Politics

Kenya: After impeaching Gachagua, Ruto appoints ally as deputy

Published

2 days ago

October 18, 2024

Shortly after the Senate voted to remove the previous occupant of the position, Rigthi Gachagua, Kenya’s President William Ruto selected Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki as his new deputy on Friday.

Ruto’s choice of a close ally, who must receive parliamentary approval, follows a period of political unrest, large-scale demonstrations, and the first impeachment of a deputy president in Kenya.

“I have received a message from … the president, regarding the nomination of Professor Kithure Kindiki to fill the vacancy which has occurred in the office,” Speaker Moses Wetang’ula said in the National Assembly.

Gachagua was impeached on five of the eleven claims against him, which included inciting ethnic hate and flagrantly violating the Constitution. He refuted the allegations and wrote them off as politically motivated.

He assisted Ruto in winning a sizable portion of the votes from the populated central Kenya region by supporting him in the 2022 election. However, Gachagua has mentioned feeling marginalised in recent months, as there have been numerous rumours in the local media indicating a rupture with Ruto as political allegiances have changed.

Kindiki was a strong candidate to be Ruto’s running mate in the 2022 election and was named interior minister in September of that same year, just after the president assumed office.

The Ministry of the Interior is in charge of the police. Rights groups have charged that during rallies earlier this year demanding the repeal of the now-shelved finance law and changes to combat corruption, the police used excessive force.

Kindiki stated in a September appearance before parliament that the government did not carry out extrajudicial executions or kidnappings and that police followed the law.

Related Topics:Featured Kenya RutoKenya William Ruto

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Politics

Nigerian Air Force adds 34 Italian planes, helicopters

Published

5 days ago

October 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria’s air force is acquiring 24 Italian-made M-346 attack jets and ten AW-109 Trekker helicopters as part of a fleet renewal strategy, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Air Force spokesperson, Olusola Akinboyewa, said in a statement that a team led by Nigeria’s Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar met with executives from Italy’s Leonardo S.p.A, the manufacturer, in Rome who confirmed the first three M-346 aircraft were expected to be delivered by early 2025, with subsequent deliveries running until mid-2026.

The Trekker helicopters are expected by early 2026, Akinboyewa said.

“The M-346 and Trekker acquisitions are key steps towards fleet renewal,” Abubakar was cited as saying, emphasizing the need for a maintenance hub in Nigeria to provide long-term support, particularly for the M-346 fleet.

Nigeria, which has been fighting a 15-year Islamist insurgency against Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the northeast, as well as attacks by armed bandits in the northwest, has increased military spending in recent years.

Nigeria received two “Huey” helicopters in June to go with the two Trekkers it had previously purchased and the twelve American-built A-29 Super Tucano light attack jets it had been given in 2021 to combat rebels.

Wing Loong II drones manufactured in China are still awaiting delivery.

Politics

Cameroon prohibits discussing 91-year-old President Biya’s health

Published

1 week ago

October 12, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In response to growing suspicion that 91-year-old President Paul Biya was ill, Cameroon has banned any talk regarding Biya’s health, according to a letter released by the interior ministry.

The reports that the president had been unwell were brushed off as “pure fantasy” by the administration, which released comments earlier this week stating that he was in good condition and on a private visit to Geneva.

Paul Atanga Nji, the interior minister, stated that talking about the president’s health was a matter of national security in a letter to regional governors dated October 9.

“Therefore, it is strictly forbidden to have any discussion about the president’s condition in the media going forward.” The whole weight of the law would be applied to offenders, Nji stated.

He gave the governors orders to form teams to keep an eye on social media and private media broadcasts.

If Biya passed away or was too sick to hold office, the oil- and cocoa-producing nation of Cameroon—which has only had two presidents since gaining independence from France and Britain in the early 1960s—would probably be faced with a difficult succession situation.

The National Communication Council, Cameroon’s media regulator, could not be reached for comment at this time. Many criticised the action as an example of state censorship.

“The president is elected by Cameroonians and it’s just normal that they worry about his whereabouts,” said Hycenth Chia, a Yaounde-based journalist and talk show host on privately owned television Canal2 International.

“We see liberal discussions on the health of Joe Biden and other world leaders, but here it is a taboo,” he told Reuters.

Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group for press freedom, expressed its deep concern.

“Trying to hide behind national security on such a major issue of national importance is outrageous,” said Angela Quintal, head of the CPJ’s Africa Program.

Since early September, when Biya attended a China-Africa summit in Beijing, she has not been sighted in public. His absence at a summit in France last weekend, which was scheduled, fuelled even more public speculation about his health.

President Biya is one of several long-serving African leaders, including Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, who has been in office since 1982, and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame is also gradually evolving into the group.