East Africa

Details: East Africa; 10 August 2021; 829

A-level and AS level results day is today while GCSE results day is on Thursday

Students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive their A-level and GCSE results this week after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row because of Covid.

Students will be given grades determined by teachers, rather than exams, with pupils only assessed on what they have been taught during the pandemic.

A-level and AS level results day is today while GCSE results day is on Thursday.

Pupils have been advised to check with their school or college whether they are still required to pick up their results in person in the morning, or whether they will be sent out by email or post instead. Here we look at some of the questions that students and parents might be asking:

How have the grades been decided this year?

All four nations – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – adopted a system of awarding grades this summer based on teacher based assessment.

Teachers in England have been required to consider a range of evidence, including mock exams, coursework, and in-class assessments using questions by exam boards, to make decisions on pupils’ grades.

Headteachers had to submit a personal declaration that they believed grades to be accurate.

Schools and colleges were asked to provide samples of student work to exam boards, as well as evidence used to determine the grades for the students selected, as part of quality assurance (QA) checks.

Second year students studying textiles and surface design work during a session at the University of Bolton in Bolton, northwest England, on March 11, 2021 after students on practical courses started returning to their studies on campus as the coronavirus lockdown was eased. - University students on practical courses like art and design were allowed to return to their studies on campus from March 8 as part of step one of the government's roadmap for easing the coronavirus lockdown in England. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images) — No algorithm will be used to moderate teachers’ grades (Picture: Getty)

Random and targeted sample checks of evidence were also carried out after grades were submitted.

In some cases, where the evidence did not support the grades submitted, schools and colleges have been asked to review their grades.

Last summer, the fiasco around grading led to thousands of A-level students having their results downgraded from school estimates by a controversial algorithm, before Ofqual announced a U-turn.

But this year, no algorithm will be used to moderate teachers’ grades.

What should students do if they are unhappy with their grades?

Pupils in England who want to appeal against their grade must first request that their school or college reviews whether an administrative or procedural error was made.

Each school or college will set their own deadlines by which students must ask them to review a grade.

If the school or college rules no error was made, then students can escalate the appeal to the exam boards, which their school or college is expected to submit on their behalf.

In England, the deadline to send an appeal to the exam board is September 17.

There is an earlier deadline of August 23 for priority appeals, for example, if a student has not got their first choice of university place confirmed.

Year 11 students, wearing face coverings, take part in a GCSE maths class at Park Lane Academy in Halifax, northwest England on March 8, 2021 as schools reopen following the easing of lockdown restrictions. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images) — The deadline to send an appeal to the exam board is September 17 (Picture: PA)

Can students sit an exam if they do not like their results?

Students in England who are unhappy with their A-level or GCSE grades will have the opportunity to take exams in the autumn.

AS and A-level exams will be held in October, while GCSE exams will take place in November and December.

The higher grade will count for applicants who wish to take an autumn exam. By Kate Clifton, Metro

Details: East Africa; 10 August 2021; 780

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta held bilateral talks with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London on January 21, 2020. PHOTO | PSCU

Travellers from Kenya remained banned to the United Kingdom in the latest update that took effect yesterday, coming days after President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to Britain.

The UK last week updated countries on England’s “Red List” amid concerns about the spread of new Covid-19 variants that have now been reported in Kenya.

Stakeholders in the tourism industry had hoped that President Kenyatta’s recent the UK and the meeting with his British counterpart Boris Johnson would help in lifting the ban on Kenya.

Several media outlets in the UK had projected that Nairobi would join countries like Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and India that have been moved to the Amber List.

The UK retained Kenya, whose cases of Covid-19 have been surging for the last two weeks, on the travel ban first placed in April.

The UK has segmented countries into green, amber and red lists, each carrying different degrees of restrictions for arrivals back to the UK.

A British citizen travelling from a Green and Amber List is not required to undergo a mandatory quarantine.

Travellers arriving in the UK from countries on the Red List will be denied entry while returning Britons must submit to 10 days of mandatory quarantine in hotels.

Cases of Covid-19 in Kenya have jumped to above 208,000 with more than 4,000 cases.

