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By VENERANDA LANGA GOVERNMENT has gazetted the Provincial Councils Administration Amendment Bill which will align the Provincial Councils and Administration Act to the 2013 Constitution and operationalise devolution. The Bill comes soon after Parliamentarians last month grilled Local Government deputy minister Marian Chombo over failure by her ministry to release funds allocated towards devolution in terms of section 301(3) of the Constitution. Chombo said there was need for a devolution law which would ensure that the funds were channelled to different provinces and local authorities, so that they could spearhead developmental projects. However, some of the amendments in the Provincial Councils and Administration Amendment Bill will give powers to Provincial Affairs ministers, who are central government appointees. Section 2 of the Provincial Councils and Administration Act will, for instance, be amended by the deletion of “Provincial Governors” wherever it appears and will be substituted by “Minister of State and Devolution”. Constitutional expert and law lecturer James Tsabora said the Bill needed thorough scrutiny by policymakers before it is passed as it gave too much power to central government and was not in tandem with the spirit of devolution in most of its provisions. “There are several provisions in the Bill that do not promote the essence of devolution. There is retention of powers of central government in certain key areas and this needs to be revisited,” Tsabora said. “There is also duplication of roles in the Bill; as is the role and function of Provincial Affairs ministers and provincial developmental co-ordinators. As it stands, the several bodies created has duplicated roles and responsibilities and this is unnecessary. “The Bill downplays the roles of the metropolitan and provincial councils, instead of being centred on these. In some way, the Bill anticipates problems that might be caused by multi -partysm. It makes sure that it sticks with the Provincial Affairs minister and provincial development co-ordinators, who are central government appointees.” Government also gazetted the Public Finance Management Bill, which will amend section 4(1) of the Public Finance Management Act to provide for provincial and metropolitan councils and local authorities.
The post Bill to operationalise devolution gazetted appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.
The president also stressed the importance of keeping the economy open after months of stifling movement restrictions.
He urged citizens not to drop their guard and continue adhering to the health rules, such as wearing face masks and respecting curfew times.
South Africa has recorded just over 800,000 coronavirus infections - more than a third of the cases reported across the African continent - and over 20,000 deaths.
AFP
By Sydney Melson The Birmingham Times Alabama hospitals this week hit a new high for COVID-19 patients and health officials see no relief in sight. The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) reported the state’s hospitals were treating 1,717 coronavirus patients on Monday, with 104 hospitals reporting. That’s a record for virus inpatients in Alabama, […]
Audacity: Boldness, especially with confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought or other restrictions; Effrontery or insolence; Shameless boldness. In the region of my birth, people reared there are familiar with the presidential pardon. We associate “the act of pardon” with French pirates Jean and Pierre Lafitte who were best known for their […]
The post Trump’s audacity on pardon power appeared first on Daytona Times.
Election materials on Thursday arrived at the Bangui M'poko International Airport in Central African Republic. The materials include ballot boxes, voting booths and voter cards for the first round in presidential and parliamentary elections on December 27.
Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, MINUSCA peacekeeping force, Denise Brown is satisfied with progress thus far.
\"We are extremely satisfied with the progress, in view of the electoral preparation. There was the mapping in May, June, then the implementation of the enumeration, then the arrival of the tablets, the training of tablet agents. The electoral list was compiled despite the Covid, despite the rainy season\", she said.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court of the Central African Republic rejected ex-president Francois Bozize's candidacy in the elections. Bozize is being sought for alleged murder and torture and is under UN sanctions.
The court also rejected four other bids for the December 27 polls. This leaves 17 candidates, including incumbent president Faustin-Archange Touadera as contenders of the country’s top job. His chances look bright for a second term.
Bozize, 74, has played a major part in CAR's decades-long troubles, and some have feared he could try to stage a violent comeback. He seized power in 2003 before being overthrown a decade later by the Seleka, a rebel coalition drawn largely from the Muslim minority. The 2013 coup sparked brutal violence between the Seleka and so-called \"anti-Balaka\" self-defence forces, mainly Christian and animist.
THE education ministry is reporting that in the nine months since schools were forced to close because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, students at the primary level have suffered significant setbacks.
Lawsuit Seeks to Hold Accountable Attorney General Barr, U.S. Park Police, and Other Law Enforcement Officers for Violent Attack in Lafayette Square on Racial Justice Demonstrators (Washington, D.C.) - The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and co-counsel filed an opposition motion to dismiss last night in Black Lives Matter D.C. v. Trump, after […]
The post Black Lives Matter D.C. v. Trump Must Proceed, Defendants Need to Be Held Accountable appeared first on Milwaukee Community Journal.
