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Pressure groups in Tanzania are pushing the National Electoral Commission to drop district directors and other public servants from election supervision duties.

Leaders of political parties, civil society and religious groups and lawyers lobby said public servants, mainly district executive directors, town directors, municipal directors, city directors, ward executives and teachers, should not serve as returning officers in civic and general elections.

The Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) told the government to present aBill when parliament resumes sessions in February to govern this year’s local government elections.

“We propose that the Electoral Commission hire its own staff from the ward, district, regional, and national levels,” LHRC executive Director Anna Henga said.

The ACT Wazalendo chairman Zitto Kabwe added his voice to the debate, saying the electoral body should hire its own staff to conduct the elections. They were speaking at a forum organised by the Council of Tanzania Political Parties in Dar es Salaam to seek public opinions on election related Bills introduced Parliament in November last year.

The Bills are the National Electoral Commission Bill 2023, the Political Parties Affairs Laws (Amendment) Bill 2023, and the Presidential, Parliamentary, and Local Government Elections Bill 2023.

And on Thursday, Chadema secretary-general John Mnyika said that his party also stands against administration of elections by government servants. District council directors are appointed by the president, who is also the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party leader and a candidate in the presidential contest.

Mr Mnyika said Tanzania needs an “independent electoral commission” that would manage elections without interference from the government.

Civic United Front (CUF) chairman Prof Ibrahim Lipumba, while expressing his opposition to the use of public servants in the electoral process, alleged that in the 2020 polls, council directors were directed to ensure that the ruling CCM party won.

“We have gone through a period where politicians will tell district council directors that ‘if I give you fuel and a salary, make sure that my party doesn’t lose the election,” Prof Lipumba said.

Veteran politician John Cheyo wants the electoral commission to have independent staff across the cadres.

Mr Cheyo recalled incidents in the 2020 election, where council directors employed underhand tactics disqualify or disadvantage opposition candidates. - APOLINARI TAIRO, The EastAfrican

Africa’s vibrant telco sector is set for a bumper year in 2024 as it expands operations and broadens service offerings to meet the needs of an increasingly digital-savvy customer base.  

Industry projections estimate the Africa telco sector will grow by $2.24-billion between 2020 and 2024, with longer-term growth expected to be powered by the rollout of high-speed 5G connectivity and a growing suite of complementary services, specifically in the financial services sector.  

In conversation with telco executives throughout East, West and Southern Africa over the past few weeks, a number of common challenges have emerged. Telcos are seeking to safeguard current revenue streams through improved downstream visibility, especially over their B2B partners.   

At the same time, a slew of new customer-facing services and innovations hold the promise for greater profitability over the long term. This will require bold action - if telcos are not willing to take risks to drive greater innovation, there are inevitably new upstarts that will, claiming market and revenue share in the process.  

As African telcos try to strike a balance between higher profitability and better revenue protection, these are the key trends they should take note of in 2024:  

Digitalisation drives greater visibility over B2B channels  

In telco markets across the continent, from Kenya to Ivory Coast to Tanzania and Swaziland, operators rely heavily on dealers or resellers to drive sales and service customer needs. But a lack of digitalisation

has left many telcos with little visibility over their B2B channels, creating challenges with inventory management, revenue projections and cost management.  

The emergence of new technology platforms and tested systems to provide greater downstream efficiency and visibility will transform telcos' ability to leverage their dealer channels for strategic advantage. While there may be some cultural resistance to greater digitalisation, telcos could use incentives - such as discounts - to get dealers on board.   

This may also unlock significant revenue opportunities for B2B partners who can leverage digital capabilities to utilise a broader range of products and services and better meet customer needs.  

Innovation powers improved customer experiences 

Once their digitalisation efforts are complete, telcos can enable a far richer suite of products and services, driving higher levels of customer experience. This can take the form of tailored financial services such as insurance products or mobile money, as well as emerging innovations such as Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL).  

