The Kenyan government has denied media reports that Chinese banks have fined the country $11 million for failing to pay back loans used to finance a major railway. Kenya’s ministry of finance, Ukur Yatani, said Thursday the country never defaulted on any of its creditors.

The East African nation borrowed $4 billion to construct the Standard Gauge Railway from the port of Mombasa to Naivasha town, some 100 kilometers from the capital.  

Senator Samson Cherargei, a member of the ruling United Democratic Alliance party, told VOA the government is in a solid position to pay its debt of 10 trillion Kenyan shillings, equal to 82 billion U.S. dollars.  

“I am confident the 10 trillion debt that is facing the republic of Kenya is still sustainable and the government can still pay and as parliament, we have ensured that we receive a regular medium-term update in terms of the government payment of the public debt. So, I have a lot of confidence that the government will be able to pay its public debt,” Cherargei said.

In June, the previous parliament increased the public debt limit to $83 billion to help the incoming government borrow more to help it run its programs.  

Samuel Nyandemo, who teaches economics at the University of Nairobi, said Kenya cannot sustain itself without borrowing but must make good use of the money it borrows locally and internationally. 

“I don’t think Kenya has reached where it can sustain itself. The best they can do is minimize borrowing, borrow where necessary and whatever they borrow, they put it into productive use,” he said.  

The Kenyan government is blamed for over-borrowing in the past and overvaluing major projects, leaving the country with gigantic loans to pay back. 

China accounts for a third of Kenya’s external debt.  

New President William Ruto insists on reducing foreign borrowing and finding alternatives to finance government projects.

Nyandemo said Kenyan officials will need to speak to China and agree on ways to pay back the money in coming years. 

“Those loans are quite huge. The first attempt the new government will do is either renegotiate these loans on new terms which will be a bit difficult and most of them are commercial loans and commercial loans are always expensive,” Nyandemo said. “I think the best the new government can do is to go for concessionary loans and scale down the borrowing proportion it borrows, put it into productive use and cut down public expenditure.” 

Last month, Ruto ordered the treasury to cut $2.5 billion in government spending.  

Sabina Chege, an opposition member of parliament, said the government, through the Kenya Revenue Authority, or KRA, needs to raise money through taxation and fighting corruption. 

“The Kenyatta government emphasized on paying taxes and there was the second issue of fighting corruption, so there was a lot of savings from the government,” she said. “What we are seeing currently with the current government is that people who are politically correct with the current regime, even the graft cases, are being dropped. KRA officials are currently afraid of following any individual because they don’t know whether they will be touching the wrong person. But the performance has been going down.” 

The Kenyan government has challenged the Kenya Revenue Authority to collect $25 billion by the end of the year, which will help support development programs. 

 
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An appeals court in the Nigerian capital of Abuja has annulled charges against separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu and declared his arrest, detention and trial unlawful. For months, Kanu faced numerous charges, including terrorism and treasonable felony, which Nigerian authorities had leveled against him in federal court. Authorities say the offenses were committed during his separatist campaigns.

A three-judge panel held that Nigerian authorities breached local and international treaties to unlawfully arrest and detain Kanu.

One of the justices, Oludotun Adefope-Okojie, explained that authorities failed to publicly disclose where they arrested Kanu and therefore could not proceed with his trial.

He said, “No government is permitted to abduct anybody without following due process of extradition. Nigeria is not an exception.”

The court also said authorities did not clearly state where and when Kanu committed all the offenses leveled against him.

Kanu was captured last year in Kenya and has been on trial since October 2021 from state police detention.

His lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, posted the court verdict on social media and said, “We have won,” but could not immediately respond to calls for further comment.

Imo state resident Susan Ifeoma said the news has been heartwarming.

“People are rejoicing here, [even] me,” she said. “I was just jumping and dancing. We’ve been praying, asking God to intervene. And he has.”

Kanu is leading decades-old agitation for the secession of Nigeria’s southeastern region, fueled by a feeling of marginalization among the residents. The separatists want to form a republic called Biafra.

In the late 1960s, the Biafran agitation snowballed into a civil war that killed an estimated 1 million people, mostly from famine.

Nigerian authorities are yet to respond to the court ruling.
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A monkeypox outbreak has been confirmed in the town of Mbonge, health authorities in Cameroon say, but armed separatists are preventing workers from investigating suspected cases.

Cameroon government officials say health workers have been deployed to the districts of Kumba and Mbonge to communicate to hundreds of civilians with suspected monkeypox infections to immediately isolate and avoid contact with other people and animals, including pets. 

Kumba and Mbonge are districts located in Cameroon’s English-speaking southwest region near the border with Nigeria. 

