Africa
news.mongabay.com
Here is more information: https://www.stopeacop.net A group of 28 NGOs have written to 34 banks, insurance companies and the Chinese government, urging them to deny financing and other support for oil and gas projects in Uganda. The letters, written by U.S.-based Climate Rights International (CRI) and 27 Africa-based NGOs, follow a report detailing **numerous human rights violations and environmental harms** at the Kingfisher oil project sites in Uganda. Similarly, Uganda’s Tilenga oil fields also face scrutiny over their ecological and social harms, including impacts on wildlife and displacement of local communities. Both Kingfisher and Tilenga are co-owned by French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies, the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company Uganda Ltd. (CNOOC), and the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC). Both projects are also part of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline initiative (EACOP), where TotalEnergies is a major partner. The initiave aims to transport oil and gas from Uganda to Tanzania for export. [...] Major banks and insurance companies in Europe, Japan and North America have ruled out support for the projects, he added. “Now it’s time for all banks and insurance companies, whether in Europe, China, the Gulf States, Africa, or elsewhere, to publicly rule out any continuing or further support.” [...]
theconversation.com
**--Comment by Siguru Wahutu, Professor of Media and Genocide, New York University, and David Cheruiyot, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, University of Groningen--** There are some positive developments regarding how Africa is being reported internationally. But an ongoing cultural change is needed, mainly in the ways news is produced. This calls for rethinking journalism training and shifting to more community-oriented approaches of reporting. And, in this rethink, should African media should not also be taking stock of their own damaging historical role in supporting colonial interests and global north perspectives? [...] It’s critical for minority world countries to reckon with a dark history of colonisation, slavery, genocide or racial discrimination. But there is also the question of how – or even if – this is something that news organisations and professionals in Africa themselves need to reckon with. [...]
[Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20240928130346/https://gadebate.un.org/en/79/eswatini) “It is only through collective action that we can ensure a sustainable future for all,” Russell Mmiso Dlamini, Prime Minister of Eswatini, stressed. “Ironically, Taiwan and its 23.5 million people continue to be left by the United Nations and its specialized agencies,” he continued, calling for their inclusion, so that they can also fully participate in global development. “There is a need to reconsider the operations of the multilateral institutions such as the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and the World Bank and particularly the Security Council,” he stressed, recalling that in 2005, his country hosted the African Union meeting that resulted in the Ezulwini Consensus which articulated Africa’s common position on the reform of the UN. “We urge the global community to implement these long-standing commitments and ensure that all regions and peoples have a voice in shaping our collective future,” he said. He also condemned all forms of violence and supported efforts aimed at silencing the guns across the world, particularly in Africa. As his country continues to grapple with significant health challenges, he called for collaborative efforts in strengthening health systems, enhancing disease surveillance and building capacity for rapid response to health emergencies.
www.independent.co.ug
[Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20240914012618/https://www.independent.co.ug/eacop-govt-goes-to-court-after-80-reject-compensation-figures/) The Government of Uganda had dragged 80 people in different parts of Lwengo, Kyotera and Rakai districts to court for rejecting compensation fees for their pieces of land that are onn the demarcated route of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline-EACOP project. [...] Cosma Yiga, one of the [defendants who refuse to give their land] accuses the government of favouring the interests of the oil company at the expense of the nationals, arguing that they are still grieved with the little money allocated to them. Yiga, who according to the project design will lose about 2.7 acres of land planted with coffee, banana, and coffee plantations, dozens of mangoes, and jackfruit trees was allocated a compensation of 43.6 million shillings, a figure which he says is too little compare to the value of the property. He alleges that although some Project-Affected Persons signed consent forms to give out the land, the majority are dissatisfied with rates and are struggling to rebuild their livelihoods. The government and partners are undertaking to construct a 30-meter-wide and 1,443-kilometer-long pipeline which will transport Uganda’s crude oil from Hoima to the Chongoleani peninsular in Tanzania for export to the international market. [...] **French oil giant Total and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation are on the cusp of building a massive crude oil pipeline right through the heart of Africa – displacing communities, endangering wildlife and tipping the world closer to full-blown climate catastrophe.** The African initiative [StopEACOP](https://www.stopeacop.net/home), supported by several international NGOs, has been fighting against tbe project, saying the East African Crude Oil Pipeline needs to be stopped and we have a plan to do exactly that.
