Author: Editorial Staff

THE use of contraceptives has significantly improved in Africa, with the number of users of modern methods growing by 66 percent to over 66 million women and girls since 2012, a global report showed on Tuesday. In East and southern Africa, the number of modern contraceptive users grew by 70 percent in the eight years to July 2020, according to the new figures released by Family Planning 2020, a global partnership that supports the reproductive rights of women and girls. The annual report shows that 320 million women and girls are now using modern contraception in 69 low-income countries. More…

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ON the day before the 2020 US presidential election, Rev Kenneth Meshoe, the leader of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), tweeted: ‘Please pray … for President Donald Trump to be re-elected as the President of the United States of America,’ writes Dion Forster. It seems bizarre that a black African Christian would support an overt racist who disdains people who come from ‘shithole countries’. Meshoe exemplifies a type of political and theological reasoning among African evangelical Christians. He was praying for Trump’s victory because he echoes the views of many African evangelicals in relation to human sexuality, reproductive rights…

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IN a landmark verdict in one of the mining world’s most high profile legal cases, a Swiss criminal court found Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz guilty of corruption and forgery on Friday and sentenced him to five years in jail with a sizeable fine. The ruling after a two-week trial is a blow for Steinmetz, a diamond trader, whose pursuit of the world’s richest uptapped deposits of iron ore put him at the centre of a battle that has triggered probes and litigation around the world. Steinmetz said he would appeal the verdict, which also included a 50 million Swiss francs…

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A JUDGE ruled on Monday that Ugandan security forces cannot detain presidential challenger Bobi Wine inside his home, rebuking authorities for holding the candidate under house arrest following a disputed election. Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has been unable to leave his home since January 14, when Ugandans voted in an election in which the singer-turned-politician was the main challenger to President Yoweri Museveni. Ugandan authorities have said Wine can only leave his home on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala, under military escort because they fear his presence in public could incite rioting. But the judge said…

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LAKE Turkana Wind Power (LTWP), the developer of Lake Turkana wind farm – the single biggest operating wind farm in Africa – located in the Marsabit County of  Kenya, has entered into a partnership with Clir Renewables, a software service company in the renewable energy industry. This partnership is focused on ensuring that the wind farm is able to take full advantage of this optimal resource, and, ultimately deliver consistent, high yield returns for its investors as well as help the East African country to meet the growing demand for electricity with 100 percent renewable generation, consequently bringing down both national…

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MEMBERS of an alleged ‘baby-harvesting’ and child-trafficking syndicate have been arrested in Ghana. According to various media reports, personnel of Ghana’s Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) issued a joint statement saying that the anti-crime operation was carried out as part of a series of joint investigations launched in late 2020. The arrests are part of ongoing investigations into activities of some medical practitioners, nurses, social welfare officers, and other individuals suspected of operating baby harvesting and child trafficking syndicates, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported, quoting from the statement. According to the Xinhua…

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NOBODY is suffering more from a global chocolate standoff than the Cote d’Ivoire cocoa farmer. Less than two years after the top cocoa producer teamed up with neighbouring Ghana to force companies from Hershey Co. to Nestle SA to pay more for their beans, the attempt to exert control over prices is backfiring. Buyers are refusing to pay up, beans are piling in warehouses upcountry and farmers are so desperate that some even slept outside the offices of Cote d’Ivoire’s cocoa regulator demanding action. ‘We have suffered with our cocoa piling up,’ said Baba Kampe, a 45-year-old farmer with 8…

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THE African Development Bank (AfDB) and European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed a joint partnership action plan highlighting their strengthened cooperation and mutual development priorities and a strong shared emphasis on boosting public and private sector investment in Africa. The Joint Action Plan enables both institutions to grow a shared pipeline of bankable projects around key complementary themes to which each institution would bring their comparative advantage. These themes are: climate action and environmental sustainability; transformative large-scale quality infrastructure investment; Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and services; financial inclusion with a gender lens aimed at the empowerment of girls…

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CALLS are growing for Ugandan authorities to free opposition presidential challenger Bobi Wine from house arrest a week after the country’s long time president won a sixth term in a disputed election. A judge will rule next week on a petition by Wine’s attorneys seeking an end to the deployment of soldiers outside his property on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala. Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, says he has been detained there for eight days. Authorities say Wine can only leave his home under military escort because his presence in public allegedly threatens public safety. They are…

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THE fight against Covid-19 pandemic in Africa could suffer setbacks amid inadequate access to vaccines occasioned by hoarding by rich nations, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa said that Covid-19 vaccines’ buying frenzy by rich economies might limit access in the continent and undermine efforts to contain the pandemic. ‘We first, not me first is the only way to end the pandemic. Vaccine hoarding will only prolong the ordeal and delay Africa’s recovery,’ Moeti said in a statement issued in Nairobi. Statistics from WHO indicate that 40 million Covid-19 vaccine doses…

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