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Melinda French Gates: Innovation the right dose for Africa’s health and poverty

Saturday June 25 2022

Co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates, in Paris on July 1, 2021, where she spoke at the Generation Equality Forum. PHOTO | AFP

By JACKSON MUTINDA

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The co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates, spoke to Jackson Mutinda about solutions for the continent’s development problems on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali.

You are in Africa at a time the continent is hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. What message did you bring to this meeting?

My message was that there's incredible innovation going on on the continent, with a young generation that's up and coming with a lot of ingenuity. And, you know, so much progress has been made on the continent in the past 20 years.

Childhood deaths are down, immunisation rates are up … all of that progress. We need to maintain the momentum because some of those things went backwards because of Covid-19. Now, malaria deaths are up, immunisation rates are down. And so my message is, let's keep what we call in the US the pedal to the metal -- let's keep pushing forward all this progress and change that’s happening.

When we invest in the health system, people grow up healthy, they don't deal with much malaria and then they can go on to get a great education and the job that they want and fulfil their dreams. And so my message is, let's make sure we keep focusing on health so that this amazing young population can live its dreams.

You were there when the Kigali Declaration on eradicating malaria and neglected tropical diseases was adopted. Now, looking at what is happening globally – with pandemics like Covid-19, wars and disruption of global supply chains – don’t you think it's too ambitious to achieve by 2030?

We have innovation on our side. Ten years ago we didn't have a malaria vaccine, we didn't have any vaccine for a parasitic disease. Now we have one, and it's being delivered in Africa. Now, it's only 50 percent efficacious, but we have another vaccine coming very soon that should be more efficacious.

Again, 15 years ago it was difficult for mum to get a bed net. And then we started delivering bed nets. Now, people regularly use bed nets and, well, a next-generation bed net with a better insecticide is coming. So we have all this innovation. And we have people used to doing the right things like detecting malaria in the health system, detecting it quickly and getting on top of it quickly. We have families that are now sleeping under bed nets. So it's possible.

It certainly is an ambitious agenda, and a lot will hang in the balance with this war in Ukraine that's causing all kinds of problems in countries, including the continent of Africa. But we need to keep fighting because we're seeing many more people being healthy and not dying of malaria as in the past.

Also read: Europe gives $12m funding for malaria vaccine

Do you see more political will in the implementation of health and development programmes you've helped finance?

Definitely. I mean, we're sitting here in Rwanda. They have invested in their primary health care system. I've just come from the telemedicine project, which is run by Babyl (an organisation using an app that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning with live health workers for consultation).

They’re taking the patient load off doctors and making sure that patients can call into a call centre, where there are nurses and doctors, and they go through their symptoms, and then they triage. Some of those patients need to go to the health clinic, but some can be treated over the phone, or sent straight to the laboratory to get a test, then decide if they need to see a doctor, and so taking that load off the system so that the doctors can deal with the most serious issues.

Boy, that's a fabulous innovation! And they're doing it using feature phones, which are predominantly used in Rwanda and many countries in Africa. But when you think of how that's changing the health system, wow!

Just like M-Pesa when it was first created in Kenya, you could do a bit with it. But now when I see so many countries doing digital money and doing digital ID, people are able to save and transact. If people save, if there's a health shock or something they want to invest in -- like a business or their kids’ education – they have the money. I'm seeing a lot of good change across the continent. You see a case like Rwanda, and you think, wow, this is really possible.

You have placed women at the centre of your programmes and that seems to be paying good dividends…

Put women at the centre and it starts to change things: They change their family, they change their community, they change a whole country. Rwanda is a great example. Now, over 60 percent of parliamentarians are women. And when you go into the banking sector -- you see a woman at the helm at the Bank of Kigali -- and it's not, as some women have pointed out to me, unusual anymore.

Read: Women pressing on for progress in East Africa

The policies, the laws have been changed, and now it's got where the social norm is: you expect to see women in lots of high roles. I think that kind of change is possible when you empower women. I also know in the development community we have to do specific programming. So we can't assume that if there's one phone in the family, it's a woman who has it, you have to assume the man has it.

So what's the extra mile we need to go to make sure the woman has an account on that phone, because the man will get the phone, he'll get a digital account, but she needs one too? Again, at Babyl they found that as soon as they got women signed up with a national ID, more women were calling into the call centre. So I know that empowering women makes a difference.

You have had messaging around reproductive health. How has that gone?

It's gone actually well, and we're seeing more places across the continent where women are asking for contraceptives, whether you're in Niger, Senegal, Kenya, or Rwanda, women are saying this is a tool I need and want to use.

I think the message has been well received, but we still need to do more to have more supply of contraceptives. One thing they do here in Rwanda, which is what countries that are farther along on this journey do, is to offer a basket of contraceptives, you know, long-term and short-term; long-term being an IUD (intrauterine device) or an implant, short-term being the pill or condoms. When you offer that basket, women are more likely to use and stay on a contraceptive. And then you add something like telemedicine, where there's no bias, they feel it's private, they can get counselling.

