Behind the News

Behind the News: All the backstories to our major news this week

Published

2 days ago

June 30, 2024

Over the past week, there were many important stories from around the African continent, and we have served you some of the most topical ones.

Here is a rundown of the backstories to some of the biggest news stories in Africa that we covered during the week:

Sierra Leone’s bold move against child marriage

West African country, Sierra Leone has taken bold steps towards child rights as the Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill 2024 was officially approved by the parliament of Sierra Leone during the week. The new law includes measures to protect victims’ rights, penalize criminals, and provide young girls who are impacted by child marriage access to support services and education. Until now, the Customary Marriage and Divorce Act of 2009, which permits minor children to be married off with parental agreement and does not set a minimum age of marriage, contradicts the previous Child Rights Act of 2007 which set the minimum legal age of marriage at eighteen. Local reports show that 30% of girls in Sierra Leone get married before turning eighteen, and nine per cent get married before turning fifteen.

In Sierra Leone, many girls drop out of school frequently as a result of poverty. In an attempt to better their financial circumstances or pay off debt, their family then marry them off. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill 2024, which ensures that 18 is the minimum legal age of marriage, reflects a harmonization of these laws. The new bill includes measures to ensure that young girls impacted by early child marriage have access to education and social services, safeguard the rights of victims, and penalize offenders.

It is against the law to marry a girl who is younger than eighteen. Additionally, it stipulates that criminals may serve up to 15 years in jail. 800,000 child brides reside in the nation; according to the UN agency, 400,000 of them were married before turning 15.

About 10.5% of young women in Sub-Saharan Africa were married before turning 15 as of 2020. Generally, in the continent, child marriage was a frequent custom. Before turning fifteen, one in four adolescent women in the Central African Republic were married or in a partnership. Chad’s percentage of 24% was comparable. Conversely, at less than one per cent, South Africa and Lesotho had the lowest rates of female marriages before the age of fifteen.

While some African nations have witnessed significant reductions in child marriage, others have experienced stasis. More women and girls are at risk of child marriage as a result of conflict, climate change, and COVID-19, which have all disrupted schooling and caused economic shocks. Some parents have turned to child marriage as a way to deal with the aftermath of crises. Another angle to the matter is the production of a child army, susceptible to extremist indoctrination since an increase in out-of-school has been established to be linked to growth in child marriage, thereby granting easy recruitment for terrorism within the continent.

Like Sierra Leone, the rest of Africa must face the cultural and religious sentiments that excuse child marriage and outlaw the practice, beyond the ordinary declaration of marriageable age but with precise consequences for defaulters, including but not limited to the parent, the supposed groom, and all other accomplices.

Kenyan Tax Law: Ruto stoops to conquer?

Kenyans continued to resist President William Ruto’s plan to increase the country’s budget by Ksh3.9 trillion ($31 billion), and protests against the recently highlighted Finance Bill have spread throughout the country, from Nairobi, the country’s capital, to other regions. To strengthen public finances and obtain more money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), President William Ruto proposed higher taxes on bread, sugar, vegetable oil, mobile money transfers, and some imports.

Armed police continued to use tear gas to disperse protestors during street demonstrations in Nairobi and other major cities. Running fights broke out between the demonstrators, most of whom were young, and the officers as they attempted to enter the Parliament Buildings. However, in reaction to strong opposition, the controversial financial bill 2024 removed the proposed tax increases on Wednesday.

Kenya’s plan with the proposed new tax regime was believed to generate additional revenue of 346 billion Kenyan shillings ($2.68 billion) or 3% of GDP. Its withdrawal “will likely result in Kenya missing the 4.7% fiscal deficit target this year and 3.5% target next year as per the IMF programme which is now been threatened. In May 2023, Kenya committed to further funding to support climate change activities, raising its total loan availability from the IMF to $3.6 billion. In 2021, Kenya has already committed to a four-year loan from the IMF. The IMF requires frequent evaluations of changes, in Kenya’s case every six months, before releasing finance tranches.

Conceding to the Protesters mostly youths in a televised address, President Ruto said, “Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this finance bill 2024, I concede, and therefore I will not sign this Finance Bill, 2024. and it shall subsequently be withdrawn, I run a government but I also lead people. And the people have spoken.”

But the lenses are out on the Kenyan economy following the suspension of the tax law given the current public finance state and debt of the East African country and what seems like the beginning of a legitimacy battle for the “increasingly unpopular Ruto” as protests have continued in some parts of the country as on Sunday- three days after the revocation of the law. The Kenyan situation also brings the searchlight on the influence of multilateral bodies and the African economy with the IMF considered a villain in the discourse, while other pro-IMF observers hold that the multilateral bodies are only rescue instruments to mop up the fiscal recklessness and dying states of African economies.

