A brawl broke out on the floor of Ghana’s parliament late on Monday as lawmakers debated a proposed tax on electronic transactions that has divided the house for weeks.
The 1.75 per cent e-levy, which would include taxes on mobile money payments, has been fiercely challenged by the opposition since it was first proposed last month and held up the passing of the national budget.
Members of parliament rushed to the front of the chamber after Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu suggested the tax be debated and voted upon under a hastened “urgency” procedure. Some threw punches and grappled while others restrained their colleagues.
A vote on whether to proceed with the urgency procedure was postponed to Jan. 18.
“We need to demonstrate to the country that our democracy is growing, and will not suffer some of these unacceptable sins and spectacles we’ve witnessed on the floor,” minority leader Haruna Iddrisu said on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta argues that the levy would widen the tax net and raise an additional 6.9 billion Ghanaian cedi (1.15 billion dollars) in 2022.
But his proposal was met with boos and jeers in parliament when it was first announced.
Those opposed to the levy say it would disproportionately affect lower-income people and those outside the formal banking system who rely heavily rely on mobile money transfers, reducing overall economic activity.
Ofori-Atta has promised to hold further discussions with stakeholders about the levy.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has returned to work after finishing a week of self-isolation due to testing positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19), his office said on Monday.
Ramaphosa, who was given Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine in February, tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 12 and received treatment for mild symptoms.
“The President has returned to duty and will chair the final cabinet meeting for 2021 on Wednesday,” the presidency said in a statement.
In the past few days, a nationwide outbreak believed to be linked to the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been infecting more than 20,000 people a day, even though the number of new recorded infections dropped below that over the weekend.
A court in Madagascar convicted six people on Friday over a plot to kill President Andry Rajoelina and handed them various sentences up to 20 years in prison with hard labour.
French-Malagasy dual national Paul Rafanoharana, who local media reported was once an adviser to the president, was handed the highest punishment in the trial for conspiring to kill his former boss.
Rajoelina began a second presidential term on the Indian Ocean island in 2019.
Frenchman Philippe François, a former officer in the French military, was jailed for 10 years.
Another 14 people have been acquitted.
A high court judge in the capital Antananarivo said the six, who also included a retired Malagasy army general, were guilty of charges including plotting to overthrow the government and criminal association with a view to threatening the president’s life.
For his contributions to global fight against illegal migration and trafficking in persons which began with his years at the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and later at the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the government of Spain has awarded the immediate past comptroller general of NIS, Muhammad Babandede, with the honour of the Officer of the Civil Merit of Spain (OCMS).
The official decoration at the embassy of Spain in Abuja, attracted representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Ease of Doing Business, Jumoke Oduwole; Chief of Mission for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Nigeria, Frantz Celestin and Director of the Private Sector and Industry at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Tony Elumelu, among many others.
Presented on behalf of the King of Spain, Felipe Juan Pablo, the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Marcelino Ansorena, said Babandede is the first Nigerian in many years to be bestowed with such an honour.
He said apart from recognising the quality, competence and contributions of a Nigerian to national and international security and protection of the rights of the vulnerable, the honour also serves as a symbol of strength for the ties between Nigeria and Spain.
The ambassador, who noted he has worked closely with the honoree within the last four years of his stay in Nigeria, said: “This is in recognition of the excellent work of a man who has devoted his life to the progress of his country and as well his relationship with other countries.
“His work has been very important to the international community. This award is meant for people who have done extraordinary works for their countries and in their relationship with Spain.
“This is called the Order of Civil Merit, and so it is a civil recognition done by His majesty, the King of Spain. It is given to few people who really deserve it, and I must confess that Mr Babandede really deserves it as a distinguished Nigerian to wear the honour of this order of merit.”
Mr Ansorena said apart from him making the recommendation to the King of Spain after many criteria must have been met, it was still the responsibility of the authorities of the nominee’s country to approve the proposal.
“In the selection process, the ambassador has something to do. I proposed it and recommended it to the King of Spain and after much consideration and consultations with the authorities in Nigeria, this was granted. This is because of the work we have done together and the issues we have worked on together are very important because they form Spain’s priorities.
“So the honouree is recommended based on our works to fight against trafficking and smuggling of most vulnerable persons and especially women.
