KEVIN J KELLEY

Kevin J. Kelley is a Nation Media Group correspondent based in New York City in the United States. Email: [email protected]

DR Congo gets EAC ministers’ nod to join the bloc, shall we celebrate?

Sunday November 28 2021

The EAC Summit of six presidents will go through the motions to endorse and then brother Felix Tshisekedi will join their select club as the seventh member. PICTURE | FILE

Summary

All Congo’s raw materials, including the most critical for harnessing clean energy in the era of combating global warming, will suddenly become locally available to the East African countries at their different stages of industrial development.
Citizens of space-constrained EAC member states will be able to grow food in the extensive fertile soils of the Congo that are abundantly watered by nature.
All seven EAC members can just develop one power dam at Inga Falls to produce all the electricity they will need for all their factories, homes railways and vehicles as the world automakers speed up the outlawing of fuel-burning vehicles.

By JOACHIM BUWEMBO

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Unless something goes terribly wrong in the next couple of weeks, the Democratic Republic of Congo will start 2022 as a member of the East African Community. The EAC Council of Ministers last week approved DRC’s application after Kinshasa reportedly ticked all the boxes required to qualify for membership.

The EAC Summit of six presidents will go through the motions to endorse and then brother Felix Tshisekedi will join their select club as the seventh member.

Here are ten points to ponder before you decide to be excited or depressed about this important development.

1. The Common Market of the Community/Customs Union will grow dramatically from 180 million to 270 million people.

2. All Congo’s raw materials, including the most critical for harnessing clean energy in the era of combating global warming, will suddenly become locally available to the East African countries at their different stages of industrial development.

3.Citizens of space-constrained EAC member states will be able to grow food in the extensive fertile soils of the Congo that are abundantly watered by nature.

4.Free movement will enable hundreds of thousands of our young adults fathered by Ugandan soldiers with Congolese women one and a half to two decades ago to choose whether to complete their growth process/education in their fatherland or stay in their motherland.

5. As the EAC progresses to a federation, the little matter of $20 billion Uganda owes to Congo, which started as $10 billion following some crazy international court order, will automatically die off.

6. The poorest East African peasant/slum dweller will have mahogany and ebony to make furniture and finishing fittings for their homes.

7. All seven EAC members can just develop one power dam at Inga Falls to produce all the electricity they will need for all their factories, homes railways and vehicles as the world automakers speed up the outlawing of fuel-burning vehicles.

8. Today, the world is still horrified at the killing of six million Jews 77 years ago, but knows little about the killing of six million Congolese over the past 27 years in proxy resource wars.

The life of our Congolese brothers and sisters would be greatly revalued as the EAC heads to federation stage. But the reverse could happen if DRC’s joining causes the other East Africans’ lives to be devalued, by the forces that devalued Congolese lives over two centuries.

9. The expected East African Federation, a state stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, could easily become the most unstable state as it may not be prepared to take on the far more powerful forces that have been finding it easy harvesting the stupendous resources of DR Congo.

10. Even without/before the creation of the federation, the EAC having Kinshasa and Juba governments that are unable to govern their states, might expose the community’s limitations in getting its principles and policies recognised across the territory and erode the confidence even the older members have been having in it.

The summit of the EAC heads of state may wish, before signing the admission of DRC, to just study Turkey’s decades-old application process to join the European Union.

Joachim Buwembo is a Kampala-based journalist. E-mail:[email protected]

In the headlines

A region in debt as top banks record $125m in bad loans

Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, banking regulators in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have raised concern over the rise of non-performing loans.

Covid-19: African Union rejects travel bans

The AU is encouraging more surveillance and data sharing between countries, and increased vaccination of the “high-risk” populations.

How security lapses let terror cells thrive in Uganda

Sudan PM Hamdok fires police chiefs

Africa fails to step up Covid fight even with more vaccines

Rwanda reinstates quarantine rules for travellers

China loan beneficiaries face debt distress

Rise in Uganda coffee exports earns $657m

Sunday November 28 2021

A farmer tends to her coffee in a farm. Authorities in Uganda have already set an ambitious target of exporting at least 20 million bags of coffee annually by 2030, which will make the country the biggest exporter of the crop in the region. PHOTO | FILE

Summary

Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) data shows that the country exported 6.55 million bags of coffee worth $657.23 million in the year to October 2021, compared with 5.41 million in the same period last year, earning $513.79 million.
In some areas, however, unpredictable weather conditions, inadequate agricultural extension officers, low productivity, and low use of fertiliser remains a big hindrance to increased productivity.
Italy maintained the highest market share of Uganda’s coffee imports followed by Algeria, Germany, the US and Belgium. Others were Sudan, Morocco, Egypt, and Kenya.

By JONATHAN KAMOGA

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Uganda’s coffee exports have continued to increase in both value and quantity, despite a ravaging pandemic, at the backdrop of adverse weather conditions and Covid-19 restrictions in the world’s biggest exporters like Brazil and supply disruptions around the world.

Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) data shows that the country exported 6.55 million bags of coffee worth $657.23 million in the year to October 2021, compared with 5.41 million in the same period last year, earning $513.79 million.

Next month, they project to export 500,000 bags as the main harvest season kicks off in the central and eastern parts of the country.

The increase in exports is attributed to government efforts in 2012 which saw millions of seedlings distributed to farmers to grow new bushes across the 98 coffee growing districts.

“Increasing exports were due to newly planted coffee which started yielding supported by favourable weather. This was also complimented by a positive trend in global coffee prices,” the report reads.

Positive trend

In some areas, however, unpredictable weather conditions, inadequate agricultural extension officers, low productivity, and low use of fertiliser remains a big hindrance to increased productivity.

Authorities in Uganda have already set an ambitious target of exporting at least 20 million bags of coffee annually by 2030, which will make the country the biggest exporter of the crop in the region.

The report notes that world market prices, which saw Uganda increase its exports value by 28 per cent in one year, have seen a positive trend since October despite some supply disruptions.

“Coffee prices have been going up since July 2021 as Brazil faced the threat of frost and high temperatures, while Vietnam faced a shortage of shipping containers because of Covid-19-related restrictions. This prompted exporters to release their stocks,” the report adds.

Italy maintained the highest market share of Uganda’s coffee imports followed by Algeria, Germany, the US and Belgium. Others were Sudan, Morocco, Egypt, and Kenya.

Global coffee exports for September totalled 10 million bags down by 4.9 percent from 10.59 million bags in September 2020. Exports for 2020/21 totalled 129 million bags, an increase of 1.2 percent compared with 127.36 million bags for 2019/20.

In the headlines

A region in debt as top banks record $125m in bad loans

Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, banking regulators in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have raised concern over the rise of non-performing loans.

