Taxi vans sit parked as passengers walk through New Taxi Park in downtown Kampala, Uganda, on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. Uganda has enforced restrictions for almost two months to arrest the virus outbreak, prohibiting movement by vehicles except for cargo and essential services. Photographer: Esther Ruth Mbabazi/Bloomberg , Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) --
Uganda will fully reopen its economy in January after almost two years of control measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, as at least half of the targeted population would have been inoculated, President Yoweri Museveni said.
The East African country expects to have vaccinated 12 million of the targeted 21 million people by end-December, Museveni said in a televised address Thursday night from the capital, Kampala.
“Vaccination is the key to opening the economy, now that the vaccines are available the economy will be opened in January,” he said. Uganda has received more than 9.5 million doses of mainly AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and expects more by year-end, he said.
Schools, bars and entertainment centers have been closed since the virus was first detected in the country in March 2020 and a dusk-to-dawn curfew been enforced to contain the virus. Bloomberg
Rwanda and Tanzanian ministers of foreign affairs on Thursday, October 28, signed an MoU on Defence Cooperation at the end of the Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) meeting held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this week.
Rwanda's envoy in Tanzania, Maj Gen Charles Karamba, told The New Times that the Ministerial session was co-chaired by both countries' Ministers of Foreign Affairs; Dr Vincent Biruta and Liberata Mulamula, respectively of Rwanda and Tanzania.
“The meeting has approved the permanent secretaries’ report and signed it. Both ministers have signed an MoU on Defence Cooperation,” the envoy said.
The fifteenth session of the Rwanda-Tanzania JPC, at technical level, kicked off on Monday with officials from both ends looking to follow up on directives by the two countries’ leaders’ in August, and work towards enhancing ties in various fields.
Presidents Paul Kagame and Samia Suluhu Hassan met in Kigali in August, held bilateral discussions, and signed four bilateral agreements in areas of ICT, cooperation in areas of immigration, in education, and an agreement on cooperation in areas of regulation of medical products.
The two leaders visited different factories at the Kigali Special Economic Zone, among others. Members of the private sector saw President Suluhu's two-day State visit as an opportunity for both countries to make the thriving business between the two countries even better.
SGR funding
Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Rwanda and Tanzania ministers held regular meetings as they looked to fast-track the implementation of the two countries' Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project which is meant to, in future, facilitate transport and trade along the Central Corridor route linking Tanzania to Rwanda and Burundi as well as the DR Congo.
From the Dar meeting, the latest development is that Rwanda will host a meeting next week where Tanzania and DR Congo are invited to discuss joint funding mobilization strategies for the railway project.
“The Ministers agreed that next week a meeting be held in Kigali for Tanzania and Rwanda Ministers of Infrastructure and Finance to study the mode of funding of the Standard Gauge Railway project, among other decisions,” Karamba said.
The 521-kilometre Isaka-Kigali section of the SGR project is what Rwandans are so eager to see happen.
By December 2018, Rwanda and Tanzania were weighing up the option of extending the proposed joint standard gauge railway to Rubavu at the border with DR Congo, a neighbour that is increasingly becoming a strategic trading partner for both Rwanda and Tanzania.
The Isaka-Kigali section of the railway alone was earlier estimated to cost $2.5 billon and officials know that extending it to Rubavu means stretching it by an extra more than 140 kilometre, and thus calls for more funding.
The Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam handles more than 85 percent of the cargo destined or transiting through Rwanda. - James Karuhanga, The New Times
The family of a Kenyan woman allegedly killed by a British soldier in 2012 have told the BBC of their anger and despair that no-one has yet been convicted of her murder.
Her body was found in a septic tank at a hotel in central Kenya nearly three months after she had spent an evening partying with soldiers.
The 21-year-old left behind a five-month old daughter, who is now being cared for by her sister Rose Wanyua in the town of Nanyuki, 200km (125 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi.
Ms Wanyua sobbed as she revealed how the Sunday Times report had raked up painful memories.
She and her husband John Muchiri said the family had given up any hope of finding justice for Ms Wanjiru, who they knew as Ciru.
Image caption,Agnes Wanjiru's sister (L) was in tears as she recalled the death of her sibling
"If it was Ciru who had killed that white person, by now I wouldn't even know where she is jailed," Ms Wanyua said.
"But whoever killed her went free and is living his life. I am raising her child alone, no-one has asked about their well-being, not even the government."