The key is to integrate these services at the point of sale to ensure a quick and seamless customer experience. Considering the growing regulatory requirements in several African countries, telcos should

ensure their customer-facing technology can meet KYC requirements to enable the delivery of new services.  

Ideally, telcos should seek point of sale solutions that boast efficient transactional flows and that can cater to the varied operational requirements of Africa's telco industry, with a rich list of preloaded features and modules. 

 eSIM adoption hits its stride 

While there are still holdouts in all African markets, most consumers are shifting away from feature phones to more function-rich smartphones. Industry data indicates feature phone volumes will decline from 66.3 million in 2019 to only 43.1 million by 2028.  

The adoption of smartphones will also speed up the rollout of eSIMs, which hold significant benefits for telcos and their efforts at delivering a richer suite of value-added services to their subscriber base.  

 This growth will be driven mainly by a younger user base hungry for access to social media platforms and the benefits of Africa's burgeoning e-commerce sector. Expect telcos to run extensive promotional

campaigns on social media to lure younger users on to smartphones, from where they can deliver a rich suite of services to drive greater revenue and profitability.  Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Itemate Solutions.

The United Kingdom has issued a travel warning for its citizens in Kenya, advising them to exercise caution and avoid touring specific regions of the country.

In its update to the terrorism section, the UK, through the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), has recommended that British nationals refrain from non-essential travel to certain areas in Kenya.

“Your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against FCDO advice,” the office warned.

Top on the list in the UK travel warning, FCDO advised against all but essential travel to areas within 60km of Kenya’s border with Somalia.

Somalia has been grappling with the threat of al-Shabaab, a militant Islamist group, for over a decade. The group’s activities have spilled over into Kenya, raising concerns about security and stability in the region.

The FCDO also cautioned against non-essential travel to eastern Garissa County and Mandera County, except for the Mandera West sub-county.

British nationals have additionally been advised to avoid non-essential travel to Lamu County, excluding Lamu Island and Manda Island.

The UK travel warning extends to Tana River County, specifically areas north of the Tana River and within 15km of the coast between the Tana River and the Galana (Athi-Galana-Sabaki) River. The listed areas have historically witnessed a higher frequency of terrorist attacks compared to other regions in Kenya.

 

Al-Shabaab commonly targets Kenyan security forces, and government installations, as well as soft targets such as hotels and transportation hubs in these specific regions.

The UK travel warning coincides with the eve of the fifth anniversary of the January 15, 2019, terrorist attack on the DusitD2 complex in Nairobi, where 21 people lost their lives.

Gunmen stormed the complex, which included a hotel, offices, and restaurants, resulting in a deadly terrorist attack claimed by the extremist militia group the al-Shabaab. By Davies Ayega, Capital News

A railway line in Kampala, Uganda. PHOTO | SYLIVIA KATUSHABE | NGMU

Uganda’s planned overhaul of the metre gauge railway to cut transport costs on the Northern Corridor and improve trade competitiveness has entered its final stages, even as the country faces a shortage of equipment, wagons, and trains.

The EastAfrican has learnt Spanish firm Imathia Construction has completed replacing steel sleepers with concrete beams on the Namanve-Kampala section of the line, which is expected to be handed over this month, Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) publicist John Lenon Sengendo said, adding that the contractor will then embark on the final section, Namanve-Mukono.

This will be the second section of the track to be completed after rehabilitation of the Tororo-Namanve line, including the line to Jinja Pier, which was completed a year ago.

While the Malaba-Namanve metre gauge track is now in fair condition, importers, exporters, and shippers remain sceptical about switching to rail, citing a shortage of rolling stock and inefficiency, which has resulted in 90 percent of traffic on the Northern Corridor being carried by road and only about seven percent is carried by rail because of the poor state of rail infrastructure.

Read: Grand $15bn plan to expand Kenya SGR to Kisumu, Malaba

As a result, transport costs are comparatively high on the Northern Corridor, ranging from 20 cents to 25 cents per tonne per kilometre for road transport, while the cost for rail transport ranges from US cents 6 to US cent 12 per tonne per kilometre, depending on the type of cargo. 