Emmanuel Lenya Nefenda, the highest ranking Cameroon public health official in Kumba, said civilians are being educated after a suspected monkeypox infection was confirmed in Kumba. He said the case was reported after the confirmation by Cameroon public health officials of a monkeypox outbreak in Bole Bakundu, a village in Mbonge. 

In order to prevent the spread of the highly contagious monkeypox, Nefenda said people should avoid contact with wild animals, avoid eating wild animals, and wear clean clothes, as opposed to “bush clothes” that may have had contact with rats or other animals.

Nefenda spoke from Kumba via the messaging app WhatsApp. 

The government says one case of monkeypox was confirmed in Kumba, and the patient is receiving treatment in a hospital isolation ward. Several dozen specimens have been collected from suspected patients and sent to specialized laboratories in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, for laboratory examinations. 

Health officials are warning civilians to take suspected patients to hospitals, and not to herbalists or African traditional healers in villages. But villagers say ongoing battles between separatists and government troops make it impossible for suspected patients to be transported to hospitals, which are far from towns. 

Separatists on social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, say any health worker sent by Cameroon’s central government in Yaounde should obtain an authorization from fighters. 

But the government says only Cameroon state officials can assure the safety of health workers assisting people suspected of monkeypox infections. 

Eko Eko Filbert, the highest government official in charge of public health in Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest region where Kumba and Mbonge are located, said armed groups should allow medical staff members to render humanitarian services. 

Monkeypox is contagious, he said, but can be contained with the help of health workers.

Eko said no health official deployed to assist civilians suspected of monkeypox infection has been attacked, but that frightened health workers are scared of going out to search for patients and suspected patients. 

The government says it will protect both its citizens and health workers. 

The U.N. says Cameroon is a monkeypox endemic country but displacement away from established surveillance systems due to armed conflicts increase the risk of undetected transmission. 

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said 21 countries in the past week reported an increase in monkeypox cases, mostly in the Americas, which accounted for almost 90% of all cases reported last week. 

The WHO says cases in the global monkeypox outbreak have topped 70,000 and warned that a decline in new cases does not mean people should drop their guard, as the slowdown in new cases worldwide could be the most dangerous time in the outbreak.

The U.N. says the disease causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.  

 
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Ankara, or Kitenge, the fabric used to make African prints, is known for its colorful patterns. One young African designer is taking the traditional textile and making it her own. Abby Sun reports. Amos Wangwa contributed to this
story.

Camera – Amos Wangwa
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The Somali Journalists Syndicate is coming under pressure from the government, with authorities trying to enter its offices in Mogadishu and arresting the organization’s secretary-general.

Analysts think the actions may be related to a government order banning media coverage of militant group al-Shabab.

Security agents had been caught on camera trying to gain entry to the offices of the syndicate, known as the SJS. Then on Tuesday, authorities detained the group’s secretary-general, Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, at the city’s international airport.

The actions rattled Somalia’s media members. Mohamed Ibrahim, syndicate president, said, “On behalf of Somali Journalists Syndicate and entire Somali media fraternity, I condemn the arrest in the strongest terms possible and call for the Somali government to release him immediately. Also, this attack represents an attack to all Somali media.”

The raid came shortly after the SJS and three other media organizations jointly protested a government directive against publishing content from al-Shabab.

The Ministry of Information has said media should not publish content from the militant group. It also blocked access to 40 social media accounts and websites deemed to be affiliated with al-Shabab.

Journalists warn the directive could be used against independent media.

Authorities on Wednesday said Mumin had been detained on a “security-related charge,” but Ibrahim questioned whether it could be linked to the joint statement protesting the order.

“The government has not consulted the Somali media stakeholders at this directive and also it represents and also shows how the Somali government is trying to manipulate and silence independent voices,”  he said.

Neither the police spokesperson nor the Ministry of Information responded to VOA’s requests for comment.

Many journalists are dismayed at the government order, which they say could endanger them and curtail the freedom of expression and the public’s right to know.

Mohamed Bulbul, a journalist with Mogadishu-based Universal Television, told VOA that the directive put journalists at increased risk.

“Al-Shabab immediately issued a warning against those who obey the order,” he said. “So you can feel [at risk] because the reporter is not driving a bulletproof car and is not armed.”

Security analysts argue that the Somali government is caught in a difficult situation, trying to balance the rights of journalists with securing victory against al-Shabab.

Abdiaziz Hussein Issack, a security analyst with the Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center, a cultural and research center in Denmark, said, “I think that the government’s decision is a double-edged sword. If the decision is used and implemented well, it would be a good thing and productive. Terrorist propaganda can be stopped and freedom of speech can be protected. But if any party tries to use it for its own interest, it will be dangerous.”

According to Issack, journalists must avoid sensationalizing terrorism. “The journalists and the media should report what happened but avoid exaggeration or propaganda issued by the terror group,” he said.

Al-Shabab has proved adept at using online platforms and social media to spread its propaganda.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared last week that there was no neutral position in the war against al-Shabab, saying, “You are either with the government or the terrorists.”
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Uganda and the World Health Organization are planning to try out two vaccines for the Ebola Sudan virus to try and curb the spread of the rare strain.  The virus has so far killed 19 people and infected at least 54 people in five districts in Uganda. After meetings in Kampala, the WHO’s director general described the new outbreak as troubling.

Uganda hosted ministers from 11 countries in an emergency one-day meeting Wednesday to align their preparation for and response to Ebola outbreaks and agree on a strategy for collaboration.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda’s health minister, said the department is expecting two different types of vaccines for the Sudan virus of Ebola currently circulating in Uganda.

Both vaccines, according to the WHO, are pending regulatory and ethics approvals from the Ugandan government. Aceng says the vaccines, which are expected to arrive in the country next week, are in clinical trials.

“One, Oxford. Manufactured in the United Kingdom. And the other Sabin. Manufactured in the United States of America. We are getting small doses, but the manufacturers are quickly manufacturing more.”

Uganda reported the Ebola outbreak on September 20. The epicenter is the Mubende district, west of Kampala, with one death reported in Kampala itself. 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that although the outbreak is troubling, it is not unexpected. Tedros says the primary focus now is to rapidly contain the outbreak to protect neighboring districts, as well as neighboring countries.

The WHO urged Uganda’s neighbors to increase their readiness to respond rapidly and efficiently, if needed.

Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, the acting director-general for the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says African countries need to change the way they do things in times of outbreaks.

He said this includes strengthening institutions dedicated to health emergencies, strengthening the health work force, local manufacturing and having action-oriented and respectful partnerships.

The WHO has released $2 million from its contingency fund to support Uganda’s Health Ministry and an additional $3 million to support readiness in neighboring countries.

Ogwell says such funds need to be prioritized.

“It is not true that we don’t have money,“ said Oowell. “And it is not true that African countries are broke. It’s an issue of prioritization of the resources that you have. And then, when partners bring their support, what is it supporting? Is it supporting our priorities or is it supporting the priority of the partner? Then, rationalization of our budgets at national level will create a situation where the funds for public sector are going into our priorities.”

The Sudan Ebola virus was first reported in southern Sudan in 1976. Several outbreaks have been reported since then in both Uganda and Sudan. The deadliest outbreak in Uganda was in 2000 and killed more than 200 people.
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A new U.N. report finds migrants in Libya are subject to systematic human rights violations and abuse to compel them to accept so-called assisted returns to their countries of origin.

Authors of the report say migrants in Libya are trapped in an untenable situation. They say the migrants are forced to choose between returning to the countries they fled because of unsafe or unsustainable conditions — or facing continued ill treatment in Libya.

The report says migrants frequently are compelled to accept assisted return to escape abusive detention conditions. These, it says, include threats of torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearance and extortion.

U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani notes that assisted returns, in principle, are meant to be voluntary.

“However, the report finds that in reality, many migrants in Libya are unable to make a truly voluntary decision to return in accordance with international human rights laws and standards. Many of them find they have no choice but to return to the same circumstances that made them leave their countries in the first place,” she said.

The U.N. reports roughly 600,000 migrants comprising more than 40 nationalities are in Libya today. Among them are some 43,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers.

Since 2015, the U.N. reports more than 60,000 migrants have been repatriated to different countries of origin across Africa and Asia through so-called assisted return programs.

Shamdasani says most of the migrants come from Sub-Saharan Africa, and are exposed to particularly severe treatment in both official and unofficial detention facilities.

“One of the witnesses of a police anti-migrant raid said ,‘If they saw a black person, they would just catch you.’ They demolished homes, locked people up in jail. They were holding 4,500 black people like dogs,” she said.

The U.N. human rights office is calling on Libya and involved states to take immediate steps to address what it calls an indefensible, unconscionable situation.

It says Libyan authorities must end all violations and abuses of migrants’ rights. It adds other states should provide more protection to migrants trapped in Libya by increasing safe and regular pathways of admission to their territories.