'We can't afford lawyers'
Ms Wanjiru, who dropped out of high school and later became a sex worker to look after her baby, was last seen by witnesses on the night of 31 March 2012.
She was walking out of a Nanyuki bar accompanied by two British soldiers.
Her body was later discovered behind a room where the soldiers had stayed, with missing body parts and a stabbing injury.
Kenyan judge Njeri Thuku concluded after an inquest in 2019 that Ms Wanjiru had been murdered by one or two British soldiers.
She ordered two further criminal inquiries, but the military took no action, the Sunday Times reports.
A soldier told the paper that the killer had confessed to him and he had reported it, but the army had failed to initially investigate.
Kenyan detectives are also said to have asked British military police to question some of the soldiers, but the UK's defence ministry denied receiving such a request.
On Tuesday, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Ministry of Defence (MOD) had fully co-operated with the Kenyan investigation - and would continue to do so.
IMAGE SOURCE,AFP - Image caption,The British army holds training exercises near Nanyuki
Mr Muchiri said the family felt let down, but could not afford legal representation to take the matter further.
"You know, we are poor. I'm a casual labourer. We'd have loved to retain a lawyer to follow up. We can't," he said.
For decades, locals have complained about the British army, which has a training base in Nanyuki.
A lawyer who represents them told the BBC many of the issues go unaddressed.
"Even with our local police, you will just report a case, and then nothing goes beyond the investigation stage," Kelvin Kubai said. "Most of the locals do not have the resources and financial capacity, to enable them pursue justice on such grounds."
Airtel Africa’s profit for the first half ended September 2021 more than doubled on-year to $335 million, while revenue for the same period rose 25 per cent YoY to $2.27 billion.
Airtel’s Africa business reported a net profit of $192 million in the fiscal second quarter, which more than doubled year-on-year (YoY) and rose over 35 per cent sequentially. The profit growth was on the back of a sharp reduction in finance costs coupled with strong growth in data and mobile money revenues.
Revenue for the quarter to September rose 20 per cent on-year and 4.31 per cent sequentially to $1.16 billion, the company said on Thursday.
Accordingly, Airtel Africa’s profit for the first half ended September 2021 more than doubled on-year to $335 million, while revenue for the same period rose 25 per cent YoY to $2.27 billion.
“Our first-half financial performance has been strong. The first half of last year, and especially Q1, was impacted by the start of Covid, but even after adjusting for these effects, our revenue growth rates for the half-year for the Group and all our service segments are ahead of our FY’21 revenue growth trends, and in reported terms, these are all in strong double-digit,” Segun Ogunsanya, Airtel Africa’s recently appointed new chief executive officer, said in an official statement on Thursday.
Net finance cost in the July-September quarter fell 23% on-year and nearly 27% sequentially to $71 million.
Airtel’s Africa arm said, “The continued strength of the business has led the board to declare an interim dividend of 2 cents per share in accordance with an upgraded dividend policy which sets a new target base dividend for FY’22 of 5 cents per share, with the aim to grow this at a mid-to high- single-digit percentage each year.”
An undated photo of ODM leader Raila Odinga inside an aeroplane FILE
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga took a break from campaigns and jetted out of the Country on Wednesday, October 27, for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In a statement signed by Odinga's Spokesperson Dennis Onyango, the ODM leader left at 4pm on Wednesday.
Odinga will be going to UAE in his capacity as the African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development in Africa.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga speaks during the Mashuja Day Celebrations in Kirinyaga on October 20, 2021.
TWITTER RAILA
He will attend a conference that will bring together high level officials and Ministers in Infrastructure, Energy, Transport, ICT and Water Sectors as well as Private Sectors companies leading in the Infrastructure sector.
"He will upraise the conference on second phase of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA PAP2) being implemented from 2021-2030," reads an excerpt of the statement.
Odinga will also engage stakeholders on the effective service delivery of infrastructure on the continent.
He is expected back in the Country next week.
In addition, he will brief the conference on infrastructure and Energy improvements necessary for increased economic growth rate in the wake of the meltdown caused by coronavirus.
Odinga's trip came just months after he left the country for the UAE for a strategic and political meeting.
Accompanying him at the time was Suna East MP Junet Mohammed, one of his close allies.
An undated photo of Opposition leader Raila Odinga aboard a plane at the airport. (COURTESY) Kenyans,co,ke
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.
