By Rajab Mukombozi

Mbarara — Boda boda riders in Mbarara Town have protested against the release of Mr Jackson Tumwebaze, one of the 20 suspects arrested for allegedly stealing motorcycles.

A total of 12 number plates were allegedly recovered from Mr Tumwebaze’s shop on Garage Street, Mbarara Town last week when he was arrested. However, he was at the weekend released by police to the dismay of boda boda riders.

“This tycoon has been a major threat to the boda boda industry and has always boasted that he cannot be arrested. We are not surprised that he has been released even when we are still bringing incriminating evidence against him,” said Mr James Arinaitwe, the chairperson Mbarara Municipality Boda Boda Association.

Mr Mohamed Mpagi, the publicity secretary, said such actions by police compel the public to take the law into their hands. “We have tried our best to restrain our colleagues from mob justice, but with such scenarios of arresting and freeing key suspects, there is no way we can again convince them that security is committed to helping them,” Mr Mpagi said.

Investigations ongoing

He added that they have petitioned the Inspector General of Police and Director General of the Internal Security Organisation to intervene. The district police commander, Mr Jaffer Magyezi, on Sunday, however, said Mr Tumwebaze is still being investigated and he will be prosecuted.

“He was only released on police bond and we are still investigating the matter before charging him,” Mr Magyezi said.

The police led by the district police commander, Mr Jaffar Magyezi, paraded the suspects with some exhibits on April 18. The suspects, including a 68-year-old man, Mr Majidu Muhairwe, were arrested during the Easter period.

Mr Magyezi said that between January and August last year, an average of 10 motorcycles were stolen every month and three cyclists hacked to death.

While the thefts had reduced because of police teaming up with cyclists to arrest criminals, he said it is on the raise again.

By Ashleigh Furlong and Bernard Chiguvare

It’s been 20 years since the Braaf family first submitted their claim to a portion of the Cape Town International Airport land. Some family members now strongly believe that they have been “cheated”.

Adam Braaf, 74, and the oldest surviving member of the family, said his family was forcibly removed from the land where the airport now stands by the apartheid government. “We were resettled in Elsies River. The spaces we are occupying [now] compared to what my parents used to have is very small. They used to breed cattle and other animals at the airport area, but now we cannot do that.”

Last month about 40 Braaf family members picketed along Borcherds Quarry Road over the land claim lodged in the 1990s. They say only a few relatives were compensated for the claim.

In documents seen by GroundUp, the Western Cape Land Claims Commission appears to have muddled through the claim, unsure of its validity.

Two of the Braaf siblings submitted separate claims for two pieces of land. In the original claim factors such as the erf number and street address did not match land in the airport area.

Braaf, a pensioner, said he worked as a foreman for private planes at the airport for eight years before going into the painting business.

Marisha Kannemeyer, a family member who has been spearheading their campaign, said that her great grandfather was forcibly removed from the land by the apartheid government in the 1940s. She said relatives currently live in Delft, Klipfontein and Belhar.

She said the land claim was settled on 21 January 2011 but that only one part of the family received the R333,867 payout. Out of the 15 people who shared the money, all but one member of the family received under R20,000 each. The rest of the family received nothing from the Commission.

In 2016, Kannemeyer said she went to the Commission’s offices in Cape Town and asked to see the file. “I was surprised to see all the mistakes,” she said.

In a letter to David Smit, the Director of Restitution at the regional commission earlier this year, Kannemeyer wrote that the Commission had failed to make calls to the claimants, filed incomplete forms without asking the claimants for more information and had lost files.

In 2008, Blessing Mphela the then Acting Chief Land Claims Commissioner wrote to Beverley Jansen the then Regional Land Claims Commissioner, regarding the Braaf’s claim. He said: “Apparently the claim was being investigated up to a point where an offer [for about R300,000] was made, according to the claimant. Certainly an offer can only be made on the basis of a valid claim. I need to be clarified on the purpose of further investigation when the claim was already at the point where offers were being made.”

