politics

By Mohammed M. Mupenda

While some of us have been thinking that the root of the problem between Rwanda and Uganda is known by  two heads of states, and  they could  take the first step to end the row,  this came as a surprise and discouraging when Rwanda’s Paul Kagame revealed that he does not know the real issue!

Addressing about 700 RPF National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting last week, Kagame made it clear Uganda was Rwanda’s single most worrying security threat.

In his first remarks,  President Kagame sounded diplomatic by calling Rwanda’s neighbours by their names, proclaiming that DR Congo and Tanzania have excellent relations with Rwanda and that Burundi is leading the way in improving relations.

“We have only four neighbours. We are at peace with them. We used to have two enemies – the second of the two is the country to our south, which is Burundi. With Burundi we are on the way to understanding one another. Burundians and ourselves seek to live in harmony. Burundi is showing the will. With Democratic Republic of Congo, we have solved our problems and we are collaborating in sorting out previous issues, unlike in previous years. We have never had any problems with Tanzania. We work with them very well. 

He however told RPF cadres that they have issues with only one neighbour country to the north,  in words that could have sounded, interpreted as a warning or wake up call to prevent any eventuality noting that he has built a strong house which is impenetrable to uninvited guests who will be repulsed with ease. 

A former official in Uganda’s government and a comrade in President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s NRA bush war, lived, studied in Uganda   before waging liberation war on Rwanda

With the neighbouring country to the north, they have a question which I have failed to understand. “I lived there, I worked with them, but if you ask me the root of their problem with us, I can’t really tell the matter;”. 

“In conclusion, about this matter, I will thatch my house properly to protect me from the rain. We will install very strong doors so that nobody can force in to rob my properties. If anyone dares invade my house, I will repulse you without any difficulty.”

*Mohammed M. Mupenda is a news correspondent and freelance reporter, who has written for publications in the United States and abroad. He is also a French and East African language interpreter.

By Samuel Ouma

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has invited Tanzanian investors to do business in Kenya without any fear.

President Kenyatta spoke during the Kenya-Tanzania Business Forum in Nairobi, also attended by the visiting Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu.

Mr. Kenyatta announced a raft of incentive measures aimed at wooing Tanzanian investors to Kenya, saying his administration will eradicate all non-tariff barriers for Tanzanian investors coming to do business in Kenya.

“I want to say this, Tanzanian investors are free to come and do business in Kenya without being required to have business visas or work permits. The only thing you will be required to do is to follow the laid down regulations and the laws that are in place,” said Kenyatta.

Kenya’s Head of State also directed state agencies to clear heavy jam at Namanga and Holili, which barricades free trade flow.

He further ordered health ministers from both countries to move with speed and streamline Covid-19 containment measures required for traders to cross the borders with ease.

“I want to announce two directives and I want them done this week and next week. All concerned ministers please move with speed and unlock the jam in Holili, Taveta and Namanga border points. On Covid-19 certificates, please let the health ministers sit and agree on modalities. If the certificate is issued in Tanzania let those people be allowed to come to Kenya and vice versa,” he added.

He urged the private sector to explore and seize opportunities accorded by bilateral and multilateral agreements available to East Africans, such as the Africa Continental Free Trade Area and the EAC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), to grow their investments.

“The East African Community, through the East African Customs Union and East African Community Common Market Protocol, has opened our borders and unlocked opportunities for the free movement of goods, services, and investments across the EAC borders. This has paved the way for trade to thrive, new opportunities to emerge and trade to increase,” said President Kenyatta.

Kenyatta further implored Kenyans and Tanzanians to create a conducive environment for business growth instead of competing against each other.

He decried the decrease in trade volume in recent years between the two nations despite having a vibrant and entrepreneurial private sector.

On her side, President Suluhu welcomed the Kenyan private sector to invest in Tanzania.

She said, “The private sector is key to driving growth, that will deliver these jobs, transform labour market, open up opportunities and unleash entrepreneurial spirit.”

By Samuel Ouma

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu on Tuesday morning arrived in Nairobi for a two-day state visit.

The plane carrying her touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport a few minutes to 10 am (local time). She was received by Kenya’s delegates led by the Kenyan Foreign Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo.

President Suluhu will proceed to the State House, where she will be received by her Kenyan counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta. In the State House, she will inspect a guard of honor and receive a 21-gun salute, and after that, she will attend bilateral meetings and consultations.

In the evening, the Kenyan government will hold an official state dinner in the same venue in honor of the only female sitting President in Africa.

She will address a joint sitting of Parliament on Wednesday before holding consultations at a business forum for the Tanzanian and Kenyan business community. She is also expected to address a gathering of executive women in business.

President Suluhu’s visit to Kenya is her second foreign trip since she became President. Last month she met Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala.

She came to power in March this year following the demise of her predecessor John Magufuli.

The United Nations Secretary-General on Saturday welcomed the decision by the Lower House of Somalia’s Federal Parliament to nullify a special law and to return to the 17 September Electoral Agreement that will allow for indirect presidential and parliamentary elections.

NEW YORK, USA, May 04, 2021,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/-In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call on all Somali stakeholders to “resume dialogue immediately and forge a consensual agreement on the holding of inclusive elections without further delay”.

“[The Secretary-General] stresses the importance of a broad-based consensus for the country’s stability”, the statement added.

The UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) also welcomed the Lower House’s decision to reinstate the electoral agreement.

The “Special Law on Federal Elections” was adopted by the Lower House in April, allowing for the extension of term of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed for a period of two years, after the term officially ended in February.

The extension prompted fighting between pro-Government and opposition supporters in the capital Mogadishu as well as in other parts of the country, amid worries that extremist group al Shabaab could exploit the divisions, according to media reports.

Reports also said that tens of thousands of people fled their homes fearing for their safety following the violence.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of UN News.

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

By Boris Esono Nwenfor

The UK government says it is deeply concerned with the ongoing violence in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon as violence continues unabated. The close to five years crisis has led to thousands of persons displaced to neighbouring Nigeria as refugees or in other safe heavens in the country, while others have been killed, maimed or kidnapped for ransom.

In a letter by James Duddridge, MP and Minister for Africa, responding to correspondence from Rt Hon Ed Davey (MP, House of Commons), He said the crisis has continued to have a tragic impact on civilians.

“I will like to assure you that the UK government continues to call for inclusive dialogue that addresses the root causes of the crisis. We have shared our experience of conflict resolution and we call on all parties to remain engaged in Swiss-led efforts to facilitate talks,” the MP said in a statement.

“Reports of human rights violations and abuses by security forces and armed separatists are disturbing. As the UK’s International Ambassador for Human Rights set out at the UN Human Rights Council on February 28, 2021, the violence must end and urgent, impartial investigations must hold the perpetrators to account…”

He went on to add that: “In September 2020, I announced 4.5 million pounds of additional funding for Cameroon, to bring the total for 2020 to 13.5 million pounds. This has provided tens of thousands of vulnerable people with food packs, sanitation provisions and medical supplies, as well as training for health workers. “As part of my visit, I travelled to South West Region and met international project partners delivering this vital aid, who described to me the challenges of providing humanitarian support. The UK continues to press the importance of unimpeded humanitarian access.”

Like the UK government, the UN Secretary-General, USA, have all been calling for a meaningful solution to the ongoing crisis. Cameroonians, however, want these countries and international bodies to not simply talk more but their actions should show that they want the crisis to come to an end.

In August 2017, Crisis Group sounded an alarm about the risk of an insurrection in Cameroon’s Anglophone Regions unless genuine dialogue, complete with strong measures to defuse tensions, was initiated. Sadly, that was not the case and the violence escalated to where we are now today

The violence has led both security forces and separatist fighters to be killed. The ordinary citizen has not been left out, facing the wrath of both the security forces and the separatist fighters. They have been accused of supporting one faction with the end not good for them. The UN reports that tens of thousands of civilians have died from the crisis, while hundreds have equally been displaced.

N’Djamena, 29 April 2021: The African Union Commission, with the participation of the five (5)) Members of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU), as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo in its capacity of Chairperson of the AU, arrived in N’Djamena, Chad today on a seven-day Fact-Finding Mission, from 29 April to 6 May 2021. The mission is led by the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, along with the PSC Chairperson for the month of April 2021, H.E. Ambassador M. Idriss Farah of the Republic of Djibouti.

The Fact-Finding Mission is taking place pursuant to the PSC Communique [PSC/BR/COMM.2(CMXCIII)],adopted at its 993rd meeting held on 22 April 2021, on the situation in Chad. The PSC had authorized the AU Commission to constitute a Fact-Finding Mission, with the participation of PSC Members, to visit Chad and engage with the Chadian Authorities on all issues relating to the situation in the country, particularly to support the investigation into the killing of Late President Idriss Deby Itno, and ascertain the facts in an effort to restore constitutionalism.

The Fact-Finding Mission will seek first-hand information from the Chadian Authorities and stakeholders, on the unfolding political and security situation, and examine strategies to facilitate a swift return to constitutional order and democratic governance, while concurrently preserving the security and territorial integrity of Chad.

Furthermore, the Fact-Finding Mission is expected to reaffirm the solidarity of the AU with the Government and people of Chad, as well as the unwavering commitment to support its transition process. 

In its engagement with relevant stakeholders, the Mission will consider core issues germane to the durable peace and stability of Chad, especially in countering terrorism and violent extremism, armed rebellion and transnational organized crime.

The Fact-Finding Mission is scheduled to hold consultations with regional and global actors, including the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the G-5 Sahel and the United Nations (UN), on the potential impact of the current developments in Chad for the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions.

The Mission is expected to submit its findings to the AU Peace and Security Council on or before 8 May 2021, for due consideration and decision on the situation in Chad. 

*AU

Le Premier Ministre Sama Lukonde a présenté son programme du gouvernement ce lundi 26 avril 2021 devant la chambre basse du parlement. Après débat, ce programme a été adopté par une large majorité des députés nationaux présents à cette plénière, soit 412 sur 410.

Selon John Zyombo, Expert en finances publiques et fondateur de MAKINI 4 BUDGET, un groupe de travail budgétaire appliqué en RDC, ce programme n’est pas à confondre avec le budget du gouvernement central, encore moins des collectifs budgétaires.

Voici la réflexion de cet expert en finances publiques qui pense que le programme du gouvernement est différent du budget annuel.

Le Gouvernement Sama a été investi à l’assemblée nationale après l’approbation de son programme d’action qui repose sur 4 secteurs, 15 piliers, 65 axes et 340 actions sur une période de 3 ans.

Quid du programme d’actions

La loi relative aux finances publiques du 13 juillet 2011 qui régit le secteur en RDC, stipule que la politique budgétaire est définie par le Gouvernement central dans un programme approuvé à l’Assemblée Nationale. Ce programme est mis en œuvre par le pouvoir central, la province et l’entité territoriale décentralisée (art. 12 lofip).
En claire, le programme d’actions détermine le contenu des actions, mesures, stratégies arrêtées, mais aussi l’indication de leur coût et de leur financement et enfin, les contraintes et défis majeurs à relever pour atteindre les objectifs de la Nation en fonction de la vision du Chef de l’état.

Les politiques publiques déclinées dans le dit programme sont en phase avec le Plan National Stratégique de Développement (PNSD) qui fait suite au Document de Stratégie de Croissance et de réduction de la pauvreté (DSCRP-2).

En définitif, le Plan d’action du gouvernement regorge l’ensemble des mesures prises par les pouvoirs publics, relatives aux dépenses et aux recettes de l’Etat, qui visent à atteindre certains équilibres et objectifs macroéconomiques

Budget du pouvoir central

La loi de finances de l’année ou budget du pouvoir central, est un acte par lequel sont prévues et autorisées les ressources et les charges du pouvoir central pour un exercice budgétaire donné.
La loi de finances en détermine, dans le respect de l’équilibre budgétaire et financier, la nature, le montant et l’affectation. Elle est la traduction financière annuelle du Programme d’action du Gouvernement de la République.

