Donation Amount. Min £2

East Africa

Ruai OCS arrested for demanding bribes to release suspects in custody.

The Officer Commanding Ruai Police Station (OCS) has been arrested by officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

According to EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak, Chief Inspector Duncan Otieng was arrested for allegedly demanding bribes from detainees at the station.

“The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Saturday evening arrested the OCS for Ruai Police Station, Chief Inspector Duncan Otieng, who was demanding bribes in order to release persons he had locked up in police cells from the previous day, on accusations of being drunk and disorderly,” the statement reads in part. 

The anti-graft body says they were acting on a complaint by a relative of one of the suspects who were in custody.

The suspects say they were arrested at an entertainment joint on Friday night, with no clear offense. The suspects were then asked to part with Sh5,000 each, to secure their freedom. 

“The OCS told the detainees that failure to pay the demanded amount would see each of them spend the entire weekend in police cells and face criminal charges of being drunk and disorderly, on Monday,”.

“Upon verification of the claims, EACC detectives mounted an operation leading to the arrest of the OCS while he continued to receive the demanded bribes.”

While confirming the incident to The Standard, EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak condemned the senior police officer’s actions. 

“The Commission continues to receive many complaints of this nature where Officers Commanding Police Stations (OCSs) are locking up citizens, especially young people, then demanding bribes from them as a condition for release from custody,” he has told The Standard.

He has urged citizens to keep reporting such cases which he says have been on the rise lately. 

Following his arrest, the OCS was processed at Integrity Centre Police Station on Saturday night and is currently detained at Kilimani Police Station pending arraignment.  By Winfrey Owino, The Standard

OPINION, NOV. 4, 2023 (SUDANS POST) Soon after the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) was formed in February 2020, the South Sudanese thought they were destined for lasting peace. What they did not know was that the extremely oppressive political system they wanted to see reformed was already being strengthened by President Salva Kiir. Kiir fears that if the September 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) is fully implemented, he could lose his dictatorial presidential powers—and lose his grip on power more broadly. 

In his mind, the only plausible path to stay in power is to impede the execution of the peace agreement by denying necessary funding to organizations created under the peace deal. This would allow him to coerce opposition leaders to bow to his whims, consolidate his rule, and perhaps transform the country into Kiir’s Republic of Tyranny.

When the R-ARCSS was signed, it established board, commission, and committee organizations. The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan also created other institutions such as the Joint Defense Board (JDB), Joint Military Ceasefire Commission (JMCC), and Joint Transitional Security Committee (JTSC), among others.

 

Under the accord, these agencies were mandated to conduct different tasks based on stipulations in the pact. Their duties include oversight and coordination of forces in containment sites and barracks, training of unified forces, security arrangements, assessment of South Sudan’s defense requirements, and permanent constitution-making processes—to mention a few. 

Kiir’s strategy to retain power is multifaceted. Since the agreement was signed, Kiir’s main goal has been to obstruct the peace process by systematically denying funding to reform the agreement’s peace mechanism institutions. Kiir’s number one priority is to severely limit any financial assistance to the opposition parties he deems as a threat to his regime. This is why he relentlessly refuses to provide incentives to the opposition members who are part of these organizations and consistently discourages food supply to those who are in Unified Forces Military Training Centers.

The reason behind these tactics is to make people frustrated in the process so that his regime can bribe political and military leaders of the opposition parties or make them defect to his ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Government (SPLM-IG) party. Kiir seems to be extremely self-satisfied by the apparent success of his deceitful strategy because no one is challenging him on this. Even the main peace guarantor organization, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), is strangely silent on this. 

In the agreement, the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity is authorized to provide funds to organizations mandated by the agreement to conduct reform and peace activities; however, President Kiir is not interested in any reform in the country. He loves his existing tyrannical rule and is determined to protect it by obstructing the execution of peace. In his view, any political transformation that relinquishes some of his powers is not real peace.

