A new dawn has come for Zimbabwe after Fifa unveiled the Normalisation Committee which will run Zifa's affairs until June 2024 following the lifting of a suspension on the country.

Former Dynamos chairman Lincoln Mutasa will chair the four member committee unveiled at a press conference organized by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) this morning.

Mutasa will be assisted by lawyer Nyasha Tashinga Sanyamandwe, former Mighty Warriors coach Rosemary Mugadza and ex-Highlanders defender Sikhumbuzo Ndebele. 

Fifa also confirmed the lifting of the suspension which will see Zimbabwe included in the 2026 World Cup draw set for tomorrow.

Fifa head of development programmes in Africa Solomon Mudege represented the international football body while Sports Minister of Kirsty Coventry was also in attendance. News Day

Blaring with music and driven in the usual Kenyan matatu style was what Azimio la Umoja Coalition leader Raila Odinga experienced as he headed to Nairobi city centre yesterday morning

After opting not to use his usual motorcade with sirens signaling an important person on board, Raila interestingly looked as if he was at home, dressed in blue, seated in a blue manyanga plying the Ngong- Nairobi route

In a video that has since gone viral and was posted by Azimio TV captioned ‘Embracing the convenience and camaraderie of public transport heading to work’ the opposition supremo is seen conversing with other passengers on board

The tout sought the audience of Raila, decrying the high cost of fuel. Other passengers told him about the high cost of living, saying the country is not headed in the right direction.  

“Baba tunaumia, hii matatu tulikua tunalipa mia moja, leo tunalipa 150 (Baba we are struggling, we used to pay Sh100 for fare now we have to part with Sh150,” a passenger said as he jokingly pleaded with the opposition chief to cover his fare expenses.

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  Domestic borrowing: State tightens chokehold on firms

Others complained of high electricity and water bills and pleaded with Raila to intervene.

When asked by a passenger about his experience in the matatu, Raila said he was “enjoying the ride.” 

When asked by another passenger why he opted to use a matatu, Raila said he needed to share the everyday experience of Kenyans. “I opted for the matatu today so that I can experience what other citizens experience,” said Raila

In what caught many by surprise, Raila alighted at the Ambassador matatu terminus and went ahead to pay homage to Tom Mboya and Dedan Kimathi statues in the city. 

The Azimio boss then had a shoe shine while accompanied by other leaders among them former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya.

He then proceeded to a restaurant for a meal.  The former premier completed his tour of the central business district by addressing his supporters along City Hall Way, stating that the push to collect 15 million signatures was on. 

Odinga’s move comes a few days after he urged Kenyans to boycott highly taxed commodities including avoiding using vehicles owing to the high cost of fuel. His appeal included walking to work to send a message to Kenya Kwanza that it had failed to empathise with mwananchi by increasing tax on fuel to 16 per cent. 

“One way to do this is to carpool. Let us arrange to make regular journeys in a single vehicle whenever possible and give each other a ride,” he said. By Ann Veronicah , The Standard

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has appealed for SSP 190 billion ($191 million) to meet the needs of South Sudanese IDPs and returnees.

The IOM said the funds will also be used to support migrants and host communities affected by war and natural calamities. 

The organization added that the effort is meant to champion for multispectral initiatives that combine humanitarian assistance with development-oriented and conflict-sensitive programming whilst leveraging its multi-sectoral capacity and with partners.

“IOM’s humanitarian response will be informed by contextual analyses that promote a strong focus on social cohesion for returnees, internally displaced and host communities, thereby contributing to peacebuilding and the linkages between humanitarian and development programmes,” the organization said in a statement seen by City Review. 

It further promised concerted efforts towards health, water, sanitation, and hygiene responses, as well as mental health and psychosocial responses for vulnerable people.

South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, continues to grapple with a serious humanitarian crisis made worse by continued violent conflicts and climatic shocks.

More than four million people remain displaced, 2.5 million internally and 2.2 million having moved to neighbouring countries as refugees.

“IOM will also continue to provide essential core services such as health, water, sanitation, and hygiene response and the provision of mental health and psychosocial support while protection and safeguarding beneficiaries remain the cornerstones. 

