Stakeholders in the nicotine business gathered in Dar es Salaam from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 for the annual meeting of the International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA).
Hosted by the Tanzanian Minister of Agriculture Hussein Bashe, the conference focused on environmental social governance (ESG) practices and the socioeconomic impact of tobacco, among other topics.
ITGA’s President José Javier Aranda urged governments to consider tobacco growers as partners, given the contribution of tobacco as an income generator and employer. He cited the example of Tanzania, where tobacco provides livelihoods to more than 2.5 million people and generates around $180 million annually in export revenue.
The ITGA president also highlighted the lack of alternatives to tobacco production: “Tobacco is still among the main cash crops in most of the countries where it is grown,” he said. “There is no room for crop substitution at this moment and only complementary crops can be considered as a way of transitioning away from tobacco in the long term.”
Participants in the conference also debated the increasing regulatory pressure on the tobacco industry. For example, the EU Supply Chain Due Diligence Directive, which is expected to enter into force in 2024, will require total transparency in the social and environmental sourcing of products imported into the EU. The ITGA delegates agreed that compliance is key, as compliant markets will have better opportunities to position their products and remain stable in the long term.
Speakers encouraged growers to actively pursue ESG initiatives in their communities. Such efforts, they said, will contribute to the long-term viability of the sector.
The forum also reflected on the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which is scheduled to take place Nov. 20-25 in Panama. As the only global tobacco growers association, the ITGA is looking forward to seeing the evolution of FCTC Article 17 (economically viable alternatives to tobacco growing) because the group has yet to see any evidence of viable alternatives to tobacco growing, ITGA CEO Mercedes Vazquez noted.
Vazquez also insisted on the inclusion in the discussions of farmers, who have been denied a voice in the FCTC debates for nearly two decades. She said the COP has yet to respond to ITGA’s request for observer status at the conference.
The Dar es Salaam meeting also took stock of the latest consumption trends. Modest growth in Asia Pacific and Latin America was offset by significant declines in developed markets, leaving total global cigarette volumes largely unchanged. Among emerging products, heated tobacco products continue to make inroads while e-cigarettes face regulatory headwinds, and nicotine pouches struggle to expand beyond their core markets.
In the leaf market, China, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Malawi and India significantly expanded production in 2023, while volumes in Europe and the United States continued to decline, according to ITGA experts. Tobacco Reporter
Sky News commentator Andrew Bolt during a show on November 2, 2023 (left) and President William Ruto and King Charles III at Uhuru Gardens on October 31, 2023.
Sky News host Andrew Bolt caused an uproar among Kenyans after he stated that King Charles did not have to apologise over atrocities committed by colonialists claiming that Kenyans reaped several benefits including learning English.
While hosting the Bolt Report show, the Australian show host wondered why the King acknowledged that many Kenyans suffered under the hands of the colonialists.
He opined that Kenya would not be where it is if the colonialists did not come to Kenya.
According to Bolt, the King needed to demonstrate pride opining that apologising would taint Britain's history.
"There are bad things we did, but there are also good things that we did. We gave you democracy even if Kenya does not always live up to it as it should.
"We gave you the gifts of the English language. I have been to Kenya and I look around and think that if the British hadn't been there, then it wouldn't have been good as it is," he stated.
Some online users told off the commentator indicating that Kenyans already had their languages noting that English was imposed through the school system.
"I suppose I too, would feel angry having to pay for the sins of my grandfathers, but on the other hand, we were the victims of colonialism, they don't get to choose our reaction to it," Wa Irangu, an X user commented.
While the King did not issue an apology for the atrocities, he acknowledged that Kenyans suffered at the hands of the colonialists.
"It matters greatly to me that I should deepen my understanding of these wrongs, and that I meet some of those whose lives and communities were so grievously affected," the King stated. The King cannot issue an apology without approval from the United Kingdom Executive. By Washington Mito, Kenyans.co.ke
The government has announced that first-time ID applicants will be issued with Maisha Cards beginning November 1, 2023.
This follows a pilot scheme that will introduce digital registration of persons in the country. Also set to receive the new card with enhanced security are applicants seeking replacements for defaced or lost cards as the government tests the country's preparedness for a full rollout of digital IDs.
