Survey of students in post-16 education in Wales finds that a quarter were unable to find suitable housing last year as rent and bills soared.

8% of students in Wales have experienced homelessness during the cost-of-living crisis, according to a new National Union of Students Wales (NUS Wales) survey. The survey of 570 students, conducted over the summer, also found that half of those students who have been homeless had experienced it for more than a week.

With rent, energy bills and other housing costs rising at an unprecedented rate for well over a year now, almost a quarter of students in Wales said they had been unable to find suitable, affordable accommodation in the 2022-23 academic year.

Students reported living further away from their education provider or commuting from home to make ends meet. 32% of students said they had been unable to pay rent and 36% said the same of bills.

The report also shines a light on the negative academic impact of students having to pick up extra work shifts. The majority of students work alongside their studies, and 1 in 5 work more than 20 hours a week. 64% of those who do work said it negatively impacted their studies.

On top of this, 1 in 5 students in Wales have missed in-person classes because of the cost of transport and 9% have missed online classes because of the cost of broadband or equipment such as a laptop.

The findings show that maintenance support for students in higher and further education in Wales is failing to reflect the cost of living, and NUS Wales is calling on the Welsh Government to do more to support all groups of students, including apprentices on the £5.28 minimum wage.

There are a significant number of students in Wales who will not benefit from the Welsh Government’s 9.4% increase to the undergraduate maintenance package or the 33% increase to the EMA for FE students.

The report’s findings are consistent with the findings of a similar survey conducted in 2022. A quarter of students in Wales continue to live on £50 or less a month after paying rent and bills – figures consistent with this time last year before any support had been announced.

NUS Wales President, Orla Tarn, said:  “The fact that not much has changed for students in Wales, who continue to be left with so little to live on, should be a real red flag for the Welsh Government that it will need to act again to support students in 2023-24.

“One of my main concerns continues to be students’ mental health. We know that money troubles, housing issues and poor work-life balance can all be detrimental to your sense of well-being, and during the cost-of-living crisis all three have become more pronounced for many students.

“The Welsh Government acted last year by raising the undergraduate maintenance package and the EMA for further education students, but swathes of Wales’ student population – including students from outside of Wales, postgraduates and apprentices – have not benefited.

“I urge ministers to take these groups into account when designing support schemes and take real action to get spiralling student rent under control. The Welsh Government’s White Paper on Fair Rent cannot come soon enough for students paying through the nose for accommodation.” - NUS Wales

Rwanda and South Korea have signed two agreements, namely a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on political consultations, and a Framework Arrangement on Economic Development Cooperation Fund, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced on Saturday, August 12.

The signing of the two agreements took place during a bilateral meeting held in Kigali between Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vincent Biruta, and his counterpart, Jin Park, of South Korea.

Meanwhile, earlier — in the morning of August 12 — Park paid tribute to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

Rwanda and South Korea have an already established cooperation, which seeks to strengthen ties between the two countries.

For instance, in November 2020, Rwanda and Korea signed a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) which is intended to enhance connectivity between both countries and facilitate the private sectors of both countries to realise and tap into economic and social benefits, according information from the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Information from Rwanda’s Embassy in South Korea indicates that Rwanda established diplomatic relations with Republic of Korea in 1963, and the relationship grew stronger with the opening of a diplomatic bureau in November 2008 and later upgraded to an embassy in February 2009.

“We now boast economic, political, educational, tourism, investment and trade ties,” it adds. - Emmanuel Ntirenganya, The New Times

Tanzania's High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition by four private citizens challenging the legality of the government’s new ports management deal with the United Arab Emirates and have it voided on constitutional grounds.

A three-judge High Court panel sitting in Mbeya ruled that the constitutional case was "barren of fruits" and lacked merit in almost all its aspects, including petitioners’ claims that the agreement contained clauses that violated Tanzania's constitution and endangered national sovereignty and security.

Tanzania and the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding in February 2022 for DP World, a multinational logistics company headquartered in Dubai, to run the port of Dar es Salaam, initially, before expanding to run other ports in mainland Tanzania, depending on subsequent negotiations. 

The MoU was followed by an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) titled Economic and Social Partnership for the Development and Improving Performance of Sea and Lake Ports in Tanzania, signed by Works and Transport Minister Prof Makame Mbarawa with President Samia Suluhu Hassan's consent in October, had been endorsed by parliament on June 10 this year.

Since then, the IGA has drawn much public scepticism over how its conditions may impact Tanzania's long-term control over its sea and lake ports.

Critics include opposition leaders, religious clerics and legal experts who have questioned why the pact does not have an end date and excludes ports in Zanzibar where President Samia comes from.

The government and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party officials have vehemently denied claims that the deal amounts to a "sell-off" of one of Tanzania's prime properties to foreign investors and stressed that the IGA is not "final" since it will be followed by a Host Government Agreement (HGA) and Lease/Concession Agreement which will provide room for changes if necessary.

In the Mbeya case, petitioners Alphonce Lusako, Emmanuel Chengula, Raphael Ngonde and Frank Nyalusi - all lawyers by trade - had argued that the IGA was "non-applicable" to Tanzania because of its constitutional breaches and contraventions of laws designed to protect Tanzania's natural wealth and resources.

In addition to putting Tanzania's sovereignty and security at risk, they alleged that it was also approved by parliament without following proper legal procedures including ensuring sufficient public participation.

The respondents were the Attorney General on behalf of the government, the Minister for Works and Transport and his Permanent Secretary, and the Clerk of the National Assembly. Among the issues brought before the three-judge panel for ruling was whether the IGA could be considered a proper contract in itself under Tanzanian law and whether Tanzania's parliament had legal authority to endorse it without public involvement.

In their 91-page ruling, Judges Dunstan Ndunguru, Mustafa Ismail and Abdi Kagomba rejected outright the claim of constitutional breaches and approved the IGA as an admissible "framework" document for future binding agreements related to the initial MoU that should offer more clarity on the scope, commercial terms and benefits of the entire project.

"The invocation of Article 28 of the constitution as a testimony of erosion of sovereignty is utterly erroneous as issues of sovereignty under the provision are limited to defence and security and do not include matters of trade and investment," they asserted.

The ruling interpreted the IGA as a "facilitative instrument for dispute settlement between the parties" and agreed with the respondents that "specific agreements will be more particular" on the nitty-gritty details of DP World's future operations at the port of Dar es Salaam.

According to the judges, raising specific issues which would be addressed by the HGA, project or lease/concession agreements would be "premature."

On parliament's role in endorsing the IGA, they said section 4 of the Natural Wealth and Resources Act No. 6 of 2017 gave the National Assembly powers to "review any arrangements or agreements made by the government relating to natural wealth and resources" and ensure that unconscionable terms were rectified or removed.

"If any of the covenants of the IGA was considered or deemed to be unconscionable, the powers to order renegotiation or any other remedy would not come from any other institution than the National Assembly," they said.

And despite upholding the petitioners' claim that the 24-hour notice issued by the Clerk of the National Assembly for the public to submit their views prior to tabling the document in parliament was too short to allow for sufficient public input, the judges declared that the legislative body would not have been "bound by such public opinion anyway."

The lead counsel for the petitioners, Boniface Mwabukusi, said later that they intended to lodge an appeal against the ruling with the Court of Appeal. - BOB KARASHANI, The EastAfrican