By Elisha Otieno

Doctors in Migori have threatened to begin street protests over delayed promotions barely a week after nurses demonstrated about similar grievances.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPPDU) has already issued a seven-day strike notice to the County administration.

"We want immediate promotion of all doctors and all arrears paid. And this includes our consultants who the county administration has stagnated citing lack of vacancies," read part of the notice signed by Dr Ouma Oluga, the union's national secretary-general.

The notice continued: "We need employment of more doctors to address staff shortage because currently we have only 48 doctors and 10 of them are in school… we further demand that salaries be paid latest third of every month, failure to which no doctor will report for duty."

The planned strike will further plunge the health sector into crises however the union's Migori branch chairman said they are ready for dialogue.

"We are ready for constructive dialogue before the expiry of the strike notice otherwise we are set for the industrial action," said Dr Joseph Otieno.

The County's health officers said they "were still monitoring the situation before responding appropriately".

"Their promotions are already being addressed because we just promoted nurses. This strike is just calculated to paralyse health services in this county, and they do not have any basis to down tools," said a Health official who requested for anonymity.

When the 550 nurses went on strike operations in the 209 facilities were affected forcing residents to be transferred to private hospitals.

The county government sought temporary court orders that stopped the strike, pending the hearing and determination of the matter at the Employment and Labour Relations Court.

But some of the nurses said "although they will be physically present in the hospitals due to the court order, we do not have the morale to work until the matter is heard and determined".

Lady Justice Monica Mbaru of the Employment and Labour Relations Court ordered the respondent – Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) members to return to work immediately, pending the hearing and determination of the petition made by the county administration.

Mr Tom Kwanga, the county's legal officer, sought the court orders after the nurses remained adamant on their demands, even snubbing a meeting with Governor Okoth Obado.

Edited by Philip Momanyi

A group of disgruntled mineworkers who travelled from Kuruman to Centurion have vowed to stay at their employer's headquarters until their salaries have been paid.

The mineworkers, who have been staging their protest since last week Tuesday, claim the directors of Diro Resources have failed to pay them their salaries since April.

"From Tuesday we've been demanding our salaries from our directors but they ran away," said Lesego Seleke, who is one the 36 protesters who travelled the 530km to Gauteng by taxi.

Last week, a group of mineworkers took the company's chief financial officer hostage but released him following an agreement for all directors to meet with them over their demands.

Seleke said they have since been told that the company was under business rescue and that they would be compensated once the process had been completed, but that on Friday, when a potential investor offered to pay for their salaries the directors rejected the offer. The mineworker said their bosses have not pitched for work at their Centurion offices the entire week.
 

"These people have run away from us, we know they have been deducting money for UIF [Unemployment Insurance Fund], medical aid and retirement yet that money doesn't appear with the relevant institutions. They are crooks, used us and left, now nowhere to be found," Seleke told News24.

"We've just been living in hope; our children no longer go to school because we can't afford it. Last week a colleague's child died we couldn't even contribute to the funeral."

Nine women are also taking part in the protest.

EFF lending a hand

The group has the support of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the Northern Cape, which says it's also been struggling to get in touch with the directors of Diro Resources.

"The reality is that those workers are angry; the company has not been paying them for some months now. We support their decision to go and demand their salaries," said NUM regional co-ordinator Lucas Phiri.
 

He also claimed their attempts to assist have not been successful because the employers are nowhere to be found.

"We are also looking for the employers; if you find them please tell them NUM also wants to talk to them."

An Economic Freedom Fighters branch in Centurion has become involved in the matter. The party says the workers approached it asking for help.

"We felt they couldn't be left on their own without any support. So we've decided to help in whichever way possible; make sure they get food and help with trying gather more information regarding their situation," said EFF Tshwane south convenor Lephoho Thato Motloung.

Several attempts to contact Diro Resources by phone and by text message were unsuccessful at the time of publishing.

Africa's foremost thinkers on migration will convene in Addis Ababa for the Tenth African Development Forum (ADF) in Addis Ababa Ethiopia from 15-17 November on the theme, “Migration and Africa’s transformation.” Jointly convened by the Economic Commission for Africa in partnership with the African Union and the African Development Bank, the Forum has become a unique platform for business, civil society and political leaders to thrash out some of the most pressing issues relating to Africa's transformation.