The positivity rate climbed sharply by a double-digit in the last week, raising concerns among health officials.

In Kenya, 670,000 people have been fully vaccinated, representing a paltry 1.3 percent but the country has received several vaccine donations including from the UK and has also procured some with a target of inoculating 10 million Kenyans by next Christmas.

The UK travel ban comes amid fears that the highly contagious Covid-19 Delta variant may spark the fourth wave of infections in Kenya over the next two months.

Kenya has relaxed punitive requirements imposed on British citizens, which required them to undergo 14 days of isolation before entering the country.

In the mid-June review, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said the British nationals and non-citizens travelling through London are required to self-isolate for only seven days. Business Daily.

Details: East Africa; 09 August 2021; 860

An expert in the aviation has attributed unpopular policies by the government, excessive aeronautical and regulatory charges and poor understanding of the global business climate as part of the reasons why investment in aircraft repair facilities and other projects are diverted to neighbouring African countries.

Chief Executive Officer,Tropical Artic Logistics Limited (TAL), an integrated logistic outfit, Femi Adeniji, who this known in an interview, said unless the Federal Government and its agencies reversed the negative trend Nigeria would lose more investment into the sector.

He said the country recently lost a $2.5 billion investment for the setting up an aircraft maintenance repair and overhaul organisation (MRO) to Ghana on account of the unfriendly business climate.

The facility, according to Adeniji, would have been sited in Nigeria but the unfriendly system operated in the country forced the investors from the United States to divert it to Ghana.

He said Nigeria has lost many investment proposals in the aviation sector on account of the harsh hurdles set by the Ministry of Aviation, the airport and regulatory authorities.

He attributed the lack of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the country to corruption in the system stressing that the existing aviation policies and attitude of aviation authorities towards organisations and individuals that indicate interest in FDI has not been encouraging.

Adeniji cited instances of such discouraging incidents from people trying to invest in building airports and are shut down through charges on investments from companies outside.

He said the National Assembly committees on aviation have a huge role to play in addressing these gaps by ensuring a review of relevant legislation that will attract and drive offshore investment into the sector.

He said the committees should look beyond their oversight responsibilities by putting in place enabling legislation that will attract more private sector funds to the sector .

Adeniji said: “The system is completely corrupt. I would give you an example, I have two friends who wanted to invest, Americans who want to invest in this country, build their own private airport accessible to the state, the answer I got from Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority is that one of them should go and bring N35 million.

“In the United States all those things are waived if you are spending your money but in this country it is a different story. I have a very strong relationship with Boeing Aerospace. They are now in Ghana and I am talking of four months ago. They were trying to come in here and they said sorry, we cannot contribute when we are trying to create employment they are making life difficult for us.

“The United States just gave Ghana $2.5 billion to do a feasibility study to set up an MRO that is supposed to be in Nigeria there in Ghana.”

Adeniji decried that there are currently 15 Nigerians managing MROs and related businesses in the United States, but are not disposed to investing in Nigeria because of discouraging policies and feedback they get. By Kelvin Osa-Okumbor, The Nation

Details: East Africa; 09 August 2021; 848

Nearly 10 years after discovery of oil reserves, water in Turkana County, life remains arduous for deprived residents. The Turkana Indigenous people in northwest Kenya are nomadic pastoralists whose main socioeconomic activity is herding livestock and moving in search of water and grazing lands for their animals.

The Turkana are among the most economically marginalized communities in Kenya. A Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) report in 2020 noted that Turkana County is the poorest and most unequally devolved unit in Kenya.

“But we are rich, we have oil under our feet. Oil is one of the most precious commodities in this world. This we know. We are rich but I am in tattered clothes, my children are hungry, and we barely have water for drinking, let alone for our animals,” said 44-year-old Anguti Ekuwam.

Kenya discovered oil in 2012. It was found in Turkana’s ancestral lands by British oil prospecting company Tullow Oil that estimates there are around 600 million barrels of oil in wells that have been discovered.