Kiir’s perspective of real peace is a peace that maintains the current dictatorial system—a system that allows him to remove and appoint people at any time without explanation. He loves this system merely because he treats those who seek government positions like bath towels – he discards them once he has no use for them. This is why systematically refusing to provide the needed financial support to personnel working for these entities is one of his anti-peace strategies. 

There are a few peace provisions that Kiir is interested in fulfilling. These provisions are necessary but less important. For example, Kiir is only interested in disarming civilians, conducting elections, and lifting the arms embargo and sanctions imposed on South Sudan by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). This is why some of his top government officials have been talking about the importance of disarming civilians, the difficulties of deploying or graduating the Unified Forces, and controlling the electoral process.

Kiir himself talked about these three issues. He claimed on numerous occasions that his government could not graduate and deploy members of the Unified Forces because the arms embargo barred him from purchasing arms for these forces. As you can see, Kiir is selective when it comes to peace execution while the opposition parties like the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) all continue to abide by the peace agreement. 

Kiir is doing this because firstly, he believes that the opposition parties are weak; and secondly, he knows that his perverse strategy has the potential to make them weak by bribing their officials. This is one of the reasons why he only focuses on the SPLM-IO and some elements of the SSOA. In his mind, the SPLM-IO is the real threat to his tyrannical leadership, which he wants to keep regardless of what the peace deal says. By Duop Chak Wuol, Sudans Post

Kenyan laborers work on the Nairobi-Mombasa railway, a Chinese project, near Nairobi on Nov. 23, 2016. The United States confirmed this week that it will take on its own infrastructure project in Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola. [VOA]

 

 

Debt-incurring or unfinished projects undertaken as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, have been criticized, prompting what analysts see as a new focus on what Chinese President Xi Jinping has called a "small and beautiful" approach.

Now the West is stepping in, with the U.S., European Union, the three African nations, and two financial institutions signing a memorandum of understanding last month to develop the partially existing Lobito Corridor. 

Plans were outlined in an online media briefing this week, and a six-month feasibility study is expected to start before the end of the year, said Helaina Matza, the acting special coordinator for the Partnership on the Global Infrastructure Investment, or PGII. The intention is to get the 800 kilometers (500 miles) of new track built within five years at an estimated cost of more than $1 billion, she said.

When asked how the U.S. plans to sustain the project long-term and avoid the mistakes made by other foreign powers pursuing infrastructure projects on the continent, Matza was optimistic.

"It’s not all concessional financing going directly to governments," she said, noting that a private partner, the Africa Finance Corp., is involved and will be putting "forward a plan for operation and maintenance and putting forward a plan around capacity development." 

While not mentioning China directly, she said: "I think we’ve learned from mistakes and projects that over the years, frankly, we’ve helped bail out because they needed refurbishment a little too quickly."

Liu Pengyu, China’s Embassy spokesperson in Washington told VOA in an emailed response that there is "broad space for cooperation in the field of global infrastructure, and there is no question of various relevant initiatives contradicting or replacing each other." 

Liu also denied the frequent criticism that Beijing is using BRI and its projects to create spheres of influence.

"Any calculation to advance geopolitics in the name of infrastructure development is not welcome and doomed to fail," he said.

Lessons from the BRI? 

One of China’s largest BRI investments was the $4.7 billion Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya, which started operating in 2017 and connects the capital, Nairobi, with the port city of Mombasa.

The railway was supposed to connect to neighboring Uganda, as a way of bringing critical minerals to the coast, but it never got that far, leaving the cargo side of the business struggling. This week the Kenyan government announced a sharp increase in fares for passengers, citing rising fuel prices.

The announcement came on the heels of President William Ruto’s visit last month to China, where he was seeking a $1 billion loan to complete unfinished infrastructure projects. Some Kenyans have also criticized the project for not hiring enough locals to operate the railway.

Asked whether the existence of the BRI will help inform the new US/EU initiative, Yunnan Chen, a researcher at the global think tank Overseas Development Institute, said it has already had an impact.

"While the BRI can be criticized in many areas, one success it’s certainly had is to raise the profile of infrastructure in development, and crowded in greater interest — and welcome competition — in this space," she said, noting the G7 now has the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment and the E.U. has the Global Gateway. The first Global Gateway forum was held last month in Brussels, where the Lobito Corridor memorandum of understanding was signed.