Le budget traduit donc la politique du Gouvernement exprimée sous forme des crédits ou montants sollicités, devant être convertis en moyens financiers, et à travers les autorisations de prélever les montants des impôts et taxes devant lui permettre de couvrir les dépenses.

Les collectifs budgétaires

La loi de finances rectificative peut, en cours d’année, modifier certaines dispositions de la loi de finances de l’année.
Pour le cas sous étude du Gouvernement Sama, les collectifs budgétaires seront soumis à l’approbation du parlement congolais (autorité budgétaire) pour modifier la loi de finances en cours, en vue d’intégrer les modifications qui tendent à revoir à la hausse le budget du pouvoir central

Jules Ninda

L’article John ZYOMBO: « Les politiques publiques déclinées dans le programme du gouvernement sont en phase avec le Plan National Stratégique de Développement » est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

By Ambassador Omar Arouna*

It might be the sign of the times or the harbinger of what is to come. For example, in Russia organizations linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny are designated « terrorist and extremist », in Belarus criminal probe against the nation’s top opposition leaders on charge of terrorism are launched. Such charges keep away human rights advocates from raising effective objections, thereby enabling authoritarian regimes to perpetrate crackdown on opposition without due process.  New breeds of autocrats in Africa are using pages from the same playbook.

African’s new autocrats are arbitrary imprisoning opposition leaders on trumped up charges of terrorism and are cracking down on opposition’s strongholds and region favorable to the opposition under the watchful eye of the international community kept at bay in the name of terrorism. Unfortunately, in Africa the danger of that playbook lies in that, it creates breeding ground for real terrorism.  Especially in the west African region where countries, such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania Niger, Nigeria, Chad are already under actual terrorists’ attacks from Boko Haram, ISWAP or Al -Qaeda and extremist organizations are actively recruiting youth in disenfranchises populations.

In Benin for example, having achieved the feat of embarking on the most serious democratic retreat in modern African history, Patrice Talon following the April 11, 2021 exclusive presidential election, in an unprecedented purge of the country’s opposition is taking pages from the terrorism playbook.  Reckya Madougou the first female flag bearer of Benin’s largest opposition party and à former minister of justice has been arrested on a trump up charge of « terrorism and financing of terrorism »; Professor Frederick Joel Aivo a well-known constitutionalist and another opposition candidate is under arrest on similar charges.

Excursions into domicile of former president Boni Yayi the honorary chairman of the country’s largest opposition party are routinely performed by the political police. To date over 150 oppositions members and counting have been arrested on similar trump up charges, without due process. Frustration is high within the political elite and populations of the northern part of the of the country, a traditional stronghold of the opposition. The predominantly Muslim northern region is routinely ransacked by the country’s security apparatus. Young people in the region are massively arrested or simply shot in the name of a pseudo fight against terrorism.

Frustration often leads to aggressive behavior and since 2016, Patrice Talon’s Administration created an unprecedented resentment and frustration among the population of Benin and especially in the northern part of country. Within a four year span, following exclusive elections, twice the population of the hunter’s community –“les chasseurs”- in the region has taken arms to defend themselves against the regular army sent to track oppositions members and twice the population by mounting roadblocks on major highways have attempted to isolate the region from the rest of the country in response to what is perceived as 4 years of government exactions and infringement on basic democratic rights and liberties.

In avoiding adherence to human rights obligations and commitments and to camouflage the authoritarian turn of the country, Patrice Talon and his government resorted to lift pages from the playbook of terrorism, sources of instability and conflict and thereby are creating actual recruitment conditions and breeding ground for actual terrorism.

Devant l’Assemblée nationale ce lundi 26 mars, le Premier Ministre a reparti son programme sur 15 piliers dont 62 axes, desquelles sont ressorties 343 actions que son Gouvernement compte mener de 2021 à 2023.

« Initialement évalué à 11 milliards de USD en 2020, le budget dudit programme a été modifié pour intégrer notamment les effets néfastes sur l’économie de la pandémie à corona virus apparue en mars 2020, lesquels effets ont perturbé les prévisions initiales, conduisant à l’adoption à la baisse, à mi-parcours, d’une loi de finances rectificative à concurrence de 8,4 milliards USD », a fait savoir Sama Lukonde.

Le Gouvernement de l’Union Sacrée, a-t-il poursuivi, est engagé à relever le pays et à le remettre « debout » pour le rendre fort. Pour cela, son action dans le secteur politique, justice, défense et sécurité s’articule autour de trois piliers majeurs, à savoir : pacification et promotion de la réconciliation, de la cohésion et de l’unité nationales.

En ce qui concerne la pacification de l’Est du Pays, notamment Beni, Minembwe, Butembo, Ituri, le gouvernement va « établir une administration militaire dans les zones en proie à l’instabilité et aux conflits, proclamer l’état d’urgence sécuritaire dans les zones concernées et décréter un effort de guerre sur l’ensemble du territoire national », promet Sama Lukonde qui annonce, de ce fait, la « création des unités d’élite mieux formées et bien équipées dans l’Armée et dans la Police capables d’opérer dans les zones de conflit ».

A l’en croire, son équipe mettra en place les structures et déployer le personnel militaire et policier conséquent dans ces zones, établir, en soutien à l’Administration militaire, la justice militaire dans les zones en proie à l’instabilité et aux conflits, mettre en place les structures et déployer les magistrats militaires dans les zones concernées et impliquer davantage les autorités coutumières et les communautés des zones concernées par le processus de pacification.

PM

L’article RDC : Sama Lukonde veut établir une administration militaire dans les zones en proie à l’instabilité est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

By Alhaji U. N’jai*

On April 27^th, 2021, Sierra Leone as a nation turns 60. Celebrations across the country to mark Independence Day have become a usual tradition. There is nothing bad with fellow Sierra Leoneans celebrating Independence. After all, our colonial era began with the British Crown Colony establishment in 1808 and annexation of the entire country through establishment of a British Protectorate in 1896. Colonial era was a period of harsh, crude, and inhuman de-culturation of our people. All forms of resistance including Bai Bureh and many others were met and crushed with heavy force. So, in 1961, Sierra Leone gained independence, thanks in part to our deadly mosquitoes that made it unbearable for the British, and in part to the steadfast endeavors of our many ancestor’s nationalists from across the country, who organized themselves under the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). The country was ushered into Independence by Sir Milton Margai of the SLPP, who was considered a “nice person” and a “good leader” at the time. Mr. Margai, though a nice gentleman then, lacked the transformative vision to carve a unique decolonization direction and national agenda for Sierra Leone beyond the British legacy. As a result, the formation of a genuine national agenda was replaced by political party and regional agenda, which up to date continues to plague national development efforts.

 Sixty years later, we are as dependent as ever; dependent mentally, psychologically, socially, economically, politically, scientifically, technologically, and in all things considered. Is it Happy free dependence day? Are we as a country Sierra Leone free, politically, economically, and culturally? The argument could be made that we are free politically, in as much as we are ‘freely electing’ and changing governments. This then brings me to the core of why I chose to merely just reflect on the day, what our ancestors had to go through under colonial rule, and how they must be turning around in their graves from our failures and lack of direction to lead our societies to prosperity. I often reflect on this ancestral curse and our inability to completely decolonize ourselves leading to new forms of colonialism, imperialism, slavery, low self-esteem, and reduction to beggar nations. It was Patrice Lumumba who famously said that “the Belgian’s have granted us (Zaire now Democratic Republic of Congo) political independence on the one hand and the other taken economic independence away from us.” These words hold true to this day, political independence minus economic independence. The question to be asked today is, are we as independent nations politically, culturally, and economically free.? Can we re-write our history with a new paradigm that has Sierra Leone and Africa interests front and center.? If development is modernization minus dependency, can we assert that true development is taking place.?   

Let us revisit the case for political independence with regards to the nation state and political dispensation in Sierra Leone. In 1884, 14 European Countries gathered in Berlin to partition Africa among themselves. No African or country was invited. Today European Union (EU) is sending observers to Sierra Leone and other African Elections to make sure that the colonial hegemony continues in the great disguise of democracy. In the psycho-affective realm of funding our elections, economic and cultural emancipation are never the consideration. It simply ensures the colonialists unfettered access and control of the colony’s natural resources and political economy. What we simply have in the last 60 years in Sierra Leone is a kind of old wine in new bottles paradigm and a welcome to neocolonialism, the British Sovereign Club aka Commonwealth club. All aspects of our lives have been and continues to be “Britishmanism” with colonial acculturation to the highest degree.

The same colonial education with limited connections to our cultural experience; same old colonial laws and legal systems for a different cultural experience; same economic systems that are largely extractive, exploitative, and geared towards supporting our British Colonial or western societies. There is no emphasis or attempts at economic emancipation from the colonial master or creating opportunities and the conditions for local economic stimulation or boom that creates wealth and thriving healthy society. Rather we have become perennially dependent on donors, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), or World Bank loans, and a whole host of non-governmental organizations, and foreign nations helping us run our country. This foreign domination syndrome is aptly captured by Dr. Y.K. Amoako of the UN Commission for Africa Executive Secretary “Africa is the only region in the world where foreign development paradigms dominate her development process.” Not only does this indicate that Africa’s development process is not “culturally close” to Africans, but also a revelation that African elites are mediocre in both their intellectualizing and their direction of the continent’s progress.”

Indeed, that intellectual mediocrity along with a heavy affinity and taste for the colonial lifestyle has become endemic, permeating all facets of our cultural space. In fact, the nature of westernization and acculturation in Sierra Leone and many other African countries surpasses all regions of the world. Prof. Ali A. Mazrui succinctly describes the nature of westernization in Africa as compared to the Japanese experience, “the nature of westernization in Africa has been very different. Far from emphasizing western productive technology and reducing western lifestyles and verbal culture, Africa has reversed the Japanese order of emphasis. Among the factors which have facilitated this reversal has been the role of the African university as a vehicle of Western influence on African culture.” Yes, the African University and systems of education that emphasizes western culture and lifestyles as superior to the African way has played a huge role. There has been limited emphasis on indigenization or domestication of modernization based on our habits, norms, and value systems. In fact, we have simply handed our colonial masters or the west ownership of knowledge and any form of intellectualization process. 

Our knowledgebase systems are insufficient, archaic and does not meet modern standards. For any African knowledgebase in Science, Arts, Engineering, Literature, History, Humanities, and the like to be accepted, it must have a colonial master or western validation or seal of approval. We “the colonized” have now been reduced to accepting this as our fate, a kind of status quo that we cannot change. Hence, we remain impotent, disable and unable to effectively change the course of the colonial master. You cannot blame our current leaders for being retrogressive since their minds are still heavily colonized. Colonization has clouded their minds to the extent that they lack the knowhow and wherewithal for true sustainable development that requires as in Japan domestication of modernization and indigenization. Hence, the only way out for many is continuous dependence on western nations and ties such as the commonwealth, UN, or Francophone.

We are so colonized that we celebrate our Sierra Leone or African leaders meeting and dining with the Queen of London. African leaders attending Commonwealth summit and dining with Queen is a sucker punch in the face for all Africans, specifically our African ancestors who suffered the wreath of British colonial rule. A colonial loot, the Queen continues to enjoy at the expense of us Africans. The commonwealth has never been common, and it is wealth stolen from Africa, India and others. This is our wealth and must be given back to Africa, India, and all where it was forcibly looted. The relationship should no longer be one of master and colonized. It should be based on equal partnership and not “Laybelleh” relationship. If that relationship must continue, we must take on the leadership.