Covid-19: African Union rejects travel bans

The AU is encouraging more surveillance and data sharing between countries, and increased vaccination of the “high-risk” populations.

How security lapses let terror cells thrive in Uganda

Sudan PM Hamdok fires police chiefs

Africa fails to step up Covid fight even with more vaccines

Rwanda reinstates quarantine rules for travellers

China loan beneficiaries face debt distress

A region in debt as top banks record $125m in bad loans

Sunday November 28 2021

Co-operative Bank had the highest volume of non-performing loans. FILE PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO

Summary

Meanwhile, Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has introduced measures to address non-performing loans, which include zeroing in on individual bank employees who are directly responsible for issuing the loans.
The latest unaudited financial statements for regional lenders KCB, Equity and Co-operative banks show that the volume of gross non-performing loans (NPLs) rose eight percent to $1.81 billion, from $1.68 billion in the same period last year.
Central Bank, in its quarterly credit survey of September 30, 2021, attributed the increased NPLs to a slowdown in business, company closures and job losses.

By The EastAfrican

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East Africa’s top retail banks booked more than $125 million of bad loans in the nine months to September this year, as borrowers struggled to repay their loans following the expiry of a 12-month loan repayment relief programme for customers adversely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This comes as regional banking regulators in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have raised concern over the rise of bad loans, which is now threatening the financial sector. Last week, Rwanda’s central bank reinstated regulatory requirements for commercial banks to increase provisions on loans that had been suspended due to the pandemic to allow banks to continue lending. The reinstatement could affect loans to the private sector.

Meanwhile, Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has introduced measures to address non-performing loans, which include zeroing in on individual bank employees who are directly responsible for issuing the loans.

The latest unaudited financial statements for regional lenders KCB, Equity and Co-operative banks show that the volume of gross non-performing loans (NPLs) rose eight percent to $1.81 billion, from $1.68 billion in the same period last year.

Co-operative bank was the highest with over $80.6 million worth of loans turning sour during the period under review, followed by Equity Bank at $39.46 million and KCB at $10.26 million.

Cumulatively, KCB had the highest portion of bad loans at $876.25 million, followed by Equity and Co-operative Banks at $501.6 million and $441.78 million respectively.

This is against the total loan book of $13.48 billion for the three lenders, with KCB at $5.81 billion, Equity Group at $4.99 billion and Co-operative bank at $2.73 billion.

Credit rating

In May, global rating agency Moody’s Investor Service affirmed the outlook on the three lenders’ long-term deposit and issuer ratings as negative, largely due to increased holdings of government securities translating to increased exposure on sovereign risks.

According to the agency, the negative outlook also captures the elevated risks to the banks’ asset quality that weighs heavily on their profitability.

“Problem loans already increased for all three banks, and we expect a further weakening stemming from the pandemic and following the gradual withdrawal of coronavirus related support measures, including a loan repayment moratorium that expired in March 2021, which led to around half of banking system loans having payment deferrals,” the agency said.

According to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), NPLs in the country’s banking industry increased by 0.09 percent in the three months to September 30, while Return on Equity (ROE) for the lenders declined to 21.97 percent from 22.67 percent in the same period.

Central Bank, in its quarterly credit survey of September 30, 2021, attributed the increased NPLs to a slowdown in business, company closures and job losses. Lenders became more cautious about issuing credit due to the high risk of default. The banks also tightened credit standards in the tourism, real estate and personal and household sectors on account of the pandemic.

According to the quarterly survey, gross loans for the entire banking industry increased by 2.7 percent in the three months to September 30, to $28.48 billion from $27.76 billion in June, mainly due to increased advances in the trade and real estate sectors.

Sectors that banks predicted increased NPLs were personal and household, real estate, and tourism and trade.

Recovery efforts

According to the survey, banks expect to intensify credit recovery efforts to reduce the volume of bad loans during the fourth quarter, from October to December. The sectors targeted for bad loans recovery include trade (87 percent), personal and household (86 percent), building and construction (81 percent), real estate (79 percent) and manufacturing (78 percent).

In March, CBK suspended measures to mitigate the adverse economic effects on bank borrowers from the coronavirus pandemic. Borrowers were given three months, up to June 3, to regularise their loan repayments. This followed the expiry of a one-year window in which the lenders had extended and restructured the repayments.

According to CBK, loans amounting to $15.17 billion were restructured during from March 3, 2020 to February 2021, accounting for 57 percent of the banking sector’s gross loans.

Following the resumption of repayments and some pay-offs, the outstanding restructured loans at the end of February 2021 were $5.08 billion, accounting for 19 percent of the total industry’s gross loans.

The CBK said over 95 percent of the outstanding restructured loans are being repaid in accordance with the new terms. During the loan repayment relief period, borrowers had restructuring options that included extension of the time to pay, a moratorium on interest, and waivers on interest or fees.

The measures allowed borrowers to mitigate job losses and pivot their business models to the new normal.

In Tanzania, NPLs have continued to threaten the stability of the banking sector. BoT governor Florens Luoga said in a November 7 notice that the bank would inspect commercial banks and financial institutions to pinpoint employees, and require the banks to take appropriate legal action against them.

“The Bank of Tanzania conducted a review to establish the main reasons behind high non-performing loans in the banking sector and established that, to a great extent, employees of some banks and financial institutions are directly responsible through issuing loans without following procedures, fraud/corruption or other practices that are tantamount to lack of integrity,” Luoga said.

The new measures also require banks to stop granting further credit accommodation to “unscrupulous borrowers who borrowed with the intention of not repaying the loans or using deceitful means”. Details of such borrowers will be kept in a special central bank register and shared with all commercial lenders.

A similar ploy will also be used on members of the civil service who are found to be serial loan defaulters,

According to their Q3 2021 financial statements published in October, Tanzania’s top two banks, CRDB and NMB, issued loans worth over $3.91 billion combined but each managed to keep their NPL ratios below the BoT’s five percent benchmark as smaller banks struggled, the aim being “to ensure that such civil servants do not access any additional credit accommodation until appropriate action has been taken and the non-performing loan is regularized.”

According to a central bank circular issued in January this year, commercial banks and financial institutions are required to maintain their NPLs at no more than 5 percent of total loans issued and cost-to-income ratios at a maximum of 55 percent by the end of next year (2022) or be barred from paying dividends and bonuses.

Lenders that fail to comply for another two consecutive years after 2022 will face further regulatory sanctions to be determined when the time comes, the circular said.

But conformity has proved next to impossible. By the end of the second quarter of 2021 two leading banks, TIB Development Bank and International Commercial Bank, had NPL ratios of 52 and 50.7 percent respectively, meaning that more than half the loans disbursed to their clients remained unpaid by June 30 this year.

