Politics

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Tuesday, January 24th, 2017 at 4:41pm

Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) might launch mobile registration centers to register voters in Kilifi North, Kilifi South, Ganze, Turkana East and Samburu West Constituencies due to the ongoing drought, insecurity and those in currently in colleges away from their voting areas.

According to a statement from the IEBC, the first week of Mass Voter Registration II drive saw 825,145 new voters register, constituting 58% of the weekly target of 1.4 million. However, due to logistical constraints, the data it has does not include the full data from Kilifi North, Kilifi South, Ganze, Turkana East and Samburu West Constituencies and the Commission is taking immediate measures to address the challenges outlined above, including considering the use of mobile registration centres.

The Register of Voters, also shows that there are 128,926 shared registration documents (ID and Passport numbers). This number represents 0.8% of the total number of voters in the database due to data entry errors at the time of registration, possible use of one ID to register more than once, attempted registration of more than one person using same ID and shared National ID numbers.

“Out of the 128,926 records of shared IDs, the Commission identified 107,777 records that show Same ID but different names. A further analysis showed that 53,671 of IDs were shared more than once. The remaining 21,149 are for persons who attempted to register more than once in different polling stations. We have also attached a list showing the distribution of the shared IDs across the country,” announced IEBC.

As a way forward, the Commission is working closely with NRB to clean up all the shared IDs. In addition, a team of Registration officers and ICT operators are conducting further cleanup, IEBC said.

The Commission will make available the provisional register to the members of the public for verification adding that malpractices such as double registration will be firmly dealt with according to the law.

Facebook pauses use of WhatsApp data in the UK

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Tuesday, November 8th, 2016 at 3:54pm

Elizabeth Denham,UK’s Information Commissioner has said that Facebook has paused using WhatsApp data in its ads and friend requests after her office intervened.

The firm has also been asked Facebook to explain to customers how their data is going to be used and how they can get control of their data or opt out of similar requirements.

“We’ve set out the law clearly to Facebook, and we’re pleased that they’ve agreed to pause using data from UK WhatsApp users for advertisements or product improvement purposes,” Denham wrote on her blog. ”We have now asked Facebook and WhatsApp to sign an undertaking committing to better explaining to customers how their data will be used, and to giving users ongoing control over that information.”

Denham added that individuals should be given an opportunity to be given an unambiguous choice before Facebook start using that information and to be given the opportunity to change that decision at any point in the future.

”We think consumers deserve a greater level of information and protection, but so far Facebook and WhatsApp haven’t agreed. If Facebook starts using the data without valid consent, it may face enforcement action from my office,” she wrote promising that the Information Office will keep pushing on this, together with other data protection authorities such as the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, where Facebook’s EU headquarters are based, among others.

Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014 and promised not to interfere with the firm’s data or operations. However, this year August Facebook announced it was going to use WhatsApp data to improve user experiences on WhatsApp and Facebook as well as in advertisements to the shock of its millions of users and several data protection bodies including the UK Information Commission.

”It’s a particular concern when company mergers mean that vast amounts of customers’ personal data become an asset to be bought and sold. We’re seeing situations where companies are being bought primarily for this data, and when it is combined with information the purchasing company already holds, there’s a danger that consumers will have little control as datasets are matched and intrusive details revealed,” she said.

Denham added that her office is speaking with industry, competition regulators and consumer groups to see how they can make people aware of the law and will publish a report outlining concerns and discussing solutions.

Nigerian Military and eTranzact Launch Pensions Card to Appreciate the Resilience of the Nigerian Armed Forces

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Wednesday, November 2nd, 2016 at 11:23am

At a press briefing yesterday, the Nigerian Minister of Defence, Mansur Mohammed Dan Ali launched a military pension card powered by leading pan-African mobile banking and payment services company, eTranzact International PLC, to offer identification, verification and rewards to all members of the Nigerian armed forces.

eTranzact International PLC has a well-developed public sector offering with services that help identify ghost workers, plug revenue leakages, enable bulk payment of pensions, salaries, grants, etc.; opening up opportunities for growth and development.

