Day: April 15, 2023

Tunisia said it is following with concern the ongoing events in Sudan and the clashes that broke out on Saturday in the capital Khartoum between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (paramilitary).

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tunisia voiced deep concern about the security situation in Sudan and its repercussions on the political process in this country.

In this regard, Tunisia called on all parties to exercise restraint, reason and de-escalation and encouraged them to engage in dialogue in order to defuse the crisis, preserve the stability of this country and protect the property of its people.

Earlier in the day, the Tunisian embassy in Khartoum had indicated that Tunisians living in Sudan were safe and that its services were in constant contact with them.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Minister of Interior, Kamel Fekih, went to the governorate of Sidi Bouzid as part of a field visit to inspect the working conditions of the various police, National Guard and Civil Protection units.

During the visit, the Minister called on the security forces to be vigilant and to ensure as much as possible the protection of public and private property and people, and to fight vigorously against crime and various acts of incivility that affect public security.

The minister, who was accompanied by the local Governor and several executives of the Ministry of the Interior, visited the headquarters of the Intervention Regiment of the National Guard in Lessouda.

He inquired about the readiness of the members of the units of this regiment. The Minister also took the opportunity to encourage the security forces and listen to their concerns.

As part of his visit, the Minister of the Interior also went to the city of Sidi Bouzid to inaugurate a new traffic control post recently created to reinforce the security units operating in the region in terms of manpower and resources, thus improving the quality of services provided to citizens.

The Minister of the Interior concluded his inspection tour of the Sidi Bouzid governorate by visiting the headquarters of the Regional Directorate of Civil Protection, where he shared the Iftar meal with a large number of executives and representatives of the various security and administrative services in the region.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

In the spirit of the Ramadhan festive season, Kwale based Australian mining firm Base Titanium Limited (BTL) hosted a special iftar dinner for the Muslim community around the mine site.

Ramadhan, which takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a period for fasting and piety by Muslims.

The dinner, held after sunset in accordance with Islamic law, marked the second time the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan has been marked by BTL.

Base Titanium that commenced production in 2013 operates on the South Coast of Kenya extracting minerals mainly ilmenite, rutile and zircon all considered critical minerals and is accredited as a vision 2030 flagship mining project.

During Ramadhan, which ends in a week’s time, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and other sensual pleasures from dawn to dusk.

The lavish iftar dinner was graced by Base Titanium General Manager for External Affairs, Simon Wall, Msambweni MP Feisal Bader and Msambweni Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Lotiatia Kipkech and a host of community leaders.

Iftar is to feed a fasting person and the fast-breaking meal is eaten after sunset, the end of the daily Ramadhan fast.

The event was a gesture of appreciation and care from the management towards communities living around the mine site.

Ramadhan, currently being observed worldwide, is a month of fasting, reflection, devotion, generosity, and sacrifice observed by Muslims annually around the world.

Simon Wall says it’s the second time the mining firm is hosting an iftar dinner and embodies the spirit of close working relationship between Base and the local communities.

Mr Wall noted that the dinner was part of BTL embracing the diverse culture, traditions and norms of neighbouring communities and also appreciating the goodwill and support that the community has shown to the company over the years.

MP Bader says the iftar meal is the traditional breaking of the fast each day after sunset and is often celebrated by families and friends.

‘So the invitation by Base to an iftar meal is a sign of deep respect and friendship with the host communities and we don’t take it for granted,’ he said, adding that the iftar dinners symbolise a time of togetherness and unity.

Bader appreciated Base for supporting the community not only in Msambweni but in Kwale County noting that investors like Base Titanium were unlocking opportunities to the communities in terms of creating job opportunities for the locals and offering educational and training support for the youth.

He said Ramadhan is a time of spiritual reflection and increased devotion for Muslims but it can be challenging for many, particularly those living in poverty.

Bader said Base Titanium plays a crucial role in supporting vulnerable families through its Ramadhan food distribution programme, which provides food assistance to disadvantaged families and communities near the mine site.

Base Titanium later issued assorted Ramadhan food packages to needy Muslim families living around the mine site.

