Day: May 31, 2023

Kakamega Governor’s wife Janet Barasa has decried the high number of teenage pregnancies in the county, while appealing to men to support the fight against the menace.

Mrs. Barasa said teenage pregnancies and child marriages are becoming disastrous to the county, hence men and boys who are the perpetrators have a critical role to play in combating them.

The governor’s spouse made the appeal at Kivaywa Primary school in Matete Sub County, where she launched the county’s one week malezi bora campaign designed to reach out to children who have not received vitamin A supplements.

“We have over 13,000 teen mothers in the county. This is not encouraging at all. We want our female children to go to school and get children at the right time and not when they are in primary or secondary school.

I want to bring the men on board to fight the menace. You are the parents, you are the boyfriends and you are the ones impregnating the young girls. Kindly can you come out and help me battle teenage pregnancies,” she appealed.

Barasa called on to parents to advise their children against indulging in early sexual encounters, which she said derails them socially, besides exposing them to risks of sexually transmitted diseases and early pregnancies.

She reminded parents that most of their young girls are being impregnated over very small things like sanitary pads.

“Once a child is not given a sanitary towel at home, she will be forced to look for it out there, hence ending up getting pregnant,” she said.

On the issue of menstrual hygiene, Barasa said it is high time the community stopped stigmatising the young girls and women of reproductive age.

“Let us stop the menstrual hygiene stigma because that is just a biological function. When a young girl is menstruating that is an indicator that she is fertile and can get children. Do you have to stigmatize her?” she posed.

Barasa urged parents to be responsible and avail sanitary towels to their children, whenever they are menstruating to enable them go to school and guard against staining their uniforms and getting laughed at by fellow learners and some insensitive teachers.

She also asked the County’s health department to include sanitary towels in the next budget cycle so that female children can access sanitary pads to prevent them from dropping out of school and getting married at a tender age.

The governor’s spouse equally called on parents, teachers and leaders to come together and support the girl child in regards to menstrual hygiene, so that the county does not lose a future generation through early pregnancies resulting from lack of sanitary towels.

In January 2023, Barasa launched an initiative dubbed, ‘A Helping Hand to Teen Mothers in Kakamega County’, meant to rescue, support and reintegrate teen mothers back to school.

Under the initiative, teen mother champions were unveiled with their major role being to advise their fellow teenagers against early marriages and teenage pregnancies.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The ongoing mass vaccination of cows and goats in Makueni County against lumpy skin, foot and mouth and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) disease is yet to be completed due to inadequate funding.

The vaccination campaign that kicked off in March this year has so far managed to vaccinate 53,098 cattle against a target of 109,100 and 76,033 goats out of 204,000, earmarked for vaccination during the campaign period.

“As at now, we have only managed to vaccinate animals in Mbooni East, West, Makueni and Mukaa sub counties. We are yet to vaccinate animals in Kibwezi East and West sub counties due to inadequate funding,” said the County Director In-charge of Vaccination Dr Josphat Mbau, while speaking to KNA in his Wote office.

Dr Mbau disclosed that they are targeting to vaccinate 42,000 cattle against lumpy skin as well as foot and mouth disease, while 111,000 goats will be vaccinated against CCPP disease in Kibwezi East and West sub counties.

However, he expressed his concern about the poor state of the vaccination crushes saying lack of strong stalls or cages to hold strong animals like cattle so that veterinarians can vaccinate them have slowed down the campaign.

