Month: November 2023

A Kenyan court ruled on Tuesday that a salary levy introduced by President William Ruto in June was illegal, dealing a major blow to the government’s aim of bolstering the state coffers.

A law allowing a 1.5% levy on the salaries of all Kenyan taxpayers, including employers, was passed in June to finance a low-cost housing programme.

Three judges of the Nairobi High Court ruled that the measure was not part of a complete legal framework and that the exclusion of informal workers was “discriminatory and irrational”.

“An order has been made prohibiting the collection of the fees known as the Affordable Housing Act”, said Justice David Majanja.

The levy was part of a budget bill that introduced many new taxes for Kenyans, against a backdrop of already high inflation.

Anger over rising prices, particularly for basic necessities such as food and fuel, led to a series of sometimes deadly protests against William Ruto’s government earlier this year.

Kenya, the powerhouse of East Africa, is plagued by galloping inflation and a plummeting currency, which has caused the cost of repaying its debt to soar.

Eleven people died in an accident at a South African platinum mine on Monday when the lift fell as it was lifting workers at the end of their day, the company that owns the mine, Impala Platinum, said on Tuesday.

“Eighty-six employees were standing in the lift, eleven lost their lives and all the others were transferred to hospitals,” a company spokesman told Africanewsguru.com, adding that some of them were seriously injured.

In this 1,000-metre-deep shaft, some 150 km north-west of Johannesburg, the lift picked up miners at the bottom and stopped several times on the way up to “collect the miners at the end of their shift”, shortly before 5 p.m. on Monday (15:00 GMT), Johan Theron, a spokesman for the mining company, told Africanewsguru.com.

At the third stop, “it suddenly started to go back down”, he added, explaining that the system was automated.

An operator “tried to apply the emergency protocols” but the lift continued to descend and only stopped at the very bottom, when the counterweight rose to the surface and then “got stuck by jacks”, causing “a sudden stop”.

“Some died, others were seriously injured and others escaped with scratches”, the spokesman said, adding that many of the injured had broken ankles and legs.

The rescue operation has been completed, said Impala Platinum, which said it was “devastated” by the fatal accident and that all operations at the mine had been suspended on Tuesday. An investigation has been opened.

“Our hearts are heavy for the lives lost and for those affected by this devastating accident,” said Nico Muller, CEO of Impala Platinum (Implats), in a statement.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of our colleagues and are in the process of ensuring that all next of kin have been contacted”.

South Africa, which is rich in minerals, is the world’s leading producer of platinum. Fatal accidents involving miners are frequent in the country, which has the deepest mines in the world and is a major exporter of gold, diamonds, coal and other raw materials.

The Johannesburg region, which still boasts many active gold and platinum mines, is dotted with slag heaps, shafts and deep trenches left by generations of miners, whose arrival during the gold rush in the 1880s led to the birth of the city.

Canoeists from over 15 countries competed at the Confederation of Africa Canoe Sprint and Para Canoe qualifiers in Abuja, Nigeria with many hoping to land a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The president of the International Canoe Federation commended the organization.

“As a host, Nigeria is doing a really good and professional job to provide a stage for the best athletes from Africa,” Thomas Konietzko said. It is an important political sign within the continent in Africa that we are going also in new areas where we’ve never been before.”

Athletes took part in 18 races for men and women, including singles, doubles, and mixed double categories, with eight qualifier tickets up for grabs from Thursday (Nov.23) until over the weekend.

The competition was fierce. The African qualifiers were the first continent qualifiers for next year’s Olympics.

“I competed for C2 (Canoe for 2 people) 500-meter, which is an Olympic event and we qualified,” Bello Ayomide Powei, Nigerian canoe athlete said. “If there are coaches that stand by me and train me, I believe I am coming back with something. I believe I am going to make the nation proud.”

“It’s a little bit challenging because there are lots of the best athletes. I want to win but only God knows my position on the water,” Drevor Lespoir from the Seychelles said.

Finally, Angola, Tunisia, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt and South Africa emerged triumphant and secured their tickets for the Olympics.

Also competing were athletes from: Djibouti, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, São Tomé, Senegal, Seychelles, Uganda.

The president of the International Canoe Federation hoped to see further development of the sport in the continent.

Hamas militants released a third group of hostages including a four-year-old American girl Sunday, in exchange for a new group of Palestinian prisoners on the third day of a truce which a source close to the militants said they were willing to prolong.

The transfers under a four-day truce that started Friday have been the first relief for captives’ families since the militant group attacked Israel on October 7, prompting devastating Israeli bombardments of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials said a total of 17 hostages were back on Israeli territory after the latest release. One, in her 80s, was admitted to hospital which said her life was in danger.