The food packages contained essential items like rice, maize, beans, cooking oil, sugar, salt and tea leaves.

Mr Wall said the food package distribution is part of the mining firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and seeks to provide meals to families around the mine site during Ramadhan.

‘This ensures that vulnerable and underprivileged families can enjoy the blessed month of Ramadhan with dignity and happiness,’ said Wall, adding that the food would provide relief to about 5000 needy families.

He says the Ramadhan food pack distribution takes place in communities with high levels of poverty and the most vulnerable families.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Chairperson of the Council of Governors, Ann Waiguru, has asked the National Treasury to ensure equity in the disbursement of money to the national and county governments.

Ms Waiguru who is the Kirinyaga Governor, noted that counties have the highest bulk of civil servants and as such asked Treasury to treat all civil servants fairly by ensuring that they prioritize county governments.

‘I understand that they (National Treasury) are constrained but even as they pay civil servants at the national level, we are urging them to remember that county governments also employ civil servants. If they pay 50 percent of their salaries at the national level, they should also give us our 50 percent to also be able to pay up-to-date salaries for the county government staff,’ said Waiguru.

Waiguru who was speaking in Nyeri County, also said that the continued delays in discharging the equitable share of revenue to counties was threatening operations in the 47 devolved units.

The total amount owed to counties, the COG chair says, currently stands at Sh125.8 billion for the months of January (Sh31.45 billion), February (Sh31.45 billion), March (Sh29.6 billion) and Sh33.3 billion for April.

She noted that the last time counties received money from Treasury was in December 2022, a situation that has forced some governors to resort to relying on bank overdrafts to keep counties afloat.

Waiguru described the current state of affairs as dire adding that the continued delay was threatening some of the essential services such as healthcare provision in counties.

‘Services such as healthcare, infrastructure development and provision of water require resources and we cannot continue to have a backlog of about two to four months. We need to close that gap with a minimum of a month’s backlog so we urge the Treasury to please prioritize the county governments before we grind to a halt,’ she said.

The Kirinyaga Governor was flanked by her counterparts, governors Kimani Wa Matangi (Kiambu), Kiarie Badilisha (Nyandarua) and Mutahi Kahiga (Nyeri).

The four were speaking on the sidelines of a meeting convened by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to chart the way forward on tackling alcoholism and drug abuse in Central region.

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga said that some of the resolutions passed during the one-day meeting risked remaining as mere proposals if the National Treasury did not release funds for their implementation.

Kahiga said that the onus was on the National Treasury to act as an independent arbitrator in ensuring that the 47 devolved units get equal attention as national government ministries, departments and agencies.

‘Some of the programmes that we have put in place may not be successful if we do not receive money meant to be sent to counties. Our plea is that the money is released as quickly as possible,’ said Kahiga.

‘And we also want the issue of equity to be addressed where the National Treasury should be an independent mediator as opposed to a situation where we are seeing it leaning too much towards the national government projects,’ he added.

On the issue of amending provisions of the County Allocation Revenue Act to allow counties to spend their own source revenue at source, the Nyeri Governor said that the only solution to the current crisis lay in full implementation of the provisions of the law in its current status.

Kahiga said that the Treasury had already contravened sections of the Act four times this financial year by failing to release money to counties by the 15th of the month as the Act provides.

‘The only thing the National Treasury needs to do with regards to allowing counties to use their revenue at source is follow the law. When it comes to money and revenue at the national level, once they have dealt with the bills and debts, the next thing should be to give counties their money,’ said Kahiga.

Source: Kenya News Agency

About 1,000 fish farmers in Machakos are set to benefit from fish feeds procured by the County Government under the Aquaculture Business Development Programme (ABDP).

The area Governor Wavinya Ndeti said the county government will spend Sh12 million to purchase the high quality feeds for the farmers to boost production.

Ms Wavinya disclosed that the programme is being implemented across 11 wards in Masinga, Kangundo and Matungulu sub counties as a way of increasing household incomes and better nutrition.

‘The programme is also running in four primary schools through construction of fish ponds, provision of 1,000 fingerlings, pond liners, fencing materials and sufficient feeds,’ she said.

