Thursday 30, May , 2024 {HMC} Kenya will increase its shareholding in three key African financial institutions, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), by $100 million as a show of confidence in efforts to solve the continent’s problems.

President William Ruto on Wednesday said at the opening ceremony of the AfDB annual meetings in Nairobi that the extra capital injection would also go to the Cairo-headquartered African Export-Import (Afrexim) Bank, and the Bujumbura-based Trade and Development Bank (TDB).

The new investments are meant as a show of confidence in the institutions to help mobilise more financing from within and beyond the continent, according to Dr Ruto.

“Nations in this continent, we must begin to understand that if others are to believe in our institutions, we must believe in them first, as the owners…We must believe in ourselves for others to believe in us, and we must invest in these institutions for others to invest in them,” he said.

He said the Kenyan government has already made additional investments in the Afrexim Bank but fell short of breaking down how much of the $100 million went to the continental trade financier.

Afrexim Bank, which lends to African businesses and governments for trade-related projects, is owned by the African governments, financial institutions within and outside the continent, as well as several private investors.

Last year, its profit rose 66 percent to $756.1 million paying out a dividend of $264 million, also an increase of 66 percent from the amount paid out to shareholders in 2022.

Additional capital in AfDB, which lends exclusively to African countries, will boost Kenya’s shareholding in the premier development financier.

Last year, AfDB’s earnings from loans and investments in treasury securities rose 123 percent to $1.73 billion, while its net income before distribution rose to $545 million, the highest ever in the history of the bank.

“I was motivated by the profits I saw and the dividends that will be paid, and I think it’s a very worthwhile investment and I want to encourage public and private entities to equally invest,” Dr Ruto said.

African member states hold 60 percent of the AfDB, with the United States, Japan and India, among others owning the remaining 40 percent stake. Nigeria is the biggest shareholder with about 10 percent.

TDB, which will also benefit from the new financing from Kenya, is owned by the member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), including Kenya.

In addition to the new $100 million investment, Kenya is also committing an extra $20 million to the AfDB concessional window, which is used mostly to lend to fragile countries on the continent.

Dr Ruto said this is “a demonstration of Kenya’s confidence in the African Development Bank’s concessional window.”

“It is a demonstration that for us to raise $25 billion, we need to demonstrate our commitment and belief in the investment we are making in this institution,” Dr Ruto added.

SOURCE
By VINCENT OWINO

Thursday 30, May , 2024 {HMC} A series of migrant arrivals occurred on the island of Lampedusa between May 27 and 28. The shelter hotspot, which had been completely emptied, is currently hosting 289 people.

On May 27, 53 migrants, including ten minors, reached the island of Lampedusa after their 10-meter-long boat was intercepted by a patrol ship of the border and fiance police.

The Bangladeshi, Egyptian, and Syrian migrants said they had departed from Tajura in Libya.

The boat was seized, and the group was taken to the Contrada Imbriacola shelter hotspot, which had been completely emptied on May 27 following orders from the Prefecture of Agrigento.

An additional 93 migrants reached the island on May 27 after the three dinghies they were on were intercepted by finance police. Among those who had set sail from Tunisia were two women and 117 minors, who said they were Egyptian, Sudanese, Syrian, and Tunisian.

On the night of May 28, a total of 143 migrants arrived  Following these four arrivals on the largest of the Pelagie islands that took place within a few hours on May 27, another 143 migrants arrived on the night of May 28 after the four dinghies they were on were rescued by patrol boats of the coast guard and finance police.

The groups of passengers ranged from a minimum of nine to a maximum of 58 people, including about a dozen minors.

They were all taken to the Contrada Imbriacola hotspot, where, as of the morning of May 28, there are now 289 guests, including six unaccompanied minors.

Body of minor taken to Lampedusa

The lifeless body of a migrant minor, who was on board the rescue ship Humanity 1 operated by SOS Humanity, has been brought to the island of Lampedusa along with the minor’s family on a coast guard boat.

On May 27, Humanity 1 rescued approximately one hundred migrants from two boats in Libyan SAR waters. The body of the minor was on one of these boats.