The family have said that the smallest of the two pieces of land they claimed for was valued at R270,000.

Kannemeyer said that her great grandfather owned a piece of land almost four times the size of the land that part of the family were compensated for.

The Commission has not responded to questions by GroundUp. The Deputy Director of Communications at the Western Cape Department of Rural Development and Land Reform Vuyani Nkasayi said that he “unfortunately doesn’t have any information” on the land claim. This is despite the head of the the Director of Restitution at the Western Cape Commission having previously been personally involved in the land claim.

Nkasayi said that they would wait until the article was published and “take it from there”.

COLUMNBy Muniini K. Mulera

Dear Tingasiga:

This year’s Convention of the International Community of Banyakigyezi (ICOB) will be held in Orlando, Florida, USA, from August 3-7 under the theme: “Empowering Youth and Communities”.

This theme captures the essence of ICOB. We are driven by one central goal, namely, to empower Banyakigyezi through education. When we started ICOB in 2003, our main focus was the formation and growth of the Kigyezi Education Fund (KEF), through which we would support vocational training of young Banyakigezi.

Through KEF, a small number of Banyakigyezi in Canada, UK, USA and Uganda have funded four fully equipped Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centres and an electrical and plumbing college programme.

ICOB (Apex) has funded electrical installation and plumbing programmes at Nyakatare Technical Institute in Kanungu District. ICOB has also funded ICT centres at Rukungiri Technical Institute in Rukungiri District, Seseme, Muhabura Diocese in Kisoro District and Uganda Martyrs Technical Institute at Nyarushanje in Rukungiri District. The Korean Government and the African Development Bank have adopted the ICOB (Apex) projects at Nyakatare and Rukungiri, respectively, for on-going support.

Last week, I received the happy news that the installation of an ICOB (Apex)-funded 35- station ICT Centre at Kizinga Technical School in Kabale District was complete. I have had the privilege to observe our partners in Uganda work with great efficiency, honesty and respectful collaboration to implement this project.

I honour Mr Denis Nkoreki, the headmaster of Kizinga, whose commitment and honest handling of this project has been exemplary; Mr Narcis Rwangoga, an IT expert whose guidance has been extremely helpful; Ms’ Peninah Ngategize, our Uganda-based ICOB board member, who has shown unconditional commitment to the success of this project; Ms Eleanor Bageine and Mr Shem Bageine, community members from Kizinga who have not wavered in their support for the project. This team has demonstrated the selfless spirit of volunteerism that is the central culture of ICOB.

As in the other ICOB-funded projects, we hope that this initial investment at Kizinga will catalyse the growth of a full-fledged, expanding programme that serves the registered students and interested learners from the surrounding community. We also hope that the government will support our efforts through additional funding and invitation of development partners to support Kizinga.

The success we have had so far has been because ICOB has focused on one mission, namely, growing the KEF, with an agenda that is exclusively aimed at supporting technical education. Had we attempted to support other worthy causes, our limited resources would have been spread too thin to have an impact.

It is tempting to congratulate ourselves on a job well done. However, considering the collective financial blessings that very many Banyakigyezi enjoy, I believe that we can do much better than our modest efforts have yielded so far. We have the means to more than quadruple the annual fundraising revenues that we generate from our annual fundraising drives at our conventions.

We should not wait for the next convention to donate to this important effort. I encourage you to visit www.abanyakigezi.net and set up on-going support for the KEF.

We shall definitely encourage delegates to Orlando to come prepared to dig very deep in their pockets and support this important cause. Some individual Banyakigyezi could easily fund whole ICT centres or other technical training programmes without feeling any strain on their bank accounts.

These centres, programmes or colleges could be named in their honour or in honour of their parents or other person they choose. The joy of seeing Kigyezi rise again would be the perfect reward for such investments.