Schools in French-speaking regions hosting the children are calling for peace so that schools closed in the troubled English-speaking regions can be reopened.
Treasure Fomunyuy, a 13-year-old who escaped from Cameroon’s English-speaking northwestern town of Kumbo a year ago after his school was torched by armed men, has joined 300 other school children at the Etoug Ebe government school in Yaounde to ask for closed schools in the English-speaking North West and South West regions to be reopened.
Mumah Bih Yvonne of the Cameroon Women’s Peace Movement is asking for the right of children to education to be respected on the Day of the African Child in commemoration of the June 16, 1976, street protests in South Africa against poor quality education there.
Asheri Kilo, the secretary of state in the Ministry of Basic Education, said the government is determined to educate all children, but added that some schools are constantly attacked, torched, looted or are occupied by separatists.
The separatists have blamed the military for torching schools and public buildings and said they will allow children to go to school only after the central government withdraws its troops from the English-speaking regions.
Bolder implementation of economic reform announcements is needed to lift confidence in South Africa's economy, writes Natale Labia.
BULAWAYO city fathers have accused the central government of failing to provide budgetary support to council-run clinics, leading to the deterioration in the quality of health services in the city. By NQOBANI NDLOVU The Bulawayo City Council operates 19 clinics and one infectious disease hospital in Thorngrove suburb against a target of 25. The council is also leasing out its Mahatshula and Lobengula clinics owing to staff shortages. According to a latest council report, the lands and planning committee also bemoans the failure of the government to re-open Ekusileni Medical Centre, which was earmarked as one of the city’s COVID-19 centres. “The failure to open Ekusileni Hospital since its commission in 2004 is disadvantaging the Bulawayo community in terms of health service provision,” the council report read in part. The institution, a brain child of the late Father Zimbabwe, Joshua Nkomo, has been lying derelict since 2004 after it was shut down shortly after opening its doors. Nkomo campaigned for the construction of the specialist hospital to avoid the indignity of Zimbabweans travelling to far away countries for treatment. Nkomo had travelled as far as Egypt to seek medical attention. Many dates have been given for the re-opening of the medical facility, with government now saying that it would be turned into a medical training centre. “There has been a decline in health service provision over the past 10 years due to declining financial commitment for government and the inability of local authority resources to meet growing need. Health services have also suffered from lack of appropriate staff and high staff turnover,” the report adds.
To Be Equal #49 December 2, 2020 Health Care, Voting Rights, And Pandemic Recovery Are At Stake In Georgia's January 5 Runoff Election Marc H. Morial President and CEO National Urban League “Support for the majority-vote plan reinforced the moderate segregationist position. It did not remove anyone's right to cast a ballot, but it was […]
The post TBE#49 - Health Care, Voting Rights, And Pandemic Recovery Are At Stake In Georgia's January 5 Runoff Election appeared first on Afro.
It was supposed to be an iconic flawless structure and symbol of pride for Kayunga District, but the administration block is falling apart.
These visible defects in the structure have raised concerns from the staff and residents who visit the district headquarters.
Mr Robert Drate, the district water engineer, who was the acting district engineer then and oversaw the construction work, acknowledges that the structure is in a \"sorry state\".
Some of the district staff, who declined to be named, complain that in some cases, their documents are destroyed by water from the leaking roof.
Mr Tom Sserwanga, the Kayunga District chairperson, blames the problem on the original design of the building which he says does not favour proper water drainage.
The bowsers sent by council are overwhelmed because of the number of areas in the same dilemma and that’s the reason why we are on record saying the Bulawayo water situation should be declared a national disaster by the government,” Sibindi said.
A consultant contracted by the government to assess the water situation in Bulawayo, Paul Kruger, a few weeks ago said there was no water crisis in the city, but lack of capacity by council to draw available water.
This then led the government to decline to declare Bulawayo a water crisis area.
Last week, Zapu spokesperson for Bulawayo province, Mandla Khanye, called on the government and the city council to work together to ensure the completion of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project to resolve the water crisis.
“The dire situation of water in Bulawayo requires government and BCC to take drastic steps to contain the crisis.
While credit- and debit-card fraud remains the most prevalent financial crimes committed locally, the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is reporting that females and millennials are disproportionately targeted by the fraudsters. Major Keron Burrell, head of...
