AFRICA NEWS
BULLETIN @ 20h00
2 February,
2016
Radio
XYZ93.1FM
Lead Producer:
E.K.Bensah Jr
Assistant
Producer/Presenter: Joshua Quodja-Mensah
STORIES
1.
FOCUS: Ugandan Agri-business Expert Says Agriculture Can Help Create Jobs and
Wealth in Africa
2.
EAST AFRICA: RwandAir Selects Ethiopian
Airlines as Strategic Partner
3.
CENTRAL AFRICA: Newly-introduced
Talk-time Tax to Fetch Cameroon CFA10billion
4. WEST AFRICA: West & Central Africa to Meet over Terrorism
1.
FOCUS:
Agribusiness Expert Dr.Alex Ariho
believes Africans should begin making profit from Africa’s agriculture.
Ariho is Facility Coordinator of
UNIBRAIN, which is a system that brings four actors – human capital; research
institutions; private sector; and African governments – to work collectively in
an enabling environment that will help make money for Africans working in the
agricultural sector.
Speaking in an exclusive interview
with E.K.Bensah Jr for “Africa in Focus”, he explained the rationale behind
UNIBRAIN, and why Africans must be interested. In his view, “the unique
value-proposition of UNIBRAIN is the connection of the key four actors that are
required to provide the framework and the transitional path upon which
agriculture can cause change in terms of jobs and wealth creation.”
Trying to connect the dots on the
conversation of Africa’s agriculture for the last four years has been the
Accra-based technical arm of the African Union – Forum for Agricultural
Research in Africa (FARA). Ariho says people are tired of ideas, and now want
action – especially on agriculture. This is where FARA has stepped in.
Ariho says “with support from
DANIDA…and the institutional framework and support of the African Union, FARA
spearheaded the implementation of this model to be able to create a business
case to Africans: how do you create jobs, and how do you create wealth?” To
this end, incubators were established in the following countries: Zambia;
Uganda; Kenya; Ghana; and Mali in 2012 to provide an opportunity on how this
can work in Africa.
Since 2011 to date, UNIBRAIN has been
able to chalk successes with the six initial incubators, with 10,000 jobs being
created.
Pressed to elaborate on what UNIBRAIN
actually is, this is what Dr.Ariho said [AUDIO]:
That was Dr.Alex Ariho speaking
exclusively to E.K.Bensah Jr.
2.
EAST AFRICA:
The national carrier of Rwanda –
RwandAir – has selected Ethiopian Airlines as a strategic partner.
This follows the airline’s decision
to sell the 49% stake for a partner to invest in the airline; manage it; and
offer technical assistance.
Only two Airlines – Ethiopian
Airlines and Ethihad Airways – were among the international airlines that have
shown interest in RwandAir’s offer. CEO
Tewolde Gebremariam told the Ethiopia Reporter that a fortnight ago, a RwandAir
delegation went to Addis Ababa and informed the selection of Ethiopian Airlines
as a strategic partner.
This strategic partnership by
Ethiopian Airlines with RwandAir makes it the third African airline after ASKY
and Malawi Airlines. This development also means that Kigali will also become
Ethiopian’s fourth hub after Addis Ababa, Lome and Lilongwe.
3.
CENTRAL AFRICA:
A newly-introduced tax on talk-time
in the Central African country of Cameroon could fetch a comfortable FCFA10bn (US$16,317)
for the country’s internal revenue.
Established by the 2016 Finance Bill,
the tax on telephone communications and internet services for which telephone
operators and internet access providers are now liable, ought to generate
revenue in excess of USD10, 000 during the first year of its enforcement.
The authorities say in addition to
binding Cameroon to the regulatory measures which this tax establishes in the
CEMAC regional area, the new telephone communications and internet services
licence fee will enable the Cameroonian Public Treasury to obtain more benefits
from the development of the telco and internet sectors of Cameroon.
4.
WEST AFRICA:
Reeling from terrorist attacks in the
Sahel, and fearful of his country being one of the next targets, Senegalese
President Macky Sall has disclosed to Xinhua news agency that a regional summit
will soon bring together ECOWAS States and those of the Economic Community of
Central African States(ECCAS).
This meeting will be followed by a
tripartite meeting between Africa, China and France to consolidate efforts in
the fight against terrorism. Sall disclosed this in a recent interview on the
sidelines of the just-ended AU Summit.
This is not the first time both
ECOWAS and ECCAS have had a joint summit to tackle mutual concerns. The first
time was in June 2013 when the two regions met over maritime insecurity. In
2015, the two regions would meet to discuss Boko Haram.
5.
NORTH AFRICA:
The Libyan peace drive has received
renewed support with the decision by the African Union to appoint a new task
force comprising five heads of State, which sole objective will be to push the
political process and the formation of a Government of National Accord.
The just-ended AU Summit ended with a
call by the continental organisation saying it was deeply concerned that
Islamic State was gaining ground in two-State Libya. While the heads of State in the new Libya Task
Force remain unnamed, the AU has appointed a new special envoy to Libya in the
name of former Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete. He replaces Djibouti premier
Dileita Mohamed Dileita.
Libya has been on the back-burner of
international peace and security efforts for a one-State Libya for a while. The
former President of Tanzania’s appointment could just give the peace process
the visibility it so urgently needs.
Let’s take a quick look at who this
new AU Envoy is. Kikwete was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 2005
under his predecessor Benjamin Mkapa. He also served as Chairperson of the
African Union in 2008-2009 and Chairman of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) Troika on Peace, Defence and Security in 2012-2013.
As of 4 April 2013, Kikwete was the
sixth most followed African leader on Twitter with 57, 626 followers. As of
today, he has 386K followers.
ENDs
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