Education was the engine that powered our journeys from the misty hills and valleys of our beautiful homeland to the common room of change agents that Banyakigyezi have been all over the world. Our success was the result of great sacrifices by our forebears and our seniors that enabled us to get excellent education. Our individual intellectual abilities were less important than our collective access to opportunities for advancement through great schools.

We were lucky to have had access to excellent education steered along by some of the most dedicated teachers I have known. Today, in villages all over Kigyezi, live equally bright, even gifted, boys and girls whose journey can be changed from one with a dead-end to one of success and fulfilled contribution to humanity. There is a future governor of Bank of Uganda in Iboroozya village, Rukiga County. What she needs is the kind of opportunity that we received at a highly discounted price.

If we focus our collective minds on Kigyezi, energised by the memory of the great sacrifice made by our parents that made Kigyezi a respected place of academic excellence, we can turn KEF into a transformative engine for our development. We have the means to fulfil our obligation to empower Kigyezi with the most important tool in life: high quality education for her children. We can and we must look beyond ourselves. That will be the central agenda at Orlando. I hope to see you there.

ANALYSISBy Martin Luther Oketch

To guard against risks that may arise from pan-African banks, Bank of Uganda (BoU) has signed various Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with supervisors of commercial banks with presence in the country to enable regular and proactive interaction and sharing of information on these institutions.

Africa-based banks are expanding across the continent and now dominate the banking sector in many countries. These pan-African banks are establishing cross-border networks and overtaking the European and US banks, which traditionally dominated banking on the continent.

Unlocking the potential

The new pan-African players are driving the expansion of financial services and economic integration in helping unlock the huge potential of a fast-growing region. The advantages related to pan-African banks are numerous in the sense that the economies of both host and home countries receive numerous benefits from cross-border banking.

Increased efficiency

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the rise of the pan-African banks has increased competition and efficiency, introduced product innovation and more modern management and information systems, and brought higher skills and expertise to host banking sectors. A number of pan-Africa banks have exported innovative business models and delivery channels, such as mobile banking by Kenyan institutions, to host countries.

These advances have helped expand the availability of banking services and products, in what is called financial deepening. Pan-African banks have also extended banking services to the previously unbanked population.

In an interview with Prosper Magazine recently, the executive director supervision at BoU, Ms Justine Bagyenda said regulators routinely share information on the shareholders, directors, and senior managers of supervised institutions; key information pertaining to the performance of associates or holding company; giving the list of shareholders, directors and officers; details of the Group management structure which clearly indicates the allocation of Group senior management responsibilities, among others.

According to Ms Bagyenda all supervised financial institutions are required “to establish in country primary data and disaster recovery centres in order to ensure business continuity in cases of closures of related parties in foreign jurisdictions.”

This peer-to-peer learning effect is further reinforced as host regulators benefit through joint on-site supervisory visits of foreign subsidiaries with home authorities and as they participate in supervisory colleges, which bring together regulators for individual banking groups.

Ms Bagyenda stated that while pan-African Banks do not necessarily present a risk to the soundness of the banking sector, they have unique inherent risks by virtue of their connections to a wider banking Group and which can impact on the performance of the local subsidiary.

Ms Bagyenda said: “There is close collaboration with the Home Supervisor right from the licensing process and on an ongoing basis to ensure timely communication of emerging issues about the institution and its affiliates and timely intervention should problems arise.”

Pan-African banks can also help host countries raise their financial standards. This is because banks from more advanced African economies use higher home-country standards in their subsidiaries, and host authorities are exposed to more sophisticated reporting and supervisory practices such as capital standards recommended by the Basel Committee (an international group of bank regulators) and the International Financial Reporting Standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Committee.

“This cooperation is complimented by periodic Supervisory Colleges and Joint Cross-border inspections, aimed at strengthening the supervision of cross-border banking groups. BoU conducts consolidated supervision which looks at the overall group structure of any bank so as to identify risks to the bank arising from its group relationships,” she said.

