The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) will hold elections for members of the Bureau on the 25^th March 2024. The elections will fill the positions of President, First Vice President, and Fourth Vice President of the Bureau, which fell vacant following elections and unconstitutional changes of government in some of the African Union Member States.

The elections will take place as part of the agenda of the PAP Extraordinary Session scheduled from the 20^th to 27^th of March 2024, at the Parliament’s Headquarters in Midrand, South Africa.

The convening of Extraordinary Session of the PAP is an outcome of the Executive Council decisions of the African Union Summit held in February 2024. The ministerial session, in deliberating the worrying situation at the Pan-African Parliament, called for the urgent convening of the Extraordinary session to fill the vacant positions. The African Union Commission will oversee the election process of Bureau members to ensure transparency and independence, following the guidelines developed by the Office of the Legal Counsel.

Hon. Lucia Dos Passos, Acting President of the PAP, notes that the Extraordinary Session will signal the full resumption of Parliamentary activities and set the PAP on the process of fully contributing to the promotion of policies and programs of the AU, including the theme of the year 2024, in line with the Parliament’s mandate. PAP is the legislative arm of the African Union.

President William Ruto is expected to sign the Affordable Housing Bill into law this morning, marking a significant step towards the implementation of the housing project and the commencement of the collection of a 1.5 per cent housing levy from Kenyans starting this month.

The contentious Bill was forwarded to the president last week following its approval by Parliament.

However, opposition lawmakers have raised objections, citing inadequate public participation and expressing concerns that the legislation will exacerbate the financial burden on many Kenyans already facing high taxes.

Under the provisions of the new law, both employers and employees will be required to contribute 1.5 percent of their income towards the construction of affordable housing units across the country.

Earlier this year, in January, the implementation of the housing levy was halted by a court order, which stipulated that it could only be enforced once appropriate legislation was enacted to formalize it into law.

President Ruto has welcomed the court’s decision, affirming the government’s commitment to comply with the directive and enact the necessary legislation. The bill has now been passed by Parliament, paving the way for its enactment. Capital News

JUBA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Saturday announced an indefinite closure of all schools as a result of heatwaves over the past few days with very high temperatures both during the day and night.

Yolanda Awel Deng, minister for Health, said most parts of South Sudan are experiencing a heatwave expected to last at least two weeks with temperatures ranging between 41 degrees and 45 degrees Celsius.

"The government has decided to take the following measures, one, close down all schools with effect from March 18, two, during the closure of the schools, parents are advised to stop their children from playing outdoors for prolonged periods and they should also monitor children, especially the young ones, for signs of heat exhaustion and heatstroke," Awel told reporters in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

She said heatwaves can acutely impact large populations for short periods, often trigger public health emergencies, and result in excess mortality and cascading socioeconomic impacts like loss of work capacity and labor productivity and can also cause loss of health service delivery capacity, where power shortages which often accompany heatwaves disrupt health facilities.

Awel said her ministry's disease surveillance department has put a system in place to detect and respond to cases, as there are already cases of death related to excessive heat being reported in South Sudan.

Joseph Africano Bartel, undersecretary for Environment in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, said climate change is becoming a global phenomenon in which South Sudan will be experiencing a lot of temperature fluctuations.

He advised schools to make sure that they have good ventilation, install solar panels such that they will be able to have fans working, and also to make sure that trees are planted in compounds to produce microclimate.

Africano called on developed countries to cut emissions, warning South Sudan will experience the unusual impact of climate change soon including heavy rains, floods, and droughts. - Xinhua