In a statement, Immigration and Citizen Services PS Julius Bitok said applicants who have turned 18 years old and those seeking duplicate cards will be among the first to receive the new card.
"All Kenyans turning 18 years in whichever pad of Kenya will be issued with a Maisha Card on a pilot basis. This way, we will establish whether there are any errors or issues before we do the penultimate launch," Bitok said.
It is estimated that the National Registration Bureau receives around 10,000 applications for first-time IDs across the country every day. On average, a further 5,000 requests for duplicate cards are lodged in its offices and in Huduma Centres daily.
Bitok said the rollout will enable the government to avoid running into pitfalls similar to those that befell the unsuccessful introduction of Huduma Namba.
"Whereas we are happy with the open-door policy that the government has adopted in engaging stakeholders on digital ID, there are areas around data privacy, inclusion of all voices and unfair vetting that needs to be addressed," he added.
Maisha Card features
Maisha card will feature a microprocessor electronic chip with encrypted data. It will also have features supporting the creation of a virtual ID to be known as Maisha Digital ID for those with smartphones.
Maisha Card will feature a unique personal identifier (UPI) number known as Maisha Namba that will be the primary and lifelong registration and identification reference for its holders.
All newborns will also be issued with Maisha Namba to use in their birth certificates and subsequent registration for government services including school enrolment and health services. The same number will translate to their Maisha card number upon attainment of 18 years.
Under the proposed plan, the government will gradually phase out the 2nd generation IDs in favour of Maisha Card with the current ID number translating to Maisha Namba.
There will however be no mass registration for biometrics or a dedicated budget for the exercise according to PS Bitok.
"During the rollout of Huduma Number, all Kenyans were asked to register afresh. Billions of shillings were used to roll it out. For Maisha Namba, we not harvesting biometrics nor are we asking for additional money. We are using the existent budget for the registration of persons for the Maisha Namba ecosystem rollout," he added.
(Nairobi) – Environmental defenders and anti-fossil fuel activists in Uganda routinely face arbitrary arrests, harassment, and threats for raising concerns over a planned oil pipeline in East Africa, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 22-page report, “‘Working On Oil is Forbidden’: Crackdown Against Environmental Defenders in Uganda” documents the Ugandan government’s restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly related to oil development, including the planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). Civil society organizations and environmental defenders regularly report being harassed and intimidated, unlawfully detained, or arbitrarily arrested.
“This crackdown has created a chilling environment that stifles free expression about one of the most controversial fossil fuel projects in the world,” said Felix Horne, senior environment researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The government of Uganda should immediately end arbitrary arrests of anti-oil pipeline activists and protect their right to exercise freedom of expression, in accordance with international human rights norms.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 31 people in Uganda between March and October 2023, including 21 environmental defenders.
The oil pipeline is one of the most significant fossil fuel infrastructure projects under development globally. It will include hundreds of wells, hundreds of kilometers of roads, camps and other infrastructures, and a 1,443-kilometer pipeline, the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world, connecting oilfields in western Uganda with the port of Tanga in eastern Tanzania.
The French fossil-fuel giant TotalEnergies is the operator and majority shareholder, alongside China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), and the state-run Ugandan and Tanzanian oil companies. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading authority on climate science, and others have warned that no new fossil fuel projects can be built if the world is to reach Paris Agreement goals and limit the worst impacts of climate change.
The activists are protesting both construction of the pipeline and the treatment of people in its path. Over 100,000 people in Uganda and Tanzania will lose their land for the oil developments. Many activists told Human Rights Watch that the constant threats from local government and security officials make it more difficult to provide support to those who have lost land.
The Ugandan authorities have routinely detained and arrested activists and human rights defenders on politically motivated charges. An environmental defender, Maxwell Atahura, described his 2021 arrest in Bullisa: “[The police] were asking me questions about oil … at a certain point they were calling me a terrorist, saboteur of government programs…. At the end they wrote on the police bond unlawful assembly.” Atahura also said that he has received threats and that he eventually relocated to Kampala for safety.
President Yoweri Museveni, a staunch backer of the EACOP pipeline, has warned he will not “allow anybody to play around … [with his] oil.”