www.bbc.com
Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set ablaze by her former boyfriend and later died has been buried in her father's homestead in eastern Uganda. As she was also a member of Uganda's armed forces, soldiers carried the coffin and she was given a three-volley salute. Dickson Ndiema attacked Cheptegei with petrol just under a fortnight ago outside her home in neighbouring north-west Kenya, close to where she trained. The 33-year-old's killing, and its brutal nature, left her family distraught and shocked many others across the world. It underscored the high levels of violence against women in Kenya and the fact that several female athletes have been victims in recent years. Among those at the sombre and emotional funeral ceremony in a school field in Bukwo, Cheptegei's home district, were fellow athletes wearing black T-shirts with the slogan "say no to gender-based violence". "We are guilty as [a] government, but also the community is guilty," Kenya's Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Kipchumba Murkomen told mourners.
www.bbc.com
Russia is using media and cultural initiatives to attract African journalists, influencers, and students while spreading misleading information. These events are being promoted by African Initiative, a newly founded Russian media organisation which defines itself as an “information bridge between Russia and Africa”. It inherited structures previously set up by the dismantled Wagner mercenary group and is believed by experts to have links with the Russian security services. Registered in September 2023, a month after Wagner’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash, African Initiative has welcomed former employees from his disbanded enterprises. Its efforts have been particularly focused on the three military-run countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. [...] Alongside cultural events on the ground, African Initiative maintains a news website with stories in Russian, English, French, and Arabic, as well as a video channel and five Telegram channels, one of which has almost 60,000 subscribers. [...] Stories on the African Initiative’s website suggest without evidence that the US is using Africa as a production and testing ground for bio-weapons, building on long-discredited Kremlin disinformation campaigns. One story echoes the Kremlin’s unsubstantiated claims about US bio-labs being relocated from Ukraine to Africa. Another maintains without evidence that US bio-labs on the continent are increasing, claiming that “under the guise of research and humanitarian projects, the African continent is becoming a testing ground for the Pentagon”, suggesting that secretive biological experiments are being conducted. While Prigozhin’s propaganda efforts targeted mainly France, African Initiative “targets Americans to a greater degree,” says researcher Jedrzej Czerep, head of the Middle East and Africa Programme at the Polish Institute of International Affairs. “It’s far more anti-American.” [...] In June, a group of bloggers and reporters from eight countries were invited for a seven-day “press tour” of the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. The trip was organised by Russian state media and Western-sanctioned Russian officials, and the journalists visited African Initiative’s headquarters in Moscow. "Africa wasn’t getting much information [about the war]," Raymond Agbadi, a Ghanaian blogger and scientist who studied in Russia and who participated in the “press tour”, told the BBC. "Whatever information we were getting was not convincing enough for us to understand what the war was really about.” American influencer Jackson Hinkle, a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has spread multiple false claims about Ukraine, was also on the visit. [...] [Edit typo.]
www.africanews.com
**China's foreign ministry on Wednesday called on Eswatini, the sole diplomatic ally of Taiwan in Africa, to "recognize the trend" and “make correct decisions.”** **Eswatini is the only African country absent from the 2024 Summit of the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation that is being held in Beijing this week.** Joined by representatives from 53 African countries and other regional and international organizations, the summit is expected to adopt an action plan for the two sides to further strengthen cooperation in global governance, security, trade and investment in the next three years. **China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters that is "It is not in Eswatini's interest to develop official diplomatic relations with the Taiwan region."** China has long regarded the self-ruled Taiwan as a reneged province that has no right to establish diplomatic relations with other sovereign states. At the daily news briefing, Mao said she was unaware of a report that a former New York governor’s aide has been charged with acting as an undisclosed agent of Beijing. Linda Sun was arrested Tuesday morning along with her husband at their multimillion-dollar home on Long Island, New York. Prosecutors say Sun blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to high-level officials in New York and shaped New York governmental messaging to align with China's priorities, among other infractions.
www.bbc.com
Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has died days after being doused in petrol and set on fire by a former boyfriend. The 33-year-old Ugandan marathon runner, who competed in the recent Paris Olympics, had suffered extensive burns after Sunday's attack. The authorities in north-west Kenya, where Cheptegei lived and trained, said she was targeted after returning home from church with her two daughters. Her father, Joseph Cheptegei, said that he had lost a “very supportive” daughter. Fellow Ugandan athlete James Kirwa told the BBC about her generosity and how she had helped out other runners financially. [...] Cheptegei, from a region just across the border in Uganda, is said to have bought a plot in Trans Nzoia county and built a house to be near Kenya's elite athletics training centres. Attacks on women have become a major concern in Kenya. In 2022 at least 34% of women said they had experienced physical violence, according to a national survey. "This tragedy is a stark reminder of the urgent need to combat gender-based violence, which has increasingly affected even elite sports," Kenya's Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said. [...] [Edit typo.]