US President Joe Biden announced that among those freed is a four-year-old American girl.

“She’s been through a terrible trauma,” Biden said of Abigail, whose parents were murdered by Hamas during the unprecedented attacks.

Along with 13 Israelis, four others including three Thais were released outside the terms of the truce.

Hamas said a Russian-Israeli, Ron Krivoy, was freed “in response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin” and his “support of the Palestinian cause”.

Those released were among around 240 people captured on October 7 when Hamas fighters broke through Gaza’s militarised border with Israel in the country’s deadliest attack ever.

The militants killed about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, according to Israeli authorities.

In response, Israel launched an air, artillery and naval bombardment alongside a ground offensive to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people, mostly civilians and including thousands of children, according to the Hamas government in Gaza.

Sunday’s releases bring the total number of Israelis freed under the deal to 39 since Friday.

In exchange, a further 39 Palestinian prisoners were freed on Sunday, the Israeli prison service said, after the release of 78 other Palestinian inmates from Israeli jails over the past two days.

On Friday Hamas released 10 other Thais and a Filipino, in a surprise move separate from the main deal.

– Mounting pressure –

Israel has faced mounting pressure to extend the four-day pause mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt.

On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told BFMTV that “it would be good, helpful and necessary” to extend the truce until all hostages, who include French nationals, are freed.

Biden expressed a similar hope “so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief into those in need in Gaza”.

A source close to Hamas said the Islamist movement, which has an armed wing, was willing to prolong the pause.

“Hamas informed the mediators that the resistance movements were willing to extend the current truce by two to four days,” the source told Africanewsguru.com. “The resistance believes it is possible to ensure the release of 20 to 40 Israeli prisoners” in that time.

Under the truce, a total of 50 hostages held by the militants are to be freed over four days in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners. A built-in mechanism extends it as long as at least 10 Israeli captives are released each day.

Israeli leaders, however, have tempered hopes of a lasting halt to the offensive.

“We continue until the end — until victory,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Gaza on Sunday.

Wearing green military fatigues and surrounded by soldiers, he vowed to free all the hostages and “eliminate Hamas”, in footage posted online by his office.

He spoke while making the first visit to Gaza by an Israeli premier since 2005.

“Nothing will stop us, and we are convinced that we have the power, the strength, the will and the determination to achieve all the war’s goals, and we will,” Netanyahu said.

In the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, residents received a text message from Israeli forces that said they know hostages are being held there.

“The army will neutralise anyone who has kidnapped hostages,” the message said.

– ‘That’s enough’ –

Elsewhere in Gaza, following weeks of bombardment, residents ventured back to pick through heaps of rubble where they once lived.

“I came to see if there was anything left, if there was anything I could salvage. We fled with nothing,” said Oussama al Bass, inspecting the ruins of his home in Al-Zahra, south of Gaza City.

“Everything is lost,” he said. “We’re tired. That’s enough. We can’t take it anymore.”

On the outskirts of Gaza City, families took to the road on foot to head south, pushing luggage and relatives in wheelchairs, and carrying children in their arms.

Among the Israelis freed Sunday was Elma Avraham, 84, who was being treated at Soroka Medical Center, whose director Shlomi Kodesh said “she is in life-threatening condition” but being treated and would be moved to the intensive care unit.

Also freed were sisters Ely, aged eight, and her sister Dafna, 15, whose father was shot dead during the Hamas attack.

In the previous round of releases, there were smiles, kisses, and tears as Israeli hostage Sharon Avigdori, freed with her daughter Noam, 12, hugged her son and relatives at Sheba hospital, images from the government press office showed.

On Sunday in Ramallah and Beitunia, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, white International Committee of the Red Cross buses delivered the freed prisoners as waiting crowds flew Hamas and Palestinian flags.

Noorhan Awad, a female prisoner released Saturday, said that when she got out of the police car, “it was a great moment. Freedom is priceless.”

Hamas’s military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said Sunday that its northern brigade commander Ahmed Al-Ghandour and four other senior leaders had been killed, without specifying when.

The pause in fighting has allowed more aid to reach Palestinians struggling to survive with shortages of water and other essentials, but Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), warned of “unprecedented” humanitarian needs.

“We should send 200 lorries a day continuously for at least two months,” he said.

The UN estimates that 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the fighting.

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was stabbed by another inmate and seriously injured Friday (Nov. 24) at a federal prison in Arizona, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The attack happened at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, a medium-security prison that has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages.

The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an incarcerated person was assaulted at FCI Tucson at around 12:30 p.m. local time Friday.

In a statement, the agency said responding employees contained the incident and performed “life-saving measures” before the inmate, who it did not name, was taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation.

