Africa news roundup
Ghana
Freight forwarders and customs agents protest
The Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, customs agents, and other concerned stakeholders staged a protest in Tema, Greater Accra Region, to voice their frustrations over what they describe as excessive and exploitative charges at the ports. The protesting groups argue that these charges are making business operations increasingly difficult. After marching to various shipping lines to deliver their petitions, the protesters also submitted copies to the Ministries of Transport and Trade and Industry.
Some freight forwarders expressed strong dissatisfaction with the current port operations, stating that the high fees are pushing importers to explore alternative options. “We are protesting because the shipping lines are cheating us; they are killing our work. Most of our importers are now using the Togo port because of the charges we are facing here”, one freight forwarder said. Another freight forwarder, Bismark Ocansey, recounted a recent incident in which a malfunctioning APS scanner delayed the processing of his containers, resulting in a demurrage charge of approximately GH¢10,000, although the delay was not his fault. “It is high time we let the shipping lines know they are cheating us”, Ocansey, who was frustrated by the additional costs, stated. He added that he had gone to great lengths to explain the situation to his importer,.
Nigeria
N89.5tn spent electronically in July – NIBSS
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) has disclosed that Nigerians spent a total of N89.50tn through electronic channels in July 2024, marking the highest monthly transaction value ever recorded on the NIBSS Instant Payment platform. This figure represents an 89 per cent year-on-year increase when compared to N47.39tn recorded in the same period last year. According to the latest figures from NIBSS, the July record has pushed the total value of electronic transactions in Nigeria from January to July 2024 to N566.3tn, nearing the N600tn recorded for the full year of 2023, with five months still left to account for.
The Nigeria instant payment (NIP), launched in 2011 by NIBSS, is an online real-time inter-bank payment platform that enables instant value transfers. Nigerian banks have since made the NIP platform accessible to customers through various channels such as internet banking, mobile apps, USSD, ATMs, POS, and bank branches. NIBSS also reported that the volume of NIP transactions in July 2024 surged to 907 million, a 22 per cent increase from the 743 million recorded in July 2023. The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System said cashless transactions in Nigeria increased to N611.06trn in 2023.
Kenya
Ruto visits Haiti
President William Ruto landed in Port-au-Prince to assess strides made by a Kenya-led security mission three months after the first Kenya contingents arrived in Haiti as part of a UN-backed, multinational mission aimed at tackling a surge in gang violence. A spokesperson for Ruto said the Kenyan leader would “visit and commend the Kenyan contingent working alongside their Haitian counterparts”. The President also planned to meet with Haiti’s transitional presidential council and other officials. Ruto’s visit comes a day after a United Nations expert warned that Haiti faced deepening violence and insecurity. Haiti has reeled from years of violence as armed gangs try to struggle for influence and control of territory.
Despite the presence of Kenyan and other foreign police officers in the country, insecurity remains rampant, with armed groups believed to still control about 80 per cent of Port-au-Prince. According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 578,000 Haitians had been internally displaced, largely due to the violence. The UN-backed mission, formally known as the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), had so far deployed less than a quarter of its planned force. The mission’s mandate expires early next month. It remains unclear what will happen when the UN-backed mission’s mandate expires in early October.
South Africa
Ramaphosa calls for reforms
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for UN reforms. Making a speech before the General Assembly, President Ramaphosa said the Security Council is “clearly no longer fit” to address contemporary challenges. “Placing the fate of the world’s security in the hands of a select few when it is the vast majority who bear the brunt of these threats is unjust, unfair and unsustainable”. He made these comments at the UN’s Summit of the Future in New York. Highlighting ongoing wars, conflicts, and climate change, he stressed that the Security Council’s structure “does not represent all countries” and fails to consider diverse viewpoints.
Ramaphosa described the Pact for the Future, adopted by the General Assembly, as a chance to “reinvigorate the multilateral system” and fulfill promises to reform global governance, including the Security Council and international financial institutions. He also urged support for Africa’s developmental agenda, known as Agenda 2063. He emphasized that the pact “must involve strengthening multilateral action for sustained peace.” “We must pursue the attainment of just and sustainable peace based on international law,” said Ramaphosa, whose government took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for genocide over Tel Aviv’s indiscriminate offensive on the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza since October 7 last year.
Sierra Leone
Unauthorised plane landing in Freetown
An unauthorized landing of an unidentified aircraft at Freetown International Airport has caused a stir across Sierra Leone. The plane, is reported to have flown from Liberia, allegedly en route to Mexico, before it landed in Freetown without the necessary clearance and was found to be using a fake registration number. While the Sierra Leone Government has issued statements claiming no suspicious items were found on board, many Sierra Leoneans remain skeptical about the credibility of the claims. The Ministry of Information and Civic Education’s official statement on the incident sought to reassure the public that everything was under control. According to the Ministry, four individuals were apprehended on the plane, three Mexicans and one Spanish national.