Let's say they're using a method and they feel like oh gosh, I'm having these side effects… they can call in and so they're likely to continue using the method. That really helps because when women can time and space their births, they're healthier, their children are healthier, and the family is wealthier.

Health and poverty are closely related, so which one do we need to eradicate first?

You have to have good health to have a chance to honestly lift yourself out of poverty. So if you have a family that is constantly dealing with bouts of malaria, they're depleting any savings they have, whereas if you can help contain malaria in their region, or make sure if they get it they can get diagnosed and get medicine quickly, then they are not spending much of their family savings or income on that. The mum and dad and older kids can go to work, and the younger kids can go to school. So you have to invest in health to help a country and its citizenry lift themselves out of poverty.

There has been a discussion around equity in terms of access and supply of medicines and vaccines between rich countries and poor countries. How can this be resolved?

Covid exposed the inequities and injustice in health. The fact that the high-income countries were in line first for medications, vaccines, that's not okay. And so, the countries that couldn't get them were outraged and they should be.

Read: Vaccine deserts: The poor nations trailing in the fight against Covid-19

But I think one of the silver linings coming out of Covid was making sure that more vaccines are created in more places. On the continent of Africa, there should be probably three regional hubs.

Before coming to Kigali I visited the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal, where the Foundation has been investing since 2012. They've been around almost 100 years, they make yellow fever vaccines of very high quality. Well, guess what? There's still a shortage of yellow fever vaccines, so they're ramping up production. And Russia has just dropped out of the equation. So Institut Pasteur de Dakar is going to create much more capacity.

They are also readying to create the measles and rubella vaccine. So it doesn't have to be created somewhere else; it can be created on the continent. Other vaccines with this mRNA technology are coming along. If we invest now, which you just saw BioNTech do here in Rwanda, then as mRNA comes along, it may eventually help us deal with malaria and tuberculosis. And Institut Pasteur in West Africa will also move to mRNA vaccines over time, and then I think we’ll probably have one other hub on the continent, likely in the south. That’s going to make sense for Africans.

We’ve seen a move from grants to partnerships. What next? Do we foresee in the near future sub-Saharan Africa financing its own health programmes?

Yes, the goal should always be helping low-income countries become middle-income countries and middle-income countries become high-income countries. That’s where everybody would like to progress. So our job is to have deep partnerships, understand what's needed and what our partners want, and then we do a mix of grants and investments.

We are all about trying to make sure there is innovation, but that the innovation is shared equally. Some 95 percent of malaria cases are on the continent of Africa and 96 percent of the deaths happen here. So we felt that there needed to be more innovations. That meant having to put in a whole bunch of scientific grants to incentivise scientists to do it. And it means investing in things like mRNA. So when it comes along, we can use it for malaria.

I think African governments want to be self-sustaining, right? So we try to be in deep partnerships to make sure governments are on that path. We're trying to connect the dots and help people see all the innovations that are going on so that they can be shared. So as I mentioned, Babyl in Rwanda, we made a grant to help them get up and running. Today it is run by Rwandans and they don't need continued grants from us; they're on a path where they will break even in a couple of years.

What makes you lose sleep about global health?

Let’s just take Covid as an example. I was outraged to see that there were healthcare workers in Africa who couldn't get a vaccine when we were giving it in the West, you know, essentially to everybody. That didn't make any sense. So that kept me up at night.

I've been in and out of lots of health clinics in Africa and I know how tough those environments are. And those are the people doing the hard work -- the frontline work. So that certainly kept me up. I did a little better, personally, when I started to see the women going out and the health care workers giving the right messages, making sure people hand-wash, making sure they wore masks, I was like, okay, they're doing the real work until they get a vaccine.

But what keeps me up at night is just knowing there are still needless maternal deaths, just because we haven't helped fix health care clinics in the right way and children are dying. I've been in situations where I've seen babies sucking on oxygen, with pneumonia, where there's not enough oxygen to go around, you know, a little premature baby. That’s tough. And so it still keeps me up at night that we haven't got further. We’ve done well on infant and child mortality, but we need to do better. We really do.

Also read: Why a newborn is more likely to die in Nairobi than in rural areas

What needs to be done by the countries affected before organisations like the Gates Foundation come in?

Well, you have to have a peaceful and steady government. It’s almost impossible to work in war-torn countries or during conflict. So you need a peaceful government. And then you need a committed government that is there for the people and that wants to make the right investments in healthcare, in education, in helping their citizens lift themselves up.

Are there other areas that you consider important in your programmes?

Many people in Africa are farmers, right? They farm a small plot of land and so making sure they get pest-resistant seeds that are specific to their area; drought-resistant seeds, flood-resistant seeds… making sure that people get the right seeds, have access to fertiliser -- which is very tricky with the whole Russia situation in Ukraine -- that people can grow what they want, put some on the market and have enough to eat for nutrition... That is incredibly important because, again, countries want to be self-sustaining in terms of food systems. And that is a key piece we work on and in Africa, we work with the African institution, Agra (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa).