The NGO ship will not dock at the port of Lampedusa; it will proceed to its assigned safe port of Livorno.

SOURCE 

Thursday  30 May 2024 {HMC} A non-governmental organisation, Woman kind Kenya, in conjunction with development partners, is implementing a cross-border project seeking to enhance peace and stability and strengthen social and economic dynamics, in the border areas between Kenya and Somalia.

Speaking to Kenya News Agency on the sidelines of a three-day sensitisation workshop at Hulugho town at the Kenya-Somalia border, the director of Woman kind Kenya Abdullahi Mohamed said the organisation is implementing the project dubbed Sustainable Cross Border Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation Project for 12 months.

Mr. Mohamed said the Primary Goal of the project is to enhance peace building and conflict resolutions between cross-border communities in Hulugho, Bodhai and Kolbio along Kenya -Somali border corridor.

Mohamed clarified the key objectives as being strengthening cross border communities’ relation and coordination, strengthening and building the capacities of the community peace building structures empowering women, men, youths, and other vulnerable groups to build resilience against violent extremism.

The director noted that the project involves all stakeholders including the CSOs/NGOs, security actors, local and national governments in both Somalia and Kenyan borderline.

Mohamed noted that the target beneficiaries include women, men, youth, both male and female, vulnerable groups, including persons with disabilities (PWDS), religious leaders and key community influencers.

The director said that implementation strategies to be utilized include establishing and strengthening of local structures, engagement forums, stakeholder engagement, awareness creation at the community levels, Inter-gender and generational dialogues, support for youth peace groups among others.

Moreover, Mohamed she added that the programme will cover counties neighboring the porous Kenya-somali border in Northern Kenya and part of Upper Eastern.

SOURCE Kenya News Agency

Thursday  30 May 2024 {HMC} The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to an immediate disbursement of US$10 million to Somalia for budget support, bringing Somalia’s total disbursement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) to US$50 million.

The Board completed the first review of the ECF arrangement for Somalia on Wednesday.

The Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, Ms. Antoinette Sayeh, commended the Somali authorities for maintaining strong reform momentum after reaching the completion point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in December 2023.

“Somalia’s performance under the Fund-supported Extended Credit Facility Arrangement has been strong. The authorities’ continued strong ownership of the reform agenda will be important to build resilience, promote inclusive growth, and reduce poverty.

Continued and timely support from development partners is also critical for the successful implementation of the reform strategy,” she said.

“The authorities’ strong revenue performance and steadfast implementation of revenue-enhancing reforms are welcome.

Sustained efforts on domestic revenue mobilization would help to make room for priority spending. Key reforms include customs modernization and the new income tax law.

Further strengthening of public financial management is also important, including continued progress on payroll integration, enhancing expenditure controls, as well as developing debt management capacity.

“Ongoing reforms to strengthen central bank institutional capacity are commendable. Careful formulation of the monetary and exchange rate policy frameworks is important in the context of the planned currency reform.

Efforts should continue to promote financial deepening and financial inclusion and to advance reforms to improve the AML/CFT framework and governance,” she added.

Ms. Antoinette Sayeh emphasized that the authorities are focused on building capacity in the petroleum sector and implementing its legal framework.

Addressing food insecurity, building climate resilience, and enhancing trade integration are central to ensuring Somalia’s long-term development.

Somalia’s ECF arrangement was originally approved by the Executive Board on December 19, 2023.

The program supports the authorities’ reform strategy, after achieving the completion point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, to further strengthen key economic institutions and promote macroeconomic stability and growth.

This is in line with Somalia’s national development plan and the government’s long-term vision to maintain economic stability, strengthen revenues and public financial management, promote financial deepening, improve governance, and enhance statistics.

SOURCE 

Thursday  30 May 2024 {HMC} The first results have been announced from what is seen as South Africa’s most closely fought elections since the African National Congress (ANC) came to power 30 years ago.

With results from around 22% voting districts counted so far, the ANC is leading with 44%, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 25%.

The radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has about 9%, while the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) of former President Jacob Zuma is on around 8%.

Final results are expected over the weekend.