In collaboration with the Military Pensions Board, the launch of the card will allow over 100,000 retired members of the Army, Navy and Airforce access a biometric military pension card with a 4-in-1 value proposition: identification, verification, rewards, and receiving and making payments.

miliary-pensions-card-by-etranzact — eTranzact Founder and CEO, Mr Valentine Obi launching the Military Pensions card with the Nigerian Minister of Defence, Mansur Mohammed Dan Ali

“We are happy to be key partners in this great and commendable project in support of our courageous ex-service personnel and military pensioners. The resilience and courage of the Nigerian military is a source of joy to everyone and we hope that this pension card project not only solves identification and verification issues for the military but also gives the private sector an opportunity to offer special rewards and discounts,” says Valentine Obi, Founder and CEO, eTranzact International PLC.

The card scheme powered by eTranzact, with Mastercard and Access Bank in partnership, allows holders perform financial transactions at any ATM or POS, and can also be used for Web transactions.

The 2016 Global Firepower index ranks Nigeria as the fourth most powerful military in Africa.

South Africa, Rwanda & Namibia lead Africa in gender equality

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Thursday, June 4th, 2015 at 8:42am

The African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) recently launched African Gender Equality Index measures gender equality in economic opportunities, human development and in laws and institutions on a scale of 0 (Low) to 100 (High). South Africa (75%), Rwanda (74%) and Namibia (73%) provide Africa’s best gender equality. South Africa is 3^rd on the human development sub-index (scoring 92%) and Rwanda is 2^nd on the Laws & Institutions sub-index with 68%. Excluding North Africa, the impact of women on African economic development is high with female labour participation rates reaching 85% to 90% in countries such as Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda. Read more here…

Rwanda has the world’s highest voter turnout rate for presidential elections

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Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 at 4:41pm

Across Africa, democratic rule is being sought after by the people. According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA), Rwanda’s 98% voter turnout rate for presidential elections (voting is non-mandatory) is the world’s highest with 9 other countries from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) outscoring France (80%) and the United States (68%) among others. The Economist’s Democracy Index 2014 further reveals that SSA is one of only 3 world regions that improved on the index (2006-2014) with a 2.4% gain, placing it globally in 3^rd place. Read more here…

Life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa has improved by quadruple that of North America since 2000

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Tuesday, March 24th, 2015 at 1:39pm

High life expectancy is an indicator of good health in a population; according to the World Bank, 9 of the 10 countries that have improved the most between 2000 & 2012 in terms of life expectancy (additional years gained) are located in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with Rwanda (+16), Zambia (+15) and Zimbabwe (+14) in the lead. Regionally, life expectancy improved by 12% in SSA which is more than double that of Europe & Central Asia (5%), triple that of Latin America & Caribbean (4%) and quadruple that of North America (3%). Read more here…

Rwanda has a more effective parliament than Germany, France or the United States

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Tuesday, February 24th, 2015 at 8:48am

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Data from the WEF’s Global Information Technology Report (2014) reveals that South Africa (4.8), Rwanda (4.8) and Mauritius (4.5) have the three most developed legal systems relating to the use of ICTs in Africa, and these three countries outperform China (4.3), India (4.2), Brazil (4.2), and Russia (3.5) – scores range from 1 (Low) to 7 (High). The WEF report also finds that Rwanda’s parliament, as a law making body, is the most effective in Africa and ranked 9^th in the world, beating Germany (11^th), France (29^th) and the USA (58^th). Read more here…

Nigeria & South Africa offer better trade & customs regulations than India or Brazil

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Tuesday, February 10th, 2015 at 12:45pm