The outbreak of fighting in Sudan on April 15, 2023, has worsened the already bad humanitarian situation in South Sudan, with more desperate persons affected by the war, fleeing to neighboring countries, including South Sudan.

More than 148,000 individuals, 93 per cent of whom are South Sudanese nationals, have arrived in South Sudan as of 30 June 2023, claimed IOM.

The organisation, however, did not disclose exactly how many people they target in the planned humanitarian support, should they get the much needed fund. By Mamer Abraham, The City Review

The High court has declared illegal the attempted removal of Usher Wilson Owere as the chairman general of the National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU) by a section of the organization's leadership. 

In November 2022, a group led by NOTU secretary-general Peter Werike and deputy chairman general Stephen Mugole chaired a general council meeting in Kampala and overwhelmingly voted to dismiss Owere.

They said he was free to appeal to the general council at their next meeting (this) year. They accused him of dictatorship, failure to conduct meetings, and abusing his powers, among others. At the same meeting, Werikhe, also Bubulo West MP stepped down "willingly" following concerns from members including Owere, that it was wrong for one to be secretary general while also a serving MP. 

Owere sought a judicial review of the process in the High court, calling for the declaration that it was illegal and violated the Labour Unions Act and the NOTU Constitution. 

Justice Musa Ssekaana has now declared that Tom Amiti, the acting secretary general had no mandate to call a council meeting and that all the outcomes of the said meeting were null and void. 

He also ruled that the consultative meeting convened by the minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development Betty Amongi on January 9 at which she recognized the new leadership was illegitimate. 

Owere was represented by Okello Peter Jabweli and Emma Opio while Alex Tuhimbise and Henry Kurukayo represented the respondents. While the applicant filed final written submissions that were considered by this court, the respondents "failed or refused to file their submissions as directed" and the court proceeded to determine the matter. 

"A declaration doth issue that the purported removal of the applicant from the office of chairman general of NOTU was unfair, unjust, malicious, irrational and illegal and contravenes the principle of fair hearing and natural justice," he ruled. 

He also directed the six respondents; Werikhe, Mugole, Bigirwa, Mauku, Bandaru, and Amiti to pay Shs 5 million each in damages to Owere, as a punitive measure against them. Court also granted Owere an injunction blocking the respondents from removing him from office in violation of the laws.

"A permanent injunction doth issue restraining the respondents and their agents from suspending and or removing the applicant from the office of chairman general of NOTU or carrying out any activities for and on behalf of the 1st respondent (NOTU)," reads the judgment.

The judge also nullified a consultative meeting on December 22 between Owere's rivals and the ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Betty Amongi, which gave them a go-ahead to meet on January 9 where resolutions would be made to dismiss or reinstate the suspended Owere.

According to him, the minister had no mandate, according to the laws, to cause the consultative meeting. 

"The Labour Unions Act did not give the minister such a mandate to cause a consultative meeting that leads to the calling of an organ of NOTU. NOTU meetings are held by their Constitution and not at the whims of a minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development or any other person in the ministry," he said, adding that all outcomes of the meeting were illegal. 

Court was told that that meeting was called to make a memorandum of understanding on how Owere would be removed and what happens later, regarding the sharing of positions. 

"It was indeed irrational since the movers of the illegal meeting were to benefit from the new positions after the successful organization ‘coup d’etat’," he said.

The respondents were also adjudged to have failed to follow the rules of natural justice in their effort of removing the applicant. The body with the power to decide lawfully, like NOTU, cannot unlawfully proceed to remove the applicant without affording him a proper opportunity to state his case.

"Since the meeting was illegally convened by the 2nd (Werikhe) and 7h (Amiti) respondents then any resolutions arising therefrom cannot be of any legal effect and this would make everything void ab initio," ruled Ssekaana.

This also made the election of Stephen Mugole, Richard Bigirwa, Moses Mauku, and Barbara Bandaru illegal, null, and void. 

"A declaration doth issue that the purported election of the 3rd, 4the, 5th and 6th respondents respectively as acting chairman general, acting secretary general, acting treasurer general, and acting treasurer of NOTU at the unlawful meeting of November 15, 2022, was illegal, irrational and null and void." - URN/The Observer