Azania Bank, at 30.35 percent, and Equity Bank (30.26 percent) followed along with Access Bank (19.31 percent), Akiba Commercial Bank (19 percent) and the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange-listed DCB (Dar es Salaam Commercial Bank) at 11.8 percent.

BoT data shows that the average ratio of NPLs among Tanzanian lenders dropped steadily from 11.9 percent in 2017 to 10.51 percent in 2018, 9.58 percent in 2019, and 9.3 percent in 2020, with the lowest ratio on recent record being 7.88 percent in 2015.

But like elsewhere around the world, the advent of Covid-19 in 2020 hit Tanzania’s economy hard and led to significant reductions in business revenues and cash flows across virtually all sectors. This resulted in small, medium and large-scale commercial bank borrowers finding it increasingly difficult to repay their loans on time.

As part of minor policy adjustments aimed at safeguarding financial sector stability during the pandemic period, the central bank in May 2020 instructed commercial banks and other lenders to open discussions with borrowers over these repayment difficulties and available options for loan restructuring or rescheduling. However, only a few banks complied with the directive.

In January BoT also told commercial lenders to submit by March 31comprehensive plans complete with timelines showing how they intended to attain the acceptable levels of NPLs and cost-to-income ratios by end of 2022. Response to this has also been lukewarm.

Along with its new focus on individual bank employees, the central bank also this month introduced new corporate governance regulations for the banking sector under which the tenures of chief executives and board members will no longer be allowed to exceed 10 years.

According to BoT the aim, among other things, is to “promote and maintain public confidence in banks and financial institutions; and provide guidance to directors for proper discharge of their responsibilities.”

East Africa’s top retail banks booked more than $125 million of bad loans in nine months to September this year as borrowers struggled to repay their loans following the expiry of a 12-month loan repayment relief programme for customers adversely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This even comes as regional banking regulators in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda raise concern over the rise bad loans post Covid-19, which is now threatening the financial sector. Last week, Rwanda’s central bank recently reinstated regulatory requirements for commercial banks to increase provisions on loans previously suspended during the pandemic to allow banks to continue lending, which is now likely to affect loans to the private sector.

Bank of Tanzania (BoT) on the other hand has introduced new measures to address the non-performing loans problem that include zeroing in on individual bank employees who are directly responsible for issuing such loans. Latest unaudited financial statements for Nairobi headquartered but regional lenders KCB, Equity and Co-operative bank show that the volume of Gross non-performing loans (NPLs) for the three lenders accelerated by eight (8) percent to $1.81 billion from $1.68 billion in the same period last year. Co-operative bank led the pack of bad loan issuers with over $80.6 million worth of loans turning sour during the period under review, followed by Equity Bank $39.46 million and KCB at $10.26 million.

Cumulatively, KCB had the highest portion of bad loans at $876.25 million, followed by Equity and Co-operative Banks at $501.6 million and $441.78 million respectively. This is against the total loan book of $13.48 billion for the three lenders led by KCB $5.81 billion Equity Group $4.99 billion and Co-operative bank $2.73 billion. Global rating agency Moody’s Investor Service in May this year (2021) affirmed the outlook on the three lenders’ long-term deposit and issuer ratings as negative largely due to increased holdings of government securities translating to increased exposure on sovereign risks. According to the agency the negative outlook also captures the elevated risks to the banks' asset quality which continues to weigh heavily on their profitability.

“Problem loans already increased for all three banks and we expect a further weakening stemming from the pandemic and following the gradual withdrawal of coronavirus related support measures, including a loan repayment moratorium that expired in March 2021 which led to around half of banking system loans having payment deferrals,” the agency said. According to Central bank NPLs in the entire Kenyan banking industry increased by 0.09 percent in the three months to September 30 this year, while Return on Equity (ROE) for the lenders declined to 21.97 percent from 22.67 percent in the same period.

Central Bank, through its Quarterly Credit survey (September 30, 2021) attributed the increased NPLs in the industry to slowdown in business, business closures and job losses, with lenders becoming more cautious to issue credit due to the high risk of default. Gross loans for the entire banking industry increased by 2.7 percent in three months to September 30 to $28.48 billion from $27.76 billion in June this year mainly due to increased advances in the Trade and Real Estate sectors, according to Central Bank’s Quarterly Credit Survey.

During the period lenders tightened credit standards in the tourism, real estate and personal and household sectors as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Banks predicted increased NPLs in the Personal and Household, Real Estate, Tourism and Trade sectors as a result of the adverse effects of Covid-19 pandemic during the period under review. According to the survey Banks expect to intensify credit recovery efforts to reduce the volume of bad loans during the fourth Quarter (October-December).

The sectors targeted for bad loans recovery include Trade (87 percent), Personal and Household (86 percent), Building and Construction (81 percent), Real Estate (79 percent) and Manufacturing (78 percent). Kenya’s Central Bank (CBK) suspended the emergency measures to mitigate the adverse economic effects on bank borrowers from the coronavirus pandemic on March 2 this year.

As a result borrowers were given three months up to June 3 to regularise their loan repayments following the expiry of a one-year window through which the lenders had extended and restructured the loan repayments for customers adversely impacted by Covid-19 pandemic.

According to CBK, loans amounting to $15.17 billion were restructured during the period from March 3, 2020 to February 2021, accounting for 57 percent of the banking sector’s gross loans. Following the resumption of repayments and some pay-offs, the outstanding restructured loans at the end of February 2021 amounted to $5.08 billion, accounting for 19 percent of the total industry’s gross loans. CBK said over 95 percent of the outstanding restructured loans are being repaid in accordance with the restructured terms.

During the loan repayment relief period borrowers were provided with various restructuring options including extension of repayment period, moratorium on principal or interest and waivers on interest or fees. The measures provided space to borrowers to ride through the pandemic, mitigate job losses and pivot their business models to the new normal. In Tanzania, non-performing loans have continued to threaten the stability of the banking sector with the central bank this month introducing new measures to address the problem that include zeroing in on individual bank employees who are directly responsible for issuing such loans.

Bank of Tanzania (BoT) governor Prof Florens Luoga said in a November 7 notice that the bank would embark on a close inspection of commercial banks and financial institutions aimed at pinpointing such employees and require the banks to take appropriate legal action against them. The employees will also be blacklisted and barred from being employed in any other Tanzanian bank or financial institution.

"The Bank of Tanzania conducted a review to establish the main reasons behind high non-performing loans in the banking sector and established that, to a great extent, employees of some banks and financial institutions are directly responsible through issuing loans without following procedures, fraud/corruption or other practices that are tantamount to lack of integrity," Prof Luoga said. "High rate of non-performing loans is among major causes of high lending rates and may lead to instability of the banking sector," he added.