FC Platinum striker Silas Songani has returned to the national team after Warriors coach Zdravko Logarusic has named him among a squad of 34 locally-based senior players that will commence preparations for next month’s African Nations Championship (Chan) in Cameroon. BY SPORTS REPORTER Songani returned from a stint in Denmark to join FC Platinum, who are also playing in the Caf Champions League, and is looking to make a big impression. The squad will begin preparations on Monday and will break for the festive period before resuming just before New Year. Loga’s squad is dominated by players that have received national team call ups before while some of the players have featured in the Chan qualifiers. “The Warriors technical team has named 34 players in the provisional squad for the upcoming African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals. The team begins preparations on December 6, 2020 until the December 20, 2020 when they will break for the festive holiday. Camp will then resume on December 28, 2020 until the games begin on January 16, 2021 in Cameroon,” a media statement by Zifa yesterday read. Zimbabwe face the hosts in the tournament curtain-raiser as they seek a fast start in a tournament they have performed relatively well over the years. The locally-based players will be looking to market themselves to more lucrative leagues when they play at the finals. Squad: Goalkeepers Ariel Sibanda (Highlanders), Simbarashe Chinani (Dynamos), Nelson Chadya (Ngezi Platinum Stars), Petros Mhari (FC Platinum) Defenders Xolani Ndlovu (Chicken Inn), Peter Muduwa (Highlanders), Partson Jaure (Dynamos), Valentine Musarurwa (Harare City), Ian Nekati (Chicken Inn), Qadr Amini (Ngezi Platinum Stars), Frank Makarati (Ngezi Platinum), Raphael Muduviwa (FC Platinum), Pawell Govere (Golden Eagles), Andrew Mbeba (Highlanders) Midfielders Juan Mutudza (Dynamos), Valentine Kadonzvo (Chicken inn, Ralph Kawondera (FC Platinum), Trevor Mavunga (Triangle), Phenias Bamusi (Caps United), Wellington Taderera (Ngezi Platinum), Devon Chafa (Ngezi Platinum), Kelvin Madzongwe (FC Platinum), Silas Songani (FC Platinum), Collins Duwa (Triangle United), Tichaona Chipunza (Chicken Inn), Ishmael Wadi (Caps United), Leeroy Mavunga (Caps United), Nqobizitha Masuku (Highlanders), Tatenda Tavengwa (Harare City), King Nadolo (Dynamos) Strikers Obriel Chirinda (Chicken Inn), Stanley Ngala (FC Platinum), Thomas Chideu (Harare City), William Manondo (Harare City)
TURKEY giants Galatasaray have relaunched their bid to sign Warriors midfielder Marvelous Nakamba from Aston Villa, targeting to clinch a deal for the January transfer window. BY FORTUNE MBELE A Turkish publication claims that the giants have been encouraged in their pursuit by Nakamba’s quest for game time having been limited to two league appearances so far this season. Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor expressed interest in Nakamba before the start of the season but it’s the William D’Avilla-coached side who have so far refused to give up despite having failed with an earlier attempt to sign the midfielder. Nakamba has started for Villa in the League Cup and his Premier League appearances have been from the bench. A Turkish publication, Dirilis Postası published an article indicating Galatasary are still interested in Nakamba and are proposing a loan deal while offering an annual salary of €850 000, which is half of what he earns in England. Villa would have to pay the difference. Galatasaray’s interest on Nakamba dates back to when he was still in Belgium playing for Club Brugge. The publications says: “After successfully playing in Club Brugge for two years, a Galatasaray claim was made for Nakamba, who took the road to Aston Villa for 12 million euros last season. “It was understood that the famous manager William D'Avilla, who had brought players such as Onyekuru, Ndiaye, Etebo and Garry Rodrigues to Galatasaray, will put an end to the transfer. It was emphasised that the 26-year-old Zimbabwean player, who played in only two matches this season in the Premier League, wanted to go to a team where he could find more game time, and the deal would be made on loan,” the publication states further. A deal with Galatasaray in the English summer transfer could not be concluded as Aston Villa decided to keep Nakamba in their squad for the current season but chances are the Warriors’ defensive linkman might make a move next month. Follow Fortune on Twitter @ fmbele
As Ethiopia's 2021 election nears, a territorial dispute has flared between Amhara and Tigray, two northern regions.
Tigray and Amhara, the powerhouse regions of northern Ethiopia, are locked in a bitter land dispute exacerbated by national politicking that pits their elites against each other.
In late 2018, in north-western Amhara, local Amhara killed hundreds and displaced thousands of Qimant, an ethnic minority pursuing greater autonomy within the region, amid regional officials' claims that Tigray's ruling party is funding the self-rule campaign.
Were Tigray willing to instead grant political representation and language rights to minority populations in the territories, some Amhara officials have suggested this could help lead to an acceptable outcome.
The Amhara not only assert historical ownership of the land but also charge that TPLF rebels killed and uprooted Amhara in the disputed areas, thus altering the demographic balance in favour of Tigrinya speakers and laying the basis for a TPLF claim to the lands under Ethiopia's ethnic federal system.