As if the oil blessing was not enough, in 2013, Kenya discovered a large water aquifer in Turkana County, which remains one of Africa's driest, hottest, and poorest regions.

According to experts, the reserves could reportedly provide the country with water for 70 years and it is self-replenishing. Eight years down the line, though, the local community remains thirsty.

“We have all these resources but we are still suffering and poor. They came and they built roads that we have never seen. They are very good roads for them but not for us who sometimes walk barefoot. The boreholes that were opened after the discovery of the aquifers are still welded shut. We still have water problems,” said Ekuwam.

Asmi Kenyangole Lokaale is 47 and from the resource-rich region.

“There are some programs that the stakeholders have come up with to help us. Our children are in school, there is the provision for electricity, village water points, a hospital and good roads, but we still need more assistance. We expected the benefits to be more than we are seeing,” she said.

“These are projects we expected our government, both local and national, to do, not the oil companies. We expected to benefit as individuals from these villages. Most of us are not educated, so if we were helped in doing business we could sustain our lives and that of our children,” Kenyangole added.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a petroleum law in 2019, under which only 5% of revenue from oil discovered in Turkana County will go to local communities, 75% to the central government, and 20% to the County government.

In June, the National Drought Management Authority issued an early warning for a severe drought, and since then, the counties of Turkana, Isiolo, Samburu, Marsabit, and Baringo have been hit by a drought that is worsening daily.

Echwa Jonah Acheni, a herder, told Anadolu Agency: “There has been very little rain. In most areas, the animals are dying. We need a permanent water solution. We trek for so long in search of water and pasture.”

The need for more access points was something that Achim Steiner, former executive director of the UN Environment Program, also stressed in a conversation with Anadolu Agency when the water aquifer was discovered.

“There are people who have lived there for hundreds of years. They are mostly pastoralists who have learned to manage water scarcity as part of their tradition,” he said in an interview in 2015.

“The government should not only put boreholes in the area and make them sedentary, but also enhance water points, both for animals and people, that will benefit the local communities.”

Many indigenous communities, such as the Turkana and their neighbors from Samburu County, are still waiting for better days and remain dependent on food aid from the government and other well-wishers.

In Samburu, more than 100,000 people are in dire need of food and water, according to Daniel Lesaigor, chief officer for special programs in the county. By Andrew Wasike , Anadolu Agency

Details: East Africa; 09 August 2021; 857

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has announced a waiver on all penalties and interests for all interested taxpayers with outstanding balances.

Speaking to Business Daily on Monday, August 9, Commissioner for Domestic Taxes Rispah Simiyu confirmed that the taxman was offering up to 100 per cent waiver on penalties as well as interest.

She noted that the process of application for the waiver was now simplified and could be done exclusively through iTax.

Simiyu further explained that with the widening of the application platform, many eligible individuals and companies stood a chance to have the fees waived than before.

Times Tower Building in Nairobi. KENYANS.CO.KE

She noted that for seven months, the process was exclusively manual hence locking out a huge number of interested applicants.

"Uptake has been low, perhaps due to inability by taxpayers to lodge their applications on iTax.

"With the process now automated, it is expected that the uptake will improve since it is convenient and simple to lodge a Voluntary Tax Disclosure Programme (VTDP) application online," read the report in part.

According to KRA, All the principal taxes must be fully paid before an application can be lodged for consideration for waiver. The taxpayer has to be compliant in other taxes with regard to filing and payment of taxes.

How to apply for the waiver

The waiver can be applied in two ways, through the manual process or via the newly updated iTax platform.

On iTax, interested applicants must log in to their personal or business profiles then head to the Debt and Enforcement tab from where they can request for waiver of penalties and interest on a sub-menu tab.

On the form are various sections where the applicant is expected to fill including Section A, Section B, their personal information among others.

The applicants can then download acknowledgement receipt for the waiver application.

In the manual process, applications are to be presented to the taxpayer’s respective Tax Service Office (TSO).

All applications should state reason(s) why the taxpayer should be considered for waiver, giving evidence to support each of the reason(s).

A file image of the reception area at KRA offices in Nairobi. KRA Kenyans.co.ke