theconversation.com
The China-Africa cooperation forum [that takes place in Beijing at the beginning of Septmber] has become the most important event on the African international relations calendar. More African leaders attend these summits than the United Nations general assembly. Data shows that the forum attracts 40 to 60 African heads of state and government, far more than any other regular summit with a single country. [...] Although the EU, France, South Korea and the US are important to the African continent, they do not have the same ambition that China has. Nor the kind of free hand that China’s authoritarian system allows its leaders. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is therefore important for African leaders because it often leads to big promises which outweigh anything that can be promised by other partners in one sitting. It has become clear, however, that the forum is a platform for China to dole out aid and loans to African countries, and to articulate priorities that serve its own broader ambitions. Africa’s voice is minimal in the agenda-setting, due mostly to the multiplicity of African states, African Union weakness and competing needs among African countries. [...] **Unequal gains likely to persist** The result of a lack of an African strategy is the imbalanced terms of trade between China and African countries. This is seen most notably in the trade surplus that China enjoys: most recently measured at US$64.1 billion as of 2023 and still seemingly growing (having been at US$46 billion the previous year and US$42 billion in 2021). Over the past ten years, the structure of that trade has not changed either, despite China’s pledge to help Africa industrialise. African countries still largely export raw minerals and agricultural goods to China, while it sends back advanced manufactures, such as electronics, machinery and vehicles. Without an African strategy, the same pattern looks set to continue.
www.onegreenplanet.org
[Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20240902163539/https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animals/namibia-plans-to-cull-over-700-wild-animals-including-83-elephants-due-to-severe-drought/) Namibia, grappling with one of the worst droughts in decades, is preparing to cull more than 700 wild animals, including 83 elephants, as part of an effort to address food insecurity among its population. The decision, announced by the country’s environment ministry, comes as southern Africa faces a prolonged drought that has led to widespread food shortages and increased human-wildlife conflict. The culling will target animals in national parks and communal areas where officials have determined that the wildlife population exceeds the available resources of grazing land and water. In addition to elephants, the cull will include hippos, buffalo, impalas, blue wildebeest, zebras, and eland. The ministry’s plan involves distributing the meat from these animals to communities struggling to feed themselves. The United Nations reports that Namibia has already depleted 84% of its food reserves. This move has sparked controversy, with Animal rights activists expressing concern over the lack of a comprehensive assessment of the potential economic and environmental impacts. They argue that the decision might be driven by political motivations, especially in an election year, and have [launched a petition](https://www.change.org/p/stop-namibia-s-largest-mass-cull-of-desert-elephants-and-other-wildlife) to halt the culling.
dfrlab.org
[Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20240814164655/https://dfrlab.org/2024/07/29/fringe-channels-africa/) The DFRLab analyzed twenty suspicious YouTube channels acting in a highly similar fashion, mimicking pro-Kremlin and anti-Western news content in videos targeting African audiences in several countries. The channels used comparable tactics, including possible AI-generated voice narrations, related titles and thumbnails, and publicly available footage. The channels published content targeting Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, Mali, Rwanda, and Congo. Their videos covered real news events but presented them in a misleading way with clickbait titles that further sensationalized the content. Notably, one of the channels was cited by a media outlet and in an academic study, highlighting the breakout ability of such content to reach different audiences outside of YouTube.
theconversation.com
In our latest study we found that samples taken from mothers and newborn babies younger than one week in Nigeria already had colistin-resistant bacteria present in their bodies. But neither the babies nor their mothers had been treated with colistin. Colistin is one of the last remaining antibiotics that is still effective in killing bacteria and fighting infections such as pneumonia. It is deemed critically important for human medicine by the World Health Organization. We surmise that mothers may have picked up these colistin resistant bacteria from the environment. We cannot speculate on the specific mechanism. The babies, meanwhile, could have picked up the bacteria from the hospital, the community, or from their mothers. It’s not yet known if these colistin-resistant bacteria stay in the mothers or babies – but if they do this may increase their chances of acquiring future drug-resistant infections.
