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DR Congo Information and Communication minister Patrick Muyaya (L) and Nation Media Group CEO Stephen Gitagama (C) address journalists at the East African Entrepreneurship Conference & Expo in Kinshasa, DRC on November 3, 2023. PHOTO | POOL

Various leaders this week pitched for DR Congo’s business potential, extolling its unique position in driving the global green energy agenda.

The leaders who spoke at the East African Entrepreneurship Conference & Expo organised by the Nation Media Group in Kinshasa cited the country’s strategic minerals that will be powering electric cars and its improved political climate as incentives for investment.

DRC Information and Communication Minister Patrick Muyaya assured investors and neighbouring countries that the country was safe and ready to do business. Mr Muyaya, who was the keynote speaker at the conference, challenged political leaders to stop “imprisoning” their citizens by blocking borders over political differences, as this was slowing down intra-regional trade.

“The DRC joined the East African Community to connect with the region. Even before we joined the EAC, we used to get food from Uganda. We would like politicians to embrace the spirit of cooperation to build the subregion before we go out to trade with Africa and the world,” the minister said.

Read: DRC makes slow steps in integrating with EAC states

His sentiments were echoed by the Kenya’s ambassador to the DRC Dr George Masafu, NMG CEO Stephen Gitagama and Congo Senator Nzazi Lelo.

 

Dr Masafu said the decision by Kenya’s President William Ruto and other countries to waive visa requirements for Africans would be a game-changer in fostering intra-African trade.

“Visas have been barriers to markets, but now borders must become bridges,” the diplomat said. “We want the 300 million-plus EAC population to become a market, but we need political goodwill.”

Senator Lelo challenged the EAC to produce goods for sale outside the region but underscored the need for cooperation and peace.

“East Africans should stop being consumers only and produce their own goods. But we need to be comfortable everywhere in the region as we seek the raw materials for production. Africa is a gun and Congo is the trigger. The Congolese need support to trigger development,” the legislator said.

This is the second entrepreneurship conference organised by the Nation Media Group to link businesses in the region and beyond. The first edition was held in March in Kinshasa. The theme of the second edition is “Positioning Africa’s Enterprises for Global Competitiveness”.

Read: DRC ripe for business EA, industry captains say

“One of the key highlights of the inaugural conference was the partnerships and investments that were born. Entrepreneurs and delegates from Kenya and the broader region got a chance to tour and connect with businesses from across the continent and, as a result, expanded their networks and found opportunities to scale their businesses,” Mr Gitagama said.

“It presents an opportunity for us to come up with strategies and policies that can empower our African enterprises to gain competitive advantage in the global space.”

He said NMG has taken the lead in championing the African story.

“We are a voice of the people, by the people, and that is why we are here today. Central to the values and the purpose for our establishment is a mission to be a trusted partner of African democracies, a champion of the ordinary person, a voice for the rule of law and a strong advocate for human rights and free market economies.”

He pledged to lead the East and Central Africa’s largest media house to deliver products and content that feed the needs of Africa’s varied audiences.

“Over the years, we have transformed into a digital-first media house, with our social and digital platforms reaching over 59 million users monthly across the continent and beyond. As we drive the African agenda, organising such conferences is a step in the right direction towards achieving our mission to be the Media of Africa for Africa.”

The conference focuses on connecting and positioning African entrepreneurs for growth. NMG is using its convening power as a media company to explore investment opportunities in the DRC and the greater East Africa as part of a broader effort to promote regional integration and trade.

Read: NMG foundation signs partnership to impact communities

“Our regional paper, The EastAfrican, was born out of the need to start in-depth conversations across borders. However, there is nothing quite like stepping on to the soil to find the unique, mysterious and out-of-the-box story angles. Where better to find these if not in a country of over 100 million people that borders nine countries?” he said.

He used the forum to invite African entrepreneurs to this year’s edition of the Kusi Ideas Festival, a pan-African thought leadership event that facilitates conversations on solutions and innovations for the continent’s growth.

This year’s event will be held in Gaborone, Botswana and the theme is “Africa’s Agenda 2063: Making the Dream Come True”.