The governor further noted that 685 fish farmers under the programme have received assorted farm inputs while another 123 have been given bird nets and predator kits.

‘We have issued 562 pond liners besides distributing 232,000 fingerlings last year in December,’ she added.

In a speech read on her behalf by the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture Joel Nzomo during the flagging of the first consignment of fish feeds totaling to 68,000 kilogrammes to 256 farmers outside her office, the governor said the feeds are a significant and vital contribution to aquaculture in the county.

She disclosed that three other similar consignments will be distributed in Tala, Yatta and Masinga on Monday.

Wavinya reiterated the county government’s commitment in enhancing fish farming and pledged to collaborate with the national government and the ABDP unit to boost fish farming in Machakos.

‘Fish farming is a very key sector in alleviating hunger and poverty and I urge beneficiaries of this programme to be diligent for improved nutrition, diversity and food security,’ she said.

Source: Kenya News Agency

It is a well-known fact (or so we are told in history), that Cameroon got her name from the Wouri River because Portuguese explorers who arrived Cameroon in the 15th century found a lot of shrimp or prawns in the river and named it Rio dos Camarões which translates to “river of shrimps” in English. The name Cameroon is simply Camarões in Portuguese to this day.

Now, if we infer correctly, it means that Cameroonians are “shrimp”! We are seafood (at least by the implication of the Portuguese) just because our country’s history has been told to have started with Portuguese explorers – unfortunately.

The name does not capture our essence as West Africans because it is a reflection of European imperialism and not our intrinsic African values or customs. It is wrong to teach that Cameroon’s history begins with the Portuguese, because before they landed on our shores, people lived there. Those people may not have set sail on boats to distant lands, but they lived there and they certainly had their own names for local places, which would never have been Portuguese names for sure. However, we will never know for certain what they called the Wouri River themselves as there are no historical records of this.

Another fact worth establishing is the fact that Cameroon as we know it today, also did not exist at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese and the people that today make up Cameroon, would have most likely never had anything to do with each other at the time because they spoke different languages and had different tribal chiefs and kings and didn’t speak English and French as we do today (a holdover from the European colonial enterprise in Cameroon of course).

So what needs to be done?

Name change is nothing new to Cameroon. A solid example of a well-known name change of a city in Cameroon is the case of today’s Limbe. From 1858 to 1982, the town was known as Victoria, after Queen Victoria of England, but a Presidential decree by President Ahmadou Ahidjo changed it to Limbe in 1982. According to some oral narratives, the name Limbe is believed to be a mispronunciation/ misspelling which originated from the name of one of the German engineers, a General Limburgh (or Limbeigh) who is said to have built one of the bridges in the city during German rule in Cameroon. Of course the name change was not without controversy. In 2009, some chiefs in Limbe wanted a return to the former name, Victoria.

Name change is not new for cities or countries in Africa either. As recently as 2018, the tiny kingdom-nation of Swaziland changed its own name to Eswatini to avoid confusion with the similarly-named country of Switzerland in Europe and also to reflect a more African identity. In South Africa, authorities changed the name of a seaside city from Port Elizabeth to Gqeberha to reflect the name of a river named by the local tribal groups and authorities also changed the name of another city, Grahamstown to Makhanda, after a tribal chief from the 1800s who resisted colonialists in his day.

Is a name change feasible in the case of Cameroon?

Changing the name of a country is no easy task. It comes with a lot of legislative implications and huge financial costs because everything from the country’s money, to official documents, airplanes and ships would need to be rebranded. Printing of official documents such as passports would need to have a do-over to reflect the name change as well, but nonetheless, it can be done.

In the case of Cameroon, it is necessary to make the change because we cannot go around calling ourselves shrimps, crayfish (or ‘njanga’ in local parlance), just because the Portuguese named a river so. We need to re-examine the name and question how reflective it is of us as a nation. Is this our identity? That we are sea creatures? Most Cameroonians would agree that this is not a befitting name. Never mind that most of us cannot tell the difference between shrimp, prawns or crayfish either.