“The theme stems from the recognition of the central role of migration as an important enabler for inclusive and sustainable development. We seek to raise awareness and deepen understanding of the role of international migration in promoting inclusive growth and transformation in Africa,” says ECA’s Chief Economist and Deputy Executive Secretary, Abdalla Hamdok.

Mr. Hamdok adds that the forum will provide an opportunity for African policy makers to analyze issues, review progress, discuss policy options, strengthen partnerships and explore consensus on devising suitable strategies for making migration work for Africa’s transformation.

“The central premise guiding the discussions at the Forum is that international migration plays a critical role in the continent’s endeavor to develop and improve welfare, peace and stability and provide jobs for our growing population,” he underlines.

He notes that Migration continues to shape dynamics across countries with the youth, mostly migrating in search of jobs and education.

The issue of migration has become a major subject of debate internationally. According to experts, some reports in the media have fed into existing stereotypes, especially on the numbers of Africans leaving the continent, the links to criminality, global asylum and related issues. This has entrenched a lopsided approach to the issue. Mr. Hamdok expects the Forum to elevate the discussion and aim to emerge with a deeper understanding of the issue.

Expected at the 10th edition of the ADF are African Heads of State and Government, policy makers, representatives from development partners, UN agencies, academia, civil society organizations and the private sector. A number of parallel events will take place from 13-14 November, whose aim will be to shape the outcomes of the Forum.

As in past such Forums, a consensus on a number of key questions of regional mobility on the continent, demographic dividend, skills and employment creation is expected. In addition, participants are expected to touch on leveraging human and financial resources of Africa’s diaspora and address new directions and trends in African migration.

The African Development Forum (ADF) is a flagship biennial event of the Economic Commission for Africa that offers a multi-stakeholder platform to debate, discuss and propose concrete strategies for Africa’s development.

The Forum is convened in collaboration with the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank and other key partners to establish an African-driven development agenda that reflects consensus on African development matters.

National Audit Office (NAO) audit has revealed that donor money amounting to K925, 918, 030.14 were looted from the health ministry’s finance, human resources and HIV and AIDS department.

The auditors pounced at the Department following request by the American Ambassador Virginia Palmer who had suspected that some dishonest employees were abusing the funds to spearhead a national response to HIV/Aids, a pandemic which has wiped out an entire generation of adults in Malawi and left over a million children orphaned.

The figures have been under tight lid since the embarrassing scandal as Health Minister Peter Kumpalume said the stolen money ran into “millions.”

But Nyasa Times can now confirm about the figures which intial findings on the looting indicated that money amounted to K2.5 billion it has been reduced to K925, 918, 030.14.

Auditor General Steven Kamphasa said his office cannot comment on anything on the matter since his office has already submitted the findings to the Ministry of Health.

US-funded Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had written the ministry to complain that they suspected civil servants from the HIV and AIDS project were defrauding the government.

US ambassador to Malawi, Virginia Palmer, is onrecord saying that that she hoped the authorities “will identify those responsible and that they will be held fully accountable for the misuse of funds intended to improve the health of Malawian citizens.”

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Macphail Magwira said Malawi government will have to pay back the money and deal with the culprits.

“We will not treat this issue with kid groves, we want to make sure that all those who were involved in such malpractice are brought to book using while using Section 39 of Public employment act,” said Magwira.
Malawi government suspended 63 seniors officials in the health ministry to allow auditors to investigate and audit the accounts.

Those who were suspended included the Director of human resource, the Director of finance and two chief accountants to pave way for a thorough audit investigation over unjustified withdrawal of

allowances and fuel abuse.

Malawi, which depends on foreign aid for about 40 percent of its national budget, has suffered after donors withheld funding over a large-scale corruption scandal

Prosecutors have in the past said one third of Malawi’s government revenue is lost through fraud.

The immediate past Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Monday that having a handle on Nigeria’s spiralling inflation, foreign exchange problem, fiscal deficit and debts control were key to resolving the country’s current economic crisis.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, who was speaking on Aljazeera TV programme, The Stream, said focusing on the basic issues of macroeconomic stability was crucial to fixing the country’s economic challenges.