This is no longer time for Queen/royal family and colonial subjects. It’s about complete decolonization and forging our own paths as well as destiny. And decolonization means complete decolonization and not replacing one colonist with another aka China, India or others. Frantz Fanon must be turning around in his grave from the realization that the complete decolonization from the colonizer has not occurred since Wretched of the Earth came out in 1961. Indeed, if Frantz Fanon was alive today, he will have seen an Africa that is largely independent from the colonizer but an Africa still at war with itself captured beautifully in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The colonizer may be gone but the colonized mind is still with us and we are at war with ourselves. The totality of being a Sierra Leonean and an African will come with decolonization of the mind. This process of decolonization is liberating and aligns the mind to the body physique. We breathe again as Sierra Leoneans with a renewed vigor and sense of purpose to effectively utilize our resources for social good. 

The nation state of Sierra Leone still suffers from the residual effects of colonialism and systemic racism that now interestingly intersect with ethnic polarization. Over 130 years of colonialism and systemic racism in Sierra Leone sowed the seeds of self-hate and self-doubt. We all have been conditioned to hate ourselves; to hate our dark skins; to hate ourselves based on imaginary national boundaries of colonial construct. We are Sierra Leoneans, Guineans, Liberians, Gambians, Senegalese, Malians divided by a colonial construct despite strong family and ethnic ties. The Ebola virus disease taught us the hard lesson that we are all connected as a people, but we continue to work in silos and in line with our colonial masters (Sierra Leone with Britain, Liberia with US, and Guinea with France). We cannot get ECOWAS or Mano River Union to work for us and address common issues simply because of colonial allegiances.

As a nation state, we practice democracy based on ethnic numbers and self-hate; we elect our political leaders, hire and fire people based on ethnic sentiments and differences; we care less whether our actions hurt others or communities, if we perceive them to be different. We have in effect tied resource allocation to ethnicity or political tribes and at some point, weaponized tribalism as a mechanism of oppressing progressive voices, which have in effect held us as national hostages. As Frantz Fanon, notes “there is always a danger of the nation states in Africa to disintegrate along ethnic lines”. National Consciousness and a National Agenda should be borne out of the concerted action of the people, which embodies the actual aspirations of the people and transforms the state, which depends on exceptionally inventive cultural manifestations for its very existence.

In the post-colonial African states, all aspects of our traditional African value systems have been replaced by the values and even vices of the colonizer and their neo-liberal allies.

 First, Greed and individual material self-interests replaces the traditional communal sharing systems; Britishmanism, Frenchmanism, and Europeamanisms have become the order of the day. Second, African education systems replaced by a colonial western formal education that has enhanced both academic (Science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics, and humanities) and cultural dependency, therefore everything African has to be evaluated and validated from a Eurocentric lens, the culture of dominance and power; Third, long-sighted visionary and transformational Panafrican Independence leaders replaced by mediocre leaders, whose shortsightedness are enjoyed by the western donors or colonialists as it ensures the chain of dependency and unfettered access to Africa’s resources is maintained. Fourth, African traditional pluralistic religions replaced by monotheism and strong tendencies for dichotomy; you are either Christian or not, Muslim or not, and no tendency to combine them.

By contrast, African traditional religions are less dichotomous, less monotheistic, and are readily accepting of other religions, which allows for greater plurality and acceptance of diversity.  Fifth, African ingenuity, self-reliance, and economic activity replaced by donor funding, foreign investments (world bank, IMF), International NGOs, foreign aid, multinational investments, and variety of half-sighted neoliberal foreign economic models that are unsustainable, inimical to the African needs, and ensures economic dependency.

Therefore, continental Africans continue to be trapped in some form of neo-colonialism, systemic racism, mediocre leaderships, ethnic polarization, and dependency, respectively. In the same vein, the vicious cycle of poverty, despair, violence, wars, and underdevelopment has taken hold in communities and countries. The divide and rule actions of the oppressor also makes it impossible for unity of the oppressed African people; many of whom are caught up in self-hate, ethnic rivalries, disunity, and distorted views of their own histories provided by the same oppressors bent on keeping them apart.

So, at 60 years of independence, Sierra Leone is somewhat of a paradox. A nation with tremendous natural and human resource potentials that has shown deep resilience through war, deadly Ebola epidemic, landslide, and Covid19; and we could also give ourselves just a little pat on the back for some progress made in education, health facilities, anti-graft fight, and a few more. But, sadly as a nation, we are as dependent as ever, we are as hungry (food poor and insecure) as ever, we are as corrupt as ever, and we are ranked among lowest in human development index across Africa despite being one of the most naturally endowed in the continent.

  In the last 30 years of the 60 years of “Independence”, we have become the land of survivors or rather the bland simulacrum of desolate living standards. Yes oh, War Survivors, Ebola Survivors, Landslide Survivors, Hajjgate Survivors, Tollgate Survivors, Austerity Survivors, Deforestation and Timber logging Survivors, Okada Survivors, WASSCE Exam Survivors, No Job Survivors, Job with no pay Survivors, Trafficking or Kuwait Survivors, Suck Air Survivors, Beggar Beggar Survivors, Moneygram/Western Union Survivors, Political Rally Survivors, Police Brutality Survivors, Foreign Debt Survivors, Temple Run Survivors, Inflation Survivors and All Things Considered Survivors. The Temple Run Survivors just simply re-iterates the lack of hope in Sierra Leone for young people.

How can we as a nation celebrate independence when a significant proportion will rather die in the Mediterranean seas off Libya than live here. People are risking it all, including been sold as slaves in Libya or other countries just to leave. Migration in the independent state should be about choice and hope. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres nicely states that “migration should be an active hope, and not despair.” Yet, in Sierra Leone these hopes have now been replaced by despair and act of survivorship aka “we dae manage” has become normalized. Survivorship and hardships brought on by greed, corruption, power intoxication by politicians and leadership that is as narcissistic and vainglorious as ever.  Hence, clouded by the narcissism and desire for public praise where there is none, Politicians want the poor ignorant victims of their loot to thank them for making roads, hospitals, and providing basic services for which they are elected to make happen. It’s often as if they are doing the populace a favor and of course it works well because they have succeeded in keeping the populace ignorant through a failed educational system.

True sustainable development in Sierra Leone requires political, economic, and cultural independence. In other words, a complete decolonization of our minds, institutions, structures, and functions. It requires a paradigm shift that puts our Sierra Leone/African values front and center “an inward thinking and outward outlook approach.” Thinking first from within African values, national agendas and matching African values with the enabling aspects of their colonial legacies and the global values. In addition, intellectually linking our Sierra Leonean and African values to the wider world of scholarship, science, engineering, and technology.

To break the cycle of dependency in Sierra Leone and across Africa, may require nothing short of a revolution, a break with current capitalist structures that ensures western hegemonic dominance. The series of revolutions that won’t be televised, should at the very least include; a Blue Intellectual revolution from which new sources of knowledge should emerge; a green revolution for food security, greater control of Sierra Leone/Africa’s natural resources; a black revolution that culturally empowers Sierra Leoneans; a red revolution that creates strong sense of national consciousness, unity, identity, and cohesion, that links young and old through mentorship, service, volunteerism, projects, and cultural education; a yellow revolution that ushers industrialization and wealth creation; and a white, pink, purple, orange, and so revolutions that ensues all aspects of self-reliance and sustainability are attained. Ultimately, Sierra Leone requires development that is closely aligned with our cultural space, economic emancipation and taking ownership of our resources at all stages of the value chain. It requires imagination, vision and building capacity at all levels, functions, and disciplines in the country.

This ultimately requires building a strong University system and domesticating modern systems to suit local needs or modernizing from local systems and architecture.  However, it ultimately requires a unique African leadership and governance that is devoid of corruption, greed and can put forward bold, transformational, phenomenal vision for the country to make a difference in lives at all ages and the build resilient thriving population and communities.

Finally, as Fanon put its aptly in The Wretched of the Earth, “Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well.” Therefore, to achieve full and total liberation of the African people will require unification of thoughts, economic freedom, self-reliance, and politically powerful Africa. An economically and politically powerful federated Africa (including the Diaspora) will restore the dignity of its people and ensure that it resources are utilized to the benefits of its people and preserve the diverse cultures of its people. We must work towards a collective national and continental agenda for Sierra Leone and Africa, decolonize our systems, de-link resource allocation along party or ethnic lines and refrain from utilizing tribalism as a weapon of mass oppression that favors the bourgeoisie class elites strangle hold of power. We must now as individual citizens of Sierra Leone and as a government retrospect on what is our National Agenda. We must strive for a national identity and oneness borne out of patriotism and culture that is seen and felt by everyone.

*Alhaji Umar N’jai is a Senior Scientist, Professor, Panafrican Scholar, Founder & Chief Strategist of Project 1808, Inc., and Freelance writer ‘Roaming in the Mountains of Kabala Republic’. #Jata #Meejoh #ThePeoplesScientist

By Jean Amour Mbonyinshuti

The President Paul Kagame on Saturday promoted senior officials from Rwanda National Police and Rwanda Correction Services.

The promotion was announced was made by Johnstone Busingye, the Minister for Justice and the attorney general whose ministry oversees both institutions.  

“HE Paul Kagame, President of the Republic, has promoted Officers of the Rwanda National Police (RNP) and Rwanda Correctional Service as follows: Deputy Commissioner General (DCG RNP) Daniel Munyuza is promoted to Commissioner-General RNP,”

“Deputy Commissioner-General (DCG RNP) Juvenal Malizamunda is promoted to Commissioner-General Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS), DCG RCS Chantal Ujeneza to Deputy Commissioner General, Rwanda National Police. Commissioner of Police Felix Namuhoranye is promoted to Deputy Commissioner General, Rwanda National Police,” Minister Busingye tweeted on Saturday.

Rwanda National Police (RNP) and Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS) officers were promoted almost 10 days after the cabinet made changes.

The cabinet appointed Malizamunda as Commissioner General of RCS, replacing outgoing Commissioner General George Rwigamba who was not re-appointed.

Previously Malizamunda  was serving as the Deputy Inspector General in charge of Administration and Finance at RNP and was replaced by Ujeneza who previously served as Deputy Commissioner General of Prisons.

CG Munyuza has been IGP since October 2018 after taking over from CG Emmanuel Gasana, whom he had deputized since 2013. Ntamuhoranye retained his position but got promoted in rank from Commissioner of Police (CP) to Deputy Commissioner General (DCG).

Le Premier ministre Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge sera devant les députés nationaux ce lundi 26 avril 2021 pour présenter le programme du gouvernement dit des « Warriors », rapporte la cellule de communication de l’assemblée nationale via son compte Twitter.

« Plénière Assemblée Nationale ce lundi 26 Avril 2021 à 10h dans la salle de congrès du palais du peuple Un seul point à l’ordre du jour : Audition du programme et investiture du gouvernement SAMA LUKONDE KYENGE Jean Michel »

source : Twitter/Assemblée Nationale

En rappel, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde  avait déposé, mardi 20 avril dernier, le programme de son gouvernement pour son investiture. Accompagné de ses 4 vice-premiers  ministres, le  Premier ministre n’avait pas voulu dévoiler le contenu de son programme car, selon lui, la primeur de ce dernier est réservée aux élus du peuple.

CMB

L’article RDC : Le Premier ministre Sama Lukonde devant les élus du peuple ce lundi 26 avril est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

Malgré le processus de régularisation annoncé depuis lundi 12 avril, avec notamment le décaissement de 9 millions de dollars, 42 postes diplomatiques n’ont pas reçu des frais de fonctionnement à ce jour. L’alerte vient du Secrétaire permanent du mouvement syndical Union nationale des travailleurs du Congo (UNATCO).

