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Uganda’s inter-religious council called off the eagerly awaited presidential candidates’ debate.
The council said the debate, that was due on Thursday 03 was cancelled due to limited resources.
Local media reported that a total of ten presidential candidates were expected to grace the occasion.
This comes amid numerous complaints majorly from the opposition who have constantly blamed the security apparatus for rights violations.
Uganda opposition have in most cases face wrath of the police especially the renowned musician-turned politician, Bobi Wine.
Two weeks ago, 54 people died in protests after Wines supporters called for his release following a brief arrest at campaign rally.
They have defended themselves by claiming that they were only implementing Covid-19 guidelines to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
Bobi Wine was later charged with violating pandemic restrictions on gathering of crowds and granted bail.
The embattled singer later met the electoral commission and asked them to ensure that there should be equitable campaigns and police should be stopped from intimidating the opposition leaders and their members.
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.
Mary Elizabeth Taylor, one of the highest-ranking African American officials in the Trump administration, resigned on Thursday over President Donald Trump’s response to racial tensions across the nation, The Washington Post reported.
Taylor, 30, was the youngest person and first Black woman to serve as assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in the State Department.
In her resignation letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, obtained by the Post, Taylor said the president’s “comments and actions surrounding racial injustice and Black Americans” had “cut sharply against my core values and Elizabeth Taylor, right, observes as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) swears in Neil Gorsuch during the first day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing on March 20, 2017.
“Moments of upheaval can change you, shift the trajectory of your life, and mold your character,” wrote Taylor, who has served with the Trump administration since its first day in January 2017.
Trump has come under scrutiny for his response to anti-racism protests across the country since the police killing last month of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man.
Government will have to purchase over 137,000 television sets if they are to facilitate distance learning as proposed by President Museveni.
In his televised address on Monday, Mr Museveni postponed the partial reopening of schools for another one month but said \"children must continue studying under the distance learning programme\" on televisions and radios.
He made a number of proposals to facilitate the programme, among them; provision of two television sets to each village and a radio set to each home.
Mr Museveni says much as there are fears that the TV sets could bring about congregation, thereby undermining social distancing of the children, he is optimistic that it is easy to identify any child who has the virus since they are from one village.
\"Children from the same village, if they have sickness it would have already shown up,\" added Mr Museveni.
A new major publication - the Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Politics - contains many important chapters that make the same point on a wide variety of topics.
Yet, while the continent features more than its fair share of authoritarian repression, in some respects African countries are leading the way.
In all these cases a combination of good leadership, institution building, and the support of ordinary people for democratic values has enabled African states to change their futures for the better.
A major casualty of the tendency to overlook the creativity and contributions of African leaders and intellectuals is the neglect of African political thought.
This is one reason why many African intellectuals have been attracted to the idea of the African renaissance.
Jayasekara, also known as Chokka Malli, was found guilty by the High Court of Ratnapura on July 31 of murdering activist Sunil Perera, popularly known as Shantha Dodamgoda, ahead of presidential elections in 2015. He was sentenced to death along with two others convicted of the same crime. Nonetheless, he took the oath as a […]
The post Murderer on Death Row Sworn In as Member of Sri Lanka’s Parliament appeared first on L.A. Focus Newspaper.
Monrovia — The Government of Liberia has debunked speculations on social media that it intends to use nearly US$10 million of the US$30 million apportioned for the COVID-19 food distribution on \"unexplained administrative costs\".
Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon (Liberty Party) posted to Facebook on Saturday \"Out of the $30mil for \"Free Food\", nearly US$10mil (1/3 or 33%) to be used for unexplained administrative costs\".
Commenting on the social media post from the Senator, Information Minister Eugene Nagbe told FrontPagAfrica that the fund would be in the total control of the World Food Program which would spearhead the food distribution.
\"The fact of the matter is that the government has transferred USD25 Million from the GOL Consolidated accounts at the Central Bank of Liberia to the World Food Program to implement the food support program.
Senator Dillon has held the opinion that using US$25 million distribution of free food to citizens across the country to compensate for the lockdown imposed by the government as a measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 would be more impactful if it were redirected towards paying the tuition for all grade school students across the country.
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.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has offered concessions in a move to unblock a stalemate with opposition leaders.
By Russ Bynum and Ed White
The Associated Press
Anti-racism protesters on June 13 sought to call attention to the deaths of two more Black men — one who was found hanging from a tree in California and another who was fatally shot by police outside an Atlanta restaurant.
In Palmdale, Calif., hundreds of people marched to demand an investigation into the death of 24-year-old Robert Fuller, who was found hanging from a tree early June 10 near city hall.
Fuller’s death has brought to light the death of another Black man found hanging from a tree on May 31 in Victorville, a desert city 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Palmdale.
Meanwhile in Europe, far-right activists scuffled with police in London and Paris as more Black Lives Matter demonstrations unfolded nearly three weeks after George Floyd, another Black man, died at the hands of a White Minneapolis police officer who pressed a knee to his neck.
In Paris, police stopped protesters from confronting far-right activists who unfurled a huge banner from a building denouncing “anti-white racism.”