Ms Bagyenda explained that Supervised Financial Institutions (SFIs) are required to submit an Annual Return, showing the relationship between the local subsidiary and its affiliates of parent bank/subsidiaries, as well as information on material non-compliance issues or issues of an adverse or potentially adverse nature that may affect the operations of the bank.

In her recent insights on the pan-African banks, the IMF managing di rector, Ms Christine Lagarde, stated that the expansion of cross-border banking has been impressive.

Ms Lagarde said 10 African banks now have a presence in at least 10 countries on the continent, and one is present in more than 30 countries.

“This expansion inevitably has brought a host of new complexities. With varying regulatory regimes across countries at different stages of financial sector development, it should not be surprising that effective oversight of cross-border banking presents immense challenges,” she said.

Ms Lagarde was uncomfortable, saying: “Unified accounting and reporting standards are absent. Data weaknesses abound (and) national secrecy laws and constraints on information flows impair cooperation among supervisors in home and host countries.”

She said bank holding companies are headquartered in one country and have subsidiaries across the region that operates under their hosts’ rules and regulations and this places an important burden on supervisors who have primary oversight of the holding companies.

Host countries essential

Ms Lagarde stressed that it is also essential that host countries are informed and consulted, and for host country supervisors to be involved.

Since financial sector development is an integral economic development of a nation/region, Ms Lagarde says IMF policy advice consistently focuses on financial issues, including under the Financial Sector Assessment Programme; with IMF regional centres across Africa delivering training and technical assistance related to consolidated and cross-border supervision.

Working examples

Some banks now operate across Africa with quite a number claiming sizeable market share already.

In a telephone interview with Prosper Magazine on April 5, the general manager business development at Bank of Africa (BoA), Mr Calve Serumaga, said the bank which has 35 branches in Uganda and employing 450 people, covers many countries in Africa.

“We are operating in 18 African countries. We are in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda Tanzania and Kenya. We employ local citizens and we do a lot of training at the group level to the existing staff to improve on their technical competence,” he said.

Mr Serumaga said the reason why BoA employs the local talent is because they understand the environment they work in better than imported labour.

“We think that with the introduction of Agency Banking and integration of telecommunication companies, and the mobile money banking services, there is need to bring in new technologies to bring equipment that matches with the market trend,” he said.

Head of marketing and corporate communications at United Bank of Africa, Mr Stephen Kasambeko, said told Prosper Magazine that they have eight branches and employ 160 people. “We do both corporate and retail banking services,” he said.

unique risks

The risks include: Poor domestication of strategy leading to weak market penetration; complex reporting structures and interference from the Group; significant expenses on expatriate staff; disruption in business continuity arising from interruptions.

The others are Intra-Group exposures; delays in capital allocation owing to capital restrictions on the parent company; contagion risk – loss of confidence or interventions such as closure of related entities in a foreign jurisdiction can trigger problems for the local subsidiary, even if the local bank itself is sound.

At times there are also complex management structures which impair effective supervision and cause corporate governance issues.

By Francis Byaruhanga

How can Rwanda deliver more affordable housing units and ensure low and middle-income earners acquire decent homes in the medium-term? This question becomes more pertinent particularly as the country’s urban population continues to grow rapidly while few houses are being delivered for this market segment.

However, the Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA), city authorities and other stakeholders say there is no cause for alarm “as there are new initiatives in the pipeline to bring more housing units on the market particularly affordable homes.

Leopold Uwimana, the affordable housing division manager at the Rwanda Housing Authority, said the government is, for instance, collaborating with developers and other stakeholders to bring down the cost of decent homes. He said they are working with Ministry of Local Government, districts, Rwanda Development Bank, and Rwanda Development Board to co-ordinate and attract investments into the sector.

He added that affordable housing developers and sector investors benefit from a range of incentives, including tax waivers, noting that the government supports them with basic facilities, like electricity, water, sewage, roads and other essential needs.

Uwimana said that an affordable housing development fund will also be put in place. The initiative, he said, will enable investors in affordable housing get low interest loans; buyers, too, will access mortgages at low interest.