The new measures also require banks to stop granting further credit accommodation to "unscrupulous borrowers who borrowed with the intension of not repaying the loans or using deceitful means." Details of such borrowers will be kept in a special central bank register and shared with all commercial lenders. A similar ploy will also be used on members of the civil service who are found to be serial loan defaulters, the aim being "to ensure that such civil servants do not access any additional credit accommodation until appropriate action has been taken and the non-performing loan is regularized."

Lenders that fail to comply for another two consecutive years after 2022 will face further regulatory sanctions to be determined when the time comes, the circular said. But conformity has proved next to impossible. By the end of the second quarter of 2021 two leading banks, TIB Development Bank and International Commercial Bank, had NPL ratios of 52 and 50.7 percent respectively, meaning that more than half the loans disbursed to their clients remained unpaid by June 30 this year. Azania Bank, at 30.35 percent, and Equity Bank (30.26 percent) followed along with Access Bank (19.31 percent), Akiba Commercial Bank (19 percent) and the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange-listed DCB (Dar es Salaam Commercial Bank) at 11.8 percent.

According to their Q3 2021 financial statements published in October, Tanzania's top two banks by assets and capitalisation, CRDB and NMB, issuing loans worth over $3.91 billion combined but each managed to keep their NPL ratios below the BoT's 5 percent benchmark as smaller banks continued to struggle with bad loans. BoT data shows that the average ratio of NPLs among Tanzanian lenders dropped steadily from 11.9 percent in 2017 to 10.51 percent in 2018, 9.58 percent in 2019, and 9.3 percent in 2020, with the lowest ratio on recent record being 7.88 percent in 2015. But like elsewhere around the world, the advent of Covid-19 in 2020 hit Tanzania's economy hard and led to significant reductions in business revenues and cash flows across virtually all sectors. This resulted in small, medium and large-scale commercial bank borrowers finding it increasingly difficult to repay their loans on time. As part of minor policy adjustments aimed at safeguarding financial sector stability during the pandemic period, the central bank in May 2020 instructed commercial banks and other lenders to open discussions with borrowers over these repayment difficulties and available options for loan restructuring or rescheduling. However, only a few banks complied with the directive. In January BoT also told commercial lenders to submit by March 31comprehensive plans complete with timelines showing how they intended to attain the acceptable levels of NPLs and cost-to-income ratios by end of 2022.

Response to this has also been lukewarm. Along with its new focus on individual bank employees, the central bank also this month introduced new corporate governance regulations for the banking sector under which the tenures of chief executives and board members will no longer be allowed to exceed 10 years. According to BoT the aim, among other things, is to "promote and maintain public confidence in banks and financial institutions; and provide guidance to directors for proper discharge of their responsibilities."

In the headlines

Covid-19: African Union rejects travel bans

The AU is encouraging more surveillance and data sharing between countries, and increased vaccination of the “high-risk” populations.

How security lapses let terror cells thrive in Uganda

Sudan PM Hamdok fires police chiefs

Africa fails to step up Covid fight even with more vaccines

Rwanda reinstates quarantine rules for travellers

China loan beneficiaries face debt distress

Ceasefire first step in addressing political crisis in Addis, says envoy

Sunday November 28 2021

The Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations, Ambassador Martin Kimani. PHOTO | COURTESY

Summary

The conflict in Ethiopia is perhaps the most urgent engagement for Kenya at the UN Security Council.
African leadership is required if the actions undertaken to encourage peace are to be constructive.
While the mediation to achieve a ceasefire is underway, Kenya is pushing for full and unhindered humanitarian access.
The actors on the ground need to internalise that a major factor in how the international community will engage with their political positions will be influenced by the actions they take in regard to humanitarian access.

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

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Kenya’s Envoy to the UN spoke to Aggrey Mutambo on why the conflict in Ethiopia matters to Kenya and what the international community can do to de-escalate tensions

Why has it been so difficult to get the parties in Ethiopia moving towards a ceasefire?

The conflict in Ethiopia is perhaps the most urgent engagement for Kenya at the UN Security Council. Our overriding priority is to help Ethiopia get through this crisis without its sovereignty and territorial integrity disintegrating.

The major role we are playing in the Security Council is to push for it to approach the situation in a way that does not compromise the fundamental security of Ethiopia and that effectively nudges the parties to embrace a ceasefire and be willing for mediation.

African leadership is required if the actions undertaken to encourage peace are to be constructive. The African Union’s appointment of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a High Representative for the Horn, charged with seeking to support peace in Ethiopia, is an important step.

While the mediation to achieve a ceasefire is underway, Kenya is pushing for full and unhindered humanitarian access. We have registered our strong concern of the hate speech and incitement on social media, and encouraged Ethiopia to make use of the continental and regional tools designed for mediating conflict that it played a crucial role in shaping at the African Union and IGAD.

Does President Kenyatta enjoy confidence with all the conflicting parties?

I think so. This is not the first time Kenya has engaged positively to encourage a stop to a conflict in our region. We have been an honest broker key to mediating ceasefires and supporting the peace that follows.

Our interests in Ethiopia is to seek a secure, peaceful and independent Africa. We do that as a matter of policy, and understanding that our peace depends on being part of a stable region whose countries are at peace.

To manifest this position in the Security Council requires we be independent minded and bold.

After all, the Security Council reflects the interests of the most powerful States in the world. Left to its devices and lacking an assertive Africa that leads in resolving its own problems, the Council can easily take actions contrary to the interests of African states and peoples.

Is it getting too late to get to the basics like humanitarian corridors and ceasefire?

There is intense worry within the Security Council about the flow of humanitarian aid to Tigray, Afar and Amhara. Every delegation has called for humanitarian access. The risks of famine have been potent, and there is little doubt that the people have suffered greatly.

The actors on the ground need to internalise that a major factor in how the international community will engage with their political positions will be influenced by the actions they take in regard to humanitarian access.

What else has been done to speed up a solution?

President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken a more central role working closely with the UN Secretary General and former President Obasanjo. The African Union Peace and Security Council has now also engaged in finding a solution. Other states and organisations are regarding these African interventions as critical.

Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, there is a growing awareness that the military situation cannot solve the underlying political conflict and lead to peace and stability.

How is the Council working with the local people to help deal with the crisis?

The violent conflict in Ethiopia is a militarised expression of a profound disagreement on the political and constitutional future of the country.

Kenya has had its fair share of political challenges. What Kenya has learnt is that you cannot impose a solution. What you can do is encourage the parties to find a solution.