“If you don’t pay attention to the fundamentals of having a stable and good exchange rate policy, inflation under control, manageable fiscal deficit and debts, there will continue to be trouble in the economy,” she said.

Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades. The economy slipped into recession after contracting in the first two quarters of 2016.

Inflation jumped from 16.2 per cent in July to 17.1 per cent in August 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Since the introduction of the floating foreign exchange policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which freed the Naira from a band of N197-N199 to the dollar, the currency has been in a free fall against other international currencies.

From about N281 to the dollar at the beginning of the policy in June, Naira crashed to about N420 to the dollar shortly before the Sallah holidays on Friday.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank Managing Director, told Al Jazeera that she remained optimistic that solutions to the country’s economic decline could still be found.

Asked what would be her top three priorities to resolve the country’s current economic crisis if she remained the finance minister, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said she would prefer the current managers of the economy talk about it.

“I have contributed the best I could to the country. It is still the most interesting country in the world. It is better to leave those who are managing now to say what they would do.

“All I can say is that there are solutions. Nigeria is a vibrant country. I love it so much. I know it is going to come out of this one way or another,” she said.

On if President Muhammadu Buhari were to ask her to come and help in resolving the country’s economic crisis, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said: “One of the things you learn as you get wiser is to talk less as you grow older.

“I have spent my time contributing to the country. It will be better to leave those managing the economy to do what they know how to do.

“I served my country for seven years and it was a great honour. The second time was very tough, but it was still an honour. I am not the only person who is a repository of knowledge. There are other people who can equally try their hands in running the economy.”

On the continental scale, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, expressed regrets the economic gains recorded in Africa have started being eroded in the last two to three years.

“On the continent, we have seen a period when the economy was doing relatively well. It’s only in the last two to three years that things have started to go a bit south.”

She spoke about the job initiative of the Goodluck Jonathan government, YOU-WIN.

“The whole idea was to have a business plan competition. Beneficiaries were expected to create jobs to employ six people or more.

“Each created 9-10 jobs. The World Bank did an evaluation of it and found it good. I do believe the government should come in. We started a peer to peer mentoring. Now, one of the things I want to say is that creating employment is not only about struggles, it is about managing success,” she said.

On how the anti-corruption war was fought during her time in government, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala described it as “a very tough fight”.

“It was tough. I must thank my team. You don’t do it alone. I had the support of an economic team in the Ministry of Finance. At the end of the day, you need to have some principles,” she said.

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday said the current economic recession the country could provide the turning point from an oil driven economy to real prosperity.

Ekweremadu in his Eid el-Kabir message signed by his media aide, Uche Anichukwu, noted that the present economic challenges were not beyond redemption.

“I warned long ago that elections had come and gone and we should move from politics to governance. It is time for governance and we must bring all capable hands on the deck, irrespective of political, religious or ethnic backgrounds.

“Nigerians are facing hard times and all they are interested in are positive results and urgent succour. They don’t care whether you are APC or PDP or whether you are North or South.

The good news is that capable hands abound in the country. We must assemble them and give them both the mandate and liberty to help the president’s team to revamp the nation’s economy,” he said.

He enjoined Muslims to use the period to pray for the nation’s quick recovery from the current economic recession, expressing confidence that Nigerians, working together, could heal the nation’s economy.

He, however, noted that prayers alone were not enough and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to look beyond party affiliation to constitute a special economic squad to rescue the nation from present situation.

Civil servants have urged President Robert Mugabe to fire one of his two deputies and reduce the size of his Cabinet instead of introducing measures that will further impoverish already struggling government workers.

Representatives of the civil servants have already warned they would cripple service delivery unless government reversed its proposal to cut bonuses and tax their allowances, starting next month.

Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa on Thursday announced that government was scrapping payment of bonuses to public workers as well as introducing taxation on their allowances as part of measures to contain a ballooning wage bill.

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou said Mugabe should resign as he had failed to administer the economy instead of tempering with civil servants’ salaries.

“If Mugabe and his government are serious about cost-cutting measures, he should reduce the number of his vice-presidents. We do not need two VPs for a country like ours. This is a political statement which will be met with a political reaction,” Zhou said.

“This is the kind of dictatorship that we don’t tolerate. There are four ministers in the education cluster, why not fire three and remain with one? Why not cut the Cabinet to show that he is serious about civil servants’ issues? We are going to fight this moribund government.”