"The fact that the U.S. has taken such a deep interest in Angola — a major BRI partner and one of the largest recipients of infrastructure lending from China — is a clear sign they want to ramp up the competition directly in China’s spheres of interest," she said.

While some of the Chinese projects have faced "legitimate criticism," Chen said, railway projects can be difficult to make profitable based on passengers and freight if they are not linked to the mining sector.

"The Lobito Corridor may do better than some of the East African projects since they will likely be directly connected to minerals/mining projects that justify the freight, but it will be a test to see how the U.S. and EU will tackle the challenges that rail construction brings," she said.

These challenges include social and environmental impacts and management of the railway once completed, all problems the Chinese have faced. Chen said it will be interesting to see how the West now fares "given the emphasis on higher standards."

Matza, the acting PGII coordinator, said, "Our ethos for any sort of infrastructure we invest in is that the project is transparent."

She said the U.S. wants to ensure that "the whole corridor is successful and that people who live along that corridor can participate not only in commerce but in other activities that really benefit the economic development of themselves and their countries."

View from Africa

So who do ordinary Africans trust more when it comes to infrastructure investment, the U.S. or China?

VOA put that question to Johannesburg residents this week to see what they think.

Musician Luyolo Yiba, 29, was cynical as he sipped a drink at a sidewalk cafe.

"Both are looking at taking minerals, so it’s tricky to say this one is better than that one," he said, adding that he doubts the U.S. is primarily concerned with helping the African people and that he expected the money to be lost to government corruption in Africa.

Zoyisile Donshe, an entrepreneur in his 40s, said he doesn’t think there needs to be competition for influence in Africa at all.

"They see that Africa is the future," he said. "I love America, I love China as well. They’re creating opportunities in Africa. … I think most Africans would prefer them to cooperate."

Asked whether the Lobito Corridor could end up being linked to any Chinese-built railways in the region, Matza said it was too soon to say but did not rule it out.

"There’s a lot of work happening, there’s maybe a Tazara refurbishment," she said, referring to a railway linking Zambia and Tanzania.

"There’s a lot of talks about an additional rail line that can continue south and maybe out through Mozambique,” she said. “We’re taking this on one piece at a time knowing what we can finance, support and help design." By VOA

The government has announced plans to set up Coast Guard Services within Mfangano Island in Homa Bay County to deal with security concerns in Lake Victoria.

Interior Principal Secretary Dr Raymond Omollo said such plans are underway and will be actualized soon.

 

Omollo said the establishment of the Coast Guard camp on the Island is one of the commitments of President William Ruto’s agenda that seeks to spur the Blue Economy of the Nyanza region.

“When the president recently visited this area, locals asked for a Coast Guard camp, the mandate for such an establishment is within our ministry and I have picked it up,” he said.

He said another setup will be in Homa Bay noting that the Island establishment will be key to the Islanders.

Fishermen in Lake Victoria have often reported attacks in the lake, with occasional loss of the catch and fishing gear.

Speaking on Friday at a fundraiser in Kakimba Secondary School in Mfangano Island, the Interior PS urged residents of Homabay County to cooperate with the security team to aid in delivering President William Ruto’s election agenda.

He commended security agencies in the region for a splendid job in keeping law and order.

“We have the Regional Commissioner Madam Mworoa plus her team that stems down to the village elder, they have worked closely to deal with insecurity matters,” he said.

Omollo said the government will beef up more security in the lake which is porous and prone to aiding illicit trade.

He further urged the Islanders to deter their children from venturing into fishing in the lake.

“Let our children finish school before going into the lake to fish. Education is important, fishing can wait,” he said. By Simon Achola, KBC

 

 

Cabinet has given a green light to the introduction of the National Teacher Bill, which among other things, seeks to usher in a new era of professionalism among teachers at all levels.