Shamdasani tells VOA the report was shared with Libya prior to its release. She says no formal response has been received but U.N. officials will be reaching out again to offer their support in implementing the report’s recommendations.
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In Cameroon, hundreds of displaced girls have protested the conflicts that have disrupted or halted their education. Close to a million Cameroonian children have lost school time in recent years due to the separatist conflict in western regions and Boko Haram terrorism on the borders with Chad and Nigeria. The demonstrators are calling Tuesday for better security so children, especially girls, can return to classrooms.

Sixteen-year-old Adama Issatou tells onlookers in Maroua, a town on Cameroon’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria, that she needs an education. She said she speaks for scores of other girls who were deprived of an education by Boko Haram militants.

Adama said in 2018, militants forcefully took her out of a school in Kolofata, a town on Cameroons northern border with Nigeria. She said a Boko Haram fighter impregnated her, then abandoned her for three years in a camp on the border with Nigeria.

Adama said in 2021, she was freed from the camp by government troops fighting Boko Haram.

Adama’s plea to have an education was broadcast several times by media Tuesday, including on Cameroon’s public broadcaster, CRTV, Canal 2 and Satellite FM Radio.

The government says hundreds of girls demonstrated in several cities, including Yaounde, Bamenda and Kumbo in the Northwest region, Buea, Kumba and Limbe in the Southwest region and Maroua on the northern border.

The protests were scheduled to coincide with the U.N. International Day of the Girl Child. The day is meant to recognize girls’ rights and the challenges they face around the world.

Emmanual Kimbi is an official of Education for All Children, a rights group headquartered in Yaounde. He said a coalition of 20 groups organized Tuesday’s demonstrations.

Kimbi said Cameroon rights groups want separatist fighters, Boko Haram militants and government troops to spare schools and allow children to have an education.

“You get into a village and you see a girl of 12 years already having a child. These are children who are supposed to be in school. Those who triggered these issues recruited children, pupils as child soldiers. We should rescue them, we should move around and preach so that people should see the essence of education. Reconstruct the schools, allow the children to go to schools,” he said.

Handerson Quetong Kongeh is the highest government official in Ngoketunjia, an administrative unit in Cameroon’s Northwest region, where the government says separatists have closed several dozen schools since September, when the school year began in Cameroon.

Kongeh said the government has deployed troops to make the schools safe. He says troops will not spare anyone who wants to interrupt teaching.

“Any proponents of boycott who will continue to insist on boycott should know that they have another agenda which is hidden, and therefore woe betide anybody who will continue to carry out a campaign and sensitization for this doctrine of boycott,” he said.

Cameroon separatist groups accuse the government of attacking schools and blame the attacks on the separatists – an allegation the government denies. Human Rights Watch says both sides are responsible for attacks on schools.

The United Nations says the separatist crisis that began in Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions in 2016 has deprived some 750,000 children of an education, a majority of them girls. 

It says another 250,000 have been deprived of learning in the north because of the Boko Haram conflict.
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The presidents of Tanzania and Kenya have agreed to fast-track construction of a natural gas pipeline designed to increased trade and lower energy costs for both countries. 

The decision was reached Monday in bilateral talks in Dar es Salaam led by Tanzanian President Samia Hassan and Kenyan President William Ruto, during a two-day visit. 

Last year, Hassan and Kenya’s then-president Uhuru Kenyatta signed an agreement in Nairobi to start working on the gas pipeline project, but actual construction has yet to commence. 

The two countries have generally maintained positive ties in politics and trade, but have occasional trade spats. 

Tanzania imposed a 25% import duty on Kenyan confections in 2020, saying the country used zero-rated industrial sugar imports to produce them. In another dispute, Kenya banned Tanzanian tour vans from accessing the Maasai Mara National Reserve, arguing that Tanzania had banned Kenyan operators from accessing the Serengeti National Park. 

These differences were resolved when Tanzania’s Hassan visited Nairobi last year to meet with Kenyatta. 

There were 68 trade barriers identified between Tanzania and Kenya at the time, Hassan said, and 54 of those non-tariff barriers were resolved. Ministers in the trade and investment sector have been tasked with working to resolve the remaining 14 barriers, Hassan said. 

The projected natural gas pipeline would run for about 600 kilometers between Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. There is no projected completion date. 

 
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In the past two weeks, Kenya has taken advantage of a pilot program by the Africa Continental Free Trade Area which aims to facilitate and increase trade across Africa.

The East African country shipped its first batches of locally made car batteries and tea to Ghana, 21 months after the AfCFTA pact was launched. The countries are among eight taking part in this trial phase. 

Associated Battery Manufacturers Limited in Nairobi exported its first locally made batteries to Ghana a few weeks ago.  

Finance manager Nixon Paloma said the company, which specializes in automotive and solar batteries, had been trading with other East and Southern Africa regional blocs, but this is the first trade with the West African region. 

