Category: Inside Africa

By Robert Egbe

Oil industry experts from across the world, including Nigeria, have launched the African Local Content Fund Initiative (ALCFI) in Luanda, the capital of Angola.

The occasion was the 2021 Forum of African Finance, Economy and Compliance (FAFEC), chaired by a Nigerian, Wofai Samuel, who is the Director of Communication & External Affairs at the United Kingdom-Liberia Chamber of Commerce (UKLCC).

The African Local Content Fund Initiative launch was led by a consortium of advisors and driven by Energy Contracts Specialist from the UK, Arvy Nahar and Managing Partner, SENCORPO Lda- Emanuel Leopoldo.

FAFEC 2021 was the third in the series of what has become the premier platform for financial solutions to elevate the development of Angola’s mineral resources and hydrocarbons.

The finance and petroleum event with the theme, ‘Knowing the problems, presenting the solutions’’, featured experts, business leaders, and other stakeholders from 10 countries.

It held physically in Angola and virtually, on Monday, March 15 to Friday, March 19, 2021, at the Talatona Convention Centre, Luanda.

Angola’s Minister of Justice, Friday Francisco Manuel Monteiro de Queiroz, expressed hope that ALCFI would provide solutions for sustainable legacy on the management of revenues from oil and gas production in Africa, knowing that Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria.

Participants were from countries including the UK, Angola, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Libya.

The event provided the global community an opportunity to analyse the best formula to trust and invest in businesses, human capital and Africa’s oil/energy resources.

Apart from Wofai, Monteiro de Queiroz, and Nahar, the roll call of speakers also included:
Executive Chairman – The Corporate Group United Arab Emirates – Adel Al Awadhi; President, LCF & Associates – Angola, Lourdes Caposso Fernandes; Co-Founder – M Aerospace Mexico – Juan Carlos Munguia; Employment Creation and Social Lead – MPAMOT South Africa – Thea Weeks; Auditing Strategic Controller – ATECH Dubai – Roberto Francisco and CEO – New DiScoveryBS South Africa – Ndzavi Derrick

Others were the Managing Director – Western Bell Oil & Gas Nigeria – Aham Ndubuisi; CEO – Solar Taxi Ghana – Jorge Appiah; Director – Institution of African Natural Resources South Africa – Thoba Karl-Halla; Secretary-General, Angola India Chamber of Commerce – Caetano Capitao and Managing Director of Angola Integrated Services – Emanuel Bo Dontoni.

Also present were, President – Association of Contracting Companies of the Oil Industry of Angola – Braulio Brito; Managing Director – Cimel Oilfield Services – Marcia Pita and Founder – Inga Rose Angola – Berta Issa and Reverend Adilson De Almeida.

By Dayo Mustapha with agency reports

Ghana was initially known as the Gold Coast and changed to Ghana after independence in 1957.

The West African country has 13 Presidents from 1957 to 2021.

Here are a few facts or profile of those who have ruled the land of Gold:

1. Dr Kwame Nkrumah

Nkrumah was a politician and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An influential advocate of Pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1962.

He took office on July 1, 1960 and was deposed from office on February 26, 1966, by the National Liberation Council, which forced him to live the rest of his life in Guinea, of which he was named honorary co-president.

He was born on 21 September 1909 and his death was announced in April 1972. He died of prostate cancer at 62 while in Romania.

2. General Joseph Ankrah

Joseph Arthur Ankrah was a General army and served as chief of staff before taken over from Kwame Nkrumah.

He served as the second president of Ghana from 1966 to 1969.

At the age of 43, he was untimely executed together with two other former heads of state- Acheampong and Akuffo.

3. Edward Akufo-Addo

Akufo-Addo was a politician and lawyer and also one of the founding fathers of Ghana who engaged in the fight for Ghana’s independence.

Akufo-Addo was born on 26th of June 1906 at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region.

Akufo-Addo was 3rd Chief Justice of Ghana between 1966 to 1970.

He became President from 1970 to 1972.

He was the father of the current Ghanaian head of state, Nana Addo Akufo-Addo.