The shortage of rolling stock is partly blamed on URC. A June 2022 Uganda’s Auditor General after reviewing URC’s asset register, had 521 wagons located in different parts of Kenya.

But only 128 wagons exit, leaving a balance of 393 wagons unaccounted for, raising fears of a possibility of URC overstating its asset values in the financial statements.

“URC accounting officer explained that there were many wagons left in Kenya by RVR (U) Ltd upon concession termination. A repatriation exercise to return these assets to Uganda commenced in July 2021 and by December 2021, a total of 243 wagons had been brought back.”

Under this project, Uganda is to buy 3,000 horsepower locomotives by 2026.

The number of Uganda government-owned wagon ferries is also expected to increase from the current two to four, a development set to help URC meet the growing traffic demand on Lake Victoria.

Read: Uganda plans to go it alone, build 2,700km-long SGR

The other financiers are the African Development Bank, which will provide $233.2 million, and the African Development Fund to provide $100.7 million – both concessional loans to finance the construction and purchase of rolling stock, which includes locomotives, wagons and coaches.

URC’s target is to move cargo from road to rail, and we expect to be moving six million tonnes a year.

In its efforts to revamp the metre gauge railway, Uganda is also reviving the route from Tororo in Eastern Uganda to Gulu City in the north. The line is currently under construction. Significantly, the city also hosts the Gulu Logistics Hub, whose phase one is also under construction, and projected to be complete in March 2022. The hub – which will be rail-linked – was planned as a strategic location connecting to the growing markets of Congo and South Sudan. By KABONA ESIARA, The East African

DCI Headquarters on September 8, 2023. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has written to Interpol and immigration to help establish the whereabouts of a Nairobi businessman who disappeared two weeks after a magistrate issued a warrant of arrest after he failed to appear in court.

DCI is hunting for Davis Nathan Chelogoi, former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner, who is implicated in the forgery of land title and other documents of an 18-acre land located at Lower Kabete in Nairobi valued at Sh1.35 billion

Milimani Principal Magistrate Dolphina Alego on December 23, last year, issued the warrant after Chelogoi failed to appear in court for plea-taking in a case where he is jointly charged with Assistant Deputy Director for Lands Administration Andrew Kirungu. 

The prosecution alleges that Chelogoi and Kirungu conspired to defraud Ashok Rupshi and Hitenkumar Raja of the land along Lower Kabete Road.

In the letter addressed to the Interpol, immigration, and all government departments, DCI said any information on Chelogoi will be welcomed. 

The prosecution alleged on diverse dates between May 2020 and June 2021, Kirungu and Chelogoi procured registration of the said land by falsely pretending the property belonged to the latter.

Kirungi was also charged with abuse of office and was remanded in custody until December 28, last year, when the court gave him bail.

However, Chelogoi has been on the run. 

In August 2022, an Environment and Land Court ordered businessman Jacob Juma (deceased) to pay Sh50 million for attempting to grab the same land.

Environment and Land Court judge Loice Komingoi, in her ruling, noted that the late Juma grabbed and illegally occupied the prime land in Loresho, thereby denying its real owners the right to enjoy their property.

 

The judge did not, however, specify whether the compensation would be paid by Juma’s widow Miriam Wairimu.

According to the judge, a forensic document examiner had proved that the signature on Juma’s title was a forgery.

On Wednesday, Mr Shah, owner of land known as LR 18485, was threatened by goons after he went to access the land. He reported the incident at the Spring Valley Police Station. 

“I kept fighting against Jacob Juma in the court case for 13 years, and finally, the court delivered the judgment in July 2022 confirming that we were the legitimate owners of the property. Later after the court ruling in our favour, to our surprise, Davis Nathan Chelogoi claimed that he was the owner of this property,” said Shah. By Jacob Ng’etich, The Standard

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