However, we need to consider something that is more uniting and reflective of Cameroonian culture across the board. Maybe we can think of the name of a national landmark in the local tribal name of the area where it is found e.g Mount Cameroon, Lake Nyos etc or a favourite Cameroonian dish cherished by all Cameroonians – maybe waterfufu and eru, maybe fufu and njama-njama (or kahti-kahti) or a favourite genre of music that is unique to us like Makossa and see how we can leave it to our sociologists and anthropologists to come up with a coinage for a name that would be generally accepted by ALL Cameroonians.

Conclusion

At a time when the country is grappling with high numbers of unemployed graduates, ailing infrastructure, weak governance institutions and a deadly war in the Anglophone Regions of the country, changing the name of the country is not the most pressing issue on the foremost minds of Cameroonians, but it is certainly still a topic worth discussing. Even if the changes that are required for renaming the country won’t be immediate, it’s worth having the conversation or at least starting it.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) of Bui division in the North West region has called on politicians, traditional rulers and other government authorities to return their areas of command and reconcile with the people in the North West and South West regions.

According to Menyong Gilbert, SDO of Bui division, there can be no effective reconstruction and sustainable development in the socio-politically disturbed regions if representatives of the common people seat in Yaounde and only return home during elections.

The SDO was speaking on Friday April 14, 2023 during the national territorial planning and sustainable development plan meeting in Bamenda. The meeting which brought together the representative of the Minister of the economy, planning and regional development and other authorities of the North West region was aimed at discussing the way forward for projects earmarked in the 5-year action development plan in the region.

“We have some who come here mostly during election periods and some end up at the Ayaba hotel and return to Yaounde. I think that their voices count a lot as political leaders and being representatives, they have a responsibility to address their people when things are not going on well,” the SDO said.

The Senior Divisional Officer added that if some of these issues are not addressed within the government, objectives of the sustainable development plan may not be achieved by 2035.

During the meeting, sustainable development projects were discussed as hilighted by a Tunisian consultancy firm which was contracted for the 2035 projects.

Projects were hilighted in the domain of agriculture, technology, health, education, road and many others, as the authorities tabled additional projects and areas to focus on during the execution process.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Regardless of good rain pattern and agriculture yield, the inability to manage farm produce after harvest, including bad storage practices, in most communities affect food adequacy in families and communities.

Farmers, after every harvest, expect fair prices in the market for their produce, so that they can sell some of the produce for cash and store the rest for the future. Therefore, from the small holder farmer to commercial farmers, the phenomenon of good storage to ensure zero post – harvest loss is important.

However, the challenge is that the mode of storage from the homestead, communities, districts and regions and the nation at large calls for improvement if farmers will continue to feed the nation.

Farmers dry produce on the bare floor in a corner, ranging from a kitchen to the top of a roof, and this practice often affects grain quality. If not well done, it brings about insect infestations and mold, among others.

Through the usual drying, de-hulling, shelling, winnowing and transportation of food produce such as rice, beans and maize among others, massive quantities of get lost in the fields.

Effective grain storage therefore with reduced losses contributes towards reducing overall food losses for the small holder farmer and have impact on livelihoods for all.

Government Warehousing Policy

The efforts of the government of Ghana, to handle anticipated food surpluses under the One District, One Warehouse policy is one of the plans to reduce post-harvest losses, reduce food imports and rural migration.

Since the introduction of the policy, many of the warehouses have been left unutilized, and ineffective because of poor management structures.

At the President’s recent state of the nation address, he stated that, ‘To address post-harvest losses some 55 warehouses were built, with 15 more at advanced stages of completion’. The intervention, he said, would add 80,000 metric tonnes to the national grain storage capacity.

One product considered among others in ensuring good storage, is rice. If that is well executed, it will also impact positively on the One District, One Factory objective and reduce import bills which presently stand at US$13.7 billion.

Current Storage Processes

Dr Issah Sugri, a Research specialist at CSIR /Savanna Agricultural Station at Manga in the Bawku Municipality explains that storage at the homestead, are processes that should be taken seriously.