4. Nii Amaa Ollennu

Raphael Nii Amaa Ollennu was born in Labadi, Accra in 1906 and belonged to the Ga people.

He was a jurist and judge who became a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 1962 to 1966, the acting President of Ghana during the Second Republic from 7 August 1970 to 31 August 1970 and the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana from 1969 to 1972.

On September 1, 1962 to 1966, he was appointed by Kwame Nkrumah as justice of the supreme court of Ghana.

Nii Amaa Ollennu died in December 1986.

5. Jerry John Rawlings

Jerry Rawlings was the 1st President of the 4th Republic

He was born 22nd of June 1947.

Rawlings was a military officer and politician. He was elected two terms as the democratically elected President of Ghana between 1993 to 2001.

He died in November 2020 at 73 and was accorded a state funeral.

6. John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor

Kufuor is a politician who served as the President from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. He was also Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008.

Kufor’s victory marked the first peaceful democratic transition of power in Ghana since the country’s independence in 1957.

7. John Atta Mills

He was a politician and legal scholar who served as President from 2009 until his death in 2012.

He was previously the Vice-President from 1997 to 2001 under President Jerry Rawlings and he contested unsuccessfully in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections as the candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He was the first Ghanaian President to die in office.

Mills was born on July 21, 1944 in Tarkwa, in the Western Region of Ghana.

8. John Dramani Maham

John Dramani Mahama was born November 29, 1958.

He is a politician who served as President from 24 July 2012 to 7 January 2017.

He has been in office since 7 January 2017.

He became Ghana’s first president to have served at all levels of political office (Ghanaian and Pan-African MP, Deputy Minister, Minister, Vice-President and President).

Mahama is the first vice president to take over the presidency from the death of his predecessor, John Atta Mills.

9. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a Ghanaian politician who is the current President.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was born in Swalaba Accra, Ghana.

Akufo-Addo previously served as Attorney General from 2001 to 2003 and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2007 under the Kufuor-led administration.

He is also serving his second term as the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

By Timothy Longman

It was hoped that elections in the Central African Republic (CAR) would consolidate the country’s democracy. Instead, the 27 December 2020 vote led to a return of open conflict. Since the poll, in which President Faustin-Archange Touadéra officially secured a second term with 53%, fighting has forced over 107,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries and led to an estimated 100,000 internally displaced people.

More and more foreign mercenaries are infiltrating into the CAR to build up tension, escalate violence, do subversive activities and unleash hostilities on the ground.

On February 21, the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), a rebel group, published a communiqué in which it called on its forces to return all cities that had been liberated by FACA. The organization announced the end of free movement (even for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)) in the coalition’s territory without permission.

The CPC announced that it had declared war on the country’s government and the rebels’ goal was Bangui to topple President Faustin-Archange Touadera. Thanks to FACA, trained by Russian instructors and Rwandan allies, the advance of CPC mercenaries has been stopped and they are suffering losses.

President Touadera made it clear that it would be in the interests of its people to bring the war to a victorious end. All groups will be destroyed, and their leaders will be brought to justice. This resonates with the country’s population, which is confirmed by regular pro-Touadera demonstrations of thousands of residents.

African countries should support the actions of the legally elected government due to the fact that the president has proved that the people’s interests are at the forefront of his mind.

The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) seeks to interfere in the internal affairs of the CAR. Experts agree that this because it promotes the interests that are inconsistent with those of the CAR. Many countries in the region benefit from the continued instability in the country, since this ensures that militants, crimes and weapons are concentrated in the CAR. This reduces tensions in other countries.

The ECCAS chaired by Angolan Gilberto Da Piedade Verissimo is a tool for pursuing Angola’s political interests. In order to divert its population’s attention from internal problems, the government of Angola intervenes in the situation in the CAR, acting on the side of criminals and terrorists.

Both the international community and the regional countries must pressurize Angola into stopping its activities aimed at destabilizing Central Africa. In fact, it may also be involved in illegal arms shipments to the CAR.

