Donation Amount. Min £2

East Africa

 

KIGALI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Torrential rains from March to May could trigger potential disasters in different parts of Rwanda, the country's weather agency has warned.

Rwanda Meteorology Agency said in its latest forecast that heavy rains of between 500 mm and 600 mm were forecast in parts across the country from March to May.

The forecast rainfall could potentially lead to disasters such as flooding, landslides, strong winds and other extreme weather-related events in some parts of the country, it warned.

It, however, also forecasted lighter rainfall in southeastern parts of the country, and most parts of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, from May 20 to 25.

The agency advised the general public, especially farmers to use the forecast for planning purposes in regard to crop planting, harvesting and management activities.

"Agriculture extension workers should encourage farmers to plant fast maturing varieties and adopt agricultural practices that increase or improve soil water holding capacity," it suggested.

Last year, at least 150 people were killed and 300 more injured in Rwanda due to disasters which included floods, landslides, windstorms, and rainstorms induced by climate change from January to September, according to information from the Ministry of Emergency Management. - Xinhua

  • A photo collage of President William Ruto (left) and Azimio Leader Raila Odinga (right) KENYANS.CO.KE  
  • The persistence and consistency of Azimio Leader Raila Odinga to keep the government in check has seen key political figures in Kenya Kwanza hatch ploys to tame the opposition chief.

    President William Ruto’s government resorted to threatening international sanctions on Odinga should he continue with his anti-government protest rallies.

    Some of Ruto allies like the vocal Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei want Odinga's privileges slashed for undermining the Kenya Kwanza regime. 

    "Kenya should suspend annual African Union(A.U) subscription until the full amount of money that Tinga used of 2B as an envoy of infrastructure. Next will be the removal of privileges of the office of the former Prime Minister eg cars, security, office," he affirmed.

    ODM Party leader Raila Odinga addressing residents in Kakamega on February 25, 2023
    ODM Party leader Raila Odinga addressing residents in Kakamega on February 25, 2023 TWITTER RAILA ODINGA

    Odinga on his part has maintained that Ruto’s government is illegitimate and that his victory was snatched at the polls. 

    His overtures have seen him give the government a 14-day ultimatum to reduce the cost of living failure to which the country will be engulfed in mass action.

    Kenyans.co.ke sought the opinion of political and governance experts on the implications of such a move.

    Edwin Kegoli a political analyst, revealed that such a move would not impact Odinga as he had a thick political skin to survive.

    “What would it cost Odinga if he is not to fly out or be treated as a special person abroad?" he paused.

    "Odinga has been through worse in his political journey and such a move by the government would only embolden him and heighten his activities,” he added.

    According to Kegoli, this is just a gimmick to embarrass and humiliate Odinga. 

    His sentiments were however refuted by Javas Bigambo who opined that Odinga was now facing a shrewd, tactful, persuasive and quick-footed politician in President Ruto.

    “Odinga is a ferocious campaigner and political tactician, who has always made moves to survive and reinvent himself, however, he is also facing off with a shrewd opponent in Ruto,” he stated.

    “It is easy to tell that termination of Raila's AU job was influenced. Raila is working hard to soil his credibility. He needs to have substantive grounds upon which to stand.

    Secondly, he is being profiled as chaos oriented. He needs to front his claims with evidence for credibility. The lack of evidence is what made Supreme Court dismiss his claims as hot air,” he added.

    Furthermore, according to governance and political analyst Martin Andati, Odinga had sent shivers in the Ruto administration.

    “The Ruto administration is panicking about the activities of Raila hence resorting to sanctioning strategies. This gives Raila more impetus to push harder as it means he is making serious headway,” he observed. 

    Kenya Kwanza leaders are adamant that Odinga’s international recognition stand to suffer greatly if he continued with his threats against the government.

    "It is not unusual for governments across the world to place sanctions on individuals and organisations with a high appetite for causing political and economic instability," Belgut MP Nelson Koech revealed.

    According to Koech, the globalisation of markets and production means the international community has insurable interests in Kenya’s political and economic stability.

    Odinga has since declared that the government has 11 days to act on his ultimatum on the cost of living.

