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Ugandan opposition leader and popular singer Bobi Wine has been freed after a brief arrest by the police. WIne had been taken away just after he was confirmed as a candidate in next year’s presidential election.
The local NBS Television, reporting from the scene, said the singer was put into a police van amid violent scuffles between police and his supporters.
Wine on Monday had gone to the nomination centre in Kyambogo in the capital, Kampala as Uganda’s electoral body started the nomination process for presidential candidates in the upcoming 2021 general elections.
Police fired tear gas to disperse his supporters who turned up to support him on nomination day.
Bobi Wine presented his nomination papers to the electoral commission to be cleared to challenge President Yoweri Museveni in next year's election.
Joel Senyonyi, spokesman for Wine’s NUP party, said “they [police] used a hammer and broke the windows of his vehicle and forcefully dragged him out … they bundled him into their own vehicle and took off”.
So far, 10 aspirants are vying for the top job. Others include former army commander General Mugisha Muntu and former Security Minister General Henry Tumukunde.
President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country for 34 years, was the first to be nominated. He warned that any opponents who destabilize the country will be dealt with.
One presidential candidate Patrick Amuriat was arrested at the headquarters of his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
Soldiers and police officers have been heavily deployed at the party's offices, the Daily Monitor newspaper reports.
Mr Amuriat is reported to have vowed to defy restrictions on the number of supporters accompanying him to the electoral commission where he is scheduled to submit his nomination papers at midday. The newspaper has tweeted a video of his arrest.
These are some of the events analysts say makes the outlook of the politics tense as Uganda braces up for elections February next year.
Wine, 38, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, aims to end President Yoweri Museveni’s 34 years in power.
Many people have been killed since clashes began on Monday. Scores too had been killed in the run up to the vote as protestors marched against Conde's bid for a third term.
It is amazing the effort and investment people put in systems to divert NWSC water to their premises illegally.
When the word coronavirus entered the country earlier this year, almost everyone started agitating for free water from NWSC.
The level of Lake Victoria's water has already surpassed the highest level ever recorded by Uganda.
As God grants our wish for free water, the situation becomes less and less funny every day.
The enormous amounts of raw sewage in latrines and sewage tanks also join the cargo being distributed by the water as many homes become flooded.
The electoral commission, INEC, has approved direct primary for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to select its candidate for the September 19 governorship election in Edo State.
The APC headquarters had approved direct primary while the Edo chapter of the party wanted indirect primary.
Festus Okoye, the INEC spokesperson, appealed to the various political parties to conduct their primaries in full compliance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act 2010 law.
\"In accordance with Sections 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), 15 out of the 18 registered Political Parties have notified the Commission of their intention to conduct primaries for the purpose of nominating candidates for the Edo State Governorship election slated for 19 September 2020.
\"The Commission appeals to the various Political Parties to conduct their primaries in full compliance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Political Party Primaries (2018) and the INEC Police COVID-19 Pandemic of 21\" May 2020.
South Sudan marks its ninth independence anniversary. Looking back at a historic moment when the country became Africa and the world’s youngest nation. The country had in effect around since the original creation of Sudan, one of Africa’s largest countries in 1956.
Nine years on, the cry for durable peace, stability and development remains concrete challenges.
The war ended after the Sudanese government and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, paving way for the referendum through which the southerners voted for secession on January 9th, 2011.
On the 9th of July 2011, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan after the two decades of earth – scorched civil war which culminated in the 2005 agreement which ended Africa’s longest civil war. The hostilities claimed the lives of 2.5 million people with four million displaced.
Happy Independence Day to South Sudan!
Here’s a clip of the independence celebrations in Juba, 9 July 2011. At the end of the clip Salva Kir takes the oath to become the country’s first president.
From Reuters. pic.twitter.com/LXZpgPDc57— Derek R Peterson (Unseen_Archive) July 9, 2020
At the time, the US–backed secession was hailed as a way forward to peace and stability but it did not end the plight of the South Sudanese.
Nine years on, conflict is still a fact of life in many parts of the country, as the previous fighting between Khartoum and Juba gave way to infighting among the South Sudanese.
Civil war broke out in 2013, when President Salva Kiir fell out with his first vice-president and ex – rebel leader, Riek Machar, who he accused of attempting a coup.
The two leaders represent South Sudan’s largest ethnic groups. Their [Nuer and Dinka] provoked a largely ethnic conflict that killed an estimated 380,000 people and uprooted 4 million people from their homes over five years.