A en croire Yvon Shimuna Kahumba, « seuls 24 sur les 66 postes diplomatiques que compte la RDC à l’extérieur du pays ont perçu leurs frais de fonctionnement, le loyer y compris. Les conditions de vie des diplomates et du personnel local au ministère des affaires étrangères vont de mal en pire, et cela nécessite une intervention urgente du Chef de l’État Félix Tshisekedi premier diplomate et Président en exercice de l’Union Africaine », alerte-t-il.

En rappel, les ambassades congolaises dans le monde connaissent de sérieux problèmes de fonctionnement. Certaines accusent des arriérés allant jusqu’à 12 mois avec des loyers impayés et un risque de déguerpissement pour certaines, ou encore des salaires qui ne sont plus libérés. La situation est telle que la ministre des Affaires étrangères, Marie Tumba Nzeza, avait, récemment, alerté dans les médias sollicitant une plus grande implication du gouvernement congolais pour décanter la situation.

Actuellement, le pays compte actuellement une soixantaine de représentations diplomatiques à travers le monde. Les réformes annoncées devraient notamment concerner une réduction de ce nombre pour des raisons budgétaires, mais pas que Kinshasa souhaite adapter sa politique extérieure en fonction des enjeux actuels.

PM

L’article Malgré le décaissement de 9 millions USD, 42 postes diplomatiques toujours sans frais de fonctionnement est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

By Jorge Joaquim

Mozambique does not need foreign troops to fight terrorism in Cabo Delgado province, Roque Silva, secretary-general of ruling party Frelimo has said, adding that if foreign intervention was effective, countries like Afghanistan and Libya would be at peace.

He noted that the presence of Zimbabwean and Tanzanian troops had also not resolved the war against former paramilitary group Renamo in Mozambique.

Mozambique had competent human resources and the time to tackle the problem of terrorism, but only lacked logistical support, he said, arguing that security forces had recently succeeded in expelling insurgents from the town of Palma, even with limited resources.

Last week Silva visited the Cabo Delgado districts of Chiúre and Ancuabe, where he met people in refugee camps who had fled the war. While he was deeply saddened by their horrifying experiences, he was satisfied that they were now able to rebuild their lives and were starting to harvest crops, he said.

Former minister and member of Frelimo’s guiding Political Commission Tomaz Salomão said two weeks ago that Mozambique should not accept foreign troops coming to fight terrorism in Cabo Delgado, arguing that once they entered, they would “never leave.”

Salomão said that it was better for foreign governments to supply logistics support and training, as the Mozambican government had asked for.

He added that the timing of the attack on Palma, just days after Total and the government announced that work would resume at the site of Total’s natural gas project, suggested that the attack had been well planned and prepared, and that attackers were just waiting for the right moment to “pull the trigger”.

L’article Kinshasa : Tête-à-tête entre Uhuru Kenyatta et Félix Tshisekedi est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

Le Premier ministre, chef du gouvernement, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, a été reçu en audience, dans la matinée de ce mardi 20 avril, par Christophe Mboso N’Kodia Pwanga, speaker de la Chambre basse du Parlement, au Palais du peuple.

Accompagné de 4 vice-Premiers ministres, à savoir Asselo Okito, Christophe Lutundula, Eve Bazaïba et Jean-Pierre Lihau, respectivement en charge de l’Intérieur, Affaires étrangères, Environnement et Fonction publique, le Premier ministre est venu déposer le programme d’action de son gouvernement.

Au sortir de l’audience, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde s’est exprimé en ces termes : « Nous sommes venus nous acquitter d’un devoir traditionnel. Comme tout le monde l’a suivi, après la publication du gouvernement, ici c’est une autre étape importante, celle du dépôt officiel du programme d’action du gouvernement de l’Union sacrée de la Nation. Nous avons été bien reçus par le président de l’Assemblée nationale et lui avons dit que nous restons à sa disposition pour que l’équipe du gouvernement puisse venir se présenter selon le calendrier qui sera fixé afin que nous puissions présenter officiellement le contenu de ce programme du gouvernement dont la primeur est réservée aux honorables députés, et à travers eux, toute la nation ».

Pour lui, son équipe a hâte de se mettre au travail afin de donner des solutions aux besoins de la nation.

« Nous sommes contents d’être arrivés à cette étape et nous attendons le moment venu pour nous mettre finalement au travail pour répondre aux besoins de la nation et de la République », a-t-il renchéri.

Ce programme tient-il compte des défis majeurs auxquels est confrontée la nation ? A cette question, Sama Lukonde martèle en disant que la primeur est réservée aux députés. « Nous avons tenu compte de tous les aspects de la vie nationale de la République démocratique du Congo », a-t-il dit en substance.

Matininfos/ cellule comm assemblée nationale

L’article RDC : Le programme du gouvernement Sama déposé à l’assemblée nationale est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

By Jorge Joaquim

A technical team from regional body the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has arrived in Mozambique to assess the security situation in Cabo Delgado province and the type of support the body can provide.

The arrival of the team, whose deployment was agreed at SADC’s meeting two weeks ago, is to prepare a report to be presented at SADC’s security summit on 28 and 29 April in Maputo.

Zimbabwean news website TheNewsHawks meanwhile reports that Zimbabwean special forces are secretly operating in Cabo Delgado province to help Mozambican forces fight the terrorists there, citing a security source.

The forces sent to Mozambique were more or less the size of a platoon, which usually numbers up to 50 soldiers, and were operating under Mozambican leadership, the source said.

Regional security chiefs are also working on plans to send in the so-called standby force of SADC, ahead of a meeting of the body’s security ministers on 28 April. A spokesman for the Zimbabwean military denied that special forces had been sent to Mozambique.

Meanwhile, shooting can still be heard almost every day in the town of Palma in Cabo Delgado province, almost three weeks after the insurgent attack on the town. The residents there want to leave but cannot find a way out. Roads have been closed as a result of the insecurity.

A flight from the nearby Afungi peninsula to Pemba, the provincial capital, costs MZN20,000 ($324), and only one boat is available for exit by sea, which requires a lot of effort, luck, influence or spending, to get a place on.

Also, Mozambican refugees are still struggling to cross the border into Tanzania. Tanzanian authorities have been reluctant to allow them entry and, following a screening, are returning refugees to Mozambique through the border crossing of Negomano, in Mueda district.

Nevertheless, people are still attempting the 60 km walk to the border, despite fear of hunger or being kidnapped by the insurgents.

By Boris Esono Nwenfor

With the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon already in its fifth year with no sign of its being resolved any time soon, the Department of State and the Biden Administration have been called upon to lead efforts to bring this conflict to an immediate end.

In an Open Letter to United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the “Anglophone Crisis” in Cameroon, the human rights, civil liberties, social justice, and faith leaders, experts, scholars, and organizations, say attempts by the government of Cameroon to resolve the crisis have failed because of its unwillingness to address head-on the root causes and its resort to military force to address otherwise political grievances of citizens.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Situation Report No. 25 of 30 November 2020, three million people are affected, which is approximately 50 per cent of the entire Anglophone population of the country; and 1.4 million are in need immediate humanitarian assistance. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees reported over 70,000 refugees has fled to neighbouring Nigeria, and over 711,000 IDPs now live in other regions of the country as of November 2020.

“Thousands of civilians have been killed, and more than 300 villages have been burnt. As a result of the ongoing conflict, Anglophone Cameroonians have become the leading asylum seekers from Africa at the U.S. Southern border with Mexico,” the letter read in part.

The armed conflict is stressing a region already facing violent extremism in the Lake Chad basin and, if allowed to fester, would seriously jeopardize ongoing international efforts to curtail cross-border terrorism and combat Boko Haram and ISWAP. It also has the potential of threatening regional peace and security in the Gulf of Guinea

The letter was signed by the Cameroon Humanitarian Relief Initiative; Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations; Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations; JuventudesXLaPaz; Nuestra Agenda/Our Agenda; Presbyterian Church (USA); Refugee Council of Australia; Sam Soya Center for Democracy and Human Rights; The Global Campaign for Peace & Justice in Cameroon; Torture Abolition And Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC International) and World Council of Churches (WCC)

In a historic show of bipartisanship, the US Senate recently adopted Resolution 684 on January 1, 2021, calling on the government of Cameroon and the armed separatist groups to end all violence; respect the human rights of all Cameroonians and pursue inclusive dialogue to end the conflict. The Resolution further stipulates that “attempts at conflict resolution have failed to bring all parties to the table, as high levels of deaths, brutality, and suffering continue”.

According to the organizations, Peace can be achieved if the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken put in place the nine (9) measures that they are suggesting which involve:

1. Name a Special Envoy to facilitate the State Department’s lead within the inter-agency process and its efforts to engage all international and local stakeholders whose contributions are needed to bring an end to the conflict, as laid out in Resolution 684.

2. Impress upon the warring parties to negotiate, without any preconditions, for an end to the conflict and engage allies of the United States, notably France, to play a more constructive role in ending the conflict.

3. Engage more firmly the African Union and agencies of the United Nations system to assist Cameroon to address the root causes of the conflict and to uphold freedoms and universal rights.

4. Initiate an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to allow unfettered access for humanitarian assistance, and protect humanitarian workers and the Anglophone civilian population who desperately need assistance. We ask that the US lead efforts by the international donor community to increase humanitarian support to meet the urgent and growing needs of IDPs and refugees.

5. Demand an independent international investigation by the United Nations Human Rights Council of massacres, atrocities and gross human rights abuses in Anglophone Cameroon to account for and hold perpetrators of rights abuse accountable, and to prevent a culture of impunity that breeds more abuses to the civilian population.

6. Champion an interagency response to sanction perpetrators of gross human rights abuses to curb impunity and curtail ongoing atrocities by both sides.

7. End arms sale and military assistance to the Government of Cameroon, as there is ample evidence that military equipment provided by the US has been used to commit atrocities to the civilian population in Anglophone Cameroon.

8. Grant Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for Anglophone Cameroonians currently resident in the US. This community represents the highest number of Africans fleeing violence, torture and persecution from a majority Francophone government and reliable information confirms that many of the individuals deported by the previous Administration are currently in detention and facing abuses.

9. Capitalize on the provisions of Senate Resolution 684 of January 1, 2021, the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 and other tools at your disposal to bring the civil war in Anglophone Cameroon to a negotiated end.

By Samuel Ouma

Political betrayal in Kenya is not new; it runs through since the independence in the early 1960s. The seed of political fraud, hoaxes, broken promises, and frustrated ambitions was planted by the first President of the Republic of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, and has become a norm in modern politics.  We have witnessed unstable political marriages that ended in tears, bitterness, and frustrated dreams. Kenyan political analyst Herman Manyora, a lecturer for political science at the University of Nairobi, noted there is no honor among thieves, which is correct.

Following the fight for independence that pitied Kenyans against white colonialists, Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice president and the father to African Union envoy Raila Odinga, was offered the presidency by the British colonialists. Still, he refused to take the power mantle and instead demanded the release of his colleague Jomo Kenyatta who was in prison. Along with other nationalist leaders, Kenyatta was convicted for leading a revolution against white settlers and the colonial government.

“If I accept your offer, I will be seen as a traitor to my people. The British cannot elect me leader to my people…Kenyatta is around, just here in Lodwar (Kenya’s north-western town). Release him and allow him to lead us; he is already our choice,” Odinga was quoted telling Governor Sir Patrick Renison.

Kenyatta was released in 1961 and became the Prime Minister and later the President. He appointed Odinga to be the Minister of Home Affairs and then the vice president. Their political bromance was short-lived, they were involved in severe ideological differences that prompted Odinga to resign, and he formed a left-wing opposition party, Kenya’s People Union (KPU).  To rub salt into the wound, Kenyatta banned KPU in 1969 and put some of its members, including Odinga, under government detention.