Read: How food and milk will bring peace to conflicts in Africa

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Zimbabwe lobbies to rejoin Commonwealth

Saturday June 25 2022

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa. FILE PHOTO | AFP

By KITSEPILE NYATHI

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Zimbabwe at the ongoing Commonwealth summit in Rwanda continued with lobbying for readmission 18 years after it was thrown out of the body over allegations of human rights abuses.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government submitted an application on May 15, 2018 to re-join the grouping of 54 countries, a year after the ouster of strongman Robert Mugabe in a military coup.

The late Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe between 1980 and 2017 with an iron fist, was at the loggerheads with the Commonwealth over alleged human rights abuses and electoral fraud.

Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Rwanda Charity Manyeruke , who is attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Kigali as an observer alongside other top government officials, told local media that the southern African country’s participation at the summit was a “positive development.”

“Zimbabwe is excited to be participating in Commonwealth forums as this presents opportunities to network with the international community taking into account the government of Zimbabwe’s policy of engagement and reengagement,” Ms Manyeruke said.

“The Commonwealth meeting in Kigali has provided opportunities for our Zimbabwean diaspora across the globe, who are participating as panellists, facilitators and as delegates in the forums.

“I have met with the Zimbabwe diaspora, media, private sector, academia, civil society, those in finance and banking, arts and students, “They have had an opportunity to engage.”

Three Zimbabwean ministers have been attending side events at the summit such as the Commonwealth Women Forum and the Commonwealth Business Forum.

The Zimbabwean mission in Rwanda is also holding an exhibition to showcase products from the southern African country.

Harare has been lobbying countries such as Rwanda to support its efforts to be readmitted into the Commonwealth.

Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs deputy minister David Musabayana said he had held meetings with influential people to discuss the country’s potential readmission.

“We are humbled to be invited to attend as observers,” Mr Musabayana said.

“There is a lot of interest in Zimbabwe from Commonwealth member countries, who are keen to do business and invest in Zimbabwe,” he added.

After the coup, countries such as the United Kingdom appeared ready to support Zimbabwe’s return to the Commonwealth, but the stance has since changed owing to President Mnangagwa’s reluctance to implement promised electoral reforms.

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President Paul Kagame takes up reins of Commonwealth club

Saturday June 25 2022

Rwanda President Paul Kagame speaks during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kigali on June 24, 2022. PHOTO | CHOGM

By BERNA NAMATA

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As Rwandan President Paul Kagame takes charge of the Commonwealth for the next two years, he faces a daunting task of reviving an association that faces an existential threat due to its colonial history.

President Kagame took over chairmanship from Britain under PM Boris Johnson at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Kigali.

As chair, he is expected to oversee the work of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the implementing organ of the 56-nation club, whose memberships is drawn from those predominantly with colonial ties to the then imperial British Empire. In recent years, the club has admitted countries with no such historical ties including Rwanda, Mozambique and most recently Togo and Gabon.

“Countries join the Commonwealth because it has many meetings at Heads and Ministerial level and is thus a forum that provides political legitimacy. These French colonies, as are some Caribbean Commonwealth countries, are also Francophonie members. All this strengthens their political legitimacy, deepens the impression that they are recognised and accepted by the global community,” a diplomat told The EastAfrican.

The Commonwealth values enshrined in its charter include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism and world peace.

Read: Is Commonwealth membership still relevant to countries today?

Crown vs sovereignty debate

Critics argue that despite the increasing membership, the club has failed to live up to its values as member countries continue to violate these principles without being held to account partly because it has no binding framework to impose sanctions.

The Commonwealth, which is headed by Queen Elizabeth II, 96, is under pressure as more countries seek sovereignty and break ties with the British monarchy.

In 2020, Barbados became the fourth Caribbean country to replace the Queen as its Head of State, joining Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica who did soon after gaining independence in the 1970s. Eight other former British colonies in the region, however, still pledge allegiance to the Crown.

But, most recently, in March, Jamaica formally expressed its intention to become independent amid protests calling on the monarchy to pay reparations for slavery during a visit to the country by Prince William, second-in-line to the British throne and his wife Kate Middleton.

Now, speculation is rife that Britain is attempting to persuade Jamaica to shelve the plans by endorsing Kamina Johnson Smith, their candidate for the position of Commonwealth Secretary-General.

But Ms Smith’s candidature has also created a rift between members in particular with the Caribbean, which had previously endorsed the current Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland who has had a controversial and extended tenure.

Read: Scotland retains Commonwealth SG seat in rare contest

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Chogm in Kigali: Colonies’ triumph over the British empire

Saturday June 25 2022

Delegates at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda. PHOTO | AFP

By Charles Onyango-Obbo

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As the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) closed in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, questions about its relevance, and criticism about it being a colonial relic, were as loud as ever.