Trade data from the World Bank’s (WB) Enterprise Survey (2014) of 130,000+ firms in 135 countries reveals that sales for export constitute a higher proportion of total sales for Moroccan (23.5%) and Kenyan (11%) firms as compared to Korean (6.9%), Chinese (5.4%) and German (4.9%) firms. In addition, Ghana (3.8%) beats India (3.7%) and Brazil (0.8%) in the same category. These statistics partially demonstrate Africa’s capacity and potential to produce export quality goods and services which can compete on the international market. Read more here…

Sub-Saharan Africa’s 8 key investment opportunities in 2015

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Monday, February 2nd, 2015 at 5:20am

Infinite Potentials Consulting (IPC) believes in the exceptional growth potential of Africa and this review outlines some of the key growth opportunities in Africa today, with a special look at IPC’s three focus countries of Kenya, Ghana and Rwanda. This review highlights key opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in 2015 and projects outwards to 2020 based on IPC areas analysis of where real and actionable opportunities lie.

Economic activity was strong across the majority of SSA in 2014. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is expected to rise to 5.8% in 2015 from an estimated 5.2% in 2014 and 4.0% in 2013. This growth has been driven by robust investment in the resource sector, public infrastructure and improved agricultural production.

Six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies in the 2003-2013 period were in SSA, with the remaining four in East and Central Asia. 2014 saw SSA maintain its leading position with six of the top ten fastest growing economies coming from the region including Chad (9.6%), DRC (8.6%), Ivory Coast (8.5%), Mozambique (8.3%), Ethiopia (8.2%) and Sierra Leone (8%) .

Regionally, growth is expected to be strongest in East Africa, increasingly driven by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows into offshore natural gas resources in Tanzania, the onset of oil production in Uganda and Kenya and agriculture in Ethiopia. Growth is also projected to remain strong in Nigeria, the continent’s largest economy following rebasing of its GDP in 2014, driven by the continued expansion of the country’s non-oil sectors.

Download the full report “IPC Year in Review: Sub-Saharan Africa in 2015”.

Sub-Saharan Africa has 5 out of 10 countries with the most improved business environments

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Tuesday, January 27th, 2015 at 9:18am

The World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2015 reveals that over 2013 and 2014, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) had the highest number of business reforms for any region in the world – 75 out of 230 (33%) – with 39 reforms to reduce complexity and cost of regulatory processes and 36 to strengthen legal institutions. Reflecting the same, SSA has the second highest percentage of economies (74%) that implemented at least one reform to make it easier to do business and comes second only to Europe & Central Asia with 85%. Read more here…

CEO Weekends: Kenyan legislator to face the law after social media hate speech

By

Susan Mwenesi

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Friday, January 16th, 2015 at 5:52pm

Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria will now have to face the full force of the law over remarks made on social media after the National Cohesion and integration Commission pulled out of reconciliatory talks that involved the MP and the Law Society of Kenya.

The development comes only days after the legislator offered to have the matters settled out of court through a conciliatory process that involved him apologizing to the whole country verbally and via national newspapers.

After a sitting held yesterday the commission concluded, “While the commission believes that the accused is innocent until proven guilty as well as the freedom of expression as guaranteed under Article 33 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the Commission has regretfully observed that the Hon. Kuria has not exhibited a conciliatory demeanor in his social media accounts.”

“While the conciliation process has been in progress, Hon. Kuria has continued to post material on his social media accounts that in the opinion of the commission may cause disharmony and are in contradiction of the spirit of conciliation,” read another part of their statement.

Now they want the legislator to face the full force of the law.

The commission has also put on notice individual bloggers , social media accounts whose posts are Injurious to cohesion as they are being monitored with the help of the National Police Service.

Kenyan MP offers apology over hate speech on Facebook, Twitter

Politics

By

Susan Mwenesi

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Tuesday, January 13th, 2015 at 7:58am

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has apologized for remarks on popular social media platforms where among other posts, he had attributed terrorism to certain communities in Kenya.

“My intention is not to create disunity. I stand for cohesion, I stand to have one indivisible Kenya and therefore to the extent that I attributed terrorism to specific communities or religions or tribes, I regret and apologise,” said Kuria.