Fiscal transfers for 2019 by the central government to FCC amounted to only Le 14.1 bn.
Government “attack dogs” have disparaged the FCC, calling the Mayor heartless and accusing her of being oblivious of the dire economic plight of residents in the middle of a pandemic.
Someone put this hypocritical posture in the right perspective like this – “If the government were really worried about the plight of those that are affected by the hike (the bulk of the populace have actually had a rate decrease) they would have in their arsenals more instruments to ease tax burdens – for decreasing income taxes, GST and other taxes.”
With only 64% of the slated government budget disbursed in 2019 and no disbursement made to FCC since the start of the year; and with FCC salaries unpaid for the past two months, it beggars belief that the government will come out actively against the FCC on this issue.
It also behoves the Honourable Minister to discuss the unhealthy problem of the government not meeting its financial obligations to the FCC and other councils.
Some 300 days after popular Pidgin journalist Samuel Wazizi was arrested and held incommunicado by police in the south-western city of Buea, his alleged torture and death were announced in the Cameroonian media on Wednesday.
Hoping we get justice for #Wazizi
- Eventmeed Blog (@eventmeed) June 4, 2020
Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, who went by the name Wazizi, was a popular news presenter at CMTV in Buea, the capital of the anglophone South West region.
\"He had an amazing programme over the radio called Hala ya matter in Pidgin; his programme was kind of satirical as he brought out the ills and gave out local news,\" says Feka Parchibell, the head of an NGO called Hope for Vulnerables and Orphans (HOVO) in Kambe, based in the anglophone North West region.
Parchibell met Wazizi in 2018 when he came to a HOVO press conference about the lack of education for Anglophone children in the region.
Wazizi, one of many detained journalists
Press organisations are also closely following the cases of Pidgin bloggers and activists Mancho Bibixy, Tsi Conrad, and Thomas Awah Junior.
BOSTON (AP) — IBM security researchers say they have detected a cyberespionage effort using targeted phishing emails to try to collect vital information on the World Health Organization’s initiative for distributing COVID-19 vaccine to...
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday said Africa was robbed of its developmental momentum through co-ordinated efforts by imperialists to destroy its rich socio-political and economic heritage and culture. BY HARRIET CHIKANDIWA Mnangagwa said this while addressing delegates during the ground breaking ceremony of the Museum of African Liberation in Harare. He said the peace, tranquillity and path to development enjoyed by the continent was interrupted through the narrative of discovery, slavery, occupation and colonialism. “More than 500 years ago, Africa was robbed of development momentum through coordinated efforts to destroy its rich socio-political and economic heritage and culture,” Mnangagwa said. “Systematic falsehoods were developed to erase our memories and project us as a home of darkness; all these setbacks and disappointments never suppressed the need for freedom and total emancipation.” He added: “We rose and resolved to fight until we realised our freedom and restored our human dignity which had been quenched out of us, by successive years of colonial oppression, even so freedom and independence remain incomplete until we have total control of our rich God given natural resources. “To this day, our quest for the unhindered right to access and utilise our natural resources continue being hampered, in the case of Zimbabwe, sanctions, constrain the realisation of our full socio-economic potential.” He said former imperial powers continue to fan divisions in other countries on the continent so that they can have an opportunity to pilfer and loot resources during the chaos. “Learning from our history and past, the time has come for us to deliberately and more consciously defend interested as people of Africa,” Mnangagwa said. “Through this continental project, let us put to rest the one side Euro-centric narratives which have been perpetuated in the public space for too long.” He said Zimbabwe was honoured by the African Union to host this museum and play a coordinating role in the structure of a unique repository of our African liberation heritage. “Zimbabwe dedicated this piece of land to the preservation of the rich liberation war heritage of our great African continent,” he said. Addressing journalists on Monday, secretary for war veterans in the Zanu PF politburo, Douglas Mahiya said the former freedom fighters have committed to partner the Institute of African Knowledge (INSTAK) in the legacy project through providing accurate and authentic information about the country’s armed struggle. “As veterans of the Zimbabwean armed struggle, we remain consistent and persistent in our quest to help Zimbabweans and Africans at large understand the true and authentic story of the liberation countries, which include Zimbabwe,” Mahiya said. Mahiya said they noted with grave concern the knowledge gap between what other external voices have presented to our people as the true record of our armed struggle. “It has taken us forty years to finally wake up and take practical steps in documenting our liberation war story
U.S. Department of State Background Note
Malis population consists of diverse Sub-Saharan ethnic groups, sharing similar historic, cultural, and religious traditions. Exceptions are the Tuaregs and Maurs, desert nomads, related to the North African Berbers. The Tuaregs traditionally have opposed the central government. Starting in June 1990, armed attacks in the north by Tuaregs seeking greater autonomy led to clashes with the military. In April 1992, the government and most opposing factions signed a pact to end the fighting and restore stability in the north. Its major aims are to allow greater autonomy to the north and increase government resource allocation to what has been a traditionally impoverished region. The peace agreement was celebrated in 1996 in Timbuktu during an official and highly publicized ceremony called Flamme de la Paix--peace flame.
