Sadio Mane, Asisat Oshaola win CAF Player of the year | Ethiopia Passes Gun Control Law | Liberia sends ‘hazardous waste’ back to Greece
This Week In Africa | Issue 02 | 5th Jan — 11th Jan
In this edition, we look at the return of Michel Djotodia to CAR, the new tax exemption law in Nigeria, we pay tribute to Richard Maponya, the late business mogul of Africa and hope you enjoy the latest addition to the monitor, Afri-Fact.
Politics:
- Michel Djotodia returns to CAR as ‘man of peace’
A former rebel leader who became president of the Central African Republic (CAR) for 10 months during the civil war, has returned home exactly six years after going into exile. He led the Seleka rebel group that propelled him to power to become CAR’s first Muslim ruler in September 2013. But the country was plunged into a conflict between the Muslim minority and Christian majority as a band of mostly Christian militias, called the anti-balaka, rose to counter Seleka. Source: BBC
- Lesotho PM asked to resign over wife’s murder
Lesotho´s ruling party on Thursday (9 Jan 2020) described the country’s Prime Minister Thomas Thabane as a ‘threat to the nation’ and asked him to resign over alleged links to the 2017 murder of his wife. In court documents seen this week, the country’s police chief accused Thabane of involvement in the killing of Lipolelo Thabane on the outskirts of the capital Maseru two days before her husband´s inauguration. The accusations came after the prime minister suspended police commissioner Holomo Molibeli whose investigations revealed that communication records from the day of the murder picked up Thabane’s mobile phone number. Source: VON
- Ethiopia passes gun control law
Ethiopia’s parliament passed legislation on Thursday aimed at curbing gun ownership after a surge in regional ethnic violence blamed on a proliferation of small arms in private hands. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government said last April that it had seized 21 machine guns, more than 33,000 handguns, 275 rifles and 300,000 bullets in different parts of the Horn of Africa country over the previous year. Source: Reuters
Elections:
- Togo president running for fourth five-year term in Feb. 2020 polls
Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe on Tuesday (7th, Jan 2019) confirmed his candidacy for elections next month that look set to see him claim a fourth term and extend his family’s decades-long rule. The incumbent has been in power for nearly 15 years since taking over after the death of his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, who led the small West African nation with an iron fist for 38 years. Source: Journal Da Cameroun.com
Foreign Policy:
- Liberia sends ‘hazardous waste’ back to Greece
Authorities of the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA) have averted what could have been a serious public health threat when they seized a shipment of hazardous waste smuggled into Liberia from Greece. Republic Waste Services, a Liberian registered firm smuggled the dangerous chemicals into the country in violation of Section 55 (1) of the Environmental Protection and Management Law (EMPL) of Liberia, which prohibits the illegal importation into Liberia of any hazardous waste or substance. Source: FPA
Business:
- Nigeria Tax Exemption
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law a new bill that seeks to boost government revenue through a rise in the value-added tax rate while at the same time supporting small businesses in Africa’s biggest economy. Under the new law, the government will introduce a graduated tax scale for small businesses, with firms that generate less than 25 million naira ($70,000) in annual turnover exempt from corporate tax. Source: Reuters
Sports:
- Sadio Mane, Asisat Oshaola win CAF Player of the year
Senegal and Liverpool forward Sadio Mane beat both Egypt player Mohammed Salah and Algeria winger Riyad Mahrez to win the award for the first time on Tuesday (7th Jan 2020), after coming out third on two editions. For the women category, Asisat Oshoala beat Ajara Nchout from Cameroon and Thembi Kgatlana from South Africa to win her fourth African Women’s Player of the Year. Source: BBC Sport
Social Media Trends:
- Tito Mboweni
- Kenyan’s on mock minister on how to spot a locust
“If you see any insect which you suspect could be a locust, please take pictures and post on social media and they will reach us… so that we don’t have insects that are not locusts.”
Kenyans online have been making fun of the country’s agriculture minister after he asked them to post pictures on social media of insects they suspect could be locusts. The country is battling a locust invasion that has affected counties in the north-east, with news on Thursday that they had been spotted in two central areas. BBC
Obituary:
- Richard Maponya dies
Prominent South African businessman Richard Maponya died aged 99 early on Monday after a short illness. Popularly known as the father of black retail in South Africa, Maponya defied the restrictions of decades-long white apartheid rule to build a business empire, culminating in the opening of the Maponya Mall in the sprawling Soweto township in 2007 which boasts more than 200 stores and a cinema complex. Source: IOL
Afri-Fact:
- Ganvie, Africa’s largest lake village
Ganvie is a village built on stilts in the middle of Lake Nokoué in southern Benin, close to the city of Cotonou. The village was founded in the 17th century by people looking for peace and safety during the slave trade. 400 years later, Ganvie has a population of some 30,000 people and the village even includes a hospital, post office and school. Over generations, the residents of Ganvie have created a unique lifestyle centred around the water and fishing, but poverty and environmental challenges are a threat to the continuation of this lifestyle today. Source: Field Study Of The World
Thank you for reading, please feel free to share with us any news we left out.
(Published late due to circumstances beyond our control)
