Author: Editorial Staff

RISING exports of fish meal and fish oil from West Africa to Europe and Asia are depriving millions of Africans of food, Greenpeace said. In a report on Tuesday, the environmental group said that more than half a million tonnes of fish used to produce fish meal and fish oil in the poor region could feed some 33 million people instead. Fish meal is made in factories dotted along the West African coast, and is predominantly sold as feed for fish farms in the developed world. Fish oil serves a similar purpose. Overexploited industry  Much of West Africa’s fishing grounds…

CAMEROON rights groups, opposition parties and local media are asking the government to publish its findings after most of a $335 million loan from the IMF could not be accounted for.  At least 15 officials have appeared before commissions of investigation. A government statement read on Cameroon state media Monday calls on civilians to remain calm as investigations on missing funds continue.  The statement from government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi states that justice will take its course. The statement comes after Cameroon rights groups and opposition asked the government to explain what happened to about $335 million loaned by the…

FORMER president Laurent Gbagbo will return to Cote d’Ivoire on June 17 after a decade following his acquittal of crimes against humanity during a civil war, a party official said Monday. In April, the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague confirmed that Gbagbo and his former right-hand man Charles Ble Goude were in the clear over the devastating post-electoral violence that rocked the West African nation in 2010-11. ‘I am announcing the return of president Laurent Gbagbo on Ivorian soil on June 17,’ said Assoa Adou, general secretary of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party Gbagbo founded. The…

GHANA’S central bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate to the lowest in more than nine years to support the recovery of the economy. The monetary policy committee reduced the rate to 13.5 percent from 14.5 percent, Governor Ernest Addison told reporters on Monday in Accra, the capital. All four economists in a Bloomberg survey expected the rate to remain unchanged. Ghana’s central bank was one of the first in sub-Saharan Africa that stepped in last year by cutting lending rates to shield the economy from the fallout of plunging oil prices and lockdowns to curb the spread of the…

THE impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy and job security for Ugandan migrant workers around the world has reduced the amount of money they are sending back home to their families. But remittances still provide crucial support for some of the world’s poorest people. Recent data from the May Migration and Development Brief shows that remittance flows to Uganda declined by 26 per cent, from $1.4bn in 2019 to $1.1bn in 2020. Yet despite the decline, Uganda was ranked among the top ten recipient countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). For millions of households that depend on remittances,…

THE construction works of the proposed Msalato International Airport (MSIA) in Tanzania are expected to start after this financial year, according to the Tanzania Airports Authority. This will probably come following the approval of the 2021/22 budget that was recently presented to parliament by the Ministry of Works and Transport. In the more than $ 1.6bn budget, the Ministry has allocated close to $14 million to facilitate the construction of the next-generation international airport in Dodoma. The airport project also benefits from the $2bn budget approved by parliament in the financial year 2020/21. The African Development Bank will support the implementation…

MOZAMBIQUE on Monday began construction of gas-to-power plant and transmission line projects worth $1bn in the southern province of Inhambane as the government aims to boost energy supply. The World Bank is one of the financing partners of the infrastructure projects, alongside the United States, Norway, African Development Bank (AfDB), Islamic Bank and The Opec Fund for International Development, according statements from the World Bank and the US embassy. ‘Today we mark a milestone in the framework of this endeavour to illuminate Mozambique. Our governance aspires that more than 10 million Mozambicans will have access to electricity for the first…

THE African Development Bank has approved  $84.22 million in loans and grants to electrify nearly 80,000 rural households in south Rwanda. The project will advance the country’s goal of universal electrification and benefit small businesses and youth. The funds comprise a loan of $36.77 million from the Bank Group’s African Development Fund and a $47.45 million ADF grant. The approval was made on May 26. The Transmission System Reinforcement and Last Mile Connectivity project will provide first-time electricity connection to 77,470 households to the grid, entailing the construction of 595 km of medium voltage distribution lines and 1,620 km of…

GUNMEN sprayed bullets at a car carrying a Ugandan government minister in an attempted assassination on Tuesday, wounding the former army commander and killing his daughter and driver, an army spokesperson and local media reports said. Four attackers on motorcycles opened fire at a vehicle carrying Gen Katumba Wamala, the minister of works and transport, in the Kampala suburb of Kiasasi, local television station NBS reported. Social media images also showed bullet holes in a car window and casings on the ground. ‘There was a shooting involving him … he is hurt and he’s been taken to the hospital, his…

SOUTH African representative to the Pan-African Parliament Pemmy Majodina has vowed to take action against a fellow diplomat after she was allegedly assaulted during one of the sessions on Monday. Pandemonium broke out as delegates started getting physical with each other following a dispute over the rotation of the continental groupings presidency. Majodina looked to be trying to make peace between the warring parties when she was allegedly kicked by Senegal’s representative Djibril War. The chaotic scenes were captured via the live streaming of the sitting and prompted frantic calls over a public announcement system for ’someone to call the…