    Azimio principals led by Raila Odinga at Jevanjee garden during the National Prayer Day on February 22, 2023
    Azimio principals led by Raila Odinga at Jevanjee garden during the National Prayer Day on February 22, 2023 TWITTER RAILA ODINGA By ANZUGIRA PEREZ, Kenyans.co.ke

Activists demonstrating against Eacop in Kampala on February 22, 2023. PHOTO | COURTESY

Uganda’s planned $5 billion East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) has become a global flashpoint as climate campaigners intensify pressure on lenders to withdraw from the project, even as Tanzania government issued a construction licence.

Tanzania gave its approval on Tuesday, several weeks after Uganda did the same last month, for the pipeline construction. According to Peter Muliisa, the chief legal and corporate affairs officer at Uganda National Oil Company, this allows the countries to start moving the equipment to the sites.

“This shows the project is irreversible and allows cross-border movement of goods and services,” he said.

Wendy Brown, the Eacop Tanzania general manager, said the approval allows commencement of the construction in Tanzania.

The Eacop, which is planned to span 1,443 km from Lake Albert in western Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga, has been at the receiving end of criticism by climate activists who argue that it threatens to displace thousands of people and degrades critical ecosystems in the two East African countries.

 

Mr Muliisa dismisses this concern saying the line will be buried, covered and vegetation restored, allowing cultivation on top of the 30-metre-wide corridor.

On February 22, members of the Stop Eacop coalition were joined by activists from around the world to pressure Standard Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and Standard Chartered against funding Eacop.

The activists argue that the project doesn’t comply with the Equator Principles — industry benchmark for assessing, determining and managing social and environmental risk for project financing — to which these particular lenders are signatories.

“Standard Bank (South Africa) and SMBC (Japan) are financial advisers to the project’s operators and reportedly helping to arrange a multibillion-dollar loan to construct Eacop, while Standard Chartered (UK) has expressed interest in financing the project,” 350.org, a New York-based climate-focused non-profit, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Eacop protests took place in 18 cities, Kampala, London, Paris, and New York, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Frankfurt, Brussels, Sendai, Hoima, Nagoya, Toronto, Fukuoka, Goma, Cape Town, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Vancouver.

Paris Agreement

Environmentalists say the oil that will be transported through the pipeline will generate up to 34 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

While the Paris Agreement’s goal is to limit global temperatures to 1.5 °C, scientists have recently warned that global warming is likely to hit 1.5 °C as early as 2024 due to the proliferation of new oil and gas projects since 2019.

“We urge Standard Bank to reconsider its involvement in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. Our land, water, and natural resources are integral to our livelihoods and culture, and this pipeline poses a significant threat to our well-being and future,” said Baraka Lenga, climate change activist based in Tanzania.

Despite the backlash, Uganda recently began drilling oil at a site operated by China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) near Lake Albert. French oil major TotalEnergies and CNOOC, the principal backers of Eacop, want to secure all of the project’s financing before the end of March, but 24 banks have already ruled out financing the controversial pipeline due to pressure from green energy campaigners.

Aside from banks, about 20 insurers, including Britam Holdings, have ruled out insuring Eacop.

‘Incomplete view’

For its part, Uganda has defended the country’s oil projects, arguing that climate activists have an incomplete view of the global energy transition.

“Their cause will eventually be ignored,” said Mr Muliisa.

“The global north has gone back to using coal power plants but climate activists focus on small projects in Africa. There is no denying climate change, but we are dealing with energy poverty here,” he added.  By GILBERT MWIJUKE, The East African

Rescheduled presidential and National Assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the affected polling units in the four registration areas of the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State for Sunday have not started.

Our correspondent who went round the polling units in Yenagoa on Sunday observed that INEC officials were not present as of 10:30 am.

At the Fakulu Health Centre polling unit, Epie 3, and Ayemeze polling unit 004, also in Epie 3, voters, observers, security operatives, and journalists were seen waiting for the commission’s officers and ballot papers.

The Head of Voter Education and Publicity at the Yenagoa office, Wilfred Ifogah, in a statement he issued on Saturday, said the rescheduled exercise would take place from 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday. 