He noted that, after harvest, an aggregator mops the grains from a homestead or a farmer to a small warehouse. Similarly, at the national level, the system needs an aggregator to mop the grains from the farmer to a bigger warehouse for storage or further to either the district, regional or the national level.

According to him, the process of mopping grains for storage is bereft with lots of operational deficiencies, including poor maintenance culture of the warehouses, hence affecting the warehousing system.

‘Farmers especially in Northern parts of the country store their rice in paddy forms, but for purposes of the warehouse policy and implications on food security, the method cannot immediately address emergencies though the policy is a good one.

Dr Issah advised that to respond to food supplies emergencies, paddy rice must be processed and kept in a warehouse so that it could easily be relied on when urgently needed.

‘In Warehousing certain things must make it work: they include the design of warehouse, equipment and key accessories, drying platform, quality assurance system and technical capacity of those managing it need to be ensured.’

Financing

Apart from a receipt system being implemented by some private entities, a farmer’s aspiration is cash for his produce when she or he tends it in. However, financial challenges have bedeviled the current warehousing programme, and this is creating disinterest by most farmers to present their produce to a warehouse.

Before a farmer sends grains to the warehouse, he needs money to solve some personal or family problems. So when that is not available, they find it difficult to send their only source of income for storage somewhere.

Maintenance Culture

The warehouses are at the mercy of the weather and need systems to be put in place to ensure routine maintenance of the facilities. Three years ago, some warehouses in the Upper East Region were ripped up and it has taken a long time to fix them.

There are also more facilities that have not gone into full operation, and this alone justifies that if some food produces were kept there, it would have suffered some depreciation because no technical persons have visited these faulted warehouses to correct the damages.

The technical capacity of managers of the warehouses is absent and some patrons of the facilities have complained that management is left in the hands of assembly members or political party boys and community opinion leaders among others who have no idea or the technical efficiency and know-how in the operations of these facilities.

Role of the National Buffer Stock Company

Interconnectivity between the warehouses and the National Buffer Stock Company, the Ministry of food and Agriculture, research and business processing companies remain wide.

Agricultural Scientists abound in the country with reputable research institutions whose contributions to agriculture cannot be over emphasized and these scientists need to be involved in the design of the facilities, to ensure the facilities are fit for purpose.

There is also a need for a secretariat, to link these farmers to the market. Therefore, leaving out key stakeholders, involving square pegs in round holes could be a way of ruining a good policy.

The weak linkage with the buffer stock company and these warehouses is not good enough and therefore there is the need to relook at it again. It is recommended that the facilities should be an appendage of the National Buffer Stock Company (BSC) and should be addressed as such.

All these warehouses need to relate to the processing companies that will absorb the produce particularly fruits among others, to add value to them and by so doing the youth in rural communities will find jobs in the companies and factories.

Recommendations

The government needs to provide an enabling environment for the policy of one district one factory to work and achieve its stated objectives.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture should be equipped to provide appropriate technologies and good seed to enable farmers produce more and store it well.

The ability to produce, store and add value is the way to go, provision of affordable farm inputs and mechanization services is key if farmers are to improve their performance in agricultural production.

There is the need for a national stakeholder engagement with agricultural researchers in the country to advise on the warehouse policy.

Farmers can produce and store, but as a nation, the processing aspect is weak.

The policy is a good one and so funds should be made available to absorb all grains that reach the warehouse and on time.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Henry Quartey, Greater Accra Regional Minister, has commended the Rotary International District 9102 for its good works and efforts in identifying and implementing initiatives that support government’s developmental agenda.

He said Rotary Clubs had improved the lives of Ghanaians in areas of health, education, sanitation, and economic development.

He said this at the 10th District Assembly and Conference held in Accra on the theme: ‘Beyond Imagination’, to drive the Clubs work to achieve its goals.

He said Rotary Clubs in Ghana took upon themselves the initiative to end polio and on World Polio Day last year they held a three-day walk in Accra and Takoradi to educate people on clean water, hygiene and sanitation practices.

The Clubs, in partnership with the Forestry Commission, embarked on promoting Green Ghana, with over 1,000 trees planted to protect the banks of the Weija Dam, the major water production source that services the more significant population of the capital city of Accra.