The complex crisis that the Ethiopians are suffering did not begin recently. Through history, they may have returned repeatedly to the drawing board to determine their future.

Even the way the State is shaped today in terms of federalism is itself an attempt to deal with the problem and create an inclusive State.

What needs to happen now is for the fighting to stop; not necessarily to go back to a status quo, but for the country to have a national dialogue that will allow it to address what their State -- federal or centralised -- should look like.

When we as Kenya push for a ceasefire, it is not because we know what the future of Ethiopia should be but because we know that Ethiopians, at the end of the day, have to sit down and determine how their future constitutional and political status should be.

The UN Security Council has had more engagements on Africa than any other place yet there are no permanent members on the Council. Is this a concern?

In the mid-1940s when the UN was being created, Kenya as we know it today did not exist. We are a member of a UN whose formation we did not have a hand in and even us being on the Council (for two years) indicates to us how important the body is and how unacceptable it is that it should have 60-70 percent of its agenda on Africa without an African country being a permanent member.

Our membership to the Council has made us even more determined to push for reforms within the UN.

The debate on the future of Amisom has arisen recently. What is Kenya’s concern?

It is critical that the Amisom transition leads to a peaceful and secure Somalia, not a surge into greater prominence by a terrorist group such as Al Shabaab.

Kenya’s concern, beyond the future of Amisom, is that across the continent, the Security Council is not robustly enough dealing with terrorist groups. We think the Council is behind the curve.

Traditional peacekeeping is changing to stabilisation and countering terrorism.

The future needs joint African forces with the kind of military force multipliers and resources that it takes to actually overcome these groups.

From its reluctance to list Al Shabaab as an Al Qaeda affiliate, to its reticence to support the G5 Sahel with UN assessed contributions,

I think Kenyans need to better understand the work we do in the Security Council. During our Presidency in October, we took the Council to the Sahel, specifically to Mali and Niger. The reason was to offer the Council to assess firsthand the impact terrorist groups are having on populations and even the continuity of states. Al Shabaab, in its ideological and political aims mirrors the groups afflicting the Sahel, and other regions. It feeds off similar criminal economies, and radicalises and recruits in the same way. We wanted the Council to understand that the continent as a whole needs to take on these groups even more robustly, and that it needs the support of the international community.

We all witnessed the result of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

If this strategic insight is not understood and acted on, then expect a lot more serious crises that could even lead to a number of failed states.

Even when you are undertaking other aspects of peacebuilding, if we are not military capable of pushing back these groups, then we are going to find an increasing level of threats to the existence of our states.

In the headlines

A region in debt as top banks record $125m in bad loans

Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, banking regulators in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have raised concern over the rise of non-performing loans.

Covid-19: African Union rejects travel bans

The AU is encouraging more surveillance and data sharing between countries, and increased vaccination of the “high-risk” populations.

How security lapses let terror cells thrive in Uganda

Sudan PM Hamdok fires police chiefs

Africa fails to step up Covid fight even with more vaccines

Rwanda reinstates quarantine rules for travellers

China loan beneficiaries face debt distress

African Union rejects travel bans amid new Covid-19 variant

Sunday November 28 2021

Travellers queue at a check-in counter at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, on November 27, 2021, after several countries banned flights from the country following the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant Omicron. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

Hours after its detection, Western countries including UK, Germany and the US imposed flight bans on South Africa and six of its neighbours where the variant had been detected. Canada, Morocco, Russia and several others also imposed bans on the southern African countries.
South Africa warned the quick bans could discourage further information sharing on scientific findings about the virus, making it difficult for the world to recover.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new Covid-19 variant one of concern, but did not recommend lockdowns. Instead, it recommended more field investigations, enhanced vaccinations and full adherence to public health guidelines.

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

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The African Union on Saturday cautioned countries across the world against imposing quick travel bans on travellers from the continent, in the wake of a new variant of the Covid-19 virus said to be more infectious.

Dr John Nkengasong, the Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said the history of the pandemic had indicated travel bans served little purpose in managing the spread of the virus.

Instead, the continental body was encouraging more surveillance and data sharing between countries, in addition to increased vaccination of the “high-risk” populations.

“Africa CDC strongly discourages the imposition of travel ban for people originating from countries that have reported this variant. In fact, over the duration of this pandemic, we have observed that imposing bans on travellers from countries where a new variant is reported has not yielded a meaningful outcome,” Nkengasong said in a statement.

“Rather implementing PHSM should be prioritised.” PHSM refers to public health and social measures such as face mask wearing, physical distancing, sanitising hands and adequate ventilation which the African body said had proven more effective alongside vaccination in taming the pandemic.

New variant

The Africa CDC’s stance came two days after South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) announced it had detected a new variant, seen as a superbug version of the SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. It was officially labelled as B.1.1.529 and the World Health Organisation christened it the Omicron variant.

But hours after its detection, Western countries including UK, Germany and the US imposed flight bans on South Africa and six of its neighbours where the variant had been detected. Canada, Morocco, Russia and several others also imposed bans on the southern African countries.

On Saturday, South Africa warned the quick bans could discourage further information sharing on scientific findings about the virus, making it difficult for the world to recover.

“While we respect the right of all countries to take the necessary precautionary measures to protect their citizens, we need to remember that this pandemic requires collaboration and sharing of expertise,” said Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s Minister for International Relations and Cooperation.

Genomic sequencing

According to her, the ban amounted to punishing the country’s scientific community for discovering the variants and the country’s advanced genomic sequencing technology that allowed the scientists to discover the variant.

“Excellent science should be applauded and not punished…Each of those cases have had no recent links with Southern Africa, but the reaction to those countries is starkly different to cases in Southern Africa,” she said in a statement, warning the abrupt decisions were first going to hurt local economies that were only beginning to recover.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new Covid-19 variant one of concern, but did not recommend lockdowns. Instead, it recommended more field investigations, enhanced vaccinations and full adherence to public health guidelines.

More mutations

“Countries are asked to enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts to better understand circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants…. submit complete genome sequences and associated metadata to a publicly available database,” the WHO said on Friday.

The Omicron variant is said to have more mutations, or changes in structure which could help it to dodge immune responses of the body and make it more infectious. It had been detected among several people in South Africa Gauteng province where the capital Pretoria and commercial capital Johannesburg are situated.

But even the countries imposing restrictions on South Africa had themselves reported rising cases of Covid-19, leading critics to accuse the countries of looking away from the real problem.

“We know what we know (about Omicron) because South Africa has invested in advanced genomic sequencing,” said Ingrid Katz, HIV Researcher and Associate Professor at the Harvard Medical School.