“He has worked also to stimulate legal migration, integrate societies and to fight illegal migration. We have worked very closely and he has summed it up with his very kind manners and as a gentleman he now has a new objective of working with children. So we will continue our relationships and our work together.”
He said by the honour, Babandede has become a civil official of the country and that he will be accorded such privileges enjoyed by other honorees in such a category globally, noting that “he has right to be treated as an official of the order of merit, but he also has obligations to remain a good official of the order.”
Babandede, who is a holder of the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (MFR), said he was proud to be recognised at home and abroad.
He thanked the President for approving his recognition, saying the process that led to the decoration took almost a year.
He said: “I am glad today to be bestowed this honour. I may be the first to be so honoured and this speaks a lot about my personality and greatness of this country. The good job that we have done under this administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been recognised by another country.
“I think we should be proud, and I thank Mr President for approving it. This is because when this honour was proposed, the process took almost one year. It was submitted to the government of Nigeria for comment and President Buhari gladly approved it.
“So I really thank Mr President for giving me the privilege to serve and for approving this honour for me. As a holder of MFR and now I have a similar honour bestowed on me by the King of Spain which means that I belong to the special club which Spain recognises and which is accepted globally.”
The honouree, who said he joined his last child to support Real Madrid football club of Spain, noted that apart from presenting the good sides of Nigeria to the world, the two countries could develop partnerships in the areas of soccer, among other business innovations.
“With this kind of honour I think we can bring on board good business relationships between the two countries, respect for human rights among us, and also since Nigerians enjoy football and are great fans of La Liga league, we should see what more we can benefit from that,” he added.
In his company were his wife, Gadatu Babandede; son, Shamsudeen Babandede, and selected friends and aides.
Onyeama, who was represented by a counsellor in his office, Miriam Udeozo, said he was not surprised with the honour bestowed on the “distinguished Nigerian,” saying his tenure as the comptroller general of the NIS witnessed a lot of transformations and innovations.
He said; “I am not surprised that the government, people and the embassy of Spain deemed it very necessary to extend this distinguished award for services well rendered on this illustrious Nigerian citizen, who really distinguished himself at the helm of affairs of the Nigeria Immigration Service.
“He brought about lots of transformations to ways and manners in which government businesses were conducted within the Service, which led to robust and efficient service delivery to the people in line with Federal Government policies.
“His good nature, charisma and kind heart have endeared him to so many, among which are the Government and people of Spain, who today have chosen him to be honoured with this great award.”
The President’s Special Adviser on Ease of Doing Business, Mrs Oduwole, also commended the embassy for finding the honouree worthy, saying Nigeria is not only hospitable but a destination for global investors.
The operator of Ghana’s main international airport will fine airlines 3,500 dollars for every passenger they bring in that is not vaccinated against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) or that tests positive for the coronavirus on arrival, it said on Monday.
The rules, announced by Ghana Airports, follow others introduced last week by the health ministry that require all people entering Ghana to be vaccinated.
They come into effect for the Kotoka International Airport in the capital Accra on Tuesday.
The requirements are some of the strictest in Africa where vaccine uptake has been slow due to lack of supply and logistical challenges, and come as the new Omicron variant raises concerns about quicker transmission of the virus.
Ghana, one of West Africa’s largest economies that runs on exports of cocoa, gold, and oil, has so far vaccinated a little over 5 per cent of its population of 30 million, data compiled by Reuters showed.
Its health service has recorded 131,412 infections and 1,239 deaths from COVID-19, according to the data.
Over the last two weeks, COVID-19 cases recorded at Kotoka airport accounted for about 60 per cent of total infections in the country, the health service said on Friday.
Laboratory research has suggested that the Omicron variant can partially escape antibody immunity induced by the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
The research, led by Prof. Alex Sigal from the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa, has been submitted to medRxiv, a preprint server for health sciences.
The research confirms predictions that a large number of mutations in the spike protein and elsewhere on the Omicron variant would translate into some evasion of the immune response induced by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Sigal said on Twitter, Tuesday that his lab tested blood from 12 people who had been vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and found that there was a 41-fold decrease in the ability of antibodies from the vaccine to neutralise the Omicron variant.
Peace and security in Africa took centre stage at this year’s Dakar International Forum.