Although a peace deal was signed in August 2018 between president Kiir and Machar’s SPLM-IO (IO means ‘In Opposition’); the ceasefire was partially held but bloodshed and instability persisted plus stalling of the peace process.
The UN Mission in South Sudan allegedly recorded 415 violent incidents in the first five months of 2020 alone.
Armed conflict continues between the government and non-signatories to the peace agreement in some areas, while in others, inter-communal violence fueled by competition over resources, easy access to arms and weak rule of law is on the rise.
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President Salva Kiir, in his keynote speech for ninth anniversary, said previous independence days weren’t celebrated due to the political violence but this year, public’s celebration has been affected by the COVID – 19 pandemic.
The president admitted that the permanent ceasefire is largely holding while interrupted b
With just 47 votes as an independent candidate in the 2016 general elections, 29-year-old Torraino Beckford has again thrown his hat into the ring with much hope of representing the people of Westmoreland Central, having completed his nomination...
There will be no extension of the presidential mandate under the cover of coronavirus in the Central African Republic.
This was the final verdict issued by the constitutional court in Bangui, ending a wrangle between the ruling party and the opposition last week.
The government had intended to continue its mandate due to the prevailing coronavirus outbreak arguing that the country will not be ready to hold an election by the end of the year.
A Bangui resident said he was shocked by the decision: “This verdict surprised us because we thought that the constitutional court should give a favorable verdict to those who initiated this project in partial modification of the constitution going in the direction of the extension of the mandate of the president of the republic and that of the MPs.”
A number of African countries are expected to hold elections later this year.
Uganda's 2021 election candidates will have to campaign online and through the media to reach voters as part of new rules to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Uganda's electoral commission banned mass gatherings during campaigning, which critics say will disadvantage opposition parties and voters, and may be unconstitutional.
Simon Byamukama, chairman of the electoral commission, says his team will meet with the minister of information, the Media Council and the Uganda Communications Commission about the guidelines.
The RDCs, along with the police, have been known to deny members of the opposition access to the media – which has Uganda election observers worried.
Sarah Birete, associate director of the Center for Constitutional Governance, a Ugandan NGO, says the new campaign rules put older and rural voters – who are less likely to be online or have access to electronic media – at a disadvantage during an election campaign.
The CEO of Actionable Insights gets called out.
By J.A. Jones, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG – Last Friday, more than 45 volunteers took part in MASK UP! ST. PETE’s campaign launch in the south side’s 33705 zip code. Volunteers distributed over 2,000 masks and hundreds of t-shirts and flyers to help aid in the fight against COVID-19. Volunteers met up with MASK UP! ST. []
Mama Tina to the rescue. Tina Knowles didn’t take kindly to some of the buzz surrounding the release of the trailer of the upcoming “Black Is King” visual album, which waswritten, directed and executive produced by Beyoncé. The visual album from the 24-time Grammy Award-winnerreimagines the lessons of 'The Lion King' for today’s []
The post Tina Knowles Takes to Twitter In Defense of Beyonce appeared first on L.A. Focus Newspaper.
The University of California will sue the federal government over new visa guidelines that would force international students to leave the United States if they are enrolled in a college or academic program that only offers courses online, university officials said Wednesday. California’s international students had reacted with confusion and dismay after Immigrations and Customs []
The post UC will sue Trump administration over new international student visa rules appeared first on Black Voice News.
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.
David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), has noted his support for Donald Trump’s re-election. The... View Article
The post KKK leader David Duke endorses Trump, Tucker Carlson for 2020 appeared first on TheGrio.
If the NCAA isn’t responsible enough to suspend the season, it should at the very least require that every athlete be given a choice on whether to take the risk, without losing the scholarship that has been promised to them. The NCAA has just ruled that mandatory football practices can begin in July, anticipating a []
The post College football practices during COVID-19 are nuts appeared first on Daytona Times.
[Monitor] The newly revised roadmap for 2021 General Election that authorised virtual campaigning has been challenged in the High Court for violating various fundamental constitutional rights and freedom.
The number of Africans who have tested positive for Covid-19 has hit 100,000 and health experts warn that the continent is yet to reach the peak of its infection curve.
Data by the Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC) shows the continent reported more than 99,000 Covid-19 positive cases by May 22 afternoon, as the number of new infections rose to a daily average of more than 3,000.
Three-and-a-half months since the first case in the continent was reported in Egypt on February 14, most countries that went into lockdown are beginning to grow weary, with some already reporting plans to re-open.