Dr Chris Baryomunsi, minister for Information Communication Technology and National Guidance, confirmed that the bill was presented by the ministry of Education and received approval with only a few minor comments. Baryomunsi added that the minor concerns raised will be addressed by the ministry of Education and the parliamentary council before the bill is tabled before parliament.

If passed into law, the bill will usher in a multitude of transformative changes in the teaching profession. Notably, it will establish the national teacher council, an authoritative body tasked with overseeing and regulating teacher standards and ethics.

The minister added that while professions such as medicine, engineering, and law have regulatory councils overseeing their professional conduct, the teaching profession, which boasts the largest number of professionals, lacks a similar governing body. This is particularly noteworthy given the significance of the teaching profession, spanning from early education to universities. 

Information from the ministry of Education shows that the national teacher council will have a multifaceted role, extending beyond its regulatory functions. In addition to overseeing teacher standards and ethics, this governing body will take on the responsibilities of guiding teacher education, fostering continuous professional development, and facilitating career progression for teachers across the country.

The council will also assume the responsibility of registering and licensing teachers while maintaining a comprehensive registry of all teachers within both private and public education institutions. No individual will be permitted to engage in teaching at any educational level without obtaining clearance from this regulatory authority.

Between 2010 and 2013, the ministry of Education, in collaboration with its partners, conducted a comprehensive study on teacher-related issues in Uganda. This study led to the development of a report, which subsequently provided recommendations for improvements in teacher education and management. These recommendations have since been implemented.

For instance, in 2019, the government passed the national teacher policy, initiating a series of changes aimed at elevating the teaching profession. One notable change is the revision of minimum qualifications for teachers, now mandating a bachelor's degree for educators at all levels, including those in nursery schools.

Furthermore, this policy catalyzed the phasing out of several primary teacher colleges (PTCs) and paved the way for the establishment of the Uganda National Institute for Teacher's Education. This institute, set to become a degree-granting institution specializing in teacher education, will assume a role previously held by Kyambogo University and the defunct Institute for Teacher Education Kyambogo. - URN/The Observer

About IEA Media Ltd

Informer East Africa is a UK based diaspora Newspaper. It is a unique platform connecting East Africans at home and abroad through news dissemination. It is a forum to learn together, grow together and get entertained at the same time.

To advertise events or products, get in touch by info [at] informereastafrica [dot] com or call +447957636854.
If you have an issue or a story, get in touch with the editor through editor[at] informereastafrica [dot] com or call +447886544135.

We also accept donations from our supporters. Please click on "donate". Your donations will go along way in supporting the newspaper.

Get in touch

Our Offices

London, UK
+44 7886 544135
editor (@) informereastafrica.com
Slough, UK
+44 7957 636854
info (@) informereastafrica.com

Latest News

The Bishops of Rwanda and Burundi call for peace in the region

The Bishops of Rwand...

"The closure of borders hinders economic growth, social cohesion, and cultural exchange," declared t...

Sidmouth group raise over £6,000 for Uganda borehole

Sidmouth group raise...

Fourteen people walked a 13-mile route to raise funds for a borehole in a Ugandan village. The group...

66-Year-Old Scottish Man Jailed for Life After Killing His Kenyan Wife, Darrel Odhiambo

66-Year-Old Scottish...

Walter Buchanan, a 66-year-old Scottish man, has been sentenced to life in prison after he brutally...

UN condemns killing of 1,000 people in Gaza since ceasefire collapse

UN condemns killing...

© UNOCHA On the first day of Eid, humanitarians recovered the buried bodies of eight Palestinian Re...

For Advertisement

Big Reach

Informer East Africa is one platform for all people. It is a platform where you find so many professionals under one umbrella serving the African communities together.

Very Flexible

We exist to inform you, hear from you and connect you with what is happening around you. We do this professionally and timely as we endeavour to capture all that you should never miss. Informer East Africa is simply news for right now and the future.

Quality News

We only bring to you news that is verified, checked and follows strict journalistic guidelines and standards. We believe in 1. Objective coverage, 2. Impartiality and 3. Fair play.

Banner & Video Ads

A banner & video advertisement from our sponsors will show up every once in a while. It keeps us and our writers coffee replenished.