It was the 26th biannual Chogm of the Commonwealth’s modern era, and the second held in the East African Community zone, after it met in Kampala, Uganda, in 2007. Chogm was due to take place in June 2020, but was postponed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Commonwealth has been remade by forces as disruptive as the pandemic, though less dramatic, and the Kigali venue for its 26th meeting is revealing. Rwanda entered the Commonwealth in 2009, the first expansion of the bloc in the 21st century. It came 14 years after Mozambique joined in 1995, the Commonwealth’s last expansion of the 20th century.

In Kigali, Gabon and Togo officially became members of the Commonwealth at the heads of state summit. Diplomats in East Africa have suggested that Burundi is also knocking on the Commonwealth door. It all looks like the wasteful pursuit of a dodo. Perhaps it isn’t.

Mozambique’s and Rwanda’s entrances, like Gabon’s and Togo’s, were unusual — they had never had previous structural or colonial link with the UK. Mozambique had been a Portuguese colony, and fought a bitter war of liberation to win its independence in 1975. Rwanda had been a Belgian colony, and a few years after Independence in 1962, fell firmly under France’s “sphere in influence” in Africa. It is for these reasons that their Commonwealth is telling.

British-French political grudge

Mozambique’s entrance had some of its roots in the global movement against apartheid in South Africa. It also picked up the causes in Mozambique and Angola against Portuguese occupation.

As South African History Online notes: “The reaction of the outside world to the development of apartheid was widespread, and by the 1980s posed a sustained challenge to the South African regime.

“While countries throughout the world took various measures to weaken and topple apartheid, it was the anti-apartheid movements in the United Kingdom (UK), Holland and the United States of America (USA) that mounted the most serious of these challenges to the apartheid state, the UK’s perhaps being the most effective of all such organisations throughout the world.”

These movements, especially in the US and UK, moreover functioned in a context where the governments were the staunchest supporters of apartheid.

In Rwanda’s case, it was the Rwanda Patriotic Front/Army-led war, which started in October 1990, against the Juvenal Habyarimana government of the time, that did it. It ended in victory for the RPF/A, but only after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, in which nearly one million Tutsi, and many Hutu, were slaughtered in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.

The RPF/A was formed by Ugandan-based Rwandan refugees and exiles, and launched its return-to-the-motherland campaign from there. Several of its rank and file, and mid-level leadership, were also drawn from other Anglophone (and Commonwealth) countries like Tanzania, Kenya, Canada, Burundi and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UK diplomatic support for the RPF after it took power was both controversial and decisive in the context in which the new Kigali government had to fight for international legitimacy.

France didn’t help its cause, and its real and perceived dalliance with extremist killer Interahamwe militia and arming of the military left it hobbled with the image of an enabler of the Genocide. With the RPF’s rise to power, the French sphere of influence in Rwanda all but collapsed. Where once French was the official language, now it was English — and Kinyarwanda.

It was a coincidence, of course, yet Rwanda’s accession to the Commonwealth seemed like the settlement of a 220-year-old British grudge against the French. France was a significant and decisive contributor toward the US’s eventual victory against the British crown and independence in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783. France wasn’t done, rubbing it in Britain’s face, by gifting the American people the colossal Statue of Liberty, in New York, commemorating the alliance of France and the US during the American Revolution.

Britain’s loss in America British began to shake the empire, and paying for the war effort led to a sharp rise in national debt. Britain was to survive another century of relative global dominion, but the seeds of the Commonwealth were sown; of British influence through historical ties, “shared values”, and use of the English language was born. It came formally to fruition as the British Commonwealth of Nations in 1926 in the post-World War I period as the anti-colonial movement gathered steam around the world.

Revenge of the colonised

Fast forward to nearly 100 years later, and while parts of it could be anachronistic, the other parts tell a story of a Commonwealth that is a triumph of the colonised against their old colonial master. The Commonwealth is becoming what the empire looks like when the colonies take their revenge — and keep the trophy.

If you sit before a TV station in London these days, the signs are all there. There are a slew of programmes on how the Caribbean, South Asian, and other people from former colonies helped make modern Britain. A disproportionate number of faces in TV advertisements and British popular culture are people of colour.

On both the left and right of British politics, politicians of colour have risen to notable prominence. Among several, there is Chancellor of the Exchequer (minister of Finance) Rishi Sunak, who was touted as a possible successor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Mr Sunak’s parents are emigrants of East African South Asian descent.

His father Yashvir, a doctor, and mother Usha Sunak, a pharmacist, were born in Kenya and Tanzania respectively.

Perhaps the second most controversial UK minister after Mr Johnson, Home Secretary Priti Patel is also of South Asian descent. Born in London, her paternal grandparents were from Gujarat, India, before emigrating to Uganda, and running a convenience store in Kampala. In the 1960s, her parents emigrated to the UK.

Chogm in 2100

So, looking ahead to what this Commonwealth and Chogm will look like in 80 years, or earlier, the UK prime minister who will arrive then for Chogm in some African capital in the next 25 years will not look like Mr Johnson, but Mr Sunak, Ms Patel, or Chuka Harrison Umunna, the former Labour Party Shadow Cabinet member, who was dubbed “Britain's Barack Obama”. He was born to a Nigerian father and English-Irish mother.