Kenyatta rested with his ancestors in 1978, and then Vice President Daniel Moi beat all odds to ascend to power with the help of the then Attorney-General Charles Njonjo and Finance Minister Mwai Kibaki. He trounced a cabal around Kenyatta who had vowed to stop him from succeeding his boss. Six years later, Moi sacked Njonjo, who was the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs. In retort, Njonjo termed President Moi as a “passing cloud” instigating bitter political rivalry.

It did not take long before Moi demoted Kibaki from vice president to Health Minister, and in 1991 during the multi-party politics, the latter left Moi’s bandwagon.

To increase their chances of winning 2002 polls, the Kenya African National Union (KANU) led by the late President Daniel Moi and the National Development Party (NDP) led by Raila Odinga merged in courtesy of commanding huge followers. However, Moi handpicked Uhuru Kenyatta to be his successor, breaking his promise to endorse Raila. As a result, Raila led the mass exodus from KANU and joined hands with other rebels to form the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc).

The Narc coalition endorsed Mwai Kibaki, and they carried out the day, ending KANU’S 40 year-rule. In the run-up to elections, Raila conducted countrywide campaigns to ensure Kibaki, who was in a wheelchair after being involved in an accident, became President.

“The difficult bit was in boarding the plane. We did not have the control. I remember asking for some seats at Kenya Airways and they were not co-operative. Raila, who was with us, said they could not put their President at the back of the plane and must be put in the first-class cabin…he came with about eight young men who carried the stretcher to the front seats on their knees,” Kibaki’s doctor Dan Gikonyo told the Kenya Television Network (KTN) in 2018 saying Raila played crucial roles to get Kibaki to a London hospital for medication.

Despite Raila’s effort, Kibaki threw their memorandum of understanding to have him serve only one term and leave for Raila under the bus. He sacked him and his allies in 2005 for opposing the constitutional amendments, run for another term, and rigged him out to remain in the office beyond 2007. The rigged 2007 Presidential elections caused post-elections violence that claimed more than a thousand lives and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Another betrayal emerged in the process of Kibaki’s succession. Facing crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Uhuru Kenyatta and Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to work together. In their quest for power, they anonymously signed a pact with Musalia Mudavadi to have him go for the top seat, only to renege their promise hours later.

“He (devil) came to me and told me that if we are elected, the West will not give Kenya money; that our tea can’t be sold abroad and that Kenyans are not ready for another Kikuyu president, as this will cause more bloodshed. Given that I love peace, then I decided to quit and support Musalia,” Uhuru said after he withdrew his support.

Uhuru and Ruto camp floored Odinga in the 2013 presidential elections despite the rigging allegations. Seeking re-election in 2017, they folded their respective parties, The National Alliance (TNA) and the United Republican Party (URP), to form Jubilee Party. It is the fourth year since their re-elections, and the duo are not sailing in the same boat. Their second and final term has been marred with accusations and counter-accusations from their allies. President Uhuru Kenyatta has broken his promise to rule for ten years and then hand over to his deputy for another ten years. The Head of the State said that his choice would shock people.

Uhuru has accused Ruto of insubordination and challenged him to quit if he is not happy. To show how serious it is, the President purged Ruto allies from key Parliament leadership positions. Feeling unwanted in the Jubilee Party, the second in command staunch supporters formed the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) to strategize 2022 polls. Before the UDA formation, Ruto revealed that Jubilee is not functioning well because it has been hijacked by those he referred to as busybodies, conmen, and brokers.

Recently in an interview with the local radio station, Ruto hinted at the possibility of Jumping to UDA as a new political vehicle, blaming some external forces trying to scuttle his presidential bid.  He also opened up to teaming together with the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

“If it gets to a point where they do not want us to be there in Jubilee, then we must have a different plan. You cannot wait to hit a wall. Going forward, if there is no agreement, and then we will plan ourselves with UDA. We have built UDA in partnership with Jubilee. It is not us starting afresh. We are just going on with what we already have.”

“Some people think I have problems with Raila. I do not. These differences are political. And there are things I agree with Raila. He has agreed on the need to form national parties and he is facing similar issues (in the opposition) I am facing with regional chieftains. And I want to say this: If anybody wants to partner with us to bring up the hustler, we have no problem. We support, we will work together,” said Ruto, the local media.

In conclusion, treachery is an indispensable tool in Kenyan politics, and both betrayers and opportunists have been betrayed. Betrayal is expected to continue beyond 2021. Political realignments are going on now, including the formation of One Kenya Alliance, bringing together African National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper, Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetangula, and KANU chairman Gideon. It is not the first time we witness such political marriages ahead of the polls. The One Kenya alliance is not better than those that crumbled before accomplishing their purposes. It is a matter of when and Kenyans are watching.

Excellencies members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Benin,

It is with great interest and deep gratitude that we learned on Friday April 16, 2021, the
visit of members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Cotonou to personnel of the
Beninese army, wounded during the civil unrest of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, of April 2021 which
preceded the 2021 presidential election in the Republic of Benin. We salute and
congratulate you and the countries that you represent on behalf of the citizens of Benin
for your expression of concern, compassion, empathy and solidarity in these times of
great challenges for Benin. A friend in need is truly a friend and your friendship matters
to the Beninese.

It is filled with this same gratitude that we would like to respectfully urge and encourage
you, in a spirit of equity and justice, to also visit the localities of BANTÈ, DASSA SAVÈ,
TCHAOUROU, PARAKOU and all the other regions where civil demonstrators and
ordinary passers-by were injured and killed on April 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, 2021 during civil
unrest?

Your delegation could therefore form an independent opinion and a full understanding of
the bigger picture. Your members could engage directly with injured civilians and their
affected families; survey the scenes of the protest in order to assess the extent of the
violence of the repression carried out by the army on the direct order of Mr. Patrice Talon

as revealed to the international community by the Minister of Foreign Affairs during his
press conference of April 10, 2021 – and thus allow the family of the victim to be edified
and to mourn.

Excellencies, members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Benin, you are well aware
of the general socio-political context and the democratic decline in our country since 2016,
which led to the unfortunate post-electoral civil unrest of May 2019. It is this same situation
that is at the root cause of the civil unrest of April 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, 2021.

In this context, the only expression of democratic right for the Beninese citizen is and
remains civil disobedience to which the population spontaneously committed, — this in
the spirit of article 66 of the constitution of our country — during the recent events which
unfortunately led to clashes between the army and the demonstrators and to the death of
at least two people on the side of the civilian participants.

Excellencies members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Benin, as you have already
taken the first step by visiting the wounded army personnel in Cotonou, with the hope that
you will take another step by visiting the wounded civilian populations in Bantè, Dassa,
Savè, Tchaourou, Parakou, we urge you in your noble approach to examine human rights
violations and the issue of Beninese political prisoners including Minister Reckya
Madougou, Madame Mounirath Garya Saka, Professor Joel Aivo, Messrs Alexandre
Hountondji, Joseph Tamegnon, Jules Amoussouga, Thibaut Ogou Elie Djenontin, Emile
Koudjo and countless other people who have been arrested or kidnapped without

justification and whose only crime is to defend their rights, freedom and democracy. But
also, and above all look into the ins and outs of the army shooting against the
demonstrators in May 2019 after the electoral crisis.

The free expression of the will of the people is one of the most fundamental principles
defining credible elections. You can therefore agree with us that the political and security
context in which the 2021 presidential elections took place did not allow for a credible
election.

Mr. Ruffin Zomahoun
Former Ambassador of Benin to Japan

Mr. Omar Arouna
Former Ambassador of Benin to the United States

Incroyable mais vrai ! C’est comme l’histoire de Jésus et Judas qui se répète dans la province montagneuse du Sud-Kivu, dans la partie Est de la République Démocratique du Congo. C’est depuis près de deux mois qu’il s’observe des scènes assimilées à une pièce de théâtre entre l’exécutif provincial et le bureau de l’Assemblée provinciale.

En effet, il existe déjà deux camps au sein de l’organe délibérant de la province où l’un soutenait la motion pour défier le gouverneur de province à la suite d’une gestion qualifiée de calamiteuse et l’autre pour éjecter le bureau définitif l’Assemblée provinciale taxé de bloquer le contrôle parlementaire en vue de l’installation d’un bureau d’âge.

Une situation qui a créé une large confusion au sein de l’opinion publique.

Il s’en est suivi d’un dialogue qui a réuni le président de l’assemblée provinciale et le Gouverneur de Province à l’hôpital de PANZI en vue de stabiliser les institutions de la province.

Au sortir de ces assises, plusieurs réactions allant dans tous les sens ont surgies dans les réseaux sociaux. Les uns estiment qu’un dialogue Provincial pourra calmer les tensions et permettra le développement de la province, pendant que les autres pensent que les assises de PANZI n’ont été organisées que pour donner au Gouverneur l’occasion de se soustraire de son devoir de recevabilité pour que le peuple sache réellement où va son argent et tant d’autres questions essentielles sur le vie de la Province.

Quant au Gouverneur Théo Ngwabidje,  »il s’agira plutôt des consultations provinciales pour recueillir les problèmes et y apporter des solutions », alors que pour les députés motionnaires,  »le Gouverneur ne peut-être au centre d’une quelconque initiative » car, estiment ils, il est lui-même le mal de la province.

Comme personne ne s’y attendait, les ennemis politiques d’hier semblent devenir des alliés inséparables aujourd’hui aprouvant ainsi l’adage « seuls les intérêts comptent en politique », dit-on. Le peuple semble être le cadet des soucis des acteurs politiques provinciaux.

Puisqu’il s’agit d’eux, c’est le gouverneur Théo Ngwabidje Kasi et le pasteur Zacharie Lwamira, président de l’Assemblée provinciale du Sud-Kivu. Se dressent contre la volonté du peuple selon certaines voix de la société civile associées à celles de certains honorables députés motionnaires.

L’HISTOIRE DE JUDAS ET JÉSUS

Les députés motionnaires ont déclaré ce vendredi 16 Avril lors d’un point de presse tenu à l’assemblée provinciale après une plénière ratée et reportée faute de quorum.

A cet effet, ils renseignent que le pasteur Zacharie Lwamira a transmis la motion de défiance depuis le 6 Avril 2021 sans y joindre l’invitation convocant le gouverneur de province pour répondre devant l’organe délibérant des griefs portés contre lui et avoir l’occasion d’éclairer l’opinion sur ce qu’il qualifie de campagne de diabolisation contre sa personne.

Dans leur déclaration, les motionnaires ont dit ce qui suit :  »nous tenons à témoin l’assemblée provinciale ainsi que l’ensemble de la population, et nous annonçons que non seulement, nous refusons ce complot contre la population, nous annonçons des actions des grandes envergures, en compagnie de nos électeurs pour que nous puissions barrer la route à tous ceux qui voudront comploter contre la population du sud-kivu« , qui montrent clairement que  »ce virement à 180° du président de l’Assemblée provinciale explique son camp et tourne le dos à la population du Sud-Kivu dans son combat de développement et particulièrement à sa base électorale ».

Ils poursuivent que le refus de vouloir se justifier, le président de l’Assemblée provinciale voudrait se dresser contre la motion de défiance et faire croire qu’il a le pouvoir de bloquer cette motion dûment déposée conformément à la loi.

DE L’HYPOTHÈQUE DE LA PROVINCE DU SUD-KIVU

Devant la presse locale, les députés motionnaires regrettent de constater que  »dans une province où l’économie est presque par terre, la spoliation des domaines officiels et privés de l’Etat, la mégestion des finances publiques, le détournement des fonds destinés aux sinistrés de Nyamugo, Kasika et Kamutiga, l’insécurité grandissante avec 1377 cas en 2020 et 219 cas en 2021, les infrastructures routières presque inexistantes, le président de l’organe délibérant, Zacharie Lwamira, ait accepté les manœuvres dilatoires afin de sacrifier la population du sud-kivu ».

