, had registered to vote and turnout among the registered voters was 76.3%. Provisional results of a legislative election held the same day will be announced at a later date, Morouba said. INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED Separately on Monday, prosecutors said an investigation had been launched into Bozize’s role in the rebellion intended to disrupt the election. Bozize and other accomplices were being investigated for various crimes including sedition, rebellion, assassination and theft, the prosecutors said in a statement. Bozize could not immediately be reached for comment. His party had previously denied the government’s accusations that the former president was plotting a coup, but some in the party have suggested that they are working with the rebels. The vast but sparsely populated country of 4.7 million which is larger than France has struggled to find stability since Bozize was ousted in 2013. Successive waves of violence since then have killed thousands and forced more than a million from their homes. The United Nations, which has over 12,000 peacekeepers in the country, said in a statement that calm had returned to Bangassou, a town attacked on Sunday by rebels allied to Bozize. “The situation in Bangassou is calm but tense, with the presence of armed elements in parts of the city,” the U.N. mission said, adding that 180 civil servants and workers from humanitarian organisations had sought refuge at its base. - Reuters
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Marine Corps has removed a two-star general from command of Marine forces in Europe and Africa based on an investigation into allegations that he used a racial slur during a training event, officials said Tuesday. The decision to relieve Maj. Gen. Stephen Neary of command of Marine Corps Forces Europe and […]
Malawi’s electoral commission appealed for “peace and calm” on Wednesday as it counted ballots following a historic poll to re-elect a president after Peter Mutharika’s victory was overturned.
It took the top court six months to sift through the evidence before concluding that Mutharika was not duly elected and ordered fresh elections.
The chairman of the Malawi Electoral Commission, Chifundo Kachale, said tallying of the votes from 5,002 polling stations was underway.
Mutharika has accused the opposition of inciting violence following isolated incidents which the police and electoral commission said had not affected the election.
Mutharika, 79, did not take the decision of the constitutional court lightly when it overturned last year’s poll.
The observers recognise that an electoral system governed by a whole series of constantly changing pieces of legislation \"responds to the outcome of political dialogue between the main parties, Renamo and Frelimo, rather than taking a holistic review of the electoral framework.\"
Stop the inclusion of fraudulent results: Under Renamo pressure, the parties agreed an electoral court system which could intervene to redress misconduct and errors by election commissions, STAEs, and polling stations.
Civil society members to be non-partisan
Members of the National Elections Commission (CNE) \"do not represent the public or private institutions or political or social institutions they come from, and defend the national interest\", says the electoral law.
For the 2008-9 elections, parliament (AR) agreed a dramatic change - a majority of CNE members, including the chair (presidente) were nominated by Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to try to force some independence and neutrality.
But this agreement between Frelimo and Renamo to select party aligned CSO members is not specified in the electoral law and clearly goes against the spirit of the law.
As the country continues to fight tirelessly to control the spread of Covid-19, a total of 5 million children are set to benefit from the three phase program of World Vision aimed at mitigating the after-effects of the pandemic in the vulnerable community.
The Government together with World Vision on Wednesday launched the second phase response program where it dispersed USD 3.3 million (Shs 15 billion), that will be used to buy reading materials for children and facilitating radio programs in 38 districts.
According to World Vision national director Mr Jason Evans, the expanded response will focus on support for children impacted by Covid-19 through education, child protection, food and livelihoods.
With this phase two response program here in Uganda, world vision aims to support 5 million Ugandan children, their families and communities to adapt and thrive during and after the Covid-19 pandemic,\" Mr Evans said.
According to the Mr Evans, the program will include supporting learning continuity for school age children, ensuring effective reporting and referral mechanisms for child protection are maintained, increasing food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable households during and post Covid-19 as well as facilitating radio station teachings programs for children.
The Judiciary of Guyana yesterday said it views with deep concern and dismay the intrusion and attack on the security and home of the Chief Justice of Guyana, Roxane George-Wiltshire.
The article Judiciary condemns intrusion at CJ’s premises appeared first on Stabroek News.
Lieutenant Junior Grade Madeline Swegle is the U.S. Navy’s first Black woman tactical air pilot.
[Monitor] By Simon Peter Emwamu
The Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday conducted a pilot voters' registration exercise at the Accra Ridge Church to test its Biometric Verification Systems for the upcoming December polls.
The pilot was to ascertain the durability of the equipment towards a successful registration exercise scheduled for June 30.