Nigeria’s long road towards local oil refining

Nigeria’s oil refining problems might not end soon despite the recent progress of privately run Dangote Refinery. During the week, Throughout the week, International Oil Companies in Nigeria were allegedly plotting to undermine the viability of the recently established Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals, according to Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin.

Edwin said the IOCs were “deliberately and willfully frustrating” the refinery’s efforts to buy local crude by hiking the cost above the market price, thereby forcing the refinery to import crude from countries as far as the United States, with its attendant high costs.

Nigeria increased its output by 60,000 barrels per day to produce 1.49 million barrels of oil per day in a month, the greatest in over two years. Through a joint venture, the West African nation has developed a new grade of petroleum known as Nembe as it boosts its oil output.

With four state-operated refineries with a total capacity of 445,000 barrels per day, Nigeria imports more than 80% of its refined petroleum products. The state-owned refineries have not operated at full capacity for many years, despite numerous attempts to bring them back online. The high level of national anticipation surrounding the Dangote refinery is partly attributed to the failures of both the previous and present governments.

These circumstances stand in sharp contrast to those of other comparable oil-producing nations in Africa, like Algeria, which has the second-highest refining capacity in Africa after Egypt, and Libya, which can cover 60% of its domestic refining needs.

More than 135,000 permanent employees and 12,000 megawatts of electricity are anticipated to be produced by the Dangote refinery. Additionally, Nigeria would save $25–30 billion in foreign exchange yearly. It is anticipated to bring $10 billion annually into the economy but the politics and modalities for full-capacity operation remain a hurdle.

Mauritania: What next as Ghazouani coasting home to victory?

With more than 90% of the ballots counted, the incumbent president of Mauritius, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, is leading the preliminary results in the nation’s Saturday presidential election.

After tallying over 90% of the votes, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) on Sunday revealed that El Ghazouani was dominating the contest with 55.82% of the total.

Following Mauritania’s 1960 independence from France, retired General Mohamed Ould Ghazouani became the country’s eleventh president when he took office in August 2019 as the nation’s first peaceful transfer of power since independence. For ten years, the African desert nation was ruled by his predecessor, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. Aziz created the Union for the Republic (UPR), the ruling party, in 2009; in 2022, the party changed its name to Equity Party.

Although Mauritania is a presidential democracy, since gaining its independence in November 1960, there have been numerous military takeovers. Moktar Ould Daddah ruled Mauritania as a one-party state for eighteen years following independence. Decades of military control followed. Following a military coup in 2005, Mauritania underwent its first completely democratic presidential election on March 11, 2007, signalling the country’s transition from military to civilian government.

The country has not had it all smooth under Ghazouani. the COVID-19 outbreak and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have highlighted Mauritania’s fragility on the fronts of development and the economy. The nation’s primary exports, which include gold, iron ore, and fisheries goods, are dependent on extremely unpredictable international pricing. In addition, around 80% of Mauritania’s national food consumption is derived from imports of cereal. It is yet to be seen if its latest election will usher improved reign.

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Behind the News

Behind the News: All the backstories to our major news this week

Published

2 weeks ago

June 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Over the past week, there have been many important stories from around the African continent, and we have served you some of the most topical ones.

Here is a rundown of the backstories to some of the biggest news stories in Africa that we covered during the week:

South Africa’s ANC remains in power despite electoral setback

It appeared that the dust had finally settled on South Africa’s 2024 general elections as its National Assembly concluded voting on the post of the Speaker of the Parliament, President, with the candidates of the ruling All National Congress (ANC) Thoko Didiza, and Cyril Ramaphosa emerged occupants of the country’s highest political jobs. The ascendancy of Didiza and Ramaphosa is the result of a coalition. The ANC and DA currently hold 246 of the 400 seats in the freshly elected National Assembly, which is enough to establish a coalition government.

The ANC party lost its parliamentary majority in an unprecedented election result, putting South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule thirty years earlier. In the election on Wednesday, the once-dominant ANC received roughly 40% of the vote, falling well short of the majority it had routinely secured—more than 60% of the vote—in every election since 1994 when apartheid was abolished and put under Nelson Mandela’s leadership.