theconversation.com
Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya, South Africas’s Deputy Chief Justice, has been appointed the country’s new Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court by President Cyril Ramaphosa. She takes up the position from 1 September 2024. She replaces current Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, whose term ends at the end of August. She is the first woman Chief Justice since South Africa became a constitutional democracy following the end of apartheid in 1994.
www.businessdailyafrica.com
[Archived version](https://web.archive.org/web/20240724183032/https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/markets/currencies/forex-reserves-fall-sh64bn-on-foreign-debt-repayments-4698862) - Kenya’s foreign exchange reserves have experienced a significant drop of USD 487 million (about KES 63.9 billion) over the past week, following substantial repayments of external debt. - The decrease in reserves follows the government’s repayment of USD 533 million (about KES 70 billion) in external loans, which includes USD 433 million (KES 56.8 billion) used to service a loan from China. - The reduction has decreased the import cover from 4.1 months to 3.9 months. Import cover refers to the number of months the available foreign exchange reserves can finance imports. - Previous reports indicated that Kenya had spent KES 152.69 billion (approximately USD 1.15 billion) repaying China in the last fiscal year This included USD 705.05 million (KES 100.47 billion) in principal repayment and USD 366.46 million (KES 52.22 billion) in interest. - Additionally, Kenya paid USD 286.04 million (KES 40.76 billion) more than initially planned for the fiscal year. - The secretive nature of Beijing’s loan terms with developing countries like Kenya often means borrowers must prioritise repayments to China, placing a considerable burden on the Kenyan public.
www.thecontinent.org
The Continent is a weekly newspaper produced by African reporters, photographers, illustrators and editors. It is designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp, Telegram channel, Signal or e-mail, and has become the continent's most widely distributed newspaper. It is designed to be read on a mobile screen, with mostly short news pieces of 250 to 400 words, and a few longer pieces of about 900 words. Editions are sent out as a PDF on Fridays. Led by a small team of nine (all working remotely) and having published contributions from nearly 200 journalists, writers, photographers and illustrators from across Africa in the past year, The Continent has covered numerous important and urgent stories, starting with reliable information from African researchers and public health experts on the Covid-19 pandemic, and on to other ground-breaking reporting: the injustice of “vaccine apartheid” with rich countries hoarding Covid-19 vaccines; the impact of Nigeria’s sudden and dramatic Twitter ban (applauded by none other than Donald Trump); a tender photo essay on being queer in Uganda, in a country where it is dangerous to be LGBTQ. The Continent is published by the All Protocol Observed, a registered non-profit based in South Africa. It was initially funded by the editorial team, but has since attracted donor and commercial funding. So a refreshing difference is no adverts and also no tracking. You receive the PDF weekly via your channel of choice (or you can just download it from their website), and you can reshare this with anyone you wish to. Credit to Jan Wildeboer @jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net for sharing this on the Fediverse. See https://www.thecontinent.org/ #news #Africa #TheContinent #journalism
360mozambique.com
[Archived link](https://web.archive.org/web/20240721153211/https://360mozambique.com/world/china/post-covid-china-is-back-in-africa-and-doubling-down-on-minerals/) **Chinese leaders have been citing the billions of dollars committed to new construction projects and record two-way trade as evidence of their commitment to assist with the Africa’s modernisation and foster “win-win” cooperation.** **But the data reveals a relationship that is still largely extractive and has so far failed to live up to some of Beijing’s rhetoric about the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping’s strategy to build an infrastructure network connecting China to the world.** While new Chinese investment in Africa increased 114% last year, according to the Griffith Asia Institute at Australia’s Griffith University, it was heavily focused on minerals essential to the global energy transition and China’s plans to revive its own flagging economy, but has brought less advantage to Africa. - Minerals and oil also dominated African-Chinese trade. As efforts falter to boost other imports from Africa, including agricultural products and manufactured goods, the continent’s trade deficit with China has ballooned. - The result is a more one-sided relationship than China says it wants, one that is dominated by imports of Africa’s raw materials and that some analysts argue contains echoes of colonial-era Europe’s economic relations with the continent. - Although two-way trade reached a record $282 billion last year, according to Chinese customs data, the value of Africa’s exports to China fell 7%, mainly due to a decline in oil prices, and Africa's trade deficit widened 46%. - Many projects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which grew rapidly in the two decades before the COVID-19 pandemic, proved unprofitable. As some governments struggled to repay loans, China cut lending. COVID-19 then pushed it to turn inward, and Chinese construction projects in Africa fell. - China's hunt for critical minerals is a main driver of African infrastructure construction. In January, for example, Chinese companies pledged up to $7 billion in infrastructure investment under a revision of their copper and cobalt joint venture agreement with Democratic Republic of Congo. - With one of Africa’s largest trade deficits to China, Kenya has been pushing to increase access to the world’s second-largest consumer market, recently gaining it for avocados and seafood. But cumbersome health and hygiene regulations mean Chinese consumers remain out of reach for many producers. - Overall, Kenyan exports to China fell over 15% to $228 million, Chinese customs data showed, as a decline in titanium production led to a drop in shipments of the metal – a key export to China. But Chinese manufactured goods kept coming. **Unless African nations can add value to their exports through increased processing and manufacturing, says Francis Mangeni, an advisor at the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area, “we are just exporting raw minerals to fuel their economy.”**