Et à eux de poursuivre :

 »Pour ces questions qui touchent la vie de la population, le président de l’Assemblée provinciale, s’est refusé d’envoyer une invitation au gouverneur de province pour qu’il vienne répondre aux griefs contenus dans la motion. Cette situation persistante en province brise ainsi les murs qui étaient déjà fissurés car à l’heure actuelle  » les députés motionnaires maintiennent leur position et refusent ce complot contre la population. Nous avons refusé de discuter ces questions relatives à la motion en dehors de la plénière puisque la population du Sud-Kivu a besoin d’être éclairci ont ajouté. C’est ainsi que vous avez constaté une crise artificielle à l’assemblée provinciale pour tenter un échange de la motion contre les pétitions, et nous vous disons que ce projet n’a pas encore dit son dernier mot ».

Ces mêmes pétitionnaires annoncent un meeting populaire dit de  » vérité  » ce dimanche 18 avril au terrain de Funu dans la commune de Kadutu où ils comptent éclairer la population sur la situation politique générale de la province.

Entre temps, pendant que certains observateurs estiment que ce virement du pasteur Zacharie Lwamira est le fruit du dialogue de Panzi sous les bons offices du Prix Nobel de la paix, Docteur Denis Mukwege, tandis que d’autres pensent qu’il s’était fait corrompre avec un grand paquet.

Il sied de rappeler que 5 députés provinciaux ont signé des pétition contre trois membres du bureau définitif de l’assemblée provinciale du Sud-Kivu, dont le président de l’Assemblée provinciale, M. Zacharie Lwamira.

Pour se disculper, le président de l’organe délibérant avait accusé le gouverneur du Sud-Kivu, Théo Ngwabidje, d’être l’instigateur de ces pétitions. Une situation qui avait conduit à une crise entre les deux institutions.
Par surprise, le président de l’Assemblée provinciale du Sud-Kivu, a lâché la corde pour maintenir son fauteuil du Speeker de l’organe délibérant.

Aucun effort n’est abouti pour obtenir la version des faits du pasteur Zacharie Lwamira.

Quelle sera la suite dans cette pièce du théâtre politique du Sud-Kivu ?

Wait and see disent les anglais.

Dossier rédaction Matininfos.net

L’article RDC : La Province du Sud-Kivu fissurée ou hypothéquée? est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

Incroyable mais vrai ! C’est comme l’histoire de Jésus et Judas qui se répète dans la province montagneuse du Sud-Kivu, dans la partie Est de la République Démocratique du Congo. C’est depuis près de deux mois qu’il s’observe des scènes assimilées à une pièce de théâtre entre l’exécutif provincial et le bureau de l’Assemblée provinciale.

En effet, il existe déjà deux camps au sein de l’organe délibérant de la province où l’un soutenait la motion pour défier le gouverneur de province à la suite d’une gestion qualifiée de calamiteuse et l’autre pour éjecter le bureau définitif l’Assemblée provinciale taxé de bloquer le contrôle parlementaire en vue de l’installation d’un bureau d’âge.

Une situation qui a créé une large confusion au sein de l’opinion publique.

Il s’en est suivi d’un dialogue qui a réuni le président de l’assemblée provinciale et le Gouverneur de Province à l’hôpital de PANZI en vue de stabiliser les institutions de la province.

Au sortir de ces assises, plusieurs réactions allant dans tous les sens ont surgies dans les réseaux sociaux. Les uns estiment qu’un dialogue Provincial pourra calmer les tensions et permettra le développement de la province, pendant que les autres pensent que les assises de PANZI n’ont été organisées que pour donner au Gouverneur l’occasion de se soustraire de son devoir de recevabilité pour que le peuple sache réellement où va son argent et tant d’autres questions essentielles sur le vie de la Province.

Quant au Gouverneur Théo Ngwabidje,  »il s’agira plutôt des consultations provinciales pour recueillir les problèmes et y apporter des solutions », alors que pour les députés motionnaires,  »le Gouverneur ne peut-être au centre d’une quelconque initiative » car, estiment ils, il est lui-même le mal de la province.

Comme personne ne s’y attendait, les ennemis politiques d’hier semblent devenir des alliés inséparables aujourd’hui aprouvant ainsi l’adage « seuls les intérêts comptent en politique », dit-on. Le peuple semble être le cadet des soucis des acteurs politiques provinciaux.

Puisqu’il s’agit d’eux, c’est le gouverneur Théo Ngwabidje Kasi et le pasteur Zacharie Lwamira, président de l’Assemblée provinciale du Sud-Kivu. Se dressent contre la volonté du peuple selon certaines voix de la société civile associées à celles de certains honorables députés motionnaires.

L’HISTOIRE DE JUDAS ET JÉSUS

Les députés motionnaires ont déclaré ce vendredi 16 Avril lors d’un point de presse tenu à l’assemblée provinciale après une plénière ratée et reportée faute de quorum.

A cet effet, ils renseignent que le pasteur Zacharie Lwamira a transmis la motion de défiance depuis le 6 Avril 2021 sans y joindre l’invitation convocant le gouverneur de province pour répondre devant l’organe délibérant des griefs portés contre lui et avoir l’occasion d’éclairer l’opinion sur ce qu’il qualifie de campagne de diabolisation contre sa personne.

Dans leur déclaration, les motionnaires ont dit ce qui suit :  »nous tenons à témoin l’assemblée provinciale ainsi que l’ensemble de la population, et nous annonçons que non seulement, nous refusons ce complot contre la population, nous annonçons des actions des grandes envergures, en compagnie de nos électeurs pour que nous puissions barrer la route à tous ceux qui voudront comploter contre la population du sud-kivu« , qui montrent clairement que  »ce virement à 180° du président de l’Assemblée provinciale explique son camp et tourne le dos à la population du Sud-Kivu dans son combat de développement et particulièrement à sa base électorale ».

Ils poursuivent que le refus de vouloir se justifier, le président de l’Assemblée provinciale voudrait se dresser contre la motion de défiance et faire croire qu’il a le pouvoir de bloquer cette motion dûment déposée conformément à la loi.

DE L’HYPOTHÈQUE DE LA PROVINCE DU SUD-KIVU

Devant la presse locale, les députés motionnaires regrettent de constater que  »dans une province où l’économie est presque par terre, la spoliation des domaines officiels et privés de l’Etat, la mégestion des finances publiques, le détournement des fonds destinés aux sinistrés de Nyamugo, Kasika et Kamutiga, l’insécurité grandissante avec 1377 cas en 2020 et 219 cas en 2021, les infrastructures routières presque inexistantes, le président de l’organe délibérant, Zacharie Lwamira, ait accepté les manœuvres dilatoires afin de sacrifier la population du sud-kivu ».

Et à eux de poursuivre :

 »Pour ces questions qui touchent la vie de la population, le président de l’Assemblée provinciale, s’est refusé d’envoyer une invitation au gouverneur de province pour qu’il vienne répondre aux griefs contenus dans la motion. Cette situation persistante en province brise ainsi les murs qui étaient déjà fissurés car à l’heure actuelle  » les députés motionnaires maintiennent leur position et refusent ce complot contre la population. Nous avons refusé de discuter ces questions relatives à la motion en dehors de la plénière puisque la population du Sud-Kivu a besoin d’être éclairci ont ajouté. C’est ainsi que vous avez constaté une crise artificielle à l’assemblée provinciale pour tenter un échange de la motion contre les pétitions, et nous vous disons que ce projet n’a pas encore dit son dernier mot ».

Ces mêmes pétitionnaires annoncent un meeting populaire dit de  » vérité  » ce dimanche 18 avril au terrain de Funu dans la commune de Kadutu où ils comptent éclairer la population sur la situation politique générale de la province.

Entre temps, pendant que certains observateurs estiment que ce virement du pasteur Zacharie Lwamira est le fruit du dialogue de Panzi sous les bons offices du Prix Nobel de la paix, Docteur Denis Mukwege, tandis que d’autres pensent qu’il s’était fait corrompre avec un grand paquet.

Il sied de rappeler que 5 députés provinciaux ont signé des pétition contre trois membres du bureau définitif de l’assemblée provinciale du Sud-Kivu, dont le président de l’Assemblée provinciale, M. Zacharie Lwamira.

Pour se disculper, le président de l’organe délibérant avait accusé le gouverneur du Sud-Kivu, Théo Ngwabidje, d’être l’instigateur de ces pétitions. Une situation qui avait conduit à une crise entre les deux institutions.
Par surprise, le président de l’Assemblée provinciale du Sud-Kivu, a lâché la corde pour maintenir son fauteuil du Speeker de l’organe délibérant.

Aucun effort n’est abouti pour obtenir la version des faits du pasteur Zacharie Lwamira.

Quelle sera la suite dans cette pièce du théâtre politique du Sud-Kivu ?

Wait and see disent les anglais.

Dossier rédaction Matininfos.net

L’article RDC : La Province du Sud-Kivu fissurée ou hypothéquée? est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

Incroyable mais vrai ! C’est comme l’histoire de Jésus et Judas qui se répète dans la province montagneuse du Sud-Kivu, dans la partie Est de la République Démocratique du Congo. C’est depuis près de deux mois qu’il s’observe des scènes assimilées à une pièce de théâtre entre l’exécutif provincial et le bureau de l’Assemblée provinciale.

En effet, il existe déjà deux camps au sein de l’organe délibérant de la province où l’un soutenait la motion pour défier le gouverneur de province à la suite d’une gestion qualifiée de calamiteuse et l’autre pour éjecter le bureau définitif l’Assemblée provinciale taxé de bloquer le contrôle parlementaire en vue de l’installation d’un bureau d’âge.

Une situation qui a créé une large confusion au sein de l’opinion publique.

Il s’en est suivi d’un dialogue qui a réuni le président de l’assemblée provinciale et le Gouverneur de Province à l’hôpital de PANZI en vue de stabiliser les institutions de la province.

Au sortir de ces assises, plusieurs réactions allant dans tous les sens ont surgies dans les réseaux sociaux. Les uns estiment qu’un dialogue Provincial pourra calmer les tensions et permettra le développement de la province, pendant que les autres pensent que les assises de PANZI n’ont été organisées que pour donner au Gouverneur l’occasion de se soustraire de son devoir de recevabilité pour que le peuple sache réellement où va son argent et tant d’autres questions essentielles sur le vie de la Province.

Quant au Gouverneur Théo Ngwabidje,  »il s’agira plutôt des consultations provinciales pour recueillir les problèmes et y apporter des solutions », alors que pour les députés motionnaires,  »le Gouverneur ne peut-être au centre d’une quelconque initiative » car, estiment ils, il est lui-même le mal de la province.

Comme personne ne s’y attendait, les ennemis politiques d’hier semblent devenir des alliés inséparables aujourd’hui aprouvant ainsi l’adage « seuls les intérêts comptent en politique », dit-on. Le peuple semble être le cadet des soucis des acteurs politiques provinciaux.

Puisqu’il s’agit d’eux, c’est le gouverneur Théo Ngwabidje Kasi et le pasteur Zacharie Lwamira, président de l’Assemblée provinciale du Sud-Kivu. Se dressent contre la volonté du peuple selon certaines voix de la société civile associées à celles de certains honorables députés motionnaires.

L’HISTOIRE DE JUDAS ET JÉSUS

Les députés motionnaires ont déclaré ce vendredi 16 Avril lors d’un point de presse tenu à l’assemblée provinciale après une plénière ratée et reportée faute de quorum.

A cet effet, ils renseignent que le pasteur Zacharie Lwamira a transmis la motion de défiance depuis le 6 Avril 2021 sans y joindre l’invitation convocant le gouverneur de province pour répondre devant l’organe délibérant des griefs portés contre lui et avoir l’occasion d’éclairer l’opinion sur ce qu’il qualifie de campagne de diabolisation contre sa personne.