The swaged performance notwithstanding, the ANC managed a coalition which the populist Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) maintained it “contested because we wanted to demonstrate to South Africa that we did not agree with the marriage of convenience to consolidate the white monopoly power to dominate the economy and the means of production in South Africa. This marriage seeks to undermine the changing of property relations in South Africa. We refused to sell out, we had never done so when we were young and are not going to do so today.”

Since every party has distinct policies and views, the new government’s makeup will have a direct impact on South Africa’s future. Compromises and inter-party confidence building along the lines of President Nelson Mandela’s Government of National Unity, which included all of the ANC’s political rivals, including the National Party, following the first competitive multiparty elections in 1994, will be necessary for a government of national unity to be stable and effective for the people.

Nigeria strolling out of another FIFA World Cup

Nigeria’s senior football team is having it tough again on its journey to the World Cup after a devastating 2-1 loss to the Benin Republic at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan. The Super Eagles have failed to win the AFCON twice and make it to the 2022 World Cup since former Nigerian coach Genet Rohr was fired in December 2021. On Monday, Rohr guided the Benin Republic to their first-ever senior victory over Nigeria in international football. The German Cheetahs appeared more disciplined, fit, and focused than Finidi’s Eagles. The loss marked the first time in 17 games over 47 years, dating back to a 7-0 victory in February 1977, that Nigeria had ever allowed two goals against Benin.

Nigeria had an amazing record against the Beninoise in their previous 14 games, with 12 wins and 2 ties. In their two games against Benin, not even the CHAN Eagles scored two goals. Nigeria’s record now includes a defeat, courtesy of coach Finidi Geroge and his less-than-stellar Super Eagles. Unfortunately, it happens not at an international friendly but during a World Cup qualifier.

With three points after four games and currently four points behind the Benin Republic, who moved up to the top of Group C following their thrilling victory in Abidjan. The calculators and permutations are out already for Nigeria, If Zimbabwe wins their match, Nigeria will stay in fifth place in the group and may perhaps drop to the bottom.

The Super Eagles have not won any of their previous seven games in the series, with six draws and one loss. This is Nigeria’s worst run ever during the World Cup qualifying campaign. The game run isn’t of a team ready to compete at the Mundial against the top countries. Thus the Eagles are set to miss out on the North American party as the World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Nigerians will hope the situation can be salvaged with George Finidi’s now out of the job following his resignation on Saturday.

Nigeria’s Democracy Day and the many questions

Since gaining independence, Nigeria’s democracy has been brittle and inconsistent, despite the hurdles, the West African country marked twenty-five years of uninterrupted civil reign in the current fourth republic which began in 1999 after years of military interregnums on Wednesday, being 12th of June the date of a water-shed presidential election widely believed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola. More than 200 ethnic groups make up this complex nation, whose borders were determined by British colonialists, and successive governments have battled to forge a sense of national unity. The various regions of the country have had varying rates of democratization and development.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari issued an order on June 7, 2018, changing the date of the country’s Democracy Day from May 29 to June 12 annually. Additionally, Buhari bestowed the highest national title, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, upon Chief Moshood Abiola, the victor of the cancelled June 12, 1993, presidential election. Buhari went on to say that since Nigeria’s independence, the June 12. The 1993, election was the most peaceful, fair, and free one.

The civil war and the military era’s concentration of power gravely damaged Nigeria’s democracy. The battle developed a strong, affluent, and frequently dishonest military elite and contributed to the concentration of oil earnings in the hands of army officials. Nigeria’s political sphere was militarized by the dictatorships, and the emergence of democratic institutions and culture was impeded.

Nigeria’s democratic years are counting, but Nigeria remains below average in the reality of democratic indicators, notably on matters relating to civil rights, economic and social rights, civil and political participation, free and fair elections, rule of law, military and police control, government accountability and media tolerance. At no other time does the country needs the true expression of Bola Tinubu’s catchphrase of “Renewed Hope” beyond mere rhetorics.

From Palace to Trial: Story of Niger’s ousted President Bazoum

The travails of the ousted Nigerien president, Mohamed Bazoum went tougher on Friday as his lawyers confirmed that the State Court of Niamey has withdrawn the immunity, signalling the beginning of criminal proceedings against him by the junta. Bazoum was overthrown by a military coup in July of last year and placed under house arrest with his family after the coup. Since then, the Western countries and the ECOWAS regional political and economic bloc have repeatedly called for his release, but he and his spouse have stayed in detention.