www.bignewsnetwork.com
[Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20240721074923/https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/274456077/kenya-spends-usd-1-billion-in-a-year-to-repay-chinese-loans-burdening-taxpayers) **Amid unrest in Kenya due to debt distress, it is reported that the country has spent 152.69 billion KES (about 1 billion USD) to repay debt to China in the just-ended financial year, highlighting the burden on taxpayers in servicing loans taken to build a modern railway and other infrastructure projects, according to a report by Business Daily.** - The total amount paid represents a 42.14 per cent jump over the 107.42 billion KES paid in the previous year, ending June 2023, according to disclosures by the Kenyan Treasury. - According to research lan AidData, "The terms of Beijing's loan deals with developing countries are usually secretive and require borrowing from nations such as Kenya to prioritise repayment of Chinese state-owned banks ahead of other creditors." - Based on analysis of loan agreements between 2000 and 2019, AidData suggested that Chinese deals have clauses for "more elaborate repayment safeguards" than its "peers in the official credit market."
adf-magazine.com
[Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20240718082230/https://adf-magazine.com/2024/07/china-increases-loans-to-africa-while-countries-struggle-with-old-debt/) **Developing countries owe China an estimated $1.1 trillion, and more than 80% of China’s loans are to countries experiencing financial distress, according to AidData, a research lab at William & Mary. Despite this, China rarely agrees to loan forgiveness or principle reduction, preferring to negotiate longer repayment plans on a case-by-case basis.** - Despite promises of two-way trade, African exporters have little access to Chinese markets for their goods. Most of China’s imports from the continent are oil, gas and minerals. - The result is a more one-sided relationship than China says it wants.. One that is dominated by imports of Africa’s raw materials and that some analysts argue contains echoes of colonial-era Europe’s economic relations with the continent. - With the annual Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) set to take place in September, China is expected to announce new projects in Africa. But its lending practices are coming under scrutiny. Several countries that have taken on debt have found themselves forced to make drastic cuts to domestic programs or raise taxes in order to repay the loans. - Kenya, for example, spends about 60% of its revenue on debt payments, with about one-third of that money going to pay the interest on loans.
www.aljazeera.com
With negotiations to adopt rules and regulations for commercial deep-sea mining in international waters resuming this week at the International Seabed Authority (ISA), African countries have an extremely important role to play in the future of this industry and the health of our ocean, says Rashid Sumaila, University Killam Professor and Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics at the University of British Columbia in Canada. ISA, as a UN-affiliated institution, was established in the 1990s to ensure that developing countries would benefit financially from deep-sea mining when/if it starts, ensuring equity in the benefits derived from global commons. As this debate progresses, Africa stands at a pivotal moment where its decisions could profoundly influence the trajectory of this industry and the preservation of marine ecosystems. [...] But our research, which looks at the full net cost of deep-sea mining for a wide variety of stakeholders, including mining companies, investors, low-income countries, sponsoring states, and nations involved in terrestrial mining, has uncovered a complex web of risks and rewards. Mounting scientific evidence suggests that mining would have devastating impacts on fragile seafloor habitats. A single mining operation might discharge massive sediment plumes, significantly affecting light penetration and water oxygenation while dispersing toxins and radioactivity. The price of irreversible ecological damage could be staggering, estimated to potentially surpass the entire global defence budget of about 2 trillion dollars. And while private companies (and the countries sponsoring their mining operations) stand to make short-term profits from the enterprise, looming business model risks, litigation threats, and technological challenges raise serious doubts about its long-term economic benefits. As new data continues to emerge, we must include the costs of potentially irreversible damage mining causes in our calculus, especially as humanity faces a triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
www.bbc.com
Zambia has invested over $1bn (£784m) in the education sector since the introduction of free education three years ago - a much-needed boost after years of decline in spending as a proportion of GDP in this sector. The government has announced plans to build over 170 new schools and has committed to the recruitment of 55,000 new teachers by the end of 2026, of whom 37,000 have already been hired.
Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/14986553 [Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20240713205514/https://76crimes.com/2024/07/09/cameroons-lesbian-first-daughter-let-my-story-change-the-law/) In an interview with the French publication “Le Parisien”, Brenda Biya, the daughter of Cameroonian President Paul Biya, explains why she came out, what her family’s response has been, and how she hopes to make a difference for Cameroon’s LGBTQ community. This is an English translation of that interview.
www.bnnbloomberg.ca
- South African retailers have urged the government to plug tax loopholes that they fear are being used by Chinese e-commerce platform Temu, and Shein, another Chinese online platform, - Etienne Vlok, a national industrial policy officer for Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union, said the government should consider urgent changes to tax rules on small items to ensure fair competition for local businesses. - Temu, the online shopping juggernaut backed by China’s PDD Holdings Inc. has offered huge discounts in South Africa since its launch in January. The firm has expanded its global footprint to 49 countries and recently took out ads at the Super Bowl to try and sustain growth among US consumers.
www.firstpost.com
[Archived version](https://web.archive.org/web/20240627060741/https://www.firstpost.com/world/china-hand-behind-kenyas-collapsing-economy-13786636.html) **Kenya hopes that the protests would die down after President Ruto decided not to sign the new tax reforms bill. A debt-stricken country, Kenya finds it hard to service loans, much of which is owed to China. Is this the real problem?** President William Ruto came to power in Kenya in 2022, promising to make life easy for average Kenyan people. But seven months into his presidency, Ruto’s chief economic adviser tweeted in April 2023, “Salaries or default? Take your pick.” A month later, the government held back paychecks to thousands of civil service workers to save cash to pay foreign loans, news agency Associated Press reported in May 2023. In less than two years, the same people whom Ruto promised to ease their hardships are baying for his blood. They are out on the streets, demanding the life Ruto had promised. A vast majority of protesters are youth. They have turned violent and set the Kenyan parliament building to fire, damaging a part of it. In response, the Kenyan government has used force killing more than a dozen protesters. On Wednesday, Ruto relented, declaring he would not sign the tax reforms bill that had triggered the violent protests, resulting in the death of 23 agitators. The bill will now lapse. **The catalyst for protests: Why youth are on streets in Kenya** The new Finance Bill proposed a series of tax reforms and hikes levies, sparking public outrage. - Among the most contentious measures were new levies on monetised digital content creation and a five per cent tax increase on digital payments, including bank transfers and mobile money payments. Given Kenya’s heavy reliance on mobile money, these measures were particularly burdensome. - What tipped the scales against the Ruto government were a 16 per cent value-added tax (VAT) on bread and a 25 per cent excise duty on domestically produced raw and refined vegetable cooking oil. - Additionally, the bill proposed a 2.75 per cent income charge on salary earners enrolled in the national medical insurance plan and a 2.5 per cent annual tax on motor vehicles. Protesters argued that these taxes would significantly raise the cost of living. They were also alarmed by the bill’s provision allowing revenue authorities to access bank and mobile money accounts to enforce tax collection. The new bill was aimed at raising an additional $2.7 billion in domestic revenue for the Ruto government. Ruto also aimed to use the new taxes to meet a 2024 revenue target of 3.3 trillion Kenyan shillings ($26 billion). But why hike taxes so sharply Ruto justified the tax-hike proposals. He said they were necessary to pay off a public debt of 11.1 trillion Kenyan shillings or $82 billion that Kenya had to repay or service. Much of this debt is owed to China, a result of extensive borrowing under former President Uhuru Kenyatta, whom Ruto served as vice-president. These borrowings financed infrastructure projects, including a Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line connecting Nairobi to Mombasa, a major coastal city. *Kenya approached lenders for fresh loans but agencies like International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank demanded tax reforms and transparency in other loans (read borrowings from China, whose loan conditions are never disclosed and always shrouded in the cloud of secrecy).