Historically, good inter-ethnic relations throughout the rest of the country were facilitated by easy mobility on the Niger River and across the countrys vast savannahs. Each ethnic group was traditionally tied to a specific occupation, all working within close proximity. The Bambara, Malinke, and Dogon are farmers; the Fulani, Maur, and Tuareg are herders; the Soninkés or Saracolés are traders; while the Bozo are fishers. In recent years, this linkage has shifted as ethnic groups seek diverse, nontraditional sources of income.
Although each ethnic group speaks a separate language, nearly 80% of Malians communicate in Bambara, the common language of the marketplace. Malians enjoy a relative harmony rare in African states.
Malians express great pride in their ancestry. Mali is the cultural heir to the succession of ancient African empires--Ghana, Malinké, and Songhai--that occupied the West African savannah. These empires controlled Saharan trade and were in touch with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern centers of civilization.
The Ghana Empire, dominated by the Soninke or Saracolé people and centered in the area along the Malian-Mauritanian frontier, was a
By 1964 George C. Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, had become the national symbol of opposition to the civil rights movement and to federal governmental intervention to protect the rights of African Americans. In the address below he denounces President Lyndon B. Johnson for signing into law the 1964 Civil Rights Act and uses it as a rallying cry in his campaign to become President of the United States.
We come here today in deference to the memory of those stalwart patriots who on July 4, 1776, pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to establish and defend the proposition that governments are created by the people, empowered by the people, derive their just powers from the consent of the people, and must forever remain subservient to the will of the people.
Today, 188 years later, we celebrate that occasion and find inspiration and determination and courage to preserve and protect the great principles of freedom enunciated in the Declaration of Independence.
It is therefore a cruel irony that the President of the United States has only yesterday signed into law the most monstrous piece of legislation ever enacted by the United States Congress.
It is a fraud, a sham, and a hoax.
This bill will live in infamy. To sign it into law at any time is tragic. To do so upon the eve of the celebration of our independence insults the intelligence of the American people.
It dishonors the memory of countless thousands of our dead who offered up their very lives in defense of principles which this bill destroys.
Never before in the history of this nation have so many human and property rights been destroyed by a single enactment of the Congress. It is an act of tyranny. It is the assassins knife stuck in the back of liberty.
With this assassins knife and a blackjack in the hand of the Federal force-cult, the left-wing liberals will try to force us back into bondage. Bondage to a tyranny more brutal than that imposed by the British monarchy which claimed power to rule over the lives of our
U.K. regulators went on the offensive Friday to beat back criticism that they rushed their authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine,... View Article
The post UK defends vaccine decision amid criticism it moved too fast appeared first on TheGrio.
Christal Mims, Staff After the announcement of a statewide curfew, more restrictions are being imposed upon L.A. County after a staggering increase in coronavirus cases. The county is now under a “stay-at-home” order that bans all public and private outdoor and indoor gatherings of people from different households, with the exception of faith-based services and […]
THE ruling Zanu PF has failed to deal with Zimbabwe’s multifaceted crisis as the socio-economic situation continues to deteriorate since 2018 elections, a survey has shown.
According to a report on citizens’ perceptions and expectations titled Dancing on the Same Spot by SIVIO Institute, an independent organisation focused on ensuring that citizens are at the centre of processes of economic-political-social and policy change, the socio-economic crisis has worsened with no prospects of a turnaround in the immediate future.
It noted that the opposition MDC Alliance has also failed to deliver on its promises in local authorities they run, but added that the opposition party has continuously shifted the blame on Zanu PF, accusing the governing party of interference.
We have been tracking how the promises made by Zanu PF during the elections have been converted into policy programmes,” the report read.
This government still has a lot of work to convince its own citizens and also the international community that they are actually about reforms and turning around the fortunes of the countries,” the report read.
Editor OilPrice.com October 20, 2020
While the deeply impoverished South American country of Guyana is attracting the lion’s share of attention when it comes to oil, it is neighbouring Suriname where the next major petroleum discovery could occur.
The article There is nothing that can stop the world’s next oil hotspot appeared first on Stabroek News.