“I want to make a commitment to each of you: That NMG will continue to host these kinds of conferences across Africa in a bid to expand business opportunities for entrepreneurs,” Mr Gitagama said. By Jackson Mutinda, The East African

The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) will dispatch a trade mission to Uganda and Kenya to bolster economic and investment cooperation with the two African nations.
 
Led by the Sharjah Exports Development Centre (SEDC), the mission is set to explore ways to further development and foster stronger ties as part of the Chamber's commitment to supporting the local business community, enhancing their activities, and facilitating the growth of industrial and commercial exports from Sharjah.
 
Abdullah Sultan Al Owais, Chairman of SCCI, is leading the delegation, accompanied by several members of the Chamber's Board of Directors, including Abdulaziz Mohammed Shattaf, Assistant Director-General of the Communication and Business Sector at the Sharjah Chamber. The delegation also includes officials from the Chamber and the Centre, as well as prominent businessmen and representatives from major industrial and commercial entities in Sharjah.
 
Business forums
The trade mission's journey will commence with the first leg taking place in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where the Sharjah-Kenya Business Forum was organised. The mission will then proceed to Uganda, where it will hold business forums bringing together officials and leaders from chambers of commerce and industry. 
 
These business gatherings will explore avenues for establishing new partnerships and will feature events and meetings with business communities from the UAE, Kenya, and Uganda, with the overarching goal of highlighting investment opportunities and fostering joint economic collaborations.
 
Al Owais emphasised that this East African mission aims to support the UAE’s strategic vision of enhancing its global trade and investment reach, as well as widening its network of international trade allies to foster business development.
 
New collaborations
Al Owais stressed the importance of the mission not only in identifying opportunities in emerging African markets but also in enabling national companies and investors to establish new collaborations and partnerships with their counterparts across Africa, thereby boosting exports and expanding business operations into new geographical areas.
 
He highlighted that the mission's agenda is packed with a series of meetings with officials from economic institutions, chambers of commerce, investment promotion agencies, export development and promotion centres, and other relevant entities representing the business community in the target markets.
 
Running until November 10, the trade mission takes place against the backdrop of flourishing trade relations between the UAE, Uganda and Nairobi. In 2022, Uganda's imports from the UAE amounted to $810,529, witnessing an annual growth rate of 20% over the past five years.--Trade Arabia News Service
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

The training which ended on November 4, primarily addressed the challenges posed by IEDs along the Main Supply Routes during vehicle inspection operations

A select group of thirteen police officers from the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) have successfully concluded an intensive five-day training focused on the detecting and neutralising Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). 

The training which ended on November 4, primarily addressed the challenges posed by IEDs along the Main Supply Routes during vehicle inspection operations. At the closing ceremony, An ATMIS Individual Police Officer (IPO) based in Jowhar, James Maada, highlighted the importance of the training: “IEDs are prevalent here. The training empowers us not just to safeguard ourselves but to also impart vital knowledge to our Somali counterparts.” 

The training empowers us not just to safeguard ourselves but to also impart vital knowledge to our Somali counterparts. Facilitated by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the workshop was to enhance the skills of the officers in the use of cutting-edge technology, bolstering intelligence capabilities, fostering efficient information exchange, and implementing strategic counter-IED operations.

Another ATMIS IPO, Bernice Quantson, lauded UNMAS’s role in arranging the training and emphasised its significance: “This training is instrumental for our IPOs here in Jowhar. It has equipped us with critical knowledge and how to be cautious.”

The Acting Police Coordinating Officer for ATMIS in Sector Five, SP Jimton Aguta, emphasised the valuable skills imparted by the training. He encouraged the officers to apply their newly acquired knowledge to fortify security within their areas.

UNMAS is a key partner to ATMIS and has over the years worked consistently to strengthen the capacity of both ATMIS and Somali Security Forces to effectively identify and disarm IEDs. These efforts have been crucial in mitigating the impact of IEDs laid by Al-Shabaab militants, which have historically led to substantial civilian casualties and severe disruptions to movement of people and goods.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

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

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