Angola News Wire

Candidates in El Oudyane imada in Menzel Temime (Nabeul governorate) Iyadh Jebali and Mansour Dalaji Sunday kicked off their campaigns, out of a total of four candidates, in the race for a local council seat. Jebali told TAP he undertakes to create a municipality, regularise the land situation of over 90 hectares in the region, enhance school transport, develop agricultural tracks and facilitate procedures to grant loans to young people and higher-education graduates to set up their projects.

Dalaji said he seeks to settle the land situation of frozen properties, improve rural tracks, focus on the environment situation, resume a spa project at Wadi Kassab, create an agricultural training centre and revamp schools and primary health centres in the region.

For his part, Dalaji said he seeks to settle the land situation of ceded properties, improve rural roads, look after the environment, maintain the sewage network, resume the project for a spa at Wadi Kassab, create an agricultural training centre and revam
p schools and primary health centres in the region.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Broiler meat production rose 3.7% to 12,800 tonnes in November 2023, compared to 12,400 tonnes in November 2022, said the National Observatory of Agriculture (French: ONAGRI).

A 0.2% drop is reported compared to October 2023, figures show.

Broiler production also posted a 8.9% rise, reaching 133,400 tonnes by late November 2023 , compared to the same period last year.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Candidates in El Oudyane imada in Menzel Temime (Nabeul governorate) Iyadh Jebali and Mansour Dalaji Sunday kicked off their campaigns, out of a total of four candidates, in the race for a local council seat. Jebali told TAP he undertakes to create a municipality, regularise the land situation of over 90 hectares in the region, enhance school transport, develop agricultural tracks and facilitate procedures to grant loans to young people and higher-education graduates to set up their projects.

Dalaji said he seeks to settle the land situation of frozen properties, improve rural tracks, focus on the environment situation, resume a spa project at Wadi Kassab, create an agricultural training centre and revamp schools and primary health centres in the region.

For his part, Dalaji said he seeks to settle the land situation of ceded properties, improve rural roads, look after the environment, maintain the sewage network, resume the project for a spa at Wadi Kassab, create an agricultural training centre and revam
p schools and primary health centres in the region.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The Nakuru County Government will recruit adequate technical staff to boost learning activities at the youth Empowerment center to bolster youth talents in the creativity industry.

While accessing the progress of the training on Monday, the County Executive Committee Member for Youth, Gender, Culture, Sports and Social Services Ms Josephine Achieng, said boosting the creative industry involves a multi-faceted approach that combines infrastructure, policies, and community engagement.

She observed that the county has already created identified spaces where artists, designers, and creative professionals can work, collaborate, and showcase their work.

The officer revealed that the county government was in the process of developing and implementing training programs for aspiring creatives, covering various aspects of the industry such as digital skills, business management, and marketing.

She noted that they are planning to foster partnerships with educational institutions to offer specialized courses and wor
kshops in creative fields to increase earnings for entertainers and widen their appeal to international audiences.

Ms. Achieng stressed the importance of establishing a fund or grant program to financially support creative projects and businesses. And, if need be collaborating with financial institutions to create tailored loan programs for creative entrepreneurs.

She assured the trainees that they were contemplating integrating creative elements into public spaces, such as street art, to enhance the cultural identity of the country. And, ensure that public spaces are designed to accommodate performances and artistic installations.

She said the county administration would organize and support cultural events, festivals, and exhibitions to showcase local talent to a broader audience by implementing public campaigns to raise public awareness about the value of the creative industry and its impact on the local economy.

However, she indicated that implementation of these strategies would require collaboration
between the government, private sector, educational institutions, and the creative community.

She said regular assessment and feedback mechanisms should be in place to adapt and refine these initiatives based on the evolving needs of the local creative industry.
Source: Kenya News Agency

A ministerial working session chaired by Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani and attended by Finance Minister Sihem Nemsia Boughdiri and a representative of the Ministry of Justice discussed issues related to organisations and their financing at the Kasbah on Monday.

During the meeting, it was decided to form a “multi-sectoral committee” to work on a new draft law on organisations, with the possibility of considering the revision of other laws related to the financing of organisations and money laundering, the Prime Ministry said in a statement.

The Prime Minister stressed the need for the new law on organisations to contribute to strengthening the role of civil society, while respecting the principles, rights and guarantees enshrined in the Constitution and within the framework of the rule of law.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

A Murang’a Water Company backed by the county administration has rolled out a project aimed at connecting thousands of households in the Kambiti ward with clean water for domestic use.