“As you know, one reason why Africa has not been trading with itself is [due to] logistical problems, tariff problems, non-tariff barriers, as well,” Paloma said. “So, the secretariat has come up with rules and regulations to encourage manufacturers in Africa to trade with other African countries. That’s what we took advantage of.”  

Paloma said that getting preferential tariff rates is one of the main benefits of trading under this pilot phase.  

“For now, for example in Ghana, we are supposed to get 2 percent every year. So, the duty will be lowered at the rate of 2 percent each year until it goes to zero. So, in 10 years’ time, we will be exporting goods to Ghana without any tariffs,” Paloma said.

Ghana’s high commissioner to Kenya, Damptey Bediako Asare, told VOA the trial phase that started in July is a significant step toward implementation of the AfCFTA.  

“Most of the time we have African countries coming out with a lot of flagship programs and projects, but they remain on the shelves because we are waiting for everyone to get ready before we roll it out,” he said. “Some of us believe right from the beginning, ‘Why don’t we put together countries that are ready to start trading under the CFTA so that they form a nucleus family of countries that … are ready to implement the CFTA?’ And I think that’s exactly what happened.”  

Asare highlighted tariff reduction as a direct benefit under the new pan-African deal.  

“We have a lot of African countries that are landlocked,” he said. “So, if you are going to be participating in [the AfCFTA], how are they going to participate in this exercise of trading among ourselves meaningfully? We need to improve infrastructure.” 

Kwame Owino, chief executive officer of the Institute of Economic Affairs, a think-tank based in Kenya, told VOA that rather than a free-trade agreement, it’s important to note that AfCFTA is more of a guided-trade agreement. 

“Because if it was a free-trade agreement, it would be unilateral. Simply say look, provided you are an African country, a member of the AU or having signed this and this treaty, or ratified it, then you should send whatever goods meeting this quality and this classification into a country regardless of any other conditions,” Owino said. 

This first step of allowing AfCFTA countries to trade is a good one, Asare said. He said apart from the economic benefits, nothing comes close to enhancing integration more than when countries start to trade among each other.  

 
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The death toll from a boat accident in Nigeria’s southeastern state of Anambra has risen to 76, the president said on Sunday.

The vessel capsized on Friday amid heavy flooding in the Ogbaru area of Anambra, according to officials on Saturday, when they said at least 10 people had died and 60 were missing.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said that emergency authorities had confirmed the higher death toll.

Authorities are working to rescue or recover any missing passengers, said Buhari, adding that he had directed the relevant agencies to check safety protocols to prevent future accidents.

The head of Anambra State Emergency Management Agency said that 15 people had been rescued as of Saturday night.

Anambra is among 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states to have experienced heavy flooding this year. The waters have washed away homes, crops and roads and affected at least half a million people.

A local resident, Afam Ogene, told Reuters that because flooding had destroyed the major road linking eight communities to the rest of the area, some residents had to travel by boat.

Of the vessel that capsized, he said it was locally made and had the capacity to carry more than 100 people. He added that the boat’s engine had failed and it was overpowered by waves shortly after it launched.
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Local emergency officials in southeastern Nigeria said Saturday that 10 people have died and more than 60 are still missing after a boat carrying passengers capsized. Officials said the locally made boat was carrying 85 people who were on their way to a local market when it developed an engine power problem.

The Anambra state emergency management agency Saturday evening said fifteen people have so far been rescued alive.

Officials say the accident occurred around mid-day Friday in the Ogbaru local government area when the engine of the boat carrying the passengers failed and caused it to crash into a submerged bridge.

Most of the passengers on the boat were market women on their way to work.

Severe flooding had covered the roads in the area, forcing residents to move around with boats.

Paul Nwosu, is the Anambra state Commissioner for Information.

“So, when the engine failed, there was not enough to paddle the canoe to a safe place where they can now begin to troubleshoot over what has happened to the boat, so in the process of panic and how to steer the boat to somewhere where people could be able to help them the boat slipped under a bridge that has already been submerged,” he said.

Anambra state is among many Nigerian states reporting heavy flooding that has lasted for months this year. The waters have been sweeping away homes and farmland, damaging crucial infrastructure and causing deaths.

Nigeria’s national emergency agency said more than 300 people have died from flooding since the beginning of the year.

Authorities say the flooding is caused by an increase in rainfall and the release of water from Lagdo Dam in Cameroon.

In July, 17 bodies were recovered after a boat mishap in Nigeria’s commercial center, Lagos during a heavy downpour.

Authorities also say the huge losses of crops in the flooding could push up food prices in a country where millions are already food insecure.
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