The initial results suggest the ANC will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since Nelson Mandela led the party to victory following the end of the racist system of apartheid in 1994.

Many voters blame the ANC for the high levels of corruption, crime and unemployment in the country.

The respected Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the News24 website have projected that the party’s final vote could be around 42%, down from the 57% it obtained in the 2019 election.

This would force it go into a coalition with one or more of the other parties in order to form a majority in parliament.

The DA has liberal economic policies, while both the EFF and MK favour more state intervention and nationalisation, so the choice of partner would make a huge difference to South Africa’s future direction.

It is unclear whether President Cyril Ramaphosa will remain in power, as he could come under pressure from the ANC to resign if the party gets less than 45% of the final vote.

South Africans do not directly vote for a president. Instead they vote for members of parliament who will then go on to elect the president.

The initial results show that the ANC is suffering heavy losses to MK, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where Mr Zuma’s party is leading with 43% of the vote to the ANC’s 21%.

Mr Zuma caused a major shock when he announced in December that he was ditching the ANC to campaign for MK.

KwaZulu-Natal is the home region of Mr Zuma, and the province with the second-highest number of votes, making it crucial in determining whether the ANC retains its parliamentary majority.

Although Mr Zuma has been barred from running for parliament because of a conviction for contempt of court, his name still appeared on the ballot paper as MK leader.

If MK wins KwaZulu-Natal, it would be a “major upset” and herald the “potential decimation” of the ANC in the province, political analyst William Gumede told the BBC.

The ANC also risks losing its majority in the economic heartland of Gauteng, where the party currently has 36% to the DA’s 29%.

Wednesday’s election saw long lines of voters outside polling stations late into the night across the country.

According to the electoral commission, the last polling station closed at 0300 on Thursday morning.

One electoral official in Johannesburg told the BBC the queues were reminiscent of the historic 1994 election, when black people could vote for the first time.

Sifiso Buthelezi, who voted in Johannesburg’s Joubert Park – the biggest polling station in South Africa – told the BBC: “Freedom is great but we need to tackle corruption.”

Change has been a recurring sentiment, especially among young voters.

Ayanda Hlekwane, one of South Africa’s “born-free” generation, meaning he was born after 1994, said despite having three degrees he still doesn’t have a job.

“I’m working on my PhD proposal so that I go back to study in case I don’t get a job,” he tells the BBC in Durban.

But Mr Hlekwane said he was optimistic that things would change.

Support for the ANC is expected to be higher among the older generation.

One 89-year-old woman, Elayne Dykman, told the BBC she hoped that young people in South Africa did not take their vote for granted.

A record 70 parties and 11 independents were running, with South Africans voting for a new parliament and nine provincial legislatures.

Analysts say this shows that many people are disillusioned with the ANC.

“We are entering the next phase of our democracy, and it is going to be a big transition,” political analyst Richard Calland told the BBC.

“We will either become a more competitive and mature democracy, or our politics will become more fractured.”

The DA has signed a pact with 10 other parties, agreeing to form a coalition government if they get enough votes to dislodge the ANC from power.

But this is highly unlikely, with the ANC expected to remain the biggest party, putting it in pole position to lead a coalition, even if its support does drop below 50%.

SOURCE BBC

Thursday  30 May 2024 {HMC} Somaliland president Muse Bihi is busy how to size many land marks places in Hargeisa to sell illegally to greedy businessmen. The president didn’t demonstrated any kindness to our police men in hargeisa which he forced to move our from their homes after he sold their homes .

Kulmiye government leadership never pays respect to somaliland constitution as they consider Somaliand constitution legally must serve their political interest. They consider somaliland rules and regulations just like blank papers which didn’t constitute any valuable importance to the people and to the nation .

Since he came to somaliland highest office, president Muse Bihi never spoke in reconciliation language to his people. As a habit, president Muse Bihi speaks threatening language to his people. He never address to his people in friendly language being selfish style dictator .

Somaliland population across the country has common enemy who is president Muse Bihi as he has torn the unity of somaliland people into pieces. President Muse is even impose threat to our existence. The art of logic which the source of good reasoning is short from Muse mentality .

Ali Behi