Since October 2021, at least 30 people protesting or trying to address the impacts of the oil projects have experienced politically motivated arrests in Kampala and other parts of Uganda. In 2021, the government suspended 54 organizations on the basis of vague language in the country’s Non-Governmental Organisations Act of 2016, including several working on the oil sector and other environmental issues. Local organizations that continue to work on the oil issue do so under intense pressure from government and security officials who press them via phone and in person to halt their oil sector activities.
With limited options to influence government policy, some Ugandan nongovernmental groups alongside their international partners have filed suit in France against TotalEnergies. Two people who travelled to France for a court hearing in December 2019 have experienced continuous harassment by security and government officials since their return.
Activists in Uganda have heavily criticized the project because of the risks it poses to the environment, local communities, and its contribution to climate change. Activists have criticized the government for approving the project, as well as Ugandan and international companies potentially involved in its finance, insurance, construction, or operation.
Local civil society groups have become invaluable in assisting people whose land has been acquired for the oil developments to understand the compensation process and the various avenues open to them to secure fair compensation, Human Rights Watch said. In July Human Rights Watch reported human rights violations associated with the pipeline’s land acquisition project including inadequate compensation, and constant pressure from officials; threats of court action and threats from local government and security officials for those who have rejected compensation offers.
In an October 23 letter to Human Rights Watch, TotalEnergies stated they recognize “the importance of protecting Human Rights Defenders and do not tolerate any attacks or threats against those who peacefully and lawfully promote Human Rights in relations to their activities.”
Human Rights Watch has also written to Uganda’s National Bureau for Nongovernmental Organisations, a semi-autonomous office under the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Internal Security Organisation, and the Uganda Police Force, but none responded.
Due to the opposition of the pipeline from civil society organizations and climate activists in Uganda and around the world, many financial institutions and insurance companies have made a public commitment to not support the pipeline. Financing for the pipeline is yet to be finalized, although in March, a TotalEnergies official stated that the company anticipates that funding should be in place by the end of 2023.
“The construction and operation of EACOP poses grave environmental risks, human rights risks, and contributes to the global climate crisis.” Horne said. “Financial institutions and insurance companies should avoid supporting the Ugandan oil pipeline due to the devastating impacts of fossil fuels on climate change as well as future risks of serious human rights impacts.” - Human Rights Watch
Members of South Sudan parliament in their first session. [Photo by Awan Achiek/Sudans Post]
In an interview with Sudans Post, Honorable Juol Nhomngek Daniel, MP for Cueibet County on the ticket of the main armed opposition SPLM-IO under First Vice President Riek Machar, said lawmakers have gone four months without their salaries.
South Sudan members of parliament have gone several months without being paid and are unable to hold sessions because the owner of the Freedom Hall, where the parliament has been meeting, has not yet been paid, an MP said.
In an interview with Sudans Post, Honorable Juol Nhomngek Daniel, MP for Cueibet County on the ticket of the main armed opposition SPLM-IO under First Vice President Riek Machar, said lawmakers have gone four months without their salaries.
“The parliament is now going four months without salaries and services. The cars of the chairpersons [of specialized committees] are without fuel and the members have packed all their cars at home,” Nhomngek said on Tuesday.
“Up to now we are just setting under trees the work of parliament is not going anywhere, this has affected the work of so many committees,” he added.
Nhomngek further revealed that due to shortage of funds, the parliamentary sessions have been adjourned for weeks because the business owner of the Freedom Hall has not been paid for the use of his space.
“There was a time when parliament could not have a sitting in the Freedom hall because they were not paid which led to the sitting not to go on, all this comes because of management crisis we are not told how the resources of parliament are manage,” he added.
The lawmaker said members of parliament who speak about resources mismanagement are subjected to suspension because the leaders of the parliament are against anyone speaking out about the practices.
“When we talk like this, we are subjected to suspension, but we cannot stop because it’s the country which is dying once the parliament is dead the all-county is dead, now we are not even able to question the executive,” he said.
He further said that the parliament is not effectively operating and that “it is only the trips like the Speaker Jemma Nunu has gone on the trips with other members,” that ware taking place as the main activities. Sudans Post
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