“We owe them a debt of gratitude - not punishment. Transparency is critical in a global pandemic. We need to support these efforts collaboratively.”

In the headlines

A region in debt as top banks record $125m in bad loans

Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, banking regulators in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have raised concern over the rise of non-performing loans.

How security lapses let terror cells thrive in Uganda

Sudan PM Hamdok fires police chiefs

Africa fails to step up Covid fight even with more vaccines

Rwanda reinstates quarantine rules for travellers

China loan beneficiaries face debt distress

How security lapses let terror cells thrive in Uganda

Sunday November 28 2021

Investigators comb the scene of crime for clues around the police cars destroyed by a bomb explosion in front of Central Police Station in Kampala, Uganda, on November 16, 2021. FILE PHOTO | AFP

Summary

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga says the counterterrorism agencies have foiled about 150 terror attacks on Uganda, but warn that the terrorists were not easy to uproot because of their ideological leaning in religion, and active recruitment of Ugandans, including children and women, into its ranks.
But unease remains over the killing of suspects and the swift way the security organs have responded and eliminated the alleged sleeper cells that were allowed to assemble bombs and execute attacks, with ease.
Over the years, the ADF has maintained sleeper cells in Uganda that it uses to strike at targets inside the country, with improvised explosive devices and guns – the latter used to target high profile individuals, the latest being Gen Katumba Wamala.

By JULIUS BARIGABA

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Uganda police failed to stop three terror attacks in 24 days – including the twin blasts that killed four people in Kampala on November 16 – but sprang into action, killing seven and arresting 106 suspects linked to the explosions.

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga says the counterterrorism agencies have foiled about 150 terror attacks on Uganda, but warn that the terrorists were not easy to uproot because of their ideological leaning in religion, and active recruitment of Ugandans, including children and women, into its ranks.

In a November 20 televised address, President Yoweri Museveni confirmed the same and defended the killing of the suspects, including Muslim cleric Sheikh Muhamad Kirevu, who he said was part of a terrorist network that carried out a series of attacks in Uganda since the June 1 assassination attempt on Works and Transport minister Gen Katumba Wamala.

“I have heard people say Kirevu was a good man… I am a reader of intelligence briefs. Let the public wait for the courts,” Mr Museveni said, justifying the killing of the cleric and other suspects.

Mr Enanga told The EastAfrican that police had wiped out all terror cells in Nabweru, Lweza and Mpererwe, all located in Kampala Metropolitan Area, as well as those upcountry in Luwero, Bundibugyo, Ntoroko and Kanungu.

But unease remains over the killing of suspects and the swift way the security organs have responded and eliminated the alleged sleeper cells that were allowed to assemble bombs and execute attacks, with ease.

Moreover, the United States’ non-involvement in counterterrorism efforts to stop attacks masterminded by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) raises questions, Charles Rwomushana, a former Internal Security Organisation operative says.

Mr Rwomushana argues that the choice of scene for the November 16 blasts – on less busy roads and not close to the embassies of global powers like the US, the UK or France – is not consistent with that of a suicide bomber, terrorist group or IS whose major characteristic is looking to make a statement.

Last month, the UK and France, issued a terror alert about Uganda, whose threat level the Uganda police downplayed, until the attack happened on October 24, killing one person, and injuring several others at an eatery, north-east of Kampala.

A second explosion came 48 hours later, on a bus that had just left the capital; three weeks later, police admitted that the problem was bigger than previously thought, after terrorists carried out deadly twin explosions outside Central Police Station and Parliament Avenue.

Assessment

The US is Uganda’s longtime counterterrorism partner, but throughout these attacks, it has not raised the terror antennas to warn Uganda government but only issued security alerts after the explosions, for the benefit of its citizens in Kampala or anyone else intent on travelling there.

In its last terrorist assessment threat for Uganda, the US State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism noted that there had been no attack since 2019 but raised the antenna on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) activities in eastern Congo, from where the group could extend attacks to Uganda.

“In April, ISIS claimed responsibility for attacks in eastern DR Congo conducted by the ADF, a historically anti-Kampala armed group based in that area. This was the first claim by ISIS of an attack in the region and highlighted the persistent threat of terrorism in Uganda,” the Bureau noted in 2019.

Nonetheless, the Bureau did not issue any other terror threat assessment, leaving the UK and France to take up this role.

After the 2010 twin bombs that al-Shabaab claimed, which killed 79 people in Kampala during the screening of the World Cup final, the US Federal Bureau of Instigations and Uganda security agencies started to collaborate on terror alerts, information sharing, training, and investigations.

The US Embassy in Kampala said: “We need approval from DC before responding but in the meantime let me direct you to US Embassy Kampala Security Alerts issued October 26, and November 16, 2021, as well as the US.”

But other commentators argue that the US’s diminished role stems from the significant pressure that the Trump, and subsequent Biden administration have been under to cut Museveni loose from Washington DC’s usual carte blanche military aid, which the regime then uses to terrorise unarmed citizens.

Referring to the 54 people Uganda’s security killed in November 2020 at the height of the presidential election campaigns, which sparked off arguments to rethink US military assistance to Uganda, some Americans say Washington has already acted.

The group behind the attacks is the ADF, Ugandan rebel force of Salafi-jihadist elements; it emerged in the 1990s, supported by radical elements in Sudan to carry out terrorist attacks inside Uganda, but has maintained bases in eastern Congo.

In March 2021, the US Department of State designated the ADF Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – Democratic Republic of Congo but ISIS itself only came to reference ADF as its Central Africa Province unit in April, according to the Centre for Strategic International Studies.

Over the years, the ADF has maintained sleeper cells in Uganda that it uses to strike at targets inside the country, with improvised explosive devices and guns – the latter used to target high profile individuals, the latest being Gen Katumba Wamala.

Security minister Jim Muhwezi says that ADF has succeeded in “radicalising our young people by either persuasion or coercion” to carry out attacks.

According to Mr Enanga, the ADF is motivated to continue the attacks to establish a caliphate of the IS in Uganda, revenge for their colleagues killed in the Gen Katumba operation, but also, that they are sponsored by an unnamed foreign country to cause economic sabotage.

In the headlines

A region in debt as top banks record $125m in bad loans

Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, banking regulators in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have raised concern over the rise of non-performing loans.

Covid-19: African Union rejects travel bans

The AU is encouraging more surveillance and data sharing between countries, and increased vaccination of the “high-risk” populations.