Kuria was speaking at a press conference which was also attended by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission officials as well as the Law Society of Kenya on Monday.

The MP appeared in court over hate speech after the LSK filed a complaint with the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko and then Inspector General of Police David Kimaiythat detailed Kuria’s alleged posting of inciteful Facebook remarks targeting a specific community.

This was contrary to Section 13 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act makes it illegal to use threatening, abusive or insulting words, acts or materials liable to stir up ethnic hatred.

The NCIC had also taken Kuria to court over the posts on his Facebook account which the Director of Public Prosecutions said amounted to hate speech and after LSK sued him, Kuria opted for reconciliation.

According to Morris Dzoro the NCIC’s Legal and Complaints Committee Chairman,the legislator will also apologise to the country via national newspapers which is part of the agreement to be presented to court on Tuesday.

“We have used Article 159 (2) (c) of the Constitution which allows for the use of alternative means of dispute resolution including reconciliation, mediation, arbitration and traditional resolution,” said Dzoro.

The Gatundu South MP has since agreed to stop with similar posts.

“I want to call upon politicians to be very careful of what they say out there, because every action has a counter reaction equal and opposite. Even if I keep quiet and someone else goes out there and says Kenya belongs to two communities, it is an exercise in futility, so let’s all agree to stop,” he said when asked whether he will refrain from making controversial statements.

While the apology was welcomed by most people , on Twitter others felt that it was a slap on the wrist for the legislator who is known to be very careless in his remarks. Others felt that he was no different from a university student , Allan Wadi who was jailed over remarks similar to those of Moses Kuria despite the fact that he allegedly offered to apologise as well.

Zambia’s Opposition Party Dismisses Electronically Transmission Of Election Results

Politics

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Caroline Vutagwa

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Friday, January 9th, 2015 at 12:11pm

The United Party for National Development(UPND), Zambia’s largest opposition party, is not giving in to the idea of electronically transmission of election result in the fourth coming presidential by-elections; that was proposed by the country’s Electoral Commission.

The opposition party had initially accepted the transmission of results through mobile phones, from constituency centres to the commission’s headquarters and the national results centre at Mulungushi Conference Centre in the capital Lusaka using mobile phones.

The party claims that it has received news that intelligence officers will hack into the Electoral Commission of Zambia’s system and manipulate the results against the opposition before sending them to Mulungushi International Conference Centre for final announcement.

The commission plans to use mobile phones to transmit election results but the UPND said it will now not accept the proposal to transmit results using mobile phones.

The Electoral Commission has however, said it will invite the party to share with it the intelligence report in its possession before deciding the way forward.

The commission has bought mobile phones for all election officials for use in transmitting election results in a bid to bring efficiency in the election management system.

Zambia goes to the polls on January 20 following the death of President Michael Sata last year.

Ghana has a more transparent and accessible government than Italy, Russia or China

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Tuesday, January 6th, 2015 at 9:30am

The 2014 Rule of Law Index (RLI) measures the level of adherence to national laws in 99 countries based on 9 sub-indices (scores from 0 to 1, 1=High). One sub-index measures the level of government transparency and accessibility, and Ghana (0.5) outperforms Italy (0.49) as well as Russia (0.43) and China (0.41). Another sub-index reveals that constraints on government powers (checks and balances) are more effective in Ghana, Botswana and Senegal than they are in the BRIC nations. Read more here…

Ghana and 4 other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa provide better personal safety & security than the BRIC countries

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Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014 at 9:44am

The Legatum Prosperity Index (LPI) 2014 assess levels of prosperity in 142 countries by combining 8 core sub-indices including safety and security, personal freedom, governance and economy (standardized scores from -5=Low to 5=High). Six of the 10 most improved countries on the LPI (2013 to 2014) are in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and they include Kenya and Rwanda, both of which are more improved than India. In support of this result, the Economy Sub-Index also shows that SSA has 6 of the 10 most economically improved countries. Read more here…

Nigeriaelections2015.com wants to Visualize Nigeria’s February Elections to the World

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Monday, December 15th, 2014 at 11:17pm

Abuja-Gate-Nigeria-768x1366 — Image:9jalegal.com.ng

Just in its infanty stages though but Nigeriaelctions2015.com, is a visual listening open data platform aimed at visualizing information – facts, ideas, topics, issues, statistics, queries on the forthcoming 2015 Nigeria general elections.