During the interview, the director said that they charge Sh20 and Sh5 for one cow and goat respectively, adding that they have raised Sh1.3 million as revenue for the county government.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Provisional Supreme Judicial Council Tuesday deferred the consideration of an application for the withdrawal of immunity from 13 judges until June 20, said President of the defense collective Ayachi Hammami. Hammami told TAP Wednesday lawyers were present to defend three judges who saw their dismissal decision revoked by the Administrative Court (August 2022); a decision will be rendered on June 20. The defence collective requested the postponement of the session for the remaining judges to collect defence elements; a June 20 date was set. Under the Tunisian law, investigating judges are not entitled to hear judges before their immunity is lifted, the lawyer added. The investigating judge at the Counter-Terrorism Judicial Division filed in December 2022 a request with the Provisional Council to have the immunity of 13 judges lifted out of a total of 57 dismissed under a presidential decree (June 2022). . A session to consider the request was put off twice.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Speaker of the Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP), Brahim Bouderbala, on Wednesday, had a meeting at the parliament with Italian Ambassador in Tunis Fabrizio Saggio. The two parties stressed the common desire to continue the ‘intensive’ co-operation in irregular migration, in order to develop a common approach likely to increase security and stability in the Mediterranean basin. The meeting also reviewed the joint efforts made to identify effective solutions to irregular migration under an inclusive and innovative approach, with a particular emphasis on the humanitarian aspect, reads a press release of the parliament. The Italian ambassador expressed his country’s interest in the democratic process and political developments in Tunisia, stressing the importance of increasing visits between MPs from both countries. Saggio also expressed Italy’s willingness to consolidate ties with Tunisia, its first partner and boost bilateral cooperation in various fields, particularly in the trade and energy sectors. The ambassador spoke of a set of projects supported by Italy, namely Enfidha Deepwater Port as well as ELMED (a power line project between Tunisia and Italy through undersea cable). The Parliament Speaker commended Italy’s “continued support” to Tunisia and its readiness to consolidate bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, education and health. Bouderbala expressed Tunisia’s keen interest in reinforcing relations between the two countries’ parliaments.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Nabil Ammar met Wednesday in Paris with Chair of the French Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Christian Cambon. “Senators will keep on supporting Tunisia’s efforts to put in place lasting democratic institutions which respond to the Tunisian people’s social and economic aspirations,” Cambon was quoted as saying in a Foreign Ministry press release. . The French official said he is willing to visit Tunisia. It is regretful, he added, that “some French media keep silent about this important visit.” Ammar, who started Tuesday a two-day visit to Paris, said Tunisia eyes stronger friendship and partnership relations as part of respect and mutual interests. “There is need to avoid any action which proves to be useless on the path of the preservation and development of relations between the two countries,” he added. The minister shed light on the process of democratic transition which Tunisia embraced on July 25, 2021, to put in place lasting democratic institutions meeting the legitimate aspirations of Tunisians. “Tunisia which gives nobody lessons does not accept any,” he further said. Tunisia hopes to establish relations of cooperation between the French Senate and the National Council of Regions and Districts which will see light of day shortly. “The talk demonstrated a convergence of views on the need for a larger measure of international solidarity and to explore innovative solutions amid policies and ways which proved to be inefficient and fruitless,” further reads the press release. Several regional and international issues took centre stage along with ways to address challenges brought about by the numerous crises across the globe and their negative impact on the region’s countries, mainly in relation to food and energy. Greater consultation is required, the two officials said, along with pooled efforts of the international community and increased solidarity to explore new solutions.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Speaker of the Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP), Brahim Bouderbala, met a high-level delegation from the Chinese Communist Party at the Bardo Palace on Wednesday. The delegation was led by Qu Qingshan, member of the Central Committee and President of the Party’s Institute of History and Literature. Quoted in a parliamentary press release, the head of the Chinese delegation expressed the hope that bilateral cooperation would be strengthened, particularly at parliamentary level. He commended the historic ties between the two friendly countries and the fruitful cooperation based on mutual respect. The Chinese official underlined the important role played by Tunisia in China’s strategy for working on the African continent, adding that bilateral cooperation was clearly improving, particularly in the health, academic, cultural, commercial and economic fields. He said that the meeting between President Kaïs Saïed and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, which took place in December 2022 on the sidelines of the Sino-Arab summit, had given new impetus to bilateral relations. For his part, the Speaker of Parliament said that Tunisia appreciates the choices made by China, which have contributed to the country’s development in various fields. Bouderbala voiced the hope that cooperation between the two countries would develop in the political, economic and social fields. The meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss the specific features of the new political regime in Tunisia and to emphasise the shared desire to put in place a strategy for international cooperation based on mutual respect. The Chinese delegation is visiting Tunisia at the invitation of the Echab movement. The meeting took place in the presence of Li Wan, Chinese Ambassador to Tunis, Ezzedine Tayeb, Assessor to the ARP Speaker in charge of External Relations, Tunisians Abroad and Migration, and deputies from the Echab movement.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunisia took part on May 29-30 in Cairo in the 4th meeting of expert group concerned with following up on the implementation of the 2030 media map for sustainable development. This agenda, which was adopted at the 47th session of the Council of Arab Ministers of Information, aims to strengthen the interest of the Arab media in sustainable development issues. Tunisia was represented at the meeting by Najeh Missaoui, CEO of Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) news agency, who put forward a series of proposals on the subject. The main aims of these proposals are to integrate the issue of sustainable development into university curricula, to set up media training programmes within the framework of the Arab League, and to raise awareness of sustainable development issues among young people through education programmes. In the same context, TAP CEO proposed setting up an Arab media body under the aegis of the Arab League, which would be responsible for the role of the media in sustainable development issues. In his speech, Missaoui stressed the fundamental role played by the media in raising the profile of sustainable development issues. He gave an overview of Tunisia’s programme in this area and the actions undertaken by the national media to raise awareness of sustainable development issues. During this meeting, the members of the group of experts drew up a series of recommendations which will be on the agenda of the next session of the Council of Arab Ministers of Information. The 3rd meeting of the group of experts responsible for monitoring the implementation of the 2030 Agenda was held on June 21, 2022, at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo. It was attended by representatives of the Member States and media organisations belonging to the Arab League.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Juvenile sharks escape from some of the fastest and fiercest fish in the sea by going to shallow waters where the predators cannot go, according to a project done in collaboration with the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) in Seychelles.