The two-day event, held in Senegal from December 6 to 7, had in attendance prominent African leaders, senior officials, civilians, military experts, journalists and other delegates around the world.
This year’s event was centred on the challenges of Africa’s stability and emergence in a post-COVID world.
Since 2014, the Dakar Forum has continued to diagnose security challenges in Africa in order to contribute to the search for solutions to the ills affecting it.
The forum focuses on peace and security, with this year’s edition buttressing the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on peace and security and post-COVID recovery.
Senegal’s President Macky Sall opened this year’s forum, welcoming his colleagues from other countries including Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), Mohamed Bazoum (Niger) and Umaro Sissoco Embalo (Guinea Bissau).
Others, including the President of the European Council Mr Charles Michel, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat and the Minister of the Armed Forces of the French Republic, Florence Parley, all spoke on their continued commitment to peace and security in Africa.
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, chaired the plenary where discussions centred on post-COVID-19 phase, security and development, public health challenges, cyber security and the African continent.
Sall, on how COVID-19 pandemic had a severe blow on Africa’s economic growth, said: “The drastic drop in revenue and the unexpected increase in spending on health and socio-economic resilience have aggravated the budget deficit, while our countries do not have monetary and financial instruments to mitigate the impact of the crisis, as do the central banks of developed countries.
Senegal’s President Macky Sall
“This is compounded by the slowdown in external financial inflows, including foreign direct investment and remittances from the diaspora.
“As an illustration of the impact of the crisis, for the first time in its history, a country like Senegal has found itself transferring funds in the opposite direction, in support of our diaspora as part of our economic and social resilience plan.”
He noted that internal efforts must be made to mobilise resources and rethink global economic governance to favour the conditions for financing Africa’s emergence while he reiterated his support for South Africa at this trying times of Omicron.
Speaking on Security in Africa, Sall said: “Sahelian states must set up a military strategy adapted to the challenges of security, consisting of the use of techniques and means to make war the least asymmetric possible.
“On the subject of intelligence, the major mistake of the partners is their weak involvement in the fight against arms trafficking from Libya, which is the most important parameter in the prevalence of this terrorism.
“The Sahelian countries need exceptional financial resources, access to which requires a derogation from the traditional financing rules established by the international financial institutions, without which their actions will always be very inadequate.”
Sall further listed six focus areas of reform including relaxing OECD rules for export credit loans, and lengthening maturity dates for financing development infrastructure projects.
Others are correcting the rules for assessing investment risk in Africa since the perception of risk is still higher than the actual risk, which increases insurance premiums and reduces the competitiveness of our economies.
He called for the promotion of blended financing, combining concessional and commercial financing; ensuring a fair and equitable energy transition, according to the principle of common but differentiated responsibility.
The Senegalese president also spoke on the need to improve the rules of the international tax system so that taxes are paid where the wealth is created, i.e. in the country where a company operates and makes its profits.
Ramaphosa believes greed makes nations with more than enough to be stingy with vaccines.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa
He said: “They have said Omicron started from South Africa and so, our people can’t travel around the world, but today the same Omicron is all over their countries.”
He applauded the way four West African presidents accepted his visit amid Omicron.
“After Omicron was announced, I was due to travel to West Africa and in travelling in the wake of Omicron, I received calls from the four presidents of countries I was going to travel to: Senegal’s President Macky Sall, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and Cote d’Ivoire President Alessandro Ouattara.
“They said: ‘we’ve heard about this Omicron, are you still coming? We want you to come, what can we do to help?’”
He said upon hearing this, he reassured the four presidents he was coming and travelled to these countries with plenty of delegates and journalists without segregation, unlike his European counterparts who immediately banned South Africans from travelling into their countries after the news of Omicron broke.
On the issue of access to vaccines, he said a proposal has been made by the South African government, which is supported by over a hundred countries that will enable Africa to produce its vaccines using the youths as manpower.
Onyeama told journalists after the first day of the forum that the travel ban over Omicron will not work.
Nigeria’s minister of Foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama
He said: “Travel bans will not work because some countries putting up these bans already have the Omicron variant in their countries and it doesn’t make a difference.
“The United Kingdom said the increasing number they got was what drove their decision on the travel ban on Nigerians.”
He said efforts are being made by the Nigerian government to get the country out of the United Kingdom’s red list.