Sudan PM Hamdok fires police chiefs

Africa fails to step up Covid fight even with more vaccines

Rwanda reinstates quarantine rules for travellers

China loan beneficiaries face debt distress

Sudan PM Abdalla Hamdok dismisses police chiefs over post-coup violence

Sunday November 28 2021

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. He has sacked police chiefs. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

Military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power and detained Hamdok on October 25, but after international condemnation and mass protests he reinstated the premier in a November 21 deal.
Medics say at least 42 people were killed as security forces sought to crush weeks of anti-coup demonstrations, with protests continuing even after Hamdok's release from house arrest and return to his post last week.
Medics have accused security forces of targeting protesters in the "head, neck and torso" with live ammunition, as well as with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters.

By AFP

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Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said Saturday he has replaced Sudan's police chiefs after more than 40 people were killed in a crackdown on protests following last month's military coup.

Military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power and detained Hamdok on October 25, but after international condemnation and mass protests he reinstated the premier in a November 21 deal.

Medics say at least 42 people were killed as security forces sought to crush weeks of anti-coup demonstrations, with protests continuing even after Hamdok's release from house arrest and return to his post last week.

On Saturday, Hamdok said he had sacked the director general of the police, Khaled Mahdi Ibrahim al-Emam, and his deputy, Ali Ibrahim.

In their place, he appointed Anan Hamed Mohamed Omar with Abdelrahman Nasreddine Abdallah as his deputy, the premier said in a statement.

Medics have accused security forces of targeting protesters in the "head, neck and torso" with live ammunition, as well as with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters.

The police have denied reports they opened fire using live bullets.

In addition, hundreds of political activists, journalists, protesters and bystanders watching the rallies have been arrested in recent weeks, and remain in custody.

While several civilian leaders have been released since last Sunday's deal, key figures are also still in detention.

The deal raised hopes for some that Sudan will be able to return to its tenuous transition process.

But critics slammed the agreement as "whitewashing" the coup, with some protesters accusing Hamdok of "treason" by signing it.

Hamdok, who has headed a transitional government since the 2019 ouster of long-time autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir, said Wednesday he partnered with the military in order to "stop the bloodshed" and "not squander the gains of the last two years".

The deal he signed with Burhan lays down a "clear date" for Sudan's first free elections in three decades slated for July 2023, the premier said.

In the headlines

A region in debt as top banks record $125m in bad loans

Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, banking regulators in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have raised concern over the rise of non-performing loans.

Covid-19: African Union rejects travel bans

The AU is encouraging more surveillance and data sharing between countries, and increased vaccination of the “high-risk” populations.

How security lapses let terror cells thrive in Uganda

Africa fails to step up Covid fight even with more vaccines

Rwanda reinstates quarantine rules for travellers

China loan beneficiaries face debt distress

Tanzania gains from Uganda-Rwanda tiff and Kigali-Bujumbura rapprochement

Sunday November 28 2021

Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame in Luanda, Angola, after talks to mend ties between their nations on August 21, 2019. FILE PHOTO | URUGWIRO VILLAGE

Summary

The East African Community has lost any hope of resolving the political differences between Uganda and Rwanda, which led to the closure of the common border in 2019, due to the lack of political for dialogue.
Rwanda is looking elsewhere in the region for trade and political partnerships, including mending fences with Burundi, with which it had been embroiled in disputes over security, and the new kid on the block, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is gearing up to join the East African Community.
Rwanda accuses Uganda of fuelling instability by hosting hostile groups to the Paul Kagame government as well as torturing innocent Rwandans.

By JOHNSON KANAMUGIRE

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By JONATHAN KAMOGA

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By MOSES HAVYARIMANA

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The East African Community has lost any hope of resolving the political differences between Uganda and Rwanda, which led to the closure of the common border in 2019, due to the lack of political for dialogue.

This has emerged as tension continues to simmer between the two former allies as bilateral trade suffers.

Rwanda is looking elsewhere in the region for trade and political partnerships, including mending fences with Burundi, with which it had been embroiled in disputes over security, and the new kid on the block, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is gearing up to join the East African Community.

Uganda’s Junior Foreign Affairs minister Henry Okello Oryem told The EastAfrican this week that Kampala is no longer interested in talks with Kigali, as they believe they have done everything Rwanda asked before the talks and implementation of the earlier agreement.

“There is not much we can do if they are not willing to co-operate,” Mr Oryem said. “For now, we are not bothered, and you should ask those questions (about the border closure) to Rwanda. We are not the ones that closed the border, and it is now up to them to open it whenever they feel they should.”

Movement of people and goods remains restricted between them after closure of the then lucrative Northern Corridor border post of Gatuna/ Katuna in February 2019, almost killing cross-border trade and bilateral relations.

Rwanda accuses Uganda of fuelling instability by hosting hostile groups to the Paul Kagame government as well as torturing innocent Rwandans.

On its part, Kampala accuses Rwanda of conducting espionage on its soil.

While there has been no visible escalation of tension between the two countries, the issues remain unresolved. Diplomatic efforts by regional and international leaders have so far failed.

Digging in

While Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been cagey despite recent reports alleging that Rwanda deployed spying software Pegasus on Ugandan senior officials — allegations that Rwanda has dismissed as baseless — Mr Kagame has been outspoken at several forums, indicating that his issues with Uganda relate to the mistreatment of Rwandans in Uganda and sabotage.

“There are a number of issues that have to be resolved. It takes two to tango; both countries will continue searching for a solution to the problems that still exist. We understand the root cause, and should find a way forward and better understanding than we have had in the recent past,” President Kagame said last week in an interview with Al Jazeera.

He was responding to a question on the state of relations with Uganda.

Several talks, including four meetings between Presidents Kagame and Museveni mediated by Angola’s João Lourenço and DRC’s Félix Tshisekedi have not yielded much, apart from an agreement signed by the two leaders to end the longstanding tensions.

The treaty was at Katuna on February 21, 2020. Just last month, Uganda invited Rwanda for talks on how to implement the agreement, but Rwanda declined, noting that while they were open to talks, they would, in current circumstances, not engage Uganda because its agents continued to abduct and harass its citizens in Uganda and support political and armed groups hostile to Kigali.

Burundi’s gambit

Besides, the two countries’ heads of state, who have met at least four times before to iron out their differences under the arbitration of Angola and DRC, have not talked for months.

President Kagame said the communication with his Ugandan counterpart has “more or less stopped” of late.

Rwanda maintains that Uganda hunts down Rwandans, which President Kagame says “amounts to persecution.”

“But Ugandans coming to Rwanda, have not experienced the same hardship as Rwandans do when they go to Uganda. The problem of what led to the closure of the border needs to be answered before it reopens,” Mr Kagame said.

In September, while speaking to France 24, President Museveni indicated he had almost given up on the talks, as they were not yielding much.