‘Protecting the environment with trees to ensure a constant supply of water to households and industrial usage for products is a must for us all,’ he added.

This initiative has direct implications on child and maternal health, disease prevention and control, and poverty eradication for the growth of the Country.

He said Rotarians over the world had united and took action to create lasting change across the globe, in communities and in ourselves to ensure socio-economic well-being of humanity in general.

He said over the years Rotarians had provided humanitarian services across the world by taking actions on the world’s most persistent issues such as promoting peace, provision of clean water, sanitation and hygiene, economic and community development.

He called on Ghanaian Rotarians to rally their support behind the efforts of the government to make the ‘Let’s Make Greater Accra Work’ agenda, which aims at re-orienting the citizenry to understand and participate in the process of making the region function as an engine of growth in an environmentally and socially friendly manner.

He urged all Clubs to take advantage of the major tourist attractions and investments in the Region to visit cultural sites such as the National Museum and W.E.B. Du Bois Centre for Pan-African Culture, beaches and resorts and a Game Production Reserve, the Shai Hills Resource Reserve, close to the capital city.

Mr Victor Yaw Asante, Director Governor of Rotary International District 9102, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the Rotary had seven areas of focus, including basic education, maternal and child health care, environment, peacekeeping and conflict resolution, water and sanitation.

These areas are key factors that contribute towards improving socio-economic development in Ghana.

He said there were 62 rotary clubs in Ghana, which aimed to find issues in rural areas and provide solutions for community members.

He said the Clubs would continue to work for citizens by constructing more social amenities for the betterment of people.

‘As humans living, there would definitely be issues occurring even though we continue to solve them’, so we hope for the better,’ he said.

The focus for this year is to increase impacts by continuing to empower girls not to be seen as inferior and second decision makers, expand women in rotary clubs to 30 per cent and also increase the ability to adapt by focusing on Diversity Equality and Inclusion.

‘This year’s theme should drive us to serve towards a world without polio, a world with clean water for everyone, a world free of disease, a world where every child learns to read and a world full of kindness, hope, love, and peace,’ he said.

Rotary International District 9102 is geared to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.

It comprises 14 West African Countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Bawah Ankoh, a scrap dealer, has been sentenced to 20 months imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court for stealing five laptops worth GHS36,000.

Ankoh broke into the offices of Synlab Ghana Limited and made away with the five computers, according to prosecutors.

Ankoh was sentenced to 15 months on the charge of unlawful entry and 20 months on the charge of stealing. Sentences will however run concurrently. Ankoh pleaded guilty to the charges.

The Court presided over by Mrs Evelyn Asamoah convicted Ankoh on his own plea.

An accomplice, Godwin Nyame, a 47-year-old trader, who dishonestly received the five laptop computers, has been admitted to bail in the sum of GHS70,000 with two sureties.

Nyame denied the charge of dishonestly receiving.

The matter has been adjourned to May 5, 2023.

Prosecution led by Chief Inspector Clement Takyi, said the complainant, name withheld, was an Administrative Manager of Synlab Ghana. Ankoh and Nyame reside at Achimota and Abofu, respectively in Accra.

Prosecution said on or before February 13, 2023, at midnight, Ankoh unlawfully entered the offices of the complainant at Shaishie and stole five Del Laptop computers valued at GHS36,000.

It said during the operation, Ankoh was captured by the CCTV at the offices.

The Prosecution said the complainant reported the matter to the Airport Police.

On March 4, 2023, one Michael Awitor who is alleged to be known for breaking into offices at Airport and its surrounding, was arrested.

The Prosecution said the video of the stealing incident at the complainant’s office was shown to him and he identified Ankoh as the one in the video.

It said the Police through intelligence nabbed Ankoh ‘who is notorious for breaking into people’s residence and sold the booty to second accused person (Nyame) at Vergas Achimota.’

Ankoh led the Police to arrest Nyame. When a search was conducted in Nyame’s room and one MacBook Laptop computer was retrieved, he could not prove ownership.

Source: Ghana News Agency