He said the polls were shifted to Sunday as a result of the disruption of the exercise on Saturday.

A voter, who gave his name as Adolfus Johnson from the Amarata community, said he was discouraged by the inability of the INEC to keep to their promise.

He said, “I am discouraged because INEC cannot keep to its promise. Yesterday, we were here and could not vote because INEC people were not here.” 

When contacted, Ifogah said that “electoral officers are on their way.”  By Daniels Igoni, Punch

  • President William Ruto (left) and Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) at separate events. TWITTER  STATE HOUSE/ ODM 
  • Five months after President William Ruto was sworn-in as Kenya's fifth president, the Azimio la Umoja coalition has embarked on a fact-checking mission to scrutinise the government's manifesto. 

    On Wednesday, February 22, Azimio party leader Raila Odinga issued demands to President Ruto, failure to which the opposition would lead the country to mass action in 14 days. 

    Among the demands were granting access to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) servers, the restoration of subsidies to cushion Kenyans from the high cost of living, the lowering of taxes and the formation of a bipartisan task force to oversee the IEBC restructuring. 

    File photo of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga speaking at a public rally
    File photo of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga speaking at a public rally. TWITTER RAILA ODINGA
     

    In particular, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) scoffed at Ruto's remarks that the servers were accessible during the entire process of the election from the registration exercise of voters to the Supreme Court's verdict.

    The party attached a letter from Smartmatic International Holdings dated August 31, 2022, which pointed out that opening the servers would compromise their intellectual property rights.  

    Instead, the company advocated for IEBC to avail all collected data related to the Results Transmission System as well as all Results Transmission System logs.

    "This information should be sufficient to extensively audit the Results Transmission System and to verify that it worked properly. Also, all physical tally reports were available online in real-time since election night.

    "All political parties and certified NGO election observers had access to those tallies and were able to audit the results independently. Even citizens all over the world had full access to these tally reports and were able to add the results," the statement read in part.

    On Thursday, February 23, Ruto dismissed calls by Raila for the IEBC to open servers.

    “It is necessary for our friends to know that the servers were opened when we all went to the polling stations. Demanding servers be opened now is taking us for granted. Is to believe that there are fools in Kenya. I want to tell our friends that the servers have always been open,” Ruto noted. 

    In addition, the opposition has been alleging that the incumbent is out of touch with the reality on the ground in terms of the high cost of living.  

    In response, Ruto asked Kenyans to be patient as he seeks to address the high cost of living.

    He noted that efforts such as subsidising fertiliser, placing more arable land under food production, removing cartels in the agriculture trade and allowing imports from foreign markets would help remedy the situation.

    "Our plan is to see Kenya making progress. I want to tell our rivals, you had five years and did handshakes. Maize flour prices hit Ksh230. Right now we have lowered it to Ksh180. They should give us time and see it coming to Ksh140 and Ksh120," Ruto stated during the commissioning of the Nairobi River on February 23, 2023. 

    A photo collage of President William Ruto speaking in Nairobi on February 23, 2023 (left) and Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga addressing the media on February 17, 2023 (right).
    A photo collage of President William Ruto speaking in Nairobi on February 23, 2023 (left) and Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga addressing the media on February 17, 2023 (right). TWITTER WILLIAM RUTO/ RAILA ODINGA By Brian Kimani -Kenyans.co.ke
     
 

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

Speaker Kingi bans Senators’ foreign travel during Gachagua impeachment

Speaker Kingi bans S...

 Senate Speaker Amason Kingi has imposed travel restrictions on all 67 Senators and staff, barring t...

Turkish contractor to create regional port hub in Somalia

Turkish contractor t...

It is hoped that the development of the port of Hobyo will take some pressure off Mogadishu (Sgt Pe...

Over 9M in UK facing extreme poverty, report warns of escalating hunger crisis

Over 9M in UK facing...

Children disproportionately affected by this crisis, with 1 in 5 UK youngsters at risk of 'hunger an...

Plascon rides on feedback for its targeted innovations

Plascon rides on fee...

Santosh Gumte, the Kansai Plascon Uganda MD, made this statement recently at the beginning of the an...

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.