Bazoum and his spouse have never appeared before a magistrate, according to his attorneys. Attorneys claimed that since October, when the White House disconnected their phone line, they have been isolated from the outside world and are only allowed to receive visits from their physician. The Niger military tribunal granted temporary release from home confinement to Mohamed Bazoum Salem, the deposed president’s 23-year-old son, in January.

Eight coups in West and Central Africa have resulted in the installation of military governments since 2020. Even after ruling last year that Bazoum’s arrest was unlawful, the ECOWAS Court of Justice has not responded to calls for his reinstatement.

The coup has put the country against a lot of its international allies particularly because the country favoured relations with France whose influence in Africa is fading fast. The French military was driven out of the region by new regimes in Mali, and Burkina Faso in the current wave. Since then, a law that assisted in preventing individuals from West Africa from travelling to Europe has been repealed. To reduce the number of illegal immigrants, the EU wishes to collaborate more closely with African nations.

Bazoum represents a political establishment, being the continuity candidate in the last election and a former foreign affairs minister in a country regularly ranked as the world’s poorest where jihadist attacks have surged in recent years and his legal travails are capable of upsetting the polity beyond just military incursion.

Behind the News

Behind the News: All the backstories to our major news this week

Published

3 weeks ago

June 9, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Over the past week, there were lots of important stories from around the African continent, and we served you some of the most topical ones.

Here is a rundown of the backstories to some of the biggest news in Africa that we covered during the week:

1. ‘Come clean on secret subsidy payments,’ Atiku tells Tinubu

Nigerians were rudely shocked last Wednesday when Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun announced that the government is still paying subsidy for fuel after President Bola Tinubu had pronounced the end of the subsidy regime in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023.

The unilateral removal of fuel subsidy brought with it a rise in the cost of living with fuel price shooting up and the cost of food items rising beyond the reach of the common man.

However, Edun, while presentating the Accelerated Stabilisation and Advancement Plan (ASAP) report, alluded to the fact that fuel subsidy will gulp N5.4 trillion in 2024 after the initial denial that government had completely deregulated the product.

“At current rates, expenditure on fuel subsidy is projected to reach N5.4 trillion by the end of 2024. This compares unfavourably with N3.6 trillion in 2023 and N2.0 trillion in 2022,” Edun had said.

The report painted a clear picture that despite the surface removal of fuel subsidy, the government was still paying it.

The revelation drew lots of criticism from Nigerians including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who told Tinubu to come clean and tell Nigerians the truth about the subsidy payments.

Atiku, who made his views known in a statement on Wednesday, accused the Tinubu government of lacking in transparency and accountability while deceiving Nigerians in handling the affairs of the country.

“President Bola Tinubu, at his inauguration on May 29, 2023, announced the abolishment of the subsidy on PMS, popularly known as fuel.

“Ever since, it has been a bragging right of Tinubu and officials of his administration.

“It is curious that since April 2024, fuel queues have mounted at many filling stations across Nigeria, and the infamous ‘black market’ has sprouted in several states. How much PMS is being imported and distributed, and at what cost? What is the implicit subsidy?

“If the subsidy regime had been characterised by opaqueness, what would we say of a situation where the subsidy is still being paid under the cover without Nigerians in the know?

“Like millions of Nigerians, I was shocked to learn through media reports that
the “government is still supporting downstream consumption.

“Now we know that expenditure on fuel subsidy may reach N5.4 trillion in 2024, compared to the N3.6 trillion spent in 2023, the same year that Tinubu claimed to have abolished fuel subsidy,” Atiku said.

Though the government came out to debunk the report from the Minister, insisting that it is no longer paying for subsidy, the question on the lips of Nigerians have been who is lying to the masses.

Nigerians want to know what the conflicting statements from the Minister and the government which were at variance with the situation on ground.

Why is the Tinubu government engaging in trial-and-error economic policies that have refused to yield positive results for the country?

And as Atiku pointed out, why would the government still engage in subsidy payments yet lie about it?

So many questions are begging for answers here.

2. Less talk, more work, please

For the umpteenth time, President Bola Tinubu reiterated his resolve and commitment to improving the quality of life of Nigerians with his now famous “bold reforms” and policies which he embarked upon since assuming office as Nigeria’s president a year ago.

While commissioning some projects in Federal Capital Territory on Monday,

Tinubu, said he has been “having sleepless nights” working hard to improve the lives of Nigerians under his watch.

“I reaffirm my administration’s dedication to enhancing the quality of life for all Nigerians. What is unfolding in the Federal Capital is a testament to what can be achieved by the government’s Renewed Hope Agenda of quality transformation of the FCT, and indeed Nigeria,” Tinubu said.