In a press release last week, SOSF said that after falling deep into the field of shark research at Bimini Biological Field Station in The Bahamas during her master’s research, Dr Ornella Weideli, a former leader of the SOSF Research Centre on D’Arros Island, developed an interest in the dietary behaviour of sharks.

Weideli wanted to not only understand what juvenile sharks eat but also how their behaviour may change if they are sharing their nursery ground with another, ecologically similar juvenile shark species.

The project that she completed with the team at the Research Centre on D’Arros, was conducted in the shallow lagoon of St. Joseph, an atoll of the Amirantes group in Seychelles.

An aerial view of St Joseph Atoll. (Ryan Daly/Save Our Seas Foundation) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

“The lagoons here are home to a large population of not just one, but two juvenile shark species: the blacktip reef shark and the sicklefin lemon shark and so it really is the perfect location to study how these two species are sharing space and food,” explained Weideli.

Theory suggests that the key to a peaceful co-existence seems to be to reduce competition, and therefore conflict, between the species. The slightly smaller blacktips seem to be subordinate to the larger lemon sharks, which Weideli and her team investigated in captive experiments at the Centre of Island Research and Environmental Observatory (CRIOBE), which has research centres in Perpignan, France, and French Polynesia.

To find out how this hierarchy affects juvenile shark behaviour, the team actively tracked individual sharks’ movements and behaviour in the lagoon. On foot or by kayak, they tracked the sharks, recording where they spent their time and where they searched for food.

By flushing the sharks’ stomachs, without harming the young animals, Weideli was also able to analyse the stomach contents of 115 blacktips and 188 lemon sharks to find out what the juveniles had been eating.

Dr Ornella Weideli was also able to analyse the stomach contents of 115 blacktips and 188 lemon sharks. Photo License: All Rights Reserved

Her findings were that 84.6 percent of the stomach contents of blacktip reef sharks were fish compared to 94.2 percent in lemon sharks.

The difference came in the fish species they ate – blacktips showed broader diets, eating 32 different species, compared to 17 different fish species found in the stomachs of lemon sharks.

It seems as though this may be because the juvenile blacktips spent more time in deeper, riskier habitats, as a result of being the subordinate species.

“The results support the initial hypothesis – to avoid competition, subordinate sharks eat the food of poorer quality when there’s a dominant competitor around! To me it’s incredibly fascinating that different species of shark already show diverging diets at this young age,” said a delighted Weideli.

She added that “we’ve assessed for the first time the competitive ability in two co-existing shark species, enabling us to provide evidence that niche partitioning, basically, how sharks share, is at least partially driven by competition between species.”

Source: Seychelles News Agency

The overall status of highly migratory and straddling fish stocks still remains a concern for attendees of the Resumed Review Conference on the United Nations Fish Stock Agreement (UNFSA).

Held from May 22 to May 26 at the UN Headquarters in New York, the conference saw the attendance of over 100 delegates, including Seychelles. Attendees were representing governments, regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs), specialised agencies of the UN, and non-governmental organisations.

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, was represented by the director general for fisheries, Sheriffa Morel, and the senior policy analyst, Stephanie Radegonde.

“The sustainability of tuna and tuna like-species remains a concern. There are countries that aren’t making any effort to ensure the sustainability of stocks. There are other concerns such as climate change and IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing,” Morel told SNA on Tuesday.

Efforts of the conference were directed at addressing fishing-related challenges to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of marine living resources and ecosystems in an evolving ocean policy environment.

As part of the measures to ensure sustainable fishing, the Seychelles’ Ministry of Fisheries and the Blue Economy has put in place a fisheries co-management plan of the Mahé plateau line and trap fishery.

The plan is expected to effectively manage the fish resource to sustain the industry, the economic value, and ecological and social benefits.

Fisheries is the second top contributor to the Seychelles’ economy.

There was a proposal to strengthen the implementation of the provisions of the agreement to better address any ongoing issues in conservation and management.

The UNFSA commits its parties to make progress in four areas of fisheries management. This includes conservation and management of stocks, mechanisms for international cooperation through RFMOs, monitoring, control and surveillance, and compliance and enforcement, and effective participation of developing states and non-parties.

The 2023 conference ended with recommendations to integrate ecosystem considerations in fisheries management, reduce urgently the world’s fishing capacity to levels commensurate with the sustainability of fish stocks and strengthen RFMOs’ mandates to implement modern approaches to fisheries.

Other proposals included the conduction of RFMO performance reviews, the development of a legally-binding instrument on minimum standards for port state measures and a comprehensive global register of fishing vessels, the expansion of assistance to developing countries, and the establishment of a continuing dialogue to address concerns raised by non-parties.

The meeting provided an opportunity for the conference to resume at a later date due to the fact that it was suspended rather than formally closed.

Source: Seychelles News Agency