He added: “He [Mugabe] must resign and we get a more serious administration than this child’s play.”

“It’s unheard of that a government cuts salaries, especially allowances that are a result of collective bargaining agreements,” the firebrand trade union said.

The Apex council, the umbrella body of all civil servants, also came out guns blazing, accusing the government of being insensitive to their plight and vowed to oppose the proposals.

“The Apex Council would like to express its dismay at the shocking budget proposals announced by the Finance minister. While the intent to reduce the civil service wage bill is cited as the premise of the International Monetary Fund [IMF] inspired cuts, we the workers do not believe the economy will benefit from such insensitive and anti-labour solutions,” said Cecilia Alexandra, the workers’ representative team leader.

“To start with, the budget proposals on the so-called civil service rationalisation are being made without due consultation and thus in breach of workers’ constitutional rights to consult and be consulted.”

She added: “The Apex Council wishes by this statement to unequivocally reject the budget proposals by the Minister of Finance regarding retrenchments, salary cuts and suspension of bonuses. We believe these measures are ill-conceived and can only further entrench the doom and gloom that has become part and parcel of the lot of the average civil servant.”

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association chief executive officer, Sifiso Ndlovu said government should not blame anyone if civil servants go on strike.

“Nobody should be blamed for whatever action civil servants take because this government has shown its arrogance and disdain to engagement,” Ndlovu said.

“We are appalled by the level of arrogance that this regime has taken; for sure this will not go unchallenged. Civil servants will take this seriously and respond accordingly.”

College Lecturers’ Association of Zimbabwe president, David Dzatsunga said as civil servants, they would engage Public Service minister Prisca Mupfumira to register their disbelief and inform her of their next move.

“This is war and we are not going to lose this fight. This government will know that cruelty and arrogance does not pay. For sure we are going to fight for our rights,” he said.

Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (RTUZ) also called on both Mugabe and Chinamasa to resign for failing to revive the ailing economy.

“Our members that educate children under adverse conditions in rural areas would be severely affected,” RTUZ said.
“To forego bonuses and taxing our little allowances will hit our pockets hard. We are already an impoverished lot and this will further affect our income. This will negatively affect our education delivery.”

The rural teachers said they no longer had confidence in the government.

“We are calling on them to shape up or ship out. This authority has proved over the years not to have the needs of people at heart and they propose questionable economic, political and social principles. We cannot continue to be victims of a failed state,” the rural teachers said.

“Government has in the past months been struggling to fund its wage bill, forcing it to stagger salary dates for our members and other civil servants, sometimes running into the following month. We advocate for a pro poor education system that respects all players. Government should be more progressive in dealing with its civil servants, not to be an agent of doom.”

By Sharon Kantengwa

"We did a market survey and interviewed teachers, school administrations and parents. All of them were very excited to have such a tool being effective, as it was improving the student's lives," he says.

The software compiles all course reports and sends an SMS to the parents every day after school hours to keep the parents updated and helps schools to communicate with parents, even for those who cannot access internet.

He says parents will be able to focus on the ability of their children to study well if they receive daily reports on their performance and discipline.

"A child can't succeed if he is absent or late, he can't succeed if he is sick, absent minded or sleepy in class, and doesn't have access to basic hygiene needs. Our main target is to have a smart kid as early as possible as well as have a future generation with values."
 

"The teacher will simply use it to update his report after each class, where all his students will be evaluated on 5 indicators; attendance, performance, behavior, health, and hygiene. We provide a laptop in every classroom for the teachers and we train them on the use of the software," he says.

The project pilot phase will start at Lycée Notre Dame de Citeaux with over 750 students through the last quarter of the 2016 academic year.

The pilot phase is intended to help adjust the software for better use by the teachers and enable them have better interaction with parents.

"Once we are through, we will implement the project from January 2017 in 20 schools per month, providing a solution to over 600 classrooms per month which means 18, 000 students added every month," Kasasira explains.

"For parents without mobile phones, we link them with different operators in Rwanda so as to use this opportunity. We also encourage them to develop strategies so that they can reach those clients."
 

"We can contribute by pointing the names of parents in need of cell phones. To receive the message, there is no need for internet, it's a rural oriented project," he says.