Murang’a Water and Sanitation Company (Muwasco) has so far connected more than 1, 000 households from the semi-arid ward in Murang’a South Sub County with clean water. The company is currently pumping about 1, 000 cubic metres of water daily to the area from the Kayaweh Water treatment plant located in Kiharu constituency.

Governor Irungu Kang’ata has said his administration is supporting the water firm to distribute the commodity to the area where the residents have suffered as they search for clean water.

He said Kambiti is supposed to be supplied with water by Murang’a South Water and Sanitation Company but the firm has been unable to reach its services to the ward.

‘Muswasco is still under national government and regulated by the Water Services Regulatory Board (Wasreb), but since Muwasco and other four water firms hav
e transferred their services to the county government, we will support them to take the crucial commodities to areas without water,’ said Kang’ata as he launched the project on Monday at Kambiti shopping centre.

He asked Wasreb not to interfere with the county government’s plans to increase water coverage in the whole of Murang’a.

Kambiti, Kang’ata said, being a semi-arid area, residents have suffered as they search for water from few local populated sources.

‘It’s the first time for Kambiti to get piped water. This will boost social and economic activities in the area,’ he added.

On his part, Muwasco Managing Director Engineer Daniel Ng’ang’a explained apart from the 1, 000 households, 15 institutions including schools, a government prison and mango processing factories, have been connected with clean water.

Ng’ang’a observed the company is slated to use close to Sh. 200 million tons to ensure all households in Kambiti are connected with water.

‘Our target is to ensure more than 20, 000 residents of Ka
mbiti ward get water at their homes. The project will be implemented in phases and with the support of the county government,’ remarked Ng’ang’a.

The director noted the company is working to expand its water treatment plant and get more water sources to ensure a reliable water supply considering the increased number of consumers.

Currently, Murang’a County has a water coverage of about 67 percent with Kambiti ward recording the least water connections.

Maranjau Primary School head teacher Robert Gakinya lauded the project saying his pupils have been saved from taking contaminated water sourced from Sabasba River.

‘Our students have often suffered from water diseases and now having piped water in their school is a boost in their education. We have been sourcing water from a river which is more than a kilometre from the school but now we are relieved,’ added Gakinya.

On her part, a resident Mary Wambui called the water company to connect all the 11 villages in the ward.

‘Currently one ward is connected wi
th the ward and we appeal for extension of the services to all villages in this ward. The water will also boost businesses at Kambiti shopping centre,’ said Wambui.
Source: Kenya News Agency

Minister of Education Mohamed Ali Boughdiri inaugurated Farhat Hached Primary School in Kram on Monday, marking the completion of renovation and maintenance works.

“These works include the construction and equipping of several classrooms, a multidisciplinary room equipped with several computers, the maintenance of electricity and drinking water networks, as well as the construction of the school’s perimeter fence,” a ministry statement said.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy has launched an ambitious mass vaccination campaign for domestic animals in a bid to avert wildlife-livestock diseases.

The project which will run for 10 days started on Monday, December 11, 2023, in areas around Ishaqbini Conservancy in Ijara sub-county Garissa County.

Ijara veterinary officer Dr Hussein Omar said the project is being sponsored by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, of the United States of America.

Dr Omar said that cattle will also receive vaccinations against CBPP and BQ.

He thanked Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance for supporting the program to prevent domestic animals from contracting wildlife-livestock diseases which he noted could otherwise affect the area community’s livelihoods.
Source: Kenya News Agency

Hungary will offer 250 scholarships to BA, MA and PhD students from Tunisia during the academic year 2024-2025.

The deadline for applications is January 15, 2024 at 2 p.m., said the Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry in a statement.

The scholarships include tuition fees and accommodation, and health insurance and a monthly stipend under the memorandum of understanding signed between the Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry and the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and within the framework of the Hungaricum Stipendium programme for 2023-2025.

Application must be approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and candidates must have the degree required to access the requested study cycle before August 1, 2024.

Applicants applying for this scholarship must have the languages required by the host institution or pursue a preparatory year in the Hungarian language covered by the scholarship.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

County officials from the Department of Agriculture in the Central Region Block (CEREB) in Kenya want to adopt agroecology for sustainable food security in the region.

The County Executive Committee (CEC) Members say they have been challenged to adopt agroecology and other organic-based solutions to agriculture in response to challenges that exist in agrifood systems which have adverse effects on the environment and human health.