The current situation can cast France in a negative light. It is not a secret that France sold arms to Angola in the 1990s. Angola’s active participation in the conflict in the CAR resembles the implementation of Paris’s certain political and military plans in Africa. For France, this is not a very noble position. Paris needs to distance itself from this situation.

Longman is an American Political Scientist

 

By Dayo Mustapha

Hopes were high that going to polls in the Central African Republic (CAR) would contribute to democratic consolidation in the country. However, the 27 December elections brought renewed tensions to the CAR.

Since President Faustin-Archange Touadéra officially secured a second term with 53%, fighting has forced over 107,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries and led to an estimated 100,000 internally displaced people.

More and more foreign mercenaries are infiltrating into the CAR to build up tension, escalate violence, engage in subversive activities and unleash hostilities on the ground.

On February 21, the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), a rebel group, published a communiqué in which it called on its forces to return all cities that had been liberated by FACA. The organization announced the end of free movement (even for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)) in the coalition’s territory without permission.

The CPC announced that it had declared war on the country’s government and the rebels’ goal was to capture Bangui to topple President Faustin-Archange Touadera. Thanks to FACA, trained by Russian instructors and Rwandan allies, the advance of CPC mercenaries has been stopped and they are suffering losses.

The involvement of the Russian military has played a key role in pushing the foreign fighters and terrorists back. Military experts note that Russian instructors and military specialists, who have been long cooperating with the CAR, have trained the local army well enough to cope with such terrorist attacks and maintain order in the country.

It is Wagner, Russia’s private military contractor, that has played a decisive role in the fight against the militants in the CAR. Constant participation in military conflicts throughout Africa has allowed the organization to achieve a high level of performance. Engaging Wagner as a military contractor to counter the militants, in particular, in Nigeria – this was discussed by the media in February – can be an extremely effective and useful solution to the conflict.

Against this background, international experts emphasize the weak position of international organizations, namely their inaction and ineffectiveness in dealing with the crisis.

Valery Zakharov, security adviser to President Touadera, urged the rebels engaged in the offensive against the CAR’s leader to hand over their leaders. “Political-military groups have crossed the ‘red line’, have abandoned the agreements signed in Khartoum and can no longer be part of the political process. The leaders of these factions should now be outlawed. FACA has successfully attacked them in several directions, and they have retreated from their positions… In the near future, the Government will control the entire territory of the CAR and peace will return to the regions “, he said. As he added, “I appeal to the members of the groups – the only way out for you is to handcuff your leaders and hand them over to law enforcement agencies. Peace will come to the Central African Republic and development will begin. The citizens of this beautiful country deserve this”.

The escalation of violence has led to a dire humanitarian situation in the mineral-rich country. At least 2.8 million people, more than half of the country’s population, need aid and protection, according to the United Nations.

By Robert Egbe

The UK-Liberia Chamber of Commerce (UKLCC) has appointed a Nigerian, Wofai Samuel, as its Director of Communication & External Affairs.

The UKLCC is the foremost bilateral Chamber in London positioned to promote Trade and Investment between the United Kingdom and Liberia.

Affiliated to the British Chambers of commerce (BCC) which gives them access to a network of 52 chambers of commerce across the UK and the commonwealth, The UK- Liberia Chamber of Commerce was founded to support Liberia and UK-based businesses access and deliver high-value trade and investment opportunities.

The ethos is to provide tailored support promoting bilateral trade between the UK and Liberia

In Wofai Samuel’s role as Director of Communication & External Affairs – UKLCC, She will lead the chamber’s integrated approach for media communication, Government and Private sector advocacy strategy.

She is responsible for creating collaborations with key government Officials, Businesses, Diplomats across the broader chamber network and British Chamber of Commerce.

As Director Communication & External Affairs, She has little power over matters of policy – the role is primarily advisory and managerial in nature.

Recently profiled by Forbes Africa, her competence and leadership skills are arguably a reference point for African Women.

Her extensive multifaceted International exposure over the years, proven track record of diplomatically leading high profiled policy dialogues for Africa and the Globe, Her acute interpersonal & negotiating skills having previously served in senior positions with International Organizations, presents her a great fit for the position.

She will be spending her time between London and West Africa.