One rather optimistic (or bleak) research projected that white Britons will have become a minority by 2051 due to immigration and growth in the population of settled ethnic minorities from the Indian sub-continent and other non-European Union countries. This “tanning” (to borrow the idea from Steve Stoute and Mim Eichler Rivas’s The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy) will affect other large Commonwealth countries, including Canada and Australia.

Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Commonwealth, but with age and poor health weighing her down, Prince Charles has effectively taken over the role. Prince Charles represented the queen in Kigali, and became the first British royal to visit Rwanda. But even with that, and Prince Harry and his mixed heritage wife Meghan Markle stepping down as senior working royals, the British monarchy, if it survives to end of the century, is unlikely to remain untouched by the great demographic shifts changing the times.

And, contradictorily, the Commonwealth may need to decline, or completely die out as a political force, for it to thrive. Its present quirk, as the only such organisation that has a mini-Olympics in the form of the Commonwealth Games, could well be the reason for its existence in the decades to come. Organising sports, for those who are otherwise denied glory in the Olympics to shine; a steward of English, the universal language of the world, being the source of its relevance.

With Britain a minor power, there will be less nationalist resentment toward the Commonwealth.

In Rwanda, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial to honour victims.

Even just 15 years ago, not even the most fanciful mind would have imagined that the story of the Commonwealth would be touched by the tragedy that was unleashed on the surrounding hills and valleys.

The strangeness of it is that had none of the horrors happened, Chogm wouldn’t have gone there this week, and Prince Charles wouldn’t have been in Kigali.

The author is a journalist, writer, and curator of the “Wall of Great Africans”. Twitter @cobbo3

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Commonwealth’s rich nations take heat for failing to help small states

Saturday June 25 2022

Heads of state and government at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda. PHOTO | CHOGM

By BERNA NAMATA

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Rich and influential Commonwealth countries — including the UK, Canada and Australia — have been put on the spot for failing to help low-income and small member states in their hour of need at the height of the global pandemic.

They also happen to be members of the elite G7 or G20 in the case of Australia, while on the other end of the spectrum, the Commonwealth has 13 Least Developed Countries and 32 small states.

The Commonwealth is supposed to be an important “collective voice” and a vehicle to potentially provide leverage for global positions but influential and rich members remain lukewarm and pursue national interests, to the detriment of the majority of Club members who happen to be developing countries.

Read: Is Commonwealth membership still relevant to countries today?

Voiceless members

“There is undoubtedly value in a Commonwealth advocacy and consensus-building role. The global stage is a crowded one and voice and influence are at a premium. It is crucial though that Commonwealth voice and advocacy add real value: It must be able to recognise and respond to the differences among members and be used assertively on behalf of the majority of voiceless Commonwealth members in fora such as the Bretton-Woods institutions, the G20 and the G7,” said Ransford Smith, former deputy secretary-general of the Commonwealth.

Ahead of his arrival for the summit in Kigali on Tuesday, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau tweeted, pledging to “work with leaders at the meeting to address the shared crises that many countries are facing like the impact of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and Climate Change, and the rising cost of living.”

But at the Commonwealth Business Forum on the same day whose theme was A Global Reset: Leveraging the Commonwealth for a Global Recovery, a panel of experts pointed out the lack of solidarity in tackling global issues facing the developing world.

There is the need to address the underlying inequality that exists between Commonwealth members as rich countries continue to trade with each other and have done little to support developing countries still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

The conversation on inequality in the Commonwealth was started by President Paul Kagame, the incoming chair of the bloc, who challenged leaders to tackle inequality in his speech.

“We need to keep making sure that when we talk about the Commonwealth, we actually mean the Commonwealth. Not just that being ‘common’ to a few of the many 54 countries.

“This is why I said, it keeps being a work in progress. We keep having to engage one another, finding out what we can do to bring that balance to the extent that everyone in the Commonwealth, the family of nations, feels they are part of it, no one is left behind…” said the president, calling for more efforts to ensure that small, developing nations within the Commonwealth are not left behind.”

A panel raised concerns about the lack of solidarity despite the shared crises.

And, as the coronavirus pandemic recedes, there is concern over a global rise of fuel prices, the cost of living, and food insecurity partly linked to the war in Ukraine. This is in addition to existing challenges of climate change and debt sustainability in the developing world.

Donald Kaberuka, the managing partner, SouthBridge, and a former president of the African Development Bank said the current response to the crises by the international community including within the Commonwealth has been “insufficient” as the global South remains sidelined, citing limited access to Covid-19 vaccines in the developing world.

“We should begin to consider the crisis we are living through as the new normal. There are many more crises to come... and each time the response has been unequal between the global North and South. I’m not blaming the global North, I’m only saying what happened…” Mr Kaberuka said, referencing the support Ukraine has received including the recent $9 billion financial package by the EU, with favourable payment terms of a 10-year grace period, and repayment period of 25 years.

In the headlines

Somalia MPs approve Barre as Prime Minister

Hamza Barre replaces Hussein Roble to become the 21st Prime Minister of Somalia.