No employees were injured and the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said.

Visiting at the facility, which has about 380 inmates, has been suspended.

Messages seeking comment were left with Chauvin’s lawyers and the FBI.

Chauvin’s stabbing is the second high-profile attack on a federal prisoner in the last five months.

In July, disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed by a fellow inmate at a federal penitentiary in Florida.

Major incidents

It is also the second major incident at the Tucson federal prison in a little over a year.

In November 2022, an inmate at the facility’s low-security prison camp pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot a visitor in the head.

The weapon, which the inmate shouldn’t have had, misfired and no one was hurt.

Chauvin, 47, was sent to FCI Tucson from a maximum-security Minnesota state prison in August 2022 to simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, had advocated for keeping him out of general population and away from other inmates, anticipating he’d be a target.

In Minnesota, Chauvin was mainly kept in solitary confinement “largely for his own protection,” Nelson wrote in court papers last year.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction.

Separately, Chauvin is making a longshot bid to overturn his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he didn’t cause Floyd’s death.

Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for 9½ minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.

Bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” His death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

Three other former officers who were at the scene received lesser state and federal sentences for their roles in Floyd’s death.

Bureau of prisons under scrutiny

Chauvin’s stabbing comes as the federal Bureau of Prisons has faced increased scrutiny in recent years following wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein’s jail suicide in 2019.

It’s another example of the agency’s inability to keep even its highest profile prisoners safe after Nassar’s stabbing and “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski’s suicide at a federal medical center in June.

An ongoing AP investigation has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department’s largest law enforcement agency with more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates and an annual budget of about $8 billion.

AP reporting has revealed rampant sexual abuse and other criminal conduct by staff, dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including inmate assaults and suicides.

Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters was brought in last year to reform the crisis-plagued agency.

She vowed to change archaic hiring practices and bring new transparency, while emphasizing that the agency’s mission is “to make good neighbors, not good inmates.”

South Sudanese parties, leaders and stakeholders have until the first quarter of 2024 to agree on critical decisions if they are willing to hold free, fair and credible elections on schedule, the Head of the UN Mission in the nation (UNMISS) said Thursday (Nov. 23).

“Looking ahead, it would be impossible to envision free, fair, and credible elections in December 2024, unless all South Sudanese parties, leaders, and stakeholders grab the bull by the horns, and agree on a critical mass of decisions by the first quarter of 2024.”

If Haysom welcomed the reconstitution of key electoral bodies such as the National Elections Commission, he said they needed to be urgently resourced and operationalized to execute their mandates.

“Let me underscore that elections are not a one-day event, but a process that incorporates deliberate and thoughtful decisions before, during and after the polls. All these processes must have the full buy-in and support of the South Sudanese, and especially in the case of a country emerging from divisive conflict.”

South Sudan became independent in 2011. After a peace deal in 2018 ended a civil war, elections were due to be held in February this year. However, the government of national unity of Salva Kiir and Riek Machar failed to meet key clauses of the deal.

During the press conference SRSG Haysom also expressed concern over reports of recent violence in the Abyei Administrative Area and Warrap state, urging the government to action peaceful dispute resolution.

UNMISS is continuing to protect civilians and support state authorities Haysom said, but added that transitional security arrangements must be completed. In conclusion, he reiterated that South Sudan must complete its long overdue democratic transition.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan also focused on the nation’s humanitarian emergency, which is exacerbated by the influx of returnees and refugees escaping conflict in neighbouring Sudan, reduced funding, climate change and continued risks to aid workers.

The World Bank has suspended its access to “unwithdrawn loans” in Liberia after the country defaulted loan repayments by 60 days under the administration of outgoing president George Weah.

The decision to suspend access was conveyed in a letter on November 15 to Liberia’s Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, from the Vice-President of the Western and Central Africa region at the World Bank, Ousmane Diagana.

The suspension comes as Liberia ushers in a new administration led by Joseph Boakai following presidential elections on October 10.

The country’s right to withdraw from the Disbursing Loans and specific Trust Fund grants is now temporarily halted until the debt to the Bank is serviced.

For the incoming administration, the suspension will have a serious impact on Liberia’s capacity to borrow from other lenders and will require the new leaders to negotiate repayment timing with the World Bank.

While the World Bank says that Liberia’s economy grew by 4.8% in 2022, the country’s fiscal position worsened with its deficit estimated to have risen to 5.6% of GDP in 2022, up from 2.4% in 2021.

It adds that, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 53.4, the west African nation is at “moderate risk of external debt distress and high risk of overall debt distress”.

The Liberian economy, focused on agriculture and mining, is set to grow by 4.5% in 2023.