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Malian military leader signs election law that will allow him contest in 2024: Is this deja vu?

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Leader of the Malian military junta, Col. Assimi Goita, has signed a new law which will pave the way for elections in 2024 and a return of the West African country to constitutional rule.

Col. Goita who has been president of the transitional government since seizing power in a coup two years ago, signed the law on Friday which will create a single election management body to replace a disputed three-party system.

The new law would also allow Goita and other military members of the transitional government eligible to run for elective positions in the next presidential election.

The law is seen as a step in the right direction after the West Africa regional bloc, the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), imposed stiff sanctions on Mali earlier this year after the military rulers refused to organise elections in February as planned.

Mali and the 15-member ECOWAS have also been at logger heads over the coup leaders’ proposed five year timeline to elections, before proposing a two-year timeline, which ECOWAS deemed was too long.

The interim military government had, onJune 6, issued a decree fixing the two-year timetable, to be counted from March 2022, while negotiations with ECOWAS were still ongoing.

The law which gives room for Col. Goita to contest in the Mali election sounds like a deja vu situation too familiar with military coup leaders on the African continent, many of whom, over the years, transformed into civilian leaders, comfortably shedding their khaki uniforms for a civilian garb depending on the country’s national and traditional wear.

Goita does not lack inspiration as several examples abound from the length and breadth of Africa where the leaders ride into power on the barrels of guns but end up transforming into civilian presidents.

Africa will not forget the likes of Muamar Gaddafi in Libya, Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso, Idi Amin Dada and Yoweri Museveni in
Uganda, Paul Kagame in Rwanda,
Hosni Mubarak and Mohamed Hussein Tantawi in Egypt, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Equatorial Guinea, Yahya Jammeh in The Gambia.

Others in the distinguished list include Jerry Rawlings in Ghana, Omar al-Bashir in Sudan, Gnassingbé Eyadéma in Togo, Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire, and a host of other African leaders who went from military head of states to civilian presidents.

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South Sudan’s finance minister Bak Barnaba Chol fired

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President Salva Kiir of South Sudan has dismissed Bak Barnaba Chol, the Minister of Finance and Planning, and appointed engineer Daniel Daniel Chuong in his place.

 

Kiir removed the Finance Minister without providing a reason in a presidential decree that was published in South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

 

Before his appointment, the new finance minister was the petroleum ministry’s technical adviser and the previous minister of petroleum.

 

The country’s local currency, the South Sudanese pound (SSP), was depreciating at the same time as the changes were implemented, causing hyperinflation.

 

Three months ago, the SSP was worth 1,100 units against the US dollar; three months later, it was worth a record low of 1,800 units.

 

To secure hard currency and stabilize the economy, the nation is currently struggling to raise daily oil production from the current 150,000 barrels per day to 175,000 barrels per day.

 

South Sudan is currently in a dangerous situation. UN reports state that local violence between different armed groups and factions is on the rise.

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Senegal: opposition figure Sonko promises new national currency if party wins election

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Controversial Senegalese opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, said the country would consider the implementation of
reform of the West Africa region’s CFA franc currency at a regional level first, and if that failed, would consider creating a national currency, if his preferred candidate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, wins the next presidential election.

Faye is one of the main candidates in Senegal’s March 24 presidential election. He is backed by the popular firebrand Sonko, who was disqualified from the race over a defamation conviction.

Sonko made the promise while speaking at a joint press conference with Faye, shortly after both politicians were released from jail.

It appeared the comment was aimed at easing concerns after their election campaign, which promised to introduce the new currency if Faye won.

“We will try to implement a monetary reform at the sub-regional level first,” Sonko said. “If that fails, we will decide as a nation.”

Sonko alleged that the CFA franc currency, which is pegged to the euro and used by eight countries of the West Africa Monetary Union, affects economic development in the region, and the time is right to explore more options.

“There’s no sovereignty if there is no monetary sovereignty,” said Faye, speaking at the same press conference.

To be declared the winner in a presidential poll, a candidate must secure the signatures of 0.8% to 1% of the voting public. At least 2,000 sponsors must be secured for each of Senegal’s fourteen regions, where a minimum of seven signatures are required.

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