“They have told us that they are very keen to remove Nigeria as quickly as possible from the red list and we are going to continue to work with them and encourage them to do that.”
On vaccine production, he said: “Having spoken to our medical people, Nigeria has the basic architecture in place to produce her own vaccine.”
When the minister was asked what Nigeria was doing to tackle the security challenges in the ECOWAS sub-region, he said: “In addressing the security challenges in the sub-region, Nigeria cannot do it alone and clearly it has to be something that is done within the sub-region as a group.
“Ecowas recently set up a peace and security fund where a sum of $1 billion will be raised, because too much reliance is placed on ECOWAS foreign partners as ECOWAS should be a lot more self-sufficient within our sub-region so as to address the security challenges we are facing in the Sub-region.”
Onyeama noted that Nigeria was the first country to contribute to the fund because it believes so much in the ECOWAS force and the idea of collective security, not neglecting the participation and activeness of Nigeria in a number of ECOWAS member states over the years in the area of security.
One of Nigeria’s delegates, Major General Usman Abdulmumuni Yusuf, the Director of Policy at Nigeria Defence Headquarters, while speaking with journalists on the issue of the prolonged battle with Boko Haram, said the Armed Forces of Nigeria were doing so much to contain insurgency.
He lauded their efforts so far, stating that the dynamics keep changing because of the ability of the insurgents to recruit from outside the borders and with different sources of financing which has kept them afloat.
Yusuf noted that Federal Government was doing a lot to curb the major financial sources of the terrorist groups, while the Armed Forces in collaboration with other security agencies are working along the borders to mitigate against the importation of other fighters from other countries into Nigeria.
A Kenyan police officer shot dead six people in a rampage in a neighbourhood in the capital Nairobi on Tuesday and then shot and killed himself, police said.
The officer first shot and killed his wife at their home before setting off with his service-issued AK-47 rifle to shoot dead another four people, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said on Twitter.
It described the shooter as a “rogue officer”.
Francis Wahome, the officer in charge of Nairobi’s Dagoretti area, said another two people had been wounded in the incident.
He declined to comment on what prompted the shooting.
“The investigations are a secret. We cannot divulge, as it involves many things,” he told reporters.
“Until now, we never had any concerns about the officer’s behaviour.
“He had been going for duty properly, and had never been involved in an incident like this,” he added.
Three of the men who were killed were mourners who had just attended preparations for a funeral, the DCI said.
Dagoretti resident Lameck Alaka said that before the shooting started, a car he believed belonged to the police drove past them and stopped for about 20 minutes.
“Then he got out, and we saw it was Mr Ben.
He came out with an AK-47, cocked it and started firing at us where we were with the boda boda (motorcycle) riders,” he said, referring to the officer by his first name.
Alaka said later other motorcycle riders came running to him saying the officer had killed two other men.
“They said the shooter wasn’t speaking; he was just shooting, and we know it is a police officer,” he said.
Angry residents near where the incident took place later set fire to tyres on a road in a protest against the violence, a Reuters journalist said.
A police officer in Nairobi allegedly killed six people, including his wife, before finally turning the gun on himself early on Tuesday.
According to police, security forces became aware something was amiss after a loud noise was heard in the officer’s apartment followed by the sound of gunfire.
Armed with an AK-47, the man is believed to have first shot his wife before randomly targeting passersby in his neighbourhood in the Kenyan capital.
Senegalese Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall on Monday asked China to support Sahel countries in their fight against terrorism during a meeting with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Dakar.
Tall Sall, during the meeting broadcast on the internet, said “as part of our cooperation in the Sahel, we would like the voice of China, given its influence, to be a strong voice of support for Senegal.
“Also to all other countries involved in the fight against the problem of insecurity in the Sahel so that our forces will have more legal means to battle terrorists and irredentism with.’’
The Senegalese foreign minister said China is already investing in other areas such as agriculture, health care, culture, infrastructure, sports and a number of other sectors of Senegal’s economy.
The minister expressed the hope that the bilateral cooperation would benefit peoples of both countries.
The Sahel region has been struggling to battle terrorism for years. In 2014, France launched Operation Barkhane to help the regional countries.
In June 2021, however, French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to discontinue it by the first quarter of 2022, explaining that a broader international effort to help the region fight terrorism would be made instead.
