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Tag: Special Reports

Africa World 

Covid-19 aid falling short in Africa

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , 0 comment

– – The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for African governments to strengthen social protection systems and fulfill people’s rights to social security and an adequate standard of living, Human Rights Watch said today. Many African governments introduced measures like cash transfers and food assistance in response to the rising poverty and hunger occasioned by the pandemic, but most households received no support. The World Bank forecasts that the Covid-19 crisis will have pushed an additional 29 million Africans into extreme poverty by the end of 2021. “The Covid-19 crisis has wreaked…

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Africa Featured Ghana West Africa World 

Meet Ghana’s first female General of the Armed Forces

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , , , , 0 comment

– – Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu has been appointed a General in Ghana’s Armed Forces (GAF). That makes her the first female to occupy that position after recently also becoming the first female to be appointed Brigadier General. Edjeani-Afenu first joined the Armed Forces in 1978 at the age of 18 years. But she was commissioned into the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) on 25 April 1980. In 2017 when she was appointed Brigadier General, she told the state-owned news paper, Daily Graphic that “The welcome to the Military Academy was…

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Africa East Africa World 

Innovation in the remote learning methods of Kenyan schools

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , , 0 comment

– – During March last year, schools across Kenya had to close due to COVID-19. Because of this, roughly 10 million primary school children have had to rely on alternative learning methods to continue their education. While other countries quickly transitioned to online learning methods, adjusting to remote learning proved trickier in Kenya where Internet penetration is just 40%, according to Data Reportal. However, this hasn’t dampened Kenyans’ dedication to pursuing education, as state and private organisations instead offered innovative remote learning solutions. Organisations turn to alternative means of digital penetration…

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Africa Ghana West Africa World 

The ‘miracle baby’ living without a nose in Ghana

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , , , , ,

– – A baby –born without a nose who has lived for a year and eight months has shocked many in Ghana. Ramatu Musa’s condition called Congenital Arhinia is a rare condition and just one of some hundred cases recorded in the world. Doctors at the Mother and Baby Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana where the baby was born reportedly had little hope she would live on after her birth. Dr. Gyikua Plange Rhule, Consultant Pediatrician with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital pointed out that Surgeons…

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Africa Featured West Africa World 

Colonel Mamady Doumbouya is Guinea’s coup leader

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , , , ,

– – It has now emerged that Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, commander of the country’s special forces led Sunday’s military takeover in Guinea. He has since appeared in a video circulated to local media and across social media confirming the arrest of President Alpha Conde. Doumbouya said the President is unharmed and announced that the government has been dissolved and the constitution suspended. Doumbouya’s men surrounded the Presidential palace on Sunday morning engaging in a gun battle with Conde’s security details. There are reports of at least three soldiers dying amid…

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Africa Featured Gambia West Africa World 

Gambia rejects its own citizens deported from Germany

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , , , , , ,

– – Gambia’s government has refused to accept its own citizens deported from Germany. Over 2,000 Gambians who migrated to European countries such as Germany have overstayed their asylum visas. They are now expected to be repatriated to their country but the Gambian government is refusing to let them in. The first batch of Gambian migrants who have exhausted their asylum appeals was to arrive in Gambia’s capital, Banjul on September 1. But a Gambian official from Foreign Ministry told reporters that the government will not take in the deportees. –…

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Africa Senegal West Africa World 

Akon’s $6bln futuristic city in Senegal under scrutiny after delays

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , , ,

– – US hip hop star Akon has come under scrutiny after his promised futuristic city worth $6 billion to be built in his native Senegal is yet to start. A year ago he laid the first stone, with hopes of the project materializing in the coming years but people are beginning to have doubts how soon the megaproject will take shape. In 2018, Akon said he’s planning to build a “crypto city” in Senegal which he calls “a real-life Wakanda”. Just like the fictional land of Wakanda in Marvel’s Black Panther,…

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Africa Featured Senegal West Africa World 

Ex-Chadian leader Hissène Habré dies serving jail term

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , , , ,

Senegalese media reported that the former Chadian leader was being treated for a coronavirus infection. Senegalese Justice Minister Malick Sall said Tuesday that “Habré has been handed over to his Lord.” The former Chad leader has been serving his life prison term in Senegal prison for crimes against humanity after his conviction in 2016. He was convicted of rape, sexual slavery and ordering killings during his rule from 1982 to 1990. – – Habre’s conviction was the first time an African Union-backed court tried a former ruler for human rights abuses.…

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Africa Featured Ghana Human Rights West Africa World 

UN Human Rights Council criticizes Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ bill

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , , , , , ,

– – The United Nations Human Rights council has criticized Ghana’s attempt to introduce tougher laws against LGBTQ+ persons and their activities in the country. Ghana’s lawmakers have laid in parliament a new draft bill titled “The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021″. It is being sponsored by some individual lawmakers who are anti-LGBTQ+ activists. According to details of the bill, anyone of the same sex that engages in sexual intercourse are “liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than seven…

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Africa Southern Africa World Zambia 

Zambia: Concerns raised over unfair playing field ahead of August 12 poll

Elwin Mandowa, , , , , , ,

– – Some Zambian opposition parties and other electoral stakeholders have expressed concern over President, Edgar Lungu’s alleged flouting of the COVID 19-induced ban on election campaigns, using his visits to developmental projects and other work, as an excuse, ahead of the country’s general election, scheduled for 12 August, this year. Lungu announced in May, a ban on all campaign rallies, as part of the country’s measures to curb the spread of COVID 19, following a rise in cases and deaths, brought about by the third wave of the pandemic.…

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