The prospective voters spent about five minutes to go through the electoral processes at either of the two registration centres mounted at the premises, with a maximum of 20 voters observing COVID-19 precautionary measures and hygienic protocols.
Speaking to the Ghanaian Times, the Public Relations Officer of the Commission, Sylvia Annoh said the exercise was smooth and was to ensure the commission identified any challenges that might occur during the actual registration and find ways of addressing them before and during the exercise.
She explained that the registration officers did not encounter any challenges during the processes or the equipment breaking down, saying, \"We are adhering to the protocols to ensure no one got infected with the virus.\"
[Ghanaian Times] The Electoral Commission (EC), yesterday inaugurated a 16-member Adjudication Committee to clean the new voters register to ensure a credible 2020 polls come December 7.
Iran is seeking to arrest President Donald Trump for his role in ordering drone strikes that killed an Iranian general as he was visiting Baghdad []
[Monitor] Members of Parliament (MPs) sitting on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee yesterday rejected the Electoral Commission's (EC) decision banning open public rallies ahead of the 2021 General Elections.
Monrovia — As part of efforts to strengthen the fight against the deadly coronavirus that is ravaging not only Liberia but the entire world, the Winners' Chapel in Liberia has donated 100 bags of rice and 1,000 nose masks to the Executive Committee on COVID-19.
The donation to government follows the distribution of bags of rice to Winners Chapel members in all 34 churches within the network across Liberia.
\"Moreover, as corporate social responsibility and in extension of the love of Jesus to the larger community, our gratitude goes first to God, the president of Winners Chapel International, Bishop David Oyedepo and everyone through whom God made this provision possible,\" pastor Akporhonor said.
Winners' Chapel pastor added: \"The Lord blesses you all.
\"For your church today to come and give a helping hand to the government I want to say on behalf Madam Broh and the rest of the staff we want to say thanks to the Winners Chapel family,\" Dakel said.
Madeline Swegle will get her “Wings of Gold” in late July.
Supporters of Malawi’s new president Lazarus Chakwera gathered for a fireworks display in the capital Lilongwe, celebrating his victory in a keen presidential election re-run.
Chakwera won with 58.57 percent of the vote, the electoral commission said Saturday.
It was a dramatic reversal of fortune for incumbent, Peter Mutharika, whose victory in the May 2019 election was overturned by the Constitutional Court, citing widespread fraud.
And on Saturday, electoral commission announced that Chakwera has been duly elected as the president of Malawi.
In office since 2014, Mutharika had won 38.5 percent of the discredited vote in which Chakwera garnered a close 35.4 percent.
The opposition has won Malawi’s historic rerun of the presidential election, the first time a court-overturned vote in Africa has led to the defeat of an incumbent leader.
The post Opposition wins historic rerun of Malawi’s presidential vote appeared first on Los Angeles Sentinel.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has revealed that only presidential candidates will be given free and equal airtime on the state owned media outlets as provided for in the Presidential Elections Act 2005.
Mr Byabakama said the electoral body will meet the Uganda Commissions Commission (UCC) to discuss the enforcement of the law which requires all presidential candidates to have the same access to the state-owned media outlets.
Section 23 (1 and 2) of Presidential Elections Act 2005 stipulates that all presidential candidates shall get equal treatment, freedom of expression and access to information of candidates.
\"
According to the electoral body, a presidential candidate is free to buy airtime from privately owned media houses to supplement their free access to the state owned media.
In February, Parliament passed the Presidential Elections Amendment Bill which stipulates punitive measures to state owned media managers such as a year in jail or a fine of up to Shs10m for denying presidential candidates coverage.
FILE PHOTO | NMG
As the State prepares to offer a bi-weekly stipend for the urban poor ravaged by Covid-19, it is important that the selection of the beneficiaries be above board to ensure, first that the money reaches the intended recipients and two achieves the intended purpose.
We commend the State for allocating a budget that will cushion hundreds of thousands of poor households whose heads will receive Sh2,000 every two weeks for purchase of basic goods like food.
However, this noble plan will come a cropper if the selection of the beneficiaries is not done in a transparent manner.
This time round the stakes are high given the adverse effects that coronavirus has delivered on poor homes.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to shield the poor from the adverse effects of the pandemic, which makes the selection of beneficiaries even more critical.
[New Zimbabwe] The Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) is no longer involved in the awarding of public tenders and the process will now be done by permanent secretaries and other accounting officers in government ministries and parastatals.
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.