A joint investigation was launched involving the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority (SLCAA), security forces, and the Office of National Security (ONS). However, the details released to the public leave more questions than answers. Initial investigations revealed that the aircraft had not departed from any officially recognized airfield in Liberia and had failed to contact air traffic control in Sierra Leone before landing in Freetown. Despite this glaring violation of international aviation protocols, the authorities have downplayed the severity of the incident. The involvement of three Mexican nationals immediately set off red flags, given Mexico’s notorious reputation as a drug trafficking hub.
Liberia
In a move aimed at improving the transparency and accountability of the public payroll system, the Government of Liberia (GoL), through the Civil Service Agency (CSA), has officially shut down its mobile money payroll platform. The move follows the discovery of several questionable transactions casting doubt on the integrity of the system. In a pressersigned by the CSA Director General, Josiah F. Joekai, Jr., he instructed all heads of government spending entities to inform their employees of the immediate transition to bank-based salary payments. “We can no longer vouch for the integrity and credibility of the mobile money payroll platform”, said Joekai in a statement to government officials. “The multiple unexplained transactions uncovered have forced us to make this necessary and urgent decision to protect the salaries of civil servants and ensure greater accountability”, he added.
The CSA explained that effective November 2024, all salary payments for government employees would be deposited directly into commercial bank accounts, marking the end of the mobile money payroll system. “This shift is not just about closing one chapter but opening a more secure one,” Joekai emphasized. “We want to restore trust in the payroll process and ensure that every civil servant is paid transparently and accurately. This is a critical step toward achieving that goal”. While the transition to the bank-based system is expected to take time, the CSA is confident that it will address the underlying issues of transparency and fraud that had plagued the mobile money payroll system. Government employees are urged to act quickly to avoid delays in their salary payments come November 2024.
Eswatini
Opposition leader poisoned
Eswatini’s main opposition leader, Mlungisi Makhanya, has been poisoned in an assassination attempt. Makhanya is currently being treated in hospital. Mlungisi Makhanya, 46, has been living in exile in South Africa for the past two years, saying he fears for his life at home following a violent crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Eswatini. According to the People’s United Democratic Movement, Makhanya has been stabilized but remains in a critical condition. Eswatini spokesman, Alpheous Nxumalo, has denied state involvement, saying the “government does not kill or poison suspects”. Makhanya’s party says the attempt on its leader’s life comes ahead of planned protests next month calling for multi-party elections.
The country, formerly known as Swaziland, allows independent candidates to stand for Parliament but does not allow political parties to participate. King Mswati III has been on the throne since 1986 and has been criticized for his extravagant lifestyle. Makhanya leads the opposition side popularly known as Pudemo, one of the leading pro-democracy parties which are theoretically allowed, but banned from participating in elections. He was, allegedly, poisoned in the early hours of Tuesday inside his house in Pretoria by an unnamed “young boy”, who Pudemo said was used as an “agent of evil intent by Swazi Government”. Makhanya was rushed to a Pretoria hospital escorted by the South African police. In a press briefing on Wednesday, Wandile Dludlu, the Pudemo deputy president, said an “extremely dangerous and fatal” pesticide poison was used in the incident. A group of Swazis living in South Africa, condemned what it termed a “bold attack” and a “clear assassination attempt” against Makhanya and has called on the South African Government to act against Swazi state agents who were targeting exiled pro-democracy activists “fighting for freedom”.
Uganda
Olympian laid to rest
Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who died after being doused in petrol and set on fire by her former lover, has been laid to rest with full military honors. Cheptegei returned to her home in the highlands of western Kenya, an area popular with international runners for its high-altitude training facilities, after placing 44th in the marathon at the Paris Olympics on August 11. Three weeks after her return, her former boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, allegedly, attacked Cheptegei as she returned from church with her two daughters and younger sister in the village of Kinyoro, her family said. Her father Joseph Cheptegei alleges that his daughter had approached police at least three times to file complaints against Marangach, most recently on August 30, two days before the attack by her former partner. She suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body and succumbed to her injuries four days later.
Cheptegei’s tragic death sparked anger over the high levels of violence against women, particularly in the athletics community, with the marathoner becoming the third elite runner to die at the hands of a romantic partner since 2021. Rights groups say female athletes in Kenya are at a high risk of exploitation and violence by men drawn to their prize money, which far exceeds local incomes. Cheptegei’s sporting successes include winning the 2021 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand, and a year later earning first place in the Padova Marathon in Italy and setting a national record for the marathon.
Tanzania
Opposition asks telecoms firm to respond to data-sharing accusation
The main opposition party has called for telecoms firm Tigo to respond to a former employee’s accusation that the company helped the government track the location of an opponent who was later targeted in a failed assassination attempt. A former worker at Tigo’s parent company, Millicom, told a British court this month that Tigo had shared mobile phone data with the government showing the location of opposition lawmaker Tundu Lissu in the weeks before the attack. Lissu’s car was sprayed with bullets in September 2017 by unknown assailants.