Chogm in Kigali: Colonies’ triumph British empire

The Commonwealth is becoming what the empire looks like when the colonies take their revenge — and keep the trophy.

Safari Rally rich part of Uhuru legacy

Tanzania's Taifa Gas to set up plant in Kenya

IEBC seeks vote of confidence from candidates

Innovation the right dose for Africa’s health and poverty

Questions swirl around select Ugandan MPs’ cash bonanza

UN rights chief urges probe into mass killings in Ethiopian village

Saturday June 25 2022

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. PHOTO | REUTERS

By TESFA-ALEM TEKLE

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The United Nations rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, has expressed her dismay at the recent killings of civilians in the village of Tole, West Wellega in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, and asked authorities to allow an independent investigation.

She termed the killings “senseless”, which added to the forced displacement of the local population in the attack on Tole village.

Her statement on Thursday referred to the June 17 attack in which a group of armed individuals descended on the village and began shooting randomly, killing hundreds and forcing thousands of others to flee. Those affected were mostly women and children.

Although located inside the Oromia region, Tole has a predominant Amhara population, signalling an understated ethnic dimension to the violence.

“Hundreds of people belonging to the Amhara ethnic group were killed by rebels, with bodies still lying on the streets after hours of violence,” survivors told AFP.

Read: Amhara clashes mar Ethiopia’s tolerant image

Moreover, Bachelet said armed forces abducted civilians during the attack and called for their release.

“I call on the authorities to take all necessary and lawful measures to ensure those abducted regain their freedom,” she said.

She also urged the Ethiopian authorities to conduct a quick, impartial, and thorough investigation to ensure justice.

“I call on the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that investigations are promptly launched into the attack and to ensure that victims and their families have a right to truth, justice, and reparations, including by holding those responsible to account.”

Oromo rebels

Addis Ababa has accused the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) of the deadly raid on Tole village and promised swift measures against the “ethnically-motivated” attacks.

However, the rebel group’s spokesperson, Odda Tarbii, denied the allegations, saying instead that the Ethiopian government had “orchestrated” the attacks to “frame” OLA.

“The Ethiopian authorities cannot be trusted to hold an impartial investigation ... What is needed are independent investigations by a third party,” Tarbii said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was tasked by parliament to “investigate the serious human rights violations committed against innocent people” in Oromia and Gambella region.

In the headlines

Somalia MPs approve Barre as Prime Minister

Hamza Barre replaces Hussein Roble to become the 21st Prime Minister of Somalia.

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Somalia parliament unanimously endorses Hamza Barre as Prime Minister

Saturday June 25 2022

MP Hamza Abdi Barre with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at Villa Somalia in Mogadishu when he was unveiled Prime Minister subject to parliamentary approval. PHOTO | VILLA SOMALIA

By ABDULKADIR KHALIF

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Somalia’s parliament on Saturday unanimously approved Hamza Abdi Barre as the next Prime Minister, signalling the start of a new government under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

The Lower House of 275 legislators in their chambers, the Villa Hargeisa, voted and endorsed Mr Barre, a legislator representing Kismayu in Jubbaland federal state.

Mr Barre replaces Hussein Roble to become the 21st Prime Minister of Somalia. He will have the authority to name the Council of Ministers, senior government officials and even ambassadors, all of who are accountable to parliament.

President Mohamoud nominated his longtime friend on June 15, presenting him at his official residency Villa Somalia, and asking lawmakers to endorse him.

Out of 275 members of the parliament, 220 MPs were present in the hall, and they all voted for Mr Barre with no objections or abstentions.

Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur ‘Madobe’ announced the unanimous decision. “I am hereby announcing that all 220 legislators present in the chamber have voted in favour of Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre,” he said.

Mr Barre, 48, told MPs he would form an inclusive cabinet. “I am going to form a broad-based government that will include both male and female members,” he said to the applause of legislators.

The former educator and administrator said his policies comprised government priority issues such as security, the justice system, the ongoing drought, reconciliation and talks with Somaliland (a region in the northwest of Somalia that has unilaterally declared independence from the rest of Somalia).

Read: Somaliland is part of Somalia, US says

“Other priority issues are democratisation, elections, economy, good governance and accountability, among others,” he added.

Many see his longtime friendship with President Mohamud as a factor that could create harmony in their working relationships.

In the headlines

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Saturday June 25 2022

Co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates, in Paris on July 1, 2021, where she spoke at the Generation Equality Forum. PHOTO | AFP

By JACKSON MUTINDA

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You are in Africa at a time the continent is hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. What message did you bring to this meeting?

Also read: Europe gives $12m funding for malaria vaccine

Do you see more political will in the implementation of health and development programmes you've helped finance?

You have placed women at the centre of your programmes and that seems to be paying good dividends…

Read: Women pressing on for progress in East Africa

You have had messaging around reproductive health. How has that gone?

Health and poverty are closely related, so which one do we need to eradicate first?

There has been a discussion around equity in terms of access and supply of medicines and vaccines between rich countries and poor countries. How can this be resolved?