But the downtrodden Nigerian masses are not convinced with their President’s level of commitment to taking the country out of the woods due to what they are currently going through.

Under Tinubu’s watch, cost of living has escalated to the extent that common commodities have gone out of the reach of the people.

Inflation has skyrocketed, multinational companies are closing down and leaving the country in droves, insecurity has gone up unabated and the people are going through unbearable hardship and hunger.

Nigerians are unanimously asking President Tinubu to do less of talking and rather concentrate on working more to return the confidence that has been lost in his government.

3. Invitation to anarchy? Zambian opposition party threatens civil disobedience

Worried by alleged oppression by the Zambia government which uses the nation’s security forces to intimidate opposition parties, the Socialist Party (SP), threatened to embark on civil disobedience by bypassing a “no-rally” order placed by the Zambia Police Service.

The SP which was angered by the cancellation of its planned political rally which was scheduled to take place at Kitwe’s Changanamai Grounds in the Copperbelt on Saturday, vowed to go against the police order and go ahead with its rally.

In a statement by SP’s Party General-Secretary, Dr Cosmas Musumali, the party said despite applying to the police in Kitwe District seeking permission to hold a rally at Changanamai Grounds in Riverside on June 8, but were denied by the police authorities.

“SP President Dr Fred M’membe is going to speak to the nation on pertinent issues affecting the country, such as the high prices of commodities, political intimidation and violence,” Musumali stated.

“We went ahead thinking that after so many attempts to speak to the people of Zambia as a political party on issues that need answers, we would be allowed. But we are being told that we cannot go ahead because the situation in the country is volatile.

“We have read and we have heard from the ruling party UPND that they are not going to allow any rally. This is dictatorship of the worst order. Under the PF, as a party, we were allowed at least two rallies.”

The political situation in Zambia succinctly mirrors what are obtainable in many African countries where the government in power does everything to muscle and silence the opposition or any dissenting voice that seem to deviate from its leadership style.

And typically, they always seem to have their way as the security agencies, more often than not, play to the dictates of the ruling government.

A clear case of he who pays the piper dictates the tone!

“We do not need police permission to go ahead with this rally. We are going to proceed on June 8, 2024, at Changanamai Grounds in Kitwe. Our members and supporters are welcome as SP President Fred M’membe will deliver a message of hope,” Musumali concluded.

4. When love hurts as Achraf Hakimi’s ex-wife gives up

The estranged wife of Moroccan international football star, Achraf Hakimi, Hiba Abouk, has given up on love after she confessed that she has been hurt and disappointed several times by all the men who come into in her life.

Abouk who is coming to terms with the reality of her messy split from the Moroccan international after she discovered that all his assets were in his mother’s with little or nothing left for her, cried out in a podcast broadcast on Friday, saying she is no longer interested in love and relationships following her failed marriage to the PSG footballer.

In the podcast, Abouk, a 37-year-old Spanish-Tunisian actress also branded her marriage to the footballer a failed project, after their union had been blessed with two children.

“All men have been a disappointment. I’m a little hater on this subject,” the mother of two said.

Abouk and Hakimi made the headlines in 2023 following their messy divorce after Hakimi was indicted by the French police on charges of rape and sexually assaulting a French woman.

In the heat of the scandal, many African men had applauded the footballer for taking the steps of transferring his assets to his mother.

Many cited the examples of former Ivory Coast and Arsenal player, Eboue, who lost everything to his ex-wife after their divorce.

Apart from Emmanuel Eboue, examples abound of many African players have also lost their life earnings to their wives after their divorce.

5. Despite Tinubu’s vow, Nigeria still goes a-borrowing

Despite a stern vow from President Bola Tinubu that the era of Nigeria going cap in hand to borrow money from the international community, the country once again, accessed a $500 million loan from World Bank to rejig its power sector.

The loan which has jerked up the country’s burgeoning debt profile, came following the increase in charges for high-volume consumers in Africa’s most populous country.

According to the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), “the loan was included in the government’s borrowing plan for the month following the fulfilment of certain objectives.”

The BPE, in a statement on Friday, said the goal of the concessionary loan “is to help distribution businesses, who have had difficulty growing their capacity more than ten years after Nigeria turned over control of its electrical industry to private companies, perform better financially and technically.”

With the new loan, Nigeria’s debt profile has continued to rise, running into trillions of naira and continues to pile up pressure for the country.

Successive administrations seem not to learn from the past as they tend to always run to these international agencies to borrow money, thereby leaving the country at the mercy of their creditors.