* China is already Kenya’s biggest lender. **The problem: A pattern of consequences** The thing with debts is that they need to be serviced to avoid defaulting on them. A loan default complicates future borrowings for a country. The debts become harder to come, and those available come at very high interest rates, complicating the finances further. It becomes a vicious cycle. It is estimated that Kenya is currently spending about 59 per cent of its revenues to service debts, leaving only about 41 per cent of tax revenues to finance government expenditures including salaries and development projects. The World Bank estimates show that the total public debt of Kenya stands at about 68 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) for fiscal 2023/24. If things go as per the Ruto government’s plan, it may fall to about 65 per cent for 2024/25. Kenya’s fiscal year follows the July-June cycle. In June 2023, the debt-GDP ratio had gone up to almost 72 per cent. **The China angle to Kenya’s problem** About one-fourth of the debt finance money goes to service borrowings from China, which is not only Kenya’s biggest lender but also accounts for over 70 per cent of the total bilateral debts that the east African country owes. This amounted to 882.5 billion Kenyan shillings or $6.82 billion by June 2023. Figures for the ongoing fiscal are not clear. Bloomberg cited a **lawmakers report to say that Kenya’s loan payments to the Export-Import Bank of China “is a key driver of debt servicing expenditures”.** According to Kenya’s National Assembly’s Public Debt & Privatisation Committee, China accounts for 147.9 billion Kenyan shillings or $1.2 billion in interest and principal payments in the next fiscal year through June 2025. Overall, external debt payments are projected at 590.6 billion Kenyan shillings or $4.5 billion in the financial year beginning July 1, adding up to about a third of total debt servicing. Kenyan media reports show China, Finland and France are top lenders. **The problem with Chinese loans has been the lack of transparency and a track record of defaults or near-default situations for the nations that have had China as their primary lender — Sri Lanka and Pakistan, for example.** Last year, an Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China — including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia — found paying back that debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. It said the debt servicing was draining foreign currency reserves these countries use to pay interest on those loans, leaving some with just months before that money is gone. There are two other complications with Chinese loans. China has been reluctant to forgive debt. Coupled with its extreme secrecy about the amount of money and terms of its loans, the Chinese hand keeps traditional lenders — the US and others — from stepping in to help the struggling economy restructure their debt and debt service. The other issue is, as it has been discovered in recent years, that China requires borrowers to put cash in hidden escrow accounts to safeguard its loans. This puts China at the forefront of the line of creditors that are to be paid. Others then prefer to stay away. The same was happening with Kenya. But as Ruto approached international agencies, they asked to improve Kenya’s tax revenues and fix the flaws in the fundamentals of its economy. Kenya brought a pro-reform budget in April. And the tax-reforming Finance Bill was a step in that direction but an already struggling population was not ready to bear the brunt. This explains why posts on social media gave a call to occupy the president’s office and residence, and also the local offices of the World Bank and the IMF. Now that Ruto has withdrawn the Finance Bill, his government requires to find new ways to finance the Kenyan economy.
www.hrw.org
Last week, Sierra Leone’s parliament enacted landmark legislation to ban child marriage. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill 2024, which makes marriage for anyone under 18 a criminal offense, seeks to protect girls from a harmful practice that has long violated their rights and hindered their development. Child marriage is a serious problem in Sierra Leone, where 30 percent of girls and 4 percent of boys are married before age 18, with even higher rates in rural areas. Around 800,000 girls are currently married in Sierra Leone, half before turning 15. Child marriages fuel the high adolescent pregnancy rate in Sierra Leone where, tragically, pregnancy complications are the leading cause of death for girls aged 15-19. The new law prohibits all forms of child marriage and cohabitation with a child, including aiding and abetting, protects the best interests of children, and ensures affected girls have access to counseling and safeguarding. The law amends existing legislation, including the Child Rights and Registration of Customary Marriage Acts, to harmonize the legal framework on marriage and break the cycle of early marriage and its devastating consequences.
theconversation.com
Public protests in Kenya have often been criminalised, leading to brutal police crackdowns. This played out in recent protests against the cost of living in Kenya, and amid an attempt by the government to introduce new taxes. The police responded with force, using live bullets and lobbing teargas at protesters. More than a dozen people were reported killed and hundreds injured. Kamau Wairuri, Lecturer in criminology at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, who has studied the policing of protests in Kenya, explains what contributes to the violence often witnessed during public demonstrations.