Foreign Currency Account holders with Zimbabwean banks – among them units of Standard Bank, Standard Chartered and Nedbank – have expressed apprehension about what they fear could be a run on their funds by the government, as the central bank kicks in new monetary measures.
Chiedza Madzima, the head of operational risk for Fitch Solutions, said Zimbabwe's foreign currency accounts were facing pressure as depositors rushed to withdraw US dollar funds \"amid much lower market confidence.\"
Standard Chartered Zimbabwe last month told local media that \"the Covid-19 induced lockdown has resulted in some constraints in cash importation\", while some bank chiefs say they have been asked by the central bank to prioritise foreign currency allocations.
They are prioritising those accounts which have cash deposits, and now I am stuck because I cannot access my funds and at the same time I cannot convert into local currency at the official rate, which is much lower,\" said an FCA account holder at foreign-owned bank in Harare.
Banks such as Stanbic Zimbabwe and Standard Chartered have been touting alternatives to cash withdrawals such as internal transfers, online and mobile application payments for FCA accounts.
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.
Facebook announced May 7 that it is awarding nearly $10.3 million to 144 local newsrooms through the company’s COVID-19 Local News Relief Fund Grant Program.
“We are honored to have been chosen to receive the Facebook Journalism Project COVID-19 program Grant,” Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., Executive Editor and CEO of The Los Angeles Sentinel, told California Black Media.
The majority of the Black-owned California newsrooms that received over $300,000 in grants are located in Southern California around the greater Los Angeles area, including the L.A. Sentinel, the L.A. Focus Newspaper, the Los Angeles Wave and Independent News Paper Group and Black Voice News in Riverside.
The grant recipients were chosen from a pool of more than 2,000 applicants by the Facebook Journalism Project and its partners: The Local Media Association and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
In addition, to the COVID-19 relief grants, Facebook also awarded $5.4 million in grants to North American newsrooms that have participated in Facebook’s Local News Accelerator programs.
Supporters listen as U.S. President Donald Trump speaksat a campaign rally at the BOK Center, June 20, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump was expecting a capacity crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma for his first campaign rally since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the country.
A supporter sits in the upper seats during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump at the BOK Center, June 20, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Brad Parscale, the president’s reelection campaign chairman, touted the fact that 1 million people requested tickets to the MAGA rally.
Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump react as he concludes speaking at a campaign rally at the BOK Center, June 20, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
At least 22 people died as the fiercest cyclone to hit parts of Bangladesh and eastern India this century sent trees flying and flattened houses, with millions crammed into shelters despite the risk of coronavirus.
Millions were left without power after Cyclone Amphan, packing winds of around 150 kilometres per hour (95 miles), carried away electricity pylons, walls and roofs, officials said Thursday as they began to assess the damage.
Bangladesh officials said at least 10 people had died, including a five-year-old boy and a 75-year-old man both hit by falling trees and a cyclone emergency volunteer who drowned.
Cyclones are an annual and growing hazard along the Bay of Bengal coast, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in recent decades.
Anwar Hossain Howlader, an official in the Khulna coastal district of Bangladesh, said a three-metre (10-feet) surge had destroyed embankments protecting villages despite locals toiling through the night.
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.
Voters in Malawi went to the polls on Tuesday for the second time in just over a year after the Constitutional Court dramatically ruled that last year’s polls were fraught with “grave and widespread” irregularities.
Results from the May 2019 election sparked countrywide protest that lasted months, a rare occurrence in the impoverished southern African country.
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.
“We appeal to Malawians to maintain peace and calm as the vote-counting continues,” Kachale told a news conference in Blantyre.
Mutharika has accused the opposition of inciting violence following isolated incidents which the police and electoral commission said had not affected the election.
“It’s obvious that the opposition is doing this,” he told reporters after voting in Blantyre, claiming some of his party monitors were “chased away, some were beaten”.
“It’s obviously people that are afraid of the will of the people that are engaging in these barbaric acts,” he alleged.
Mutharika, 79, did not take the decision of the constitutional court lightly when it overturned last year’s poll.
He accused judges of working with the opposition to steal the election through what he dubbed a “judicial coup d’etat”.
He had narrowly won the now-discredited election with 38.5 percent of the ballots, beating his closest rival Lazarus Chakwera, 65, by just 159,000 votes .
Victory in the rerun will be determined by whoever garners more than 50 percent of the votes — a new threshold set by the top court.
Some 6.8 million people were asked to vote between Mutharika, Chakwera and an underdog candidate, Peter Dominico Kuwani.
The electoral commission has until July 3 to unveil the results, although the announcement is widely thought likely to come this week.
Kachale says the commission will only announce results after dealing with all the complaints.
AFP
“Further Covid-19 measures will be announced by Cabinet on Tuesday 2 June,” a tweet from the Rwandan Prime Minister’s office read.
The new move is linked to the country’s first recorded death from the virus and a spike in cases over the weekend.
Health minister told state broadcaster that the decision was because of the new cases reported in the western Rusizi district.
On the last day of May 2020, Rwanda recorded 11 new cases on the same day the first casualty was buried in the outskirts of Kigali.
Rwanda was among the first countries on the continent to impose a strict lockdown in the arly days of the virus’ arrival.