Dans leur déclaration, les motionnaires ont dit ce qui suit :  »nous tenons à témoin l’assemblée provinciale ainsi que l’ensemble de la population, et nous annonçons que non seulement, nous refusons ce complot contre la population, nous annonçons des actions des grandes envergures, en compagnie de nos électeurs pour que nous puissions barrer la route à tous ceux qui voudront comploter contre la population du sud-kivu« , qui montrent clairement que  »ce virement à 180° du président de l’Assemblée provinciale explique son camp et tourne le dos à la population du Sud-Kivu dans son combat de développement et particulièrement à sa base électorale ».

Ils poursuivent que le refus de vouloir se justifier, le président de l’Assemblée provinciale voudrait se dresser contre la motion de défiance et faire croire qu’il a le pouvoir de bloquer cette motion dûment déposée conformément à la loi.

DE L’HYPOTHÈQUE DE LA PROVINCE DU SUD-KIVU

Devant la presse locale, les députés motionnaires regrettent de constater que  »dans une province où l’économie est presque par terre, la spoliation des domaines officiels et privés de l’Etat, la mégestion des finances publiques, le détournement des fonds destinés aux sinistrés de Nyamugo, Kasika et Kamutiga, l’insécurité grandissante avec 1377 cas en 2020 et 219 cas en 2021, les infrastructures routières presque inexistantes, le président de l’organe délibérant, Zacharie Lwamira, ait accepté les manœuvres dilatoires afin de sacrifier la population du sud-kivu ».

Et à eux de poursuivre :

 »Pour ces questions qui touchent la vie de la population, le président de l’Assemblée provinciale, s’est refusé d’envoyer une invitation au gouverneur de province pour qu’il vienne répondre aux griefs contenus dans la motion. Cette situation persistante en province brise ainsi les murs qui étaient déjà fissurés car à l’heure actuelle  » les députés motionnaires maintiennent leur position et refusent ce complot contre la population. Nous avons refusé de discuter ces questions relatives à la motion en dehors de la plénière puisque la population du Sud-Kivu a besoin d’être éclairci ont ajouté. C’est ainsi que vous avez constaté une crise artificielle à l’assemblée provinciale pour tenter un échange de la motion contre les pétitions, et nous vous disons que ce projet n’a pas encore dit son dernier mot ».

Ces mêmes pétitionnaires annoncent un meeting populaire dit de  » vérité  » ce dimanche 18 avril au terrain de Funu dans la commune de Kadutu où ils comptent éclairer la population sur la situation politique générale de la province.

Entre temps, pendant que certains observateurs estiment que ce virement du pasteur Zacharie Lwamira est le fruit du dialogue de Panzi sous les bons offices du Prix Nobel de la paix, Docteur Denis Mukwege, tandis que d’autres pensent qu’il s’était fait corrompre avec un grand paquet.

Il sied de rappeler que 5 députés provinciaux ont signé des pétition contre trois membres du bureau définitif de l’assemblée provinciale du Sud-Kivu, dont le président de l’Assemblée provinciale, M. Zacharie Lwamira.

Pour se disculper, le président de l’organe délibérant avait accusé le gouverneur du Sud-Kivu, Théo Ngwabidje, d’être l’instigateur de ces pétitions. Une situation qui avait conduit à une crise entre les deux institutions.
Par surprise, le président de l’Assemblée provinciale du Sud-Kivu, a lâché la corde pour maintenir son fauteuil du Speeker de l’organe délibérant.

Aucun effort n’est abouti pour obtenir la version des faits du pasteur Zacharie Lwamira.

Quelle sera la suite dans cette pièce du théâtre politique du Sud-Kivu ?

Wait and see disent les anglais.

Dossier rédaction Matininfos.net

L’article RDC : La Province du Sud-Kivu fissurée ou hypothéquée? est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

By Boris Esono Nwenfor

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that Christopher John Lamora will be the new Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon. The information follows a release from the White House on the President’s decision to fill some vacant positions since he took over office.

“Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate nine career members of the Senior Foreign Service as ambassadors to represent the United States on the world stage,” the release said on Thursday.

Biden nominated Larry Edward Andre to be US ambassador to Somalia, Elizabeth Moore Aubin as ambassador to Algeria, Steven Bondy as Ambassador to Bahrain, Maria Brewer as Ambassador to Lesotho, Marc Evans Knapper as Ambassador to Vietnam and Christopher John Lamora as Ambassador to Cameroon, the White House said.

Christopher Lamora should he be confirmed by the US Senate will take over from Henry Peter Barlerin who was Ambassador to Cameroon from 2017 to 2020. The latter had his final meeting with Cameroon’s President and both personalities took time to review the excellent ties that exist between Cameroon and the USA.

Christopher Lamora is not a new face in the Cameroonian milieu having been part of the Diplomatic mission to the country. Lamora worked at the U.S. Consulate General in Douala, Cameroon and that knowledge acquired will be vital if he is to continue where his predecessor left off and create new partnerships and relationships between the two countries.   

The former Ambassador Peter Barlerin before leaving the country expressed his satisfaction with the current level of cooperation between Yaounde and Washington D.C. – especially in the health sector.

“I am proud of what we have achieved together particularly in the area of health: the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria,” Henry Peter Barlerin said in the meeting with President Biya.

Cameroon and the U.S. have equally cooperated in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The Ambassador advised that the impact of COVID-19 should in no way hamper efforts made against other diseases like HIV/AIDS.

“I was concerned although we are helping a lot with the fight against COVID-19, we cannot take away attention from the need to continue to fight against HIV/AIDS,” he cautioned.

Who is the nominated Ambassador to Cameroon, Christopher Lamora?

Christopher Lamora, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, is the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana. He was previously the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Africa and African Security Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department and he also served as Director of the Office of Central African Affairs, Deputy Director of the Bureau’s Office of Economic and Regional Affairs, and desk officer for the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

He served overseas at the U.S. embassies in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Greece and the Central African Republic, and the U.S. Consulate General in Douala, Cameroon.

Lamora earned a B.S. at Georgetown University and speaks French, Spanish, and Modern Greek.

-No one can succeed in denying a factual thing like Genocide Against Tutsis

By Mohammed M. Mupenda 

As the country marks 27 commemoration day for genocide against Tutsis, those who deny it, they have taken advantage of digital era to express on how they think it should be named, this has not only caused trauma to survivors but would lead to distortion of country’s history.

I never stop pondering on when we will accept to tell our own true story in the interest of future generations. Politicians, educated people failed to control and stop genocide simply because they believed it was the best way to use and stay in power that was eventually fallen in the hands of RPF. 

These people and some oppositions living out of Rwanda can say whatever like Kagame played a role in the massacre or any other person they blame it on but denying genocide against Tutsis is a total shame, hilarious, disturbing and would lead to disaster for future generations.

This implies that RPF has responsibility to hunt down whoever denies Genocide against Tutsis, thus nothing would irritate and bother you like seeing people twisting their history simply because of their own interest driven by political ambitions.

Disturbing but not surprising, most genocide denials who take it to social media networks, some calling it double genocide others saying that it was politically named, they are elite, informed, educated,  some were even old enough to have witnessed it and could have played any role on saving humanity by that time.

I think this would be the time to reconcile, acknowledge their irreversible mistake and move forward on healing those who were affected negatively rather than hurting, touching the wounds, causing many survivors to remember those worst memories  and distorting history that may lead to the same tragedy in the future.

Note that the world watched genocide against Tutsis happening and it never acted while it had all it could take to save humanity. France was in a country supporting the former regime, USA was also backing RPA by then simply because of their political, geographical and economic interest, saving humanity was none of their business.

The fact is that we all watched Interahamwe looting everything belonging to Tutsis including cows, hunting down the people who speak the same language, praying together, eating, sharing the same food, culture and even those who were married never minded giving away their own children to be killed (calling them snakes) .

Young as seven (7) i was, i did notice that something was scary, inhuman mistreatment was going on, it was terrifying, i feared Interahamwe simply because i saw that they can take people’s lives without thinking that they could die or be held accountable. In fact, I still have those memories of interahamwe taking on streets in different cities with machetes calling on others to kill whoever was considered as Tutsi or suspected and pointed at to back current RPF that was fighting the other side to take on power.

By the time, Tutsi were targeted, there were possibilities to those politicians including officials, prominent people, educated who were on power  to give directive to interahamwe to stop killing, this never happened, they instead went on radios, newspapers to call on people to kill Tutsis without leaving one behind.

When you see people who were mature and able to stop genocide by then taking it to any social media pointing at Current President Paul Kagame to be one of those who planned and perpetrated genocide, it makes you wonder on when we will recognise our mistakes, where  are we taking future generations?

How could have planned it and he orders Interahamwe to kill his own tribes? 

On which ground could interahamwe listen to Kagame’s instructions while they were hunting down those who  are reported to be by his side.

“I think that it is high time everyone stood up against increasing cases of genocide denial that has found space in the digital pace. And best way would be Educating young people to fight genocide ideology”.

Some would even say that RPF never stopped genocide. That is oK but it does not give you the right to deny, and cause heartbreak to those who were to die in case RPF was not present. 

I am sure that RPF soldiers saved those who were listed to be killed in their absence. It is also believed beyond doubt that religious leaders and other people including roman catholic church christians killed their fellow in the same church when they sought refuge.

“Let us use the media to disseminate information that heals, reconciles so that our generation would never fall in the same tragedy as we repeat Never Again,”.

Rwanda marked the 27th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi on April 7. Many survivors go ahead on giving their testimonies as it is widely known and was witnessed when humanity lost value and no one could help.

*Mohammed M. Mupenda is a news correspondent and freelance reporter, who has written for publications in the United States and abroad. He is also a French and East African language interpreter.

By James Mwala

Legal tensions have surfaced following the decision by government to fire two Commissioners for the Malawi Electoral Commission, Linda Kunje and Jean Mathanga.

The decision to fire the two stems from the recommendation by the court having heard the presidential elections case while led to the landmark order for a fresh election.

Among other things, the courts admonished the commission that oversaw the polls only for former leader Peter Mutharika to maintain the two in the new commission.

However, over a year down the line, the decision to maintain the two has been rescinded with the Attorney General Chikosa Silungwe ordering the remaining commissioners not to make any electoral decisions until they form the required quorum of six people.

Silungwe has since written MEC informing them that the firing of Linda Kunje and Jean Mathanga means that there is no Electoral Commission.

Silungwe has further advised the remaining commissioners not to discharge any duties until section 75(1) of the constitution has been compiled with.

Patrick Mpaka president for Malawi Law Society has backed the Attorney General saying if the two fired MEC commissioners will not challenge the matter in courts, there is need to appoint two others to have complete electoral commission.

However, as being quoted by a local station MIJ FM, law expert Professor Garton Kamchedzela has advised the offices of President and the Attorney General to stop using the law as a tool to bully each other rather than a source of solutions.

Kamchedzela said the office of the President and Office of AG are using the law as a source of problems and as a tool to bully each when the law is supposed to be a source a solution.

He said there is clearly lack of corrective objectivity between the two offices on what should happen on the two commissioners as no party is backing down on its position.

The law scholar added that the AG advice that there is no commission following the firing of the two commissioners is entirely wrong saying the commission is like a company even if people are removed it does not mean the commission seizes to exist.

He added that the AG has not told the public that the law states that if there is a vacancy in an organization the activities of the organization are not affected.

He has also faulted the office of the President for failing to come out on how it has arrived at the decision to fire the two.

So far, the electoral body has described the situation as detrimental to its operations as there seats no commission to make decisions.