Read: Vaccine deserts: The poor nations trailing in the fight against Covid-19

But I think one of the silver linings coming out of Covid was making sure that more vaccines are created in more places. On the continent of Africa, there should be probably three regional hubs.

We’ve seen a move from grants to partnerships. What next? Do we foresee in the near future sub-Saharan Africa financing its own health programmes?

What makes you lose sleep about global health?

Also read: Why a newborn is more likely to die in Nairobi than in rural areas

What needs to be done by the countries affected before organisations like the Gates Foundation come in?

Are there other areas that you consider important in your programmes?

Read: How food and milk will bring peace to conflicts in Africa

In the headlines

Somalia MPs approve Barre as Prime Minister

Hamza Barre replaces Hussein Roble to become the 21st Prime Minister of Somalia.

Chogm in Kigali: Colonies’ triumph British empire

The Commonwealth is becoming what the empire looks like when the colonies take their revenge — and keep the trophy.

Safari Rally rich part of Uhuru legacy

Tanzania's Taifa Gas to set up plant in Kenya

IEBC seeks vote of confidence from candidates

Questions swirl around select Ugandan MPs’ cash bonanza

Tanzania's Taifa Gas to set up plant in Kenya

Saturday June 25 2022

The entry of Taifa Gas at a site in Dongo Kundu near the port of Mombasa is part of a trade deal between Kenya and Tanzania. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By ANTHONY KITIMO

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Tanzania’s biggest gas dealer Taifa Gas has been licensed to set up gas plant and storage facilities at a site in Dongo Kundu near the port of Mombasa to supply LPG for domestic, commercial and industrial use.

The company, owned by Tanzanian business magnate Rostam Aziz, is expected to bring healthy competition in the gas industry in Kenya given its lower prices.

An impact assessment study report is expected this month, and the company has said in a notice that it intends to invite public comments on the construction of the plant.

"Taifa Investment SEZ Limited proposes to construct a liquefied petroleum gas plant, storage terminal and related facilities at Dongo Kundu in Mombasa County. The proposed plant is designed to store propane, butane and LPG mix of various grades for domestic, commercial and industrial use," reads part of the notice.

The entry of Taifa Gas into Kenya is part of a trade deal between Kenya and Tanzania signed between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu last year.

During recent bilateral trade negotiations between the two countries held in Zanzibar, Kenya pushed for local carrier JamboJet to be allowed to fly to several destinations in Tanzania.

Read: Jambojet, Taifa Gas reap big in Dar-Nairobi deal

Nairobi also wanted a waiver of fees charged on tourist vehicles into Tanzania from the Namanga border.

Tanzania raised several issues, including delays in clearance of goods due to scanning procedures, delays in the issuance of import permits for dairy exports, cumbersome procedures by the Kenya Revenue Authority and difficulties experienced by Taifa Gas in investing in Kenya.

More than five companies have applied to construct gas facilities in Kenya.

Some of the companies which have applied for the license to tap in the submerged gas pipeline from new Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT2) include Aevitas Investment, Mombasa Gas Terminal Limited (MGT), Lions Gate limited, Focus Container Freight Station and Mansa East Africa Limited.

Once licensed, they will cater for the untapped LPG market with the increasing population and demand in the country and in the East African region.

Kenya imports about 40 percent of gas annually from Tanzanian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) firms via the Namanga and Holili border posts and the remainder is imported through the Port of Mombasa.

The LPG cost in Mombasa is much higher than in Dar es Salaam LPG because the offloading and storage infrastructure at Dar es Salaam or Tanga ports is more efficient.

In the headlines

Somalia MPs approve Barre as Prime Minister

Hamza Barre replaces Hussein Roble to become the 21st Prime Minister of Somalia.

Chogm in Kigali: Colonies’ triumph British empire

The Commonwealth is becoming what the empire looks like when the colonies take their revenge — and keep the trophy.

Safari Rally rich part of Uhuru legacy

IEBC seeks vote of confidence from candidates

Innovation the right dose for Africa’s health and poverty

Questions swirl around select Ugandan MPs’ cash bonanza

Saturday June 25 2022

Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine. PHOTO | FILE | AFP

By JONATHAN KAMOGA

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Ugandan legislators are facing criticism for receiving about Ush40 million ($10,500) each from unbudgeted sources at the time the country is struggling with rising costs of living.

This was in addition to the over Ush190 billion ($50 million) in the 2022/23 budget to cushion the legislators from the rising cost of living.

Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP), headed by Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine lifted the lid on the matter and ordered its legislators who had picked the money to return it, calling it a bribe.

Also read: Museveni's address: No govt intervention amid high cost of living

Leader of opposition in Parliament Matthias Mpuuga, who called the NUP meeting in which only 17 of the 56 members attended, insisted the money has to be returned.

According to the party, the ruling National Resistance Movement MPs received this money in cash from their Chief Whip’s office at Parliament, while opposition and independent MPs were receiving it from the home of Anita Among, the Speaker of Parliament, with the members being told that the money was a token of appreciation, while others were told it was meant to supplement their income in the tough economic situation in the country.