Developers have for long complained about high cost of land and building materials, poor sector-relevant technology and high cost of financing for investors and property developers as some of the main challenges discouraging them from building low-cost homes.

According to a 2012 housing market study conducted in the City of Kigali, 340,000 new housing units are needed by 2022. Eighty-six per cent of these should be affordable housing and mid-range housing, 13 per cent social housing, and less than 1 per cent to be premium housing. At least 34,000 housing units are required annually to meet this demand.

Uwimana noted that the Ministry of Local Government is working with districts in the City of Kigali – Kicukiro, Gasabo and Nyarugenge – to help them build capacity and meet requirements of issuing municipal bonds to finance affordable housing projects and not to wait for public funds.

He said the affordable housing fund and land banks are key to finance and facilitate affordable housing investors.

Pascal Nyamulinda, the City of Kigali mayor, says they are working with developers, city engineers and one-stop centres to encourage them to invest in affordable housing as per Kigali and provincial cities master plans.

“We advise developers and constructors to consider affordable housing in their investment plan to ensure low-income earners are also catered for in terms of provision of decent homes,” he says.

More partnerships

Meanwhile, RHA said they are also partnering with sector players to deliver more affordable housing units on the market. “We have already partnered with the Abadahigwa ku Ntego, subsidiary of the Kigali Veterans Co-operative Society (KVCS), to build 56 affordable houses in Kabuga, Gasabo District.

The project targets first-time home buyers who are low-income earners,” according to Uwimana. He said government is negotiating with Moroccan investors who will invest $68 million for the construction of 5,000 affordable houses by 2018.

According to Uwimana, RHA is building affordable houses that will cost Rwf6 million for a self-contained unit with one bedroom, while those of three bedrooms will go for Rwf18 million. He said 2,700 housing units are being constructed at Rugarama in Nyamirambo, while construction works for another estate of 60 houses in Kabuga at Ndera sector start in June.

The houses will have three bedrooms at a cost of Rwf18 million each. About 560 housing units will be constructed in Batsinda and the project will also start by June.

The trends

According to Uwimana, most real estate developers target high profits (of up 40 per cent) of their investment which makes homes very expensive for the ordinary Rwandan. He added that the local investors do not have enough capital to invest in the sector, but noted that this problem would be addressed by the affordable housing fund that government will put in place.

Beatrice Chege, the head of mortgage finance at KCB Bank Rwanda, said most developers sell ‘affordable’ houses between Rwf30-50 million, which is out of reach for medium and low income earners. He said there is need for more incentives to the sector to encourage investors into the affordable housing market segment.

More challenges

Victor Ombima, an architect at Architectural and Allied Services Limited, said the cost of affordable homes depends on the location of the houses, adding that in Kigali one has to part with Rwf30 million for house with one living room, two bathrooms and a kitchen.

“However, affordability of houses in Kigali is largely affected by the many challenges developers face, including access to affordable building materials like timber, which is scarce in Rwanda. Though stones and aggregates are sourced locally, but other materials are imported which make houses expensive,” he added.

Ellie Habyarimana, the managing director at New World Construction, company that deals in the construction projects and house designs based in Kigali, said previously they faced problems with acquiring construction permits.

Stephen Milindi, the managing director of Misteph Company, a developer dealing in rentals, sales and management of commercial and residential properties, said is hard for developers to cut prices if the government does not provide them incentives like electricity, sewage systems, tax waivers and free land.

“It will be hard for private sector players to reduce prices of affordable housing units without government intervention,” he added.

John Nsabimana, the head of Urukumbuzi Company Limited Kigali, said high interest rates charged by banks push up the cost of houses, including those categorised as affordable homes.

He added that sometimes developers build houses at high rates and fail to get customers. “All this forces us to sell the houses expensively to make some profit and repay bank loans,” he said.

Vanessa Ingabire Olga, a resident of Gasabo District, says one shouldn