By Deng Machol

Juba – South Sudan President Salva Kiir has directed the newly appointed army chief to reorganize the soldiers in order to halt desertions in the military training camps in the East Africa’s youngest nation.

President Kiir appointed Gen. Santino Deng Wol on Saturday to replaced Johnson Juma Okot as the new chief of defense forces.

Gen. Okot was replaced within a year after taking over from former Gen. Gabriel Jok Riak.

Gen. Deng, who was the former South Sudan People Defense Force (SSPDF) deputy chief of defense forces for administration and finance took oath of office on Monday in Juba.

In his remarks, the President and the commander in chief, Kiir instructed General Deng to reorganize the deserted forces.

“You have been brought into this position, and this is a big position among all your peers, because if there are no security forces, there is no security, no army, then there is no nation. You Santino you need to find out what is scattering the soldiers,” President Kiir told the new army chief. “Find it out. You people bring me a big parade and demand money, this is greed for money.”

According to the 2018 peace deal, the peace parties are supposed to unify their forces under one command and transform it into a national army.

There have been several reports  that soldiers are leaving the cantonment sites due to a lack of food, medication and shelter.

The report also said that soldiers are surviving on mangoes after Juba failed to give them food supplies.

In most of the cantonments, there are no vehicles to transport sick soldiers to nearby health facilities.

It’s been two years since the soldiers were assembled at training camps across the country.

Their graduation has been postponed severally due to what the government described as a lack of funds.

Several soldiers had reportedly died while in the training and cantonment camps in Rajaf, Mundri, and other places.

Observers believe the delay to unify and graduate the forces has forced some SSPDF, and ex – rebel soldiers to desert the cantonment sites across the country..

However, the UN have raised concerns that these soldiers could cause insecurity in villages and along the major highways.

Of recently, more than 10 people including foreigners were ambushed, killed and three trucks were set ablaze along major highways in South Sudan.

According to UN, the country’s 2018 peace process remains fragile, despite the parties having registered some positive progress since the formation of the revitalized transitional government of national unity in February 2020.

Le président du Parti Travailliste ( PT), Steve Mbikayi n’a pas digéré son absence au sein du Gouvernement de l’Union sacrée, rendu public le lundi 12 avril. Il a laissé entendre sur Twitter, ce mardi 13 avril, que cette injustice mérite une réparation et qu’il a seulement perdu une bataille et non la guerre.

A chaque sortie du Gouvernement en RDC, il y a des heureux promus d’un côté et des frustrés de l’autre.

Steve Mbikayi voit d’un mauvais œil son absence et des membres de sa formation politique dans l’actuel Exécutif national.

« Gouvernement de l’Union Sacrée. Un parti politique( PT )qui a 5 députés,1% des députés à l’Assemblée nationale où aucun parti n’a 10 % ne peut être totalement absent dans un Gouvernement issu de cette Assemblée nationale. Cette injustice mérite réparation. Face au dribbleur national,le Parti Travailliste, a perdu une bataille mais pas la guerre« , a-t-il tweeté.

Cette équipe dirigée par Sama dénommée  » Les Warriors » compte 56 membres soit 80 pourcent de nouvelles têtes, 27 pourcent des femmes.

Gloire BATOMENE

L’article Gouvernement Sama/Steve Mbikayi: « Cette injustice mérite une réparation, le Parti Travailliste a perdu une bataille mais pas la guerre » est apparu en premier sur Matininfos.NET – Information de la RDC en toute impartialité.

Source: Matininfos

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

By Richard Mammah

Interest in the succession to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari was raised a notch higher recently when the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Party, APC, and already touted front-runner in the 2023 presidential process, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, undertook two high profile visits to the north-ward Kano and Kaduna states.

A Yoruba from the South West, Tinubu who has been a two-time governor in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, Lagos, was presumably now formally reaching out for the handshake across Jebba as part of what pundits believe is part of a wider process of throwing his hat into the ring and definitively signaling that he was prepared and ready to take the reins of office after President Buhari would have completed his second term in office by May 2023.

Given Nigeria’s political divisions and demographic make-up, it is apparent that no single political player can all by himself work his way into the most exalted office in the land.

First, the constitution prescribes that any intending office holder at this level must not only be fielded by a contending political party, he must also secure a majority of the votes from the contest and a minimum of 25 percent of the votes recorded in two thirds of the 36 states in the country and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. For Buhari who has for many years, commanded a relative cult-like following across large swathes of the North, meeting this electoral criteria was even a challenge until he found better cross-cutting relationships across more segments of the country.

So, for an aspirant like Tinubu, he must ford the triple hurdles of getting a party nomination, a majority of ballots and a quarter of the votes cast in all 36 states and Abuja, the imperative of reaching across Nigeria’s divisions cannot be discountenanced if his ambition is to attract the required traction. And underscoring this point is the fact that he had even before now almost practically been spending large amounts of time in his Abuja lodgings, from where he had been quietly reaching out to more and more of his supporters and foot soldiers in the North.

Some of this attention surely helped Tinubu in attracting the fairly enthusiastic audience and crowd showings that were recorded in the course of this recent Northern showing.

But not many think that the Jagaban Borgu should now go to sleep after his Kaduna/Kano performance in the belief that all is well with his aspiration as far as the North is concerned.

One of such expressions of caution is coming from the activist and former Senator representing the Kaduna Central District in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani. He has advised the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress to be generally wary in his dealings with northerners, and especially members of the Northern political class.

Rather than be taken in by platitudes and speeches made at such orchestrated events as his appearances at Arewa House, Kaduna and in Kano, the former Senator is advising the political hopeful to ensure that he gets his own team that would work with him and in the process also afford him better counsel as to the deeper and underlying issues about how well or not he is accepted in the region.

Affirming that at the moment, the majority of the common people in the North do not exactly support Tinubu’s presidential ambition, he urged him to take lessons from the experiences of the likes of Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola who finally found out that he could not count on the support of quite critical northerners that he had been relying on.

“Well, the person of Asiwaju is the one I know in the field of struggle. He was one of those in the struggle for the restoration of democracy and also a leading figure in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) while I was part of the fight for democracy. We worked together for MKO’s project and for the resistance against the annulment.’

Making an allusion to an earlier tweet where he had counselled that Tinubu should get Hausa speakers who are loyal to him to help with proper translations of remarks made by Northerners in the course of his trips, he remarked that this would help get a proper and accurate gauge that he could work with, even as he linked it with the travails of MKO Abiola.

“I know [Tinubu] personally. But what I tweeted is more of a Biblical/Shakespearian allegory or whatever one can use in sending message to someone and what I am trying to say is that as he is allegedly moving towards contesting for the presidency, he should try to know the actual feeling on the ground as far as the North is concerned because I know what Abiola went through.

“Abiola served the North more than any other businessman from the western part of Nigeria. He printed the Quran and shared it to many Muslims. He donated houses and empowered people; he supported academics and religious clerics. Abiola was one of those passionate about the unity of Nigeria because of the solidarity between the South-West and the northern part of Nigeria. But how did he end up? They (northerners) conspired against him and sabotaged him and at the end of the day, he was gone.”

A mine field of booby traps

The deterioration of affairs in the polity at the moment has even made political permutations more difficult as there are indeed an ever increasing array of contending matters. One of these is the inconvenient issue of religion. Though it has almost always been a factor, it promises to take a high note of its own in the Tinubu aspiration at some point in the process. This is more so when the same Tinubu had also been a front-line contender for the VP position in 2015 before religion and several other related-intrigue points stopped him.

In the 2023 drive, the religion card is already registering in two ways in preliminary debates of the subject. One, against the backdrop of the ethno-religious tensions in the land at the moment, would the dominant Christian electorate of the South eventually see the Muslim Tinubu as their own candidate without any scruples? And even for the North, what kind of VP choice should Tinubu be considering? A Northern Christian to balance his Southern Muslim card? But should he take that route, would the majority Northern Muslims see such as choice as sufficiently representative of their own ethos? Heads, tails, this is surely going to be one tough nut to crack.

There is also the issue of South West, South East relations and the continuing clamour for a President of South East origin.

Says the political activist and pundit, Tony Akata:

‘Tinubu’s major obstacles would come from the South, that is from within the Yoruba and Igbo blocs. He is also thinking he would get the support of the North but this is quite tricky. If they get, say a Tambuwal to run against him in the North, he would then have even major issues even in the North. We should not forget the experiences of Abiola and even Obasanjo so easily when it comes to having politicians from the South having dealings with the North.’

But there are those who believe that given the state of political and economic failing in which the country is presently enmeshed, and the very parlous security situation countrywide, angling for political office at this time is simply building on quicksand.

‘My take is that without the institution of serious restructuring and electoral reforms, we should simply not bother with elections and electoral contests in 2023. It is simply a distraction. Will there be a Nigeria by 2023? At least not in a state for these so called elections to be held. And on the specific candidacy of Bola Tinubu, I am not impressed. He does not have what I believe the next leader of Nigeria should have. So my response to his candidacy straight away is a no-no,’ Okiemute Umukoro, a business systems expert remarked.

His view is not dissimilar from that of Allison Etemike, a lawyer and social commentator.

‘Tinubu does not have what it takes to hold Nigeria together beyond 2023. The Nigerian political class know that they have literally boxed the nation into a cul de sac. They are aware. That we are faced with a very onerous task and most herculean challenge. What is needed is a honest, courageous, conscientious, charismatic, even-handed and fair leader. And I am not satisfied that Bola Tinubu is that person.’

The blogger and activist, Sunday Esado is also not enamoured of the Tinubu presidency project and he explains:

‘As a patriotic Nigerian, I believe a Tinubu Presidency would further plunge our country into political nepotism and wanton destruction occasioned by embezzlement, malfeasance, financial recklessness and lawlessness. We should just take a look at what is going on in Lagos and imagine the whole country as an extension of Lagos.’

But he also thinks that there are more obstacles and challenges for the dream of the former Mobil Accountant to become Nigeria’s Number One citizen.

‘First, Tinubu needs massive support in the north where he has little or no popularity at all. A candidate like Atiku would definitely cash in on this loophole if he emerges the flagbearer for PDP in 2023. This would explain why Tinubu has been deliberate in his drive to win the north over.

Second, I would have suggested Nuhu Ribadu or Governor El-Rufai as potential vice Presidents for him, but I am reminded that the Muslim – Muslim equation was the main reason he had to relinquish his Vice Presidential ambition to Yemi Osinbajo in 2015 in the first place. It is surely going to be interesting and full of twists and turns. But one thing is obvious. Tinubu wants to be President. He has always wanted to be. It was one of the main reasons for the coalition that led to the removal of Jonathan in 2015 and there are flyers and posters in that regard already in some parts of Lagos and elsewhere in the country.’

*Culled from April Issue of PAV Magazine

By Jorge Joaquim

Mozambique’s Defence and Security Forces say that they have killed 36 insurgents during the terrorist attack on the town of Palma, at the Afungi peninsula in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, home to the site of French multinational Total’s natural gas project.

The forces added that the number might be higher, as the terrorists collected their casualties quickly. The attackers invaded the town on 24 March killing an unknown number of people.

“Up to this moment we have confirmed 36, but the number might be higher” Brigadier Vidigal Chongo told journalists in Palma on Sunday. “The terrorists have a tactic that they use. The first thing when they are dead is to quickly gather their victims to the rear” he added.

Chongo highlighted that the work of clearing the entire perimeter of the town had ended, and that they were now moving on to the phase of recovering the population that had fled to the forests.

He added that it was a critical phase which would require a lot of attention from the Mozambique’s Defence and Security Forces, so as not to allow terrorists to mix with the population and create more disturbances in the town.

The attacks come after Total removed its entire workforce from the site, leaving it in the hands of the FDS. Currently, there are around 30,000 refugees in Afungi.