“It should have been obvious the money was both illegal and immoral, given it was being given out in cash without explanation about its source and purpose. We appreciate those who realised this trap and refused to partake of it,” the party said.

Read: Museveni pre-budget address met with protests over high cost of living

Token defence

Sources at parliament, however, said that indeed the money was a token of appreciation to MPs for recently passing of a Ush77 billion ($20 million) supplementary classified budget that saw the statehouse take a huge chunk of it.

This is not the first time legislators have received money from the presidency before or after a controversial law is muscled through Parliament. In 2005, MPs received Ush5 million ($1,300) in such a manner after changing the constitution lifting of the presidential term limits.

In 2011, they received Ush20 million each, for mobilisation in their constituencies. In 2017, they received money termed as an allowance, to influence them in lifting the age limit amendments.

Also read: BUWEMBO: When our MPs smell money and power, they stop thinking

In 2020, they got Ush20 million, which then Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga termed an allowance to mobilise people in the prevention against the Covid-19.

Additional reporting by Nelson Naturinda

In the headlines

Somalia MPs approve Barre as Prime Minister

Hamza Barre replaces Hussein Roble to become the 21st Prime Minister of Somalia.

Chogm in Kigali: Colonies’ triumph British empire

The Commonwealth is becoming what the empire looks like when the colonies take their revenge — and keep the trophy.

Safari Rally rich part of Uhuru legacy

Tanzania's Taifa Gas to set up plant in Kenya

IEBC seeks vote of confidence from candidates

Innovation the right dose for Africa’s health and poverty

Kenya’s electoral body seeks vote of confidence from candidates

Saturday June 25 2022

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati (centre) addresses journalists at the Bomas of Kenya about the transmission of election results and the commission’s preparedness while flanked by other commissioners on June 20, 2022. PHOTO | NMG

By OTIENO OTIENO

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Kenya’s electoral commission has stepped up its engagement with the presidential campaigns in the August 9 election, hoping to inspire confidence in its ability to conduct fair and credible election polls and avoid a repeat of past costly disputes.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which is carrying a battered image from three successive disputed presidential election outcomes, has organised a forum for presidential candidates on June 29 to, among others, address concerns about the integrity of the voter register.

Next week’s forum comes days after the IEBC invited representatives of the candidates to witness a simulation of its results transmission system.

Read: ICG: Kenya's August 9 elections could be contested

Perceived strongholds

An independent audit of the roll of voters by KPMG, whose findings were released last week, unearthed a number of anomalies, including double registrations, suspicious voter transfers in 10 counties and names of dead voters.

Deputy President William Ruto, one of the two front-runners in the race to succeed President Kenyatta, had in the run-up to the KPMG audit alleged that up to one million voters had been transferred from their polling stations of choice, especially in his perceived political strongholds in Rift Valley and Mt Kenya.

The KPMG audit, however, found that irregular voter transfers had also occurred in counties outside the two regions.

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said three electoral commission officials may face prosecution over the transfers.

Suspicions over the integrity of the voter register, voter identification kits, procurement of election materials and results transmission have led to accusations of vote-rigging in recent elections and dampened public confidence in the electoral body.

Read: Audit finds 250,000 dead voters in Kenya register

Biometric kit failures

Civil society groups this week sued the IEBC over its decision to discontinue the use the manual register for voter identification in the next elections, arguing it may disenfranchise some voters in case of biometric kit failures.

The results of two of Kenya’s past three presidential elections have been challenged at the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court judges, in a landmark ruling, nullified the outcome of the presidential vote in 2017 over irregular vote tallying and results transmission, overturning President Kenyatta’s initial re-election victory.

President Kenyatta won the repeat election that was boycotted by opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The rerun pushed the government spending on that year’s elections to Ksh54.1 billion ($460 million) after the Treasury adjusted the budget by an extra Ksh15 billion ($127.5 million). The economic cost to the country from business disruptions related to disputed elections is, however, much higher.

In 2007 and 2008, Kenya experienced its worst election-related violence after Mr Odinga refused to concede defeat, alleging vote rigging in favour of then President Mwai Kibaki.

The ripple effects of the post-election violence were felt elsewhere in the region after protesters blocked roads and destroyed sections of the railway, disrupting transport of cargo to Uganda and Rwanda from the port of Mombasa.

Since then, Kenya has enjoyed political stability, with subsequent presidential electoral grievances having been arbitrated by the Supreme Court.

But a falling out between President Kenyatta and Deputy President Ruto and toxic rhetoric around the president’s “Handshake” cooperation with Mr Odinga have raised the political temperatures in parts of the country, prompting the country’s hate speech watchdog to flag them as violent hotspots.

However, with the veteran opposition leader going into this year’s election as the establishment candidate, it is Dr Ruto who has appeared to mostly play victim.

In addition to questioning the integrity of the voter register, he has taken issue with the involvement of Cabinet ministers in the Odinga campaign.