Agroecology is centered on food production that makes the best use of organic farming practices by improving soil and plant quality through available biomass and biodiversity rather than battling nature with chemical inputs.

Promoters of agroecology strive to improve food yields for balanced nutrition, and strengthen fair markets for agroecology produce while enhancing healthy ecosystems.

The team led by CEREB Chair for Agriculture Committee Prof. Kiringai Kamau speaking during a benchmarking visit in Murang’a County on Agroecology said that transforming a county’s food systems
requires effective leadership to drive it to ensure the transformation of the systems is grounded on agroecology.

‘Bringing agriculture leaders in the region together enables them to exchange knowledge and create platforms and collaborations, which ensures that their perspectives are integrated into policies and implementation strategies to adopt agroecology,’ said Kiringai.

Kiringai who is also Murang’a CEC Member for Agriculture noted that the CEC Members identified Murang’a County for a benchmarking visit on Agroecology because it is the first county in the region and Kenya to adopt a Policy and ACT exclusively focused on agroecology.

‘Murand county being our model county, we wanted officials from other counties who are policymakers in agriculture to come and learn and see that agroecology is working so that they can adopt it in their counties,’ she said.

Kitui CEC Member for Agriculture Stephen Kimwele Mbaya said that the visit provided an understanding of agroecology principles and practices that far
mers in his county can adopt to produce food that is safe for consumption.

‘Kitui being a semi-arid county which doesn’t experience adequate rains, we look forward to adopting appropriate agroecological practices to be carried out in arid and semi-arid parts of the country to boost food production and enhance food security.’ he said.

Mbaya observed that some of these lifestyle diseases like cancer are correlated with the type of food that we eat which sometimes contains toxic chemicals noting that adopting agroecological practices will arrest some of these challenges.

Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Kenya Head of Programs Manei Naanyu on her part said the visit was to catalyze and stimulate discussions on agroecology in other counties to ensure there is enough safe food in the country at large thus ensuring food security.

Jointly, the Murang’a County government, Institute of Culture and Ecology (ICE), and multi-stakeholders associated with Murang’a Agroecology Platform in partnership
with Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Kenya, launched in March 2023 Murang’a County Agroecology Development Policy 2022-2032 and Act 2022.

‘The established Policy and Act aims to promote sustainable agro ecological practices which will provide for the adoption, development, regulation, and promotion of organic food industry in the county,’ he said adding that the county is setting a precedent among the 47 counties in terms of agroecology.

He said the recently launched Murang’a Agro ecology Implementation Framework online strategy for integrating agroecology into institutions, has seen the county launch a short course in Applied Agroecology at Murang’a University.

‘The curriculum recognizes the pivotal role of academia and research institutions in transforming the food systems and agro ecological practices in the country,’ he said, adding that it is a way of knowledge transfer to embrace sustainable agricultural practices.

The benchmarking visits saw a knowledge exchange forum with agro
ecology groups in Kangari and the Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya (OACK) Bio inputs shop.

The delegates visited Mukarara Farm in Kangema where goat farming is used to produce biogas and the biomass produced is used for organic farming.

The visit also included an exhibition of products from organic farming where organic farmers displayed their produce.
Source: Kenya News Agency

Candidate Rim Barhoumi for the local elections in the Jbel Jloud constituency, within the Tunis 1 district, emphasised that her electoral programme aims to address issues related to upgrading infrastructure, including roads, public transportation, and the development of areas dedicated to shared taxis and cabs in the region.

She also pledged to establish a municipal kindergarten and day-cares, with access fees determined based on the residents’ purchasing power.

Additionally, among the candidate’s promises are the establishment of a night pharmacy and a recreational space dedicated to the youth.

A 42-year-old municipal employee, Barhoumi, told TAP on Monday that she is a native of Jbel Jloud and fully understands the aspirations and concerns of the region’s residents.

Despite its proximity to the capital, Tunis, our region has always been “marginalised,” she pointed out, emphasising that Jbel Jloud never had a decent infrastructure.

The candidate expressed will to see the local council of the region ful
fil its mission and meet the locals’ aspirations

She also hoped that the council members would identify the real problems of the region and develop efficient policies and strategies to resolve them promptly.

For her, it is no longer the time for empty promises, hollow slogans, and wishful thinking.

It is worth noting that the Jbel Jaloud constituency, part of Tunis 1, has several electoral districts.

It is an industrial zone par excellence, housing many industrial units with high unemployment rates, pervasive juvenile delinquency.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse