East Africa

East Africa

Details: East Africa; 21 August 2021; 984

Lady Justice Fatuma Sichale of the Court of Appeal listens to a lawyer during the ruling of the Building Bridges Initiatives (BBI) case, a key part of jostling, ahead of a presidential election due next year, at the Court of Appeal in Nairobi, Kenya August 20, 2021. Photo REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

NAIROBI, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Kenya's Court of Appeal upheld a decision to stop President Uhuru Kenyatta from making broad constitutional changes, limiting his ability to prevent his estranged deputy from succeeding him next year.

The proposed amendments, popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), would have been the biggest change to governance since a new constitution in 2010.

The court upheld a High Court decision in May that declared the proposed reforms illegal on the basis that Kenyatta acted unconstitutionally.

"The days of (an) unaccountable presidency are long gone," said Patrick Kiage, one of the appellate judges, rejecting the government's appeal.

The BBI has served as a lightning rod for the rhetoric of politicians jostling ahead of a general election due in August 2022. Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto have fallen out and they and their supporters are at odds over the proposals.

"I don't see the need to change the constitution," said Mwangi Kiunjuri, a Ruto backer who was sacked from the Cabinet by Kenyatta early last year.

Kenyatta argued that the constitutional overhaul would promote power sharing among competing ethnic groups and was not intended to deny anyone the presidency.

The proposed amendments would have created 70 new constituencies and establish several powerful new posts: a prime minister, two deputies and an official leader of the parliamentary opposition.

Ruto's Kalenjin ethnic community teamed up with Kenyatta's Kikuyu in the last two elections to defeat former Prime Minister Raila Odinga from the Luo, another large ethnic group.

The amendments are partly designed to tame Ruto's political ambitions to succeed Kenyatta by making it possible to weave an alliance against him, according to anti-graft campaigner John Githongo.

Ruto has been campaigning vigorously to inherit Kenyatta's Kikuyu voting bloc in the central region, some of whom have embraced his message.

"We don't want BBI ... This is about politicians and their search for power," said Beatrice Kagure, a college student in the central town of Nyeri.

To win support for his reform drive, Kenyatta proposes to more than double county governments' allocation to 35% of the budget, to spread more resources to the grassroots. Some critics say the government has struggled to disburse the current 15% counties budgetary allocation on time. - Reuters Reporting by Duncan Miriri; editing by Grant McCool

Details: East Africa; 20 August 2021; 1085

Agenda 111 plan

According to him, the NPP thinks their dreams are an achievement and cited the Agenda 111 project as one of such dreams.

"It is only the NPP that will rejoice at a dream. They don’t look at the pros and cons of their dream. Ever since the President won election 2020, he has not done anything to grace the Ashanti Region. The project being launched in the region will only end up bringing disgrace to us. When you plan to do something and it is not realized, that is a failed agenda. I am surprised the NPP is not doing a thorough analysis of the project," he said on Accra-based Kingdom FM.

He noted that the $100million released for the commencement of the project will not be enough to even complete the preliminary construction stages.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

"They say 88 hospitals will be funded by the government and the rest will be constructed from loans that will be acquired later on and meanwhile these projects are supposed to be finished in 12 months,” he added.

To him, it is not smart to start a project for which you have not secured full funding.

"The NPP is just trying to create the impression they are doing something and working on a project they have no funding for," he stated.

Mahdi Gibrill said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo failed to fulfill his earlier promise of constructing 88 district hospitals due to a lack of funds and poor planning.

He insisted that the same way the president promised those hospitals in the same way he is also promising these ones. By KOJO EMMANUEL, Pulse

Details: East Africa; 20 August 2021; 1154

Ethiopian Airlines Group, an aviation group in Africa, has established a global standard cargo Conversion program to convert the B-767-300 ER to dedicated freighter services in partnership agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

Ethiopian Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, said, ‘’In line with our Diversified Aviation Business Model of Vision 2025, we have been increasing our cargo capacity in fleet, ground service infrastructure and cargo connectivity network. Accordingly, we are partnering with IAI, one of the global technology leaders in the Aerospace industry, in building a cargo conversion center in our MRO facilities in Addis Ababa Airport.

The Cargo conversion center will commence its first business with three Ethiopian Airlines owned B-767-300 aircraft. The Cargo Conversion Center in Addis Ababa airport will expand its services to all airlines in Africa and the wider region. We are very happy that we are able to collaborate with IAI to enable us to expand our cargo and logistics services which is already the largest and leading cargo network in Africa. The capacity building will also help us expand our MRO services with cutting edge technology and knowledge transfer.”

Yossi Melamed, IAI's Executive VP and General Manager of Aviation Group on his part said: “We are witnessing a sharp rise in the demand for cargo aircraft as a result of the rise in ecommerce, which has peaked to record levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. IAI has an excellent reputation as a conversion center of passenger-to-freighters aircraft, and we are constantly receiving requests to open such conversion centers in more and more locations around the world. I am excited by the opening of the current center in Ethiopia and thank my colleagues in Ethiopian Airlines for the trust they have put in IAI’s Aviation Group, as the world’s leader in conversions."

The new passenger-to-freighter conversion centre, which will operate from the Ethiopian MRO centre in Addis Ababa, will provide solutions for the rising demand for cargo aircraft of B767 models.

The conversion line in Ethiopia will join existing conversion sites IAI operates at its campus in Ben Gurion International Airport and in Mexico. It is to be recalled that Ethiopian MRO, with its internal capacity, temporarily converted 25 of its passenger aircraft to freighter to boost its cargo capacity as demand to transport emergency medical supplies soared. Source: ABC

Details: East Africa; 20 August 2021; 1106

Appeals Court President Daniel Musinga during the ruling on the BBI on August 20, 2021. Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A

In Summary

At the Court of Appeal, BBI proponents put up a spirited fight, arguing that the bill was promoted by the secretariat and not the president.
There was also a heated argument on finding that it was unconstitutional for the Kenya Bill to directly allocate and apportion constituencies.

The High Court’s finding that the BBI Bill touched on unamendable clauses of the Constitution is among the contentious determinations at the center of focus as the Court of Appeal rules on the drive.

In their scathing ruling nullifying the entire BBI process on May 14, the High Court found that the bill sought to interfere with the doctrine of basic structure that protects certain fundamental aspects of the Constitution.

“There are certain provisions in the Constitution which are insulated from any amendment at all because they are deemed to express categorical core values,” the bench ruled.

The Judges said the provisions are unamendable and cannot be changed through the exercise of ‘secondary constituent power or constituted power.’

The finding arouses bitter arguments during the hearing at the Court of Appeal, with proponents’ lawyers bitterly faulting the Judges for the ruling.

“It is inconceivable that we can even attempt to entrench the doctrine of basic structure when the Constitution expressly provides the opposite and allows for any amendment through a parliamentary process or through a popular initiative,” senior counsel George Oraro said.

Former Attorney General Githu Muigai argued that the Constitution bestows the powers to change any part of the constitution on the people.

“We cannot agree on who the people are and can’t agree on basic structure when our constitution is very clear on what can be done to change it,” Githu said.

In their ruling, the Judges said that the Basic Structure of the Constitution consists of the foundational structure of the Constitution as provided in the Preamble; the eighteen chapters; and the six schedules of the Constitution.

“It also includes the specific substantive areas Kenyans thought were important enough to pronounce themselves through constitutional entrenchment including land and environment; Leadership and Integrity; Public Finance; and National Security,” they said.

The Judges declared it as unconstitutional, null and void the entire BBI process that culminated in the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Also at the core of attention is the High Court determination that the BBI steering committee appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta was unconstitutional.

They said that President does not have constitutional mandate to initiate constitutional amendments through Popular Initiative under Article 257 of the Constitution.

“To the extent that the BBI Steering Committee was employed by the President to initiate proposals to amend the Constitution contrary to Article 257 of the Constitution, the BBI Steering Committee is an unconstitutional entity,” they ruled.

At the Court of Appeal, BBI proponents put up a spirited fight, arguing that the bill was promoted by the secretariat and not the president.

The President, through his lawyers, argued that he was condemned unheard when the court declared that he has breached the constitution by the finding that he initiated the constitutional amendment process.

“In taking initiatives to amend the Constitution other than through the prescribed means in the Constitution, the President failed to respect, uphold and safeguard the Constitution and, to that extent, he has fallen short of the leadership and integrity threshold set in Article 73 of the Constitution and, in particular, Article 73(1)(a) thereof,” the judgement reads.

They also found that there was no enabling legislation as regards the conduct of referenda.

There was also a heated argument on finding that it was unconstitutional for the Kenya Bill to directly allocate and apportion constituencies.

IBEC, through its lawyers, sought to fight the High Court’s determination that it cannot conduct any proposed referendum as it had no quorum to conduct any business.

“It has not carried out nationwide voter registration and has no legal or regulatory framework for the verification of signatures as required by Articles 257(4) of the Constitution,” the court ruled. Edited by D Tarus, By Julius Otieno, The Star

Details: East Africa; 20 August 2021; 1068

Gen. Thomas Cirillo Swaka. Photo via Radio Tamazuj

The South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) led by Gen. Thomas Cirillo has accused President Salva Kiir of deliberately planning to exit the Sant’Egidio mediated Rome talks so that he can launch all-out attacks on the alliance’s forces, particularly the National Salvation Front (NAS) in areas of Central Equatoria State.

In a press release on Thursday responding to President Kiir’s statement on the ambushing and killing of two nuns and three other (men) travelers on the Juba-Nimule road on Monday, SSOMA condemned the president’s statement and indicted him of wishing to keep the country in a state of perpetual war and insecurity.

On Tuesday, President Kiir wrote: “The Government signed the Rome Declaration, the Recommitment to Cessation of Hostilities and the Declaration of Principles with the Holdout Groups with the goal of stopping the fighting and saving innocent lives. Now that the non-signatories to the Revitalized Peace Agreement continue to violate these commitments, the Government may reconsider its position on the ongoing Sant’Egidio led Rome Initiative. Our pursuit of an inclusive peace should never be taken for weakness and used as a window to kill the innocent.”

SSOMA’s statement read in part, “The South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) has come across a disturbing statement by the President of the Republic of South Sudan. On the 17th of August. 2021, the President of the Republic of South Sudan, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, issued a statement on the killing of the innocent civilians along the Juba-Nimule road, in which he fallaciously laid the responsibility of the attacks on the “Holdout Group”, regime’s usual derogatory reference to the SSOMA. In the same statement, the President threatened to reconsider his regime’s position on the ongoing Sant’Egidio Peace Process.”

It added: “SSOMA denounces and condemns in the strongest terms possible President Salva Kiir’s statement. The statement is irresponsible, false, misguided, revealing yet again the lack of sympathy for the lives lost, and the usual wish to keep the country in a state of perpetual war and insecurity as the President prepares to launch a military offensive on SSOMA’s members’ position.”

SSOMA said it is an alliance of patriotic organizations that are committed to realizing the aspirations of the people of South Sudan to live in freedom and dignity and cannot commit atrocities against the very people it is struggling to liberate from the tyranny of the regime in Juba.

“SSOMA holds the regime of Salva Kiir responsible for the highway robberies and killings in South Sudan. The road ambushes in South Sudan have increased dramatically, especially on Juba-Nimule road,” the SSOMA statement said. “The government on several occasions has been displaying criminals suspected to have been behind these road ambushes and kidnappings on national TV. Most of these criminals, unfortunately, are members of SSPDF and the Tiger Division, the President’s personal bodyguards.”

The opposition grouping said it was not surprised by the anti-dialogue and pro-violence rhetoric of President Kiir and that it will not deter them from the course of pursuing just and lasting peace in South Sudan.

“SSOMA assures the citizens of South Sudan of its commitment to work hard with all like-minded groups in the country to bring the suffering of the people to an end,” the statement read. “SSOMA is aware of and closely monitoring the regime’s troop build-up in Yei, Morobo, Kojo-Keji, and Lobonok in preparations for all-out attacks against the forces of the National Salvation Front (NAS).

According to SSOMA, the utterances aimed at revoking the Rome Declaration are a desperate tactic and a smokescreen for seeking justification to wage a military offensive against their positions.

The armed opposition consortium also fingered SSPDF troops of targeting the church and killing scores of clergymen in the past.

“The Church and the Christian community have been persecuted and targeted by elements of the Kiir regime for the last few years. At least forty (40) church leaders have been killed by the regime of Salva Kiir across South Sudan between December 2013 and March 2017,” SSOMA charged. “These attacks and killing incidences include: the killing of a Slovak Catholic nun and physician, Veronica Teresa Rackova, in Yei County in 2016 by an SSPDF, Rev. Simon Kwaje in 2017 in Yei County; Johnson Makueth Akken and his wife of House of God for All Nations shot dead in Gudele Block 4 on 3rd May 2021…”

SSOMA called on the international community and relevant organizations to investigate the incidents and inform the people of South Sudan of the perpetrators of these killings.

“SSOMA is committed to the Rome Declaration and reaffirmed its commitment to the Cessation of Hostilities; however, reserves the right to defend itself and the people of South Sudan if attacked,” the press release concluded. - Radio Tamazuj