Rwanda's school dropout rate

Statistics from the Ministry of Education indicate that the overall, school dropout rate decreased by more than a half as it went down from 10.5 per cent the previous year countrywide.

"School dropout is still an issue although we constantly have intervention of local leadership. After some research, we didn't find any ICT oriented solution in Rwanda or abroad. This is how we decided to create our own platform," Karasira says.

He (Karasira) and his partner Victor Nkindi, came up with the idea to brainstorm about a solution to improve school attendance by simply using a rural oriented desktop application for the teacher.

A vision to make Rwanda a database hub for Africa

Part of Smart Africa's agenda, is to use ICT oriented solutions in the education system to improve social development and access to ICT. This is why 'Smart initiative' was endorsed by African leaders when it was presented to them during the recent African Union Summit in Kigali, a month after it was initiated.
 

"All institutions in charge of education can have our support and use generated data to take decisions. It is our wish to have a Rwandan product being successful in Rwanda, Africa and all over the world," Karasira says.

With Rwanda being at the centre stage of its development-with many projects underway to turn the country into an ICT hub in the region, the system provides real time data to be used by government institutions as data measurement for development in the Smart Africa agenda.

"We are using this system in Rwanda and very soon in Africa. We want to cover Africa within 3 years, this is our own vision 2020, if only entrepreneurs in Rwanda would think big, and share our vision with the rest of the world," Karasira says.

In Europe, the initiative is already present in Greece and the software is already being adapted in the countries. It has also already gained solicitations from across Africa where the solution is being implemented in six countries namely; Zimbabwe, DR Congo, Gabon, Gambia and Uganda where Karasira is currently doing the project pilot phase.

"Once we are able to generate metrics on a district or province's school evolution through a quarter or a semester, we can identify the need on time but most importantly, the data we generate, will allow Rwanda to become a real database hub in education for the entire Africa," he says.

outh African Airways (SAA) has banned the charging of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on board all its aircraft effective from Saturday, amid battery explosion reports.

"South African Airways has taken a decision to prohibit the charging of Samsung Note 7 mobile phones on board all its aircraft," SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali told Fin24.

"SAA will make appropriate announcements on board to remind passengers of this restriction and our crew has been briefed as well.

"This does not amount to an outright ban of the device on our flights. We trust that all our customers will cooperate fully and observe this request which the airline is making based on safety considerations for passengers and crew," he added.

Tlali said that the decision will be effective as of Saturday 10 September until further notice.

Civil aviation authority, Comair respond

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has also taken note of recent reports of exploding Note 7 batteries and concerns raised regarding the device.

"Moreover, the SACAA has also noted the announcement by Samsung to stop the sales of the Galaxy Note7, and the company's offer to replace similar devices already in customers' possession," SACAA said in a statement to Fin24.

"In light of these developments, the SACAA is currently and carefully looking into this matter and will take an appropriate decision in due course," the statement read.

However, the SACAA said that the current regulations do not prohibit airlines and operators from introducing additional and appropriate measures that would enhance civil aviation safety and security.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Comair – which operates Kulula.com and British Airways flights in South Africa – said that the company's aircraft were not fitted with power sockets, so they would not be affected by faults which have been encountered with the Samsung Note 7.
 

"It's thus not necessary to ban the Samsung Note 7 from our flights," Martin Louw, Comair operations director, told Fin24.

"That said, we adhere precisely to the very specific procedures outlined by the Civil Aviation Authority and Boeing, including those procedures which involve electronic devices. The safety of our crew and passengers is always our foremost priority," Louw said.

Comair said it had not yet received instructions from regulators on the use of power-banks and personal chargers. But if that changed, they would ensure adherence on board aircraft to any new instructions.

"As stated, the safety of our crew and passengers is always our foremost priority," Louw said.

Samsung halts pre-orders

Samsung South Africa on Thursday put a stop all pre-orders of the Note 7 in the country, amid 35 cases of faulty devices as reported by the company.
 

Initial reports suggested that charging the device without the original charger led to the risk of exploding batteries.

The company also told Fin24 earlier that the availability date, which had initially been set as September 23, has also been postponed until further notice.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has this week joined four Australian airlines in banning usage of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on board flights.

Source: Fin24