The platform says it aims to to do so data available in volumes, velocity, veracity and variety – all to a bare minimum of words and very beautiful imagery. This is aimed at helping everyone clearly understand the elections chatter, cutting through the noise and revealing the hidden connections, patterns and the ordinary Nigerian citizen’s dilemma underneath it all which in turn would lead to informed decisions, accurate implementation, transformation and change knowing fully that a well informed electorate is a pre-requisite for democracy.

The platform, a product of Bizinvent, a creative and technology company also behind BusinessAim is targeing Nigeria’s presidential elections coming up in February 2015, one of the most talked about topic today online and offline. The firm says the data lake created by this topic is overwhelming and the stats are continuously increasing, hitting millions of impressions.

The site developers say it targets Nigerians at home and in diaspora are communicating like never before, ranting and sharing their opinions about the elections, its major players, and most of all their choice and the changes they want effected.

Kenya’s Mzalendo Unveils ‘the people’s shujaa awards’ To Celebrate Parliamentarians

Politics

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Caroline Vutagwa

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Monday, December 1st, 2014 at 3:47pm

Mzalendo Trust launched the People’s Shujaaz Awards– an initiative to celebrate Parliamentarians in Kenya that have excelled in championing issues of great public interest in Parliament – the National Assembly and Senate. The Parliamentarians were selected based on bills moved, contributions to bills, motions raised and statements issued from March 2013 to date.

“At the centre of these Awards are the bread and butter issues that drive Kenyan election campaigns and politics like food, health, water, education, security as well as core mandates of Parliament like devolution and budgetary oversight. The issues and list of nominees were arrived at through collaborative efforts between Mzalendo and other civil societies working on governance issues,” said Mzalendo’s Executive Director, Jessica Musila.

The inaugural People’s Shujaaz Awards has 10 categories with 3 nominees each. Mzalendo’s review of Parliamentary records revealed discussions on education, water, health and budgetary oversight dominated debate. Kenyans have an opportunity to select their best choice in each category through online voting oninfo.mzalendo.com/shujaaz.

Voting closes on 7^thDecember 2014, 11.59pm and finalists will be announced and awarded gifts on 11^thDecember 2014.

Kenyans spend a lot of time bashing politicians and there is a risk that we may dismiss or fail to encourage those who are actually representing their interests. People’s Shujaaz Awards is an attempt to fix that – we believe that it is important to point out that it is not all doom and gloom when it comes to Parliamentarians.The People’s Shujaaz Awards complement the National Honours the Presidency bestows on Kenyans who have given exemplary service to the country every year.

Through this initiative, Mzalendo seeks to gently nudge Parliamentarians to champion public interest, raise public awareness on the roles of MPs and Senators plus sensitize them on the need to hold their leaders to account. Mzalendo is a non-partisan Parliamentary Monitoring initiative which keeps an eye on Parliament and makes information on Parliamentarians and their activities easily accessible to the public.

Rwanda has better gender-based equality than each of the G8 countries

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Tuesday, November 18th, 2014 at 9:37am

The Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) quantifies gender-based equality in health, education, economy and politics in 142 countries. In her debut appearance on the GGGI (2014), Rwanda has emerged the 7^th most gender balanced country in the world and the best in Africa. Overall, 13 African countries including Mozambique and Kenya have have better gender parity than the BRIC nations. Research shows that Gender equality strengthens long-term economic development hence gender-based equality is important for Africa’s development. Read more here…

This is what would happen if WestGate like attack occurs

By

Vince Matinde

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Friday, October 10th, 2014 at 1:26pm