Meanwhile, Kampala has continued to deport Rwandans on allegations of conducting illegal activities. Kigali says 2,567 have been deported since 2017 (1,943 men, 540 women and 84 children).

Kigali and Burundi have moved to solve their differences and this week, Burundi’s EAC minister Ezechiel Nibigira said theirs had improved significantly.

“We are taking positive steps towards strengthening peace and security. Burundi made efforts to help Rwanda twice when terrorists preparing to attack Rwanda were arrested and handed over to Kigali. Rwanda also handed over terrorists who attacked Burundi. This is a good gesture,” Mr Nibigira told the East African Legislative Assembly in Arusha.

As the stalemate persists, Rwanda has also diverted most of its trade to the Central Corridor linking it to the port of Dar es Salaam and is aggressively seeking alternative trading partners and routes. According to World Bank data, in 2017, Rwanda was Uganda’s fifth-biggest export market, taking in about $180 million worth of goods. Rwanda meanwhile exported goods worth $10 million to Uganda.

Ugandan officials initially downplayed the issue of the border closure, with the view that Rwanda would open it soon as most of its imports come through the port of Mombasa on to the Northern Corridor through Uganda.

The prolonged stalemate renders the multimillion-dollar border infrastructure, the Gatuna/Katuna one-stop border post, redundant at a huge cost to both countries and the East African Community.

The Gatuna and Kagitumba common border points have standard Customs and immigration facilities, warehouses and premises for commercial operators to boost traffic between Rwanda and Uganda whose trade volumes had grown significantly only to fall dramatically over the past two years, worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rwandan businessmen have since turned to Tanzania and other markets for the goods they used to source from Uganda and exports.

Rwanda’s opposition leader Frank Habineza said that the Foreign ministry says the talks have stalled because of Covid-19, “yet torture of Rwandans in Uganda did not stop.”

“So the two countries should resume talks that lead to the reopening of the border. It is when there are differences that people need to talk more to each other,” he said.

In July, Rwanda handed over 19 men who allegedly conducted an attack in Burundi and fled to its territory last year. Burundi in October handed over 11 men believed to belong to the National Liberation Force (FNL) for allegedly planning to carry out an attack in Rwanda.

“This is the spirit that will help us move forward as a Community,” said the Burundian minister.

In the headlines

A region in debt as top banks record $125m in bad loans

Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, banking regulators in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have raised concern over the rise of non-performing loans.

Covid-19: African Union rejects travel bans

The AU is encouraging more surveillance and data sharing between countries, and increased vaccination of the “high-risk” populations.

How security lapses let terror cells thrive in Uganda

Sudan PM Hamdok fires police chiefs

Africa fails to step up Covid fight even with more vaccines

Rwanda reinstates quarantine rules for travellers

China loan beneficiaries face debt distress

Another first for Kipchoge after making debut on NFT

Saturday November 27 2021

Greatest Of All Time marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge auctioned off two videos of his career highlights on a Momentible online platform on April 8. PHOTO | COURTESY

Summary

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are crypto art put up for sale or auction, with payment done in cryptocurrencies. Auction went live on April 26 on the OpenSea platform.

By KARI MUTU

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In what is arguably Kenya’s first NFT auction, marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge has auctioned off two videos of his career highlights for $37,351.07 (Ksh4 million).

The auction winner received the artwork in high quality and a personal video message from Kipchoge to congratulate the new owner, according to Momentible, the online platform that hosted the event on April 8, 2021. Momentible specialises in memorabilia from the world of sports and music, and the bidding took place on OpenSea, a peer-to-peer marketplace for the sale of singular digital items.

Kipchoge broke the marathon world record in Berlin in September 2018 with a time of 2:01:39. He then rose to new heights in May 2019 when he won the Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria, becoming the first person to run a full marathon in under two hours. It is digital images of these two events that were auctioned as Non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

NFTs are a type of crypto art put up for sale or auction, with payment normally done in cryptocurrencies. A vast range of unique and rare collectibles can be turned into NFTs including music, films, videos, and digital artwork. The items are deposited on a blockchain system that stores electronic information, and from where it is possible to verify ownership of the piece.

Digital images

Originality and provenance are the basis of an NFT’s value although the buyer ultimately determines the sale price. NFTs are said to be impossible to forge but can be resold multiple times, with ownership tracked along the way. However, the original owner retains copyright.

The world gasped collectively in March 2021 when American digital artist “Beeple” (Mike Winkelmann) auctioned an NFT artwork for over $69 million at a Christie’s online auction. Everydays: The First 5000 Days is a collage collection of Beeple’s digital images from his Everyday series. Bought by a client in Singapore, this “third most expensive work sold by a living artist” undoubtedly helped push NFT to mainstream of the artworld. Soon after, prestigious auction houses Sotheby’s and Phillips went on to publicise upcoming NFT auctions as have many art galleries worldwide.

With the Kipchoge NFT auction, Kenya joins a small group of African countries that have hopped onto the crypto bandwagon. Digital artist Prince Jacon Osinachi of Nigeria is recognised as Africa’s “foremost crypto artist” with figurative works that explore family, culture and sexual identity.

In 2018, he became the first Nigerian to feature at the Ethereal Summit, a conference for connecting blockchain technology, artists and entrepreneurs.

South Africa, the continent’s leading arts market, announced in March the launch its first NFT auction. The artwork is a digital portrait with movable elements and created by local artist Norman O’Flynn.

Presented by Worldart Gallery of Cape Town, it is expected to fetch between R60,000 and R100,000 ($4,170-$6,950).

Afro-renaissance

Senegalese-American music celebrity Akon announced the launch of his own platform for NFTs. The AkoinNFT platform has come on the back of a difficult year for the arts industry in the wake of Covid-19 and is meant to assist creatives create, design and distribute their works as cryptographic assets.

Back in Kenya, the digital media company Picha Images has gone crypto with a series of Afro-renaissance photographs by co-founder Rich Allela and converted into NFTs. Allela note that Picha Images wants to empower artists to “maintain the copyright of their work and earn from secondary sales,” adding that the auction highlights the value of art as an investment worth making.

Nevertheless, the meteoric rise of non-fungible tokens has recently raised outcry in environmental circles over their negative impact on the environment. The majority of crypto art is stored in the Ethereum cryptocurrency blockchain. However, electricity consumption for mining the digital tokens leaves a heavy carbon footprint.

“So one token equals one month of electricity," said Austrian architect Chris Precht, whose studio backed down from promoting NFTs after identifying the environmental impact.

Summary

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Positive trend

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Credit rating

Recovery efforts

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New variant

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Genomic sequencing

More mutations

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Assessment

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Digging in

Burundi’s gambit

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Digital images

Afro-renaissance