“I have informed (lawyer) Bob Amsterdam today to start a case against Tigo and the Government of Tanzania”, Lissu said at a news conference in Dar es Salaam, adding that he did not trust local courts to handle the case. “We will force Tigo to tell us who they were communicating with. Who from the government asked them to track me 24 hours. They have to tell us names”.
In its own court filings this month, Millicom said it had learned in late August or early September 2017 of concerns “about a local politician’s mobile phone data being passed to a government agency”. It said the individuals involved were disciplined and additional training was provided to Millicom subsidiaries about how to respond to requests for company data.
The company denied allegations in a lawsuit filed by the former employee, Michael Clifford, that Clifford had been dismissed for raising concerns about the tracking of Lissu’s location data. Tanzania’s then-president, John Magufuli, condemned the attack on Lissu in 2017. Meanwhile, no one has been arrested or charged.
Zambia
Three judges suspended
President Hakainde Hichilema has suspended three top judges over alleged judicial misconduct, prompting accusations of political interference in the judiciary. In 2016, the three Constitutional Court judges dismissed Hichilema’s petition, in which he challenged the election victory of former President Edgar Lungu. The judges are also said to have taken part in a controversial ruling allowing Lungu to stand in the 2021 elections, despite having twice served as Zambia’s president. The three were due to be part of a bench sitting on Thursday in a case which would decide whether Lungu could contest those elections.
Political tensions are rising in Zambia ahead of elections in 2026 when Hichilema and Lungu are expected to face each other for a fourth time. The judges’ suspension was based on recommendations by a panel which investigated them, the presidency said. The suspended judges – Justice Annie Sitali, Justice Mungeni Mulenga, and Justice Palan Mulonda are yet to comment on the matter. The trio have been investigated by the Judicial Complaints Commission (JCC), following a complaint by Moses Kalonde, a private citizen. Last year, the JCC rejected a complaint from lawyer Joseph Busenga, who had petitioned for the removal of the three judges, alleging that they had mishandled the 2016 presidential election petition. The JCC has, in the past, dismissed several similar petitions against the three judges. After two years of investigations, President Hichilema on Monday suspended them on the recommendation of the JCC, the presidency said.
Malawi
UNHCR $80M for 2nd refugee camp
Malawi has received $80 million from the UN High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR) toward the construction of a second refugee camp in the northern part of the country. Malawi currently hosts 53,000 refugees and asylum seekers at its only refugee camp, Dzaleka, in the central region. Refugees from Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia have been at the camp since the early 1990s. Homeland Security Minister Zikhale Ng’oma said the donation would help construct a second camp that “would ease out congestion at Dzaleka which currently hosts more than what it requires. As a nation, we are overwhelmed by an influx of refugees coming to Malawi on a daily basis seeking a place where they would find peace. But we are having challenges to accommodate all of them at one camp. This donation is therefore a response to our appeal to have another facility in the northern region of the country,” said Ng’oma.
Malawi is currently implementing a joint voluntary refugee repatriation programme with the UN refugee agency “to allow refugees and asylum seekers to return to their home countries willingly.” The program has so far seen 200 refugees return to their countries. There have been concerns about a recent proliferation of firearms among refugees at Dzaleka, a situation that security organs claim has fueled insecurity in some parts of the country. In 2023, the Malawi Government forcibly removed all refugees who were doing business in major towns and cities and relocated them to the camp, a move which was widely condemned by human rights bodies as “gross abuse of refugees’ rights.” The government has always defended the move claiming it was done “in the interest of national security.”
Rwanda
First mixed agric consignment shipped to Ghana
Rwanda, in collaboration with its partners, has flagged off its first consolidated agricultural product consignment to Ghana as the country seeks to diversify exports under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, according to industry players. The consignment transported by national carrier, RwandAir, comprises 400 kilos of tea, 400 kilos of coffee, 100 litres of edible avocado oil, and 50 litres of honey. The tea was sourced from two companies namely Rwanda Mountain Tea and Silverback Tea, with each company accounting for 200 kilos of premium organic tea. Meanwhile, the Coffee was sourced from Pedro’s Coffee, and Igire Coffee, with 200 kilos of specialty Arabica coffee each while the avocado oil belongs to Avocare Limited, and the honey came from Boukhi Honey.
A single consolidated export licence was issued by National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) to facilitate the process. The ministry says it is leveraging RwandAir’s preferential tariff of $1 per kilo for consignments exceeding one tonne, and $1.40 per kilo for consignments of less than one tonne, while the normal rate is $1.80 per kilo. This preferential rate represents a significant opportunity for businesses to maximize their reach within the AfCFTA market. The Minister of Trade and Industry, Prudence Sebahizi, expressed enthusiasm about the initiative. “By consolidating shipments and benefiting from preferential tariffs, Rwandan businesses will be better positioned to compete in the continental market. We commend Igire Continental Trading Company for its commitment to helping local MSMEs expand their reach,” he said. Keisha Effiom, the USAID Rwanda Mission Director, said insights from shipments like this one will help refine the AfCFTA process, ensuring smoother trade operations in the future.