While the number of infections and deaths continue to rise across the continent, some countries have begun a gradual lifting of restrictions.
Tanzania, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana are either in the process or have already re-opened significant segments of their economies, while others such as Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Botswana continue to maintain lockdowns, but eased some restrictions on movement and association.
About one in six state lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Dr. Thomas Dobbs of the Mississippi Health Department.
For weeks, politicians flouted mask recommendations inside the state Capitol. Twenty-six state legislators have now tested positive for Covid-19, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and State House Speaker Philip Gunn. Neither man wore a mask at a bill signing at the governor's mansion last week.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said on Tuesday that he and his daughters tested negative for the virus, tweeting they had \"limited contact with the people who were diagnosed.\"
This spike in infections follows an especially busy few weeks in the Capitol. Members have met to discuss the state's budget, an unemployment crisis, and in June, the legislature passed a historic bill to remove the Confederate emblem from the state's flag. Many visitors and advocates attended the Capitol to watch the debate and to protest.
Without masks, it may not come as a shock that the virus spread so efficiently within the legislature. On the floor, desks are packed tightly together, and members gather closely to communicate with their colleagues.
\"We could have done more to prevent this,\" State Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Democratic leader of the state's House of Representatives, said in a statement to CNN.
\"It seems it was all about some erroneous, dangerously promoted political stance. It's disgusting. Our governor refuses to order statewide mask requirements and our leadership decided not to require it at the Capitol.\"
One lawmaker who contracted coronavirus, Rep. Ronnie Crudup Jr., shared that although he did wear a mask most of the time, he could have been more vigilant. \"I can honestly say that I wore my mask 95% of the time when I was around the Capitol and public places, but that 5% can make a big difference,\" he wrote in a Facebook post.
On Thursday, Gov. Reeves mandated mask orders for 13 counties experiencing the greatest spikes of Covid-19, including Jackson, Biloxi and Gulfport. \"Mississippi is in a fight for our lives,\" he said.
Even President Donald Trump, who has stubbornly refused to wear a mask in public and ridiculed those who have, said that he will wear a mask during a visit to Walter Reed National Medical Center on Saturday.
The post Dozens of Mississippi lawmakers have Covid-19 after refusing to wear masks appeared first on L.A. Focus Newspaper.
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.
Ethiopian opposition party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), has accused Prime minister Abiy Ahmed and his government of being in chaos and trying to thrive in chaos.
“It has become fashionable to blame TPLF for everything that goes wrong in the country,” Getachew Reda, a TPLF spokesman told the BBC denying that the front had any hand and or interest in the killing of Oromo entertainer Hachalu Hundessa early last week.
In a six page document titled “Context and Updates of Current Issues in Ethiopia,” the PM’s office cited two main factors for the assassination and subsequent deadly protests and mass arrests.
The document said “Unabated attempt made by aggrieved forces to perpetuate political tensions and increasing political polarization and the negative role of media in creating ethnic tensions;” were at the heart of the issues.
“It’s a flat-out lie,” Reda told the BBC stressing that the TPLF “doesn’t believe in eliminating individuals to make political scores.” The PM’s statement did not specifically mention TPLF but made inferences to them.
The paragraph that seemed to be pointing at the TPLF read: “... it should be mentioned here that the government is under constant and unrestrained pressure from disgruntled forces, organizing and supporting anti-peace elements, by using the economic and political muscles they have built over the last three decades, in order to undermine this inevitable reform process.”
Escalating war of words between PM Abiy administration and TPLF extremely dangerous, irresponsible.
Strategy of demonising TPLF deflects some of the Oromo anger but risks deepening sense of siege, victimhood in Tigray Region and stoke, potentially, new armed conflict.— Rashid Abdi (@RAbdiCG) July 10, 2020
Aside the TPLF, the governing party had also accused former Oromo rebel group of being behind the shooting of Hachalu Hundessa. Amid high security deployment, Addis Ababa and Oromia regional state remains peaceful according to reports.
Ethiopia is in the tenth day of an internet blackout that was effected the morning after the musician was killed. It is the longest blockade since Abiy came to power. A spokeswoman has defended the move.
“... if the internet is being used by certain forces to spread hate speech and vitriol, that is perpetuating and initiating ethnic, religious and communal violence, then ensuring human security supersedes,” Billene Aster Syoum told the BBC.
Addressing members of the SAPS on Friday, Cele urged them to sympathise and act with care to victims of GBV, which he deemed a priority.
The Ugandan government has said people like Musasizi are partly to blame for the floods, and wants them to leave the wetlands for good.
Last year, wetlands covered just 8.4 percent of Uganda, down from 15.5 percent in 1994, according to the environment ministry.
In 2014 the government ordered the cancellation of all land titles there, issued illegally by local officials because the law prohibits private ownership of wetlands.
A subsequent survey of four central districts identified 1,700 titles in wetlands, said Collins Oloya, the acting director of environmental affairs at the environment ministry.
Now the rising waters are forcing people out of the wetlands, doing Oloya’s work for him.
Amid a global pandemic, it has gone by largely unnoticed - not least because the crisis also kept out election observers from the East African Community (EAC), the only foreign group the government accredited.
The ruling party has grown increasingly isolationist since the last election in 2015 when outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to stand for a third term, sparking months of protests.
The results - announced by the electoral commission three days after the vote - give the CNDD-FDD's candidate Evariste Ndayishimiye 68% of the vote.
Ndayishimiye's balancing act
One of the new president's key challenges on taking office will be to balance the various interests within the ruling party.
Ndayishimiye is new in the job and has made subtle overtures to international bodies in recent months, meeting with the AU Chairperson Moussa Faki and EAC officials.
[Daily News] Zanzibar -- ZANZIBAR Electoral Commission (ZEC) has announced September 11, the official day for commencing election campaigns, which are scheduled to last after 46 days.
And now just emerging from no contact with voters, there are concerns about whether the election calendar and roadmap as set by the National Electoral Commission in December 2018 is still viable considering the time \"lost.\"
\"The Commission has to fulfil Section 8 of the Presidential Elections Act and Section 9 of the Parliamentary Elections Act that provide appointment of nomination days and time,\" reads the commission document, \"for campaigns for presidential elections to commence latest by first week of September 2020 nomination of presidential candidates must have been completed latest third week of August.\"
The first round of nominations must have been completed latest third week of July 2020, while nominations and campaigns for parliamentary elections \"should commence latest by second week August 2020.\"
Sam Rwakoojo, the Secretary to the Electoral Commission told The EastAfrican that the roadmap has been disrupted and some special interest group elections that should have been held around this time (end of May to beginning of June) can't take place, yet they contribute to the national elections and the consequences of those delays are not clear at the moment.
Mr Rwankoojo said no concrete proposals can be generated on specific dates for certain activities because, \"we don't know yet how this disease and lockdown will go,\" he said, adding that while the Constitution is clear on when to hold certain processes, the only available leg room is to determine which activities or elections can be held together to remain within the confines of the law.
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 says.
Parliament on Tuesday passed a resolution tasking government to waive water and electricity bills for a period of six months to help relieve the many Ugandans in the post-lockdown recovery process.
While debating a motion moved by Masaka Municipality MP Mathias Mpuuga, the legislators said since the lockdown was imposed in March, many Ugandans spend a lot of time at home and consume a lot of electricity and water more than they would use while at work.
Mr Mpuuga argued that Uganda should borrow a leaf from other countries, including Ghana, which have already paid off the water and electricity bills for the citizens for a specific period of time.
Ms Jesca Ababiku (Adjumani Woman, NRM) said much as the people in rural areas are not connected to water provided by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), there is a need for government to also repair boreholes and other dilapidated water sources.
The MPs said with President Museveni not including waiver on water and electricity bills as part of a stimulus package during the State of the Nation Address on June 4, payment of the cumulative bills will suffocate many Ugandans.
As Americans explore the renaming of army bases, statues, streets, and schools that honor racist slave-holders or portray demeaning relationships between whites and Black, Brown and Latinx citizens, similar efforts are underway in Senegal and Liberia most recently. Goree, an island in Senegal linked closely with slave trade, has decided to rename one of its
Tour operators, resort owners and tourism authorities in Uganda are planning to use a large amount of their promotional spending to target local and regional visitors after the sector was heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and international tourist arrivals dropped drastically.
The move is part of the tourism sector's recovery plan from the global lockdowns that have seen the country lose a large portion of its $1.6 billion annual earnings from the tourism sector.
Jonathan Benaiah, the spokesperson of the Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO), said despite a perception that their products are mostly for international visitors, they are aiming to attract more local tourists.
The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), a government body partially mandated to promote the county's tourism sector, said they will support the private sector's plan to target domestic tourists.
The UTB chief executive officer Lilly Ajarova said the board is currently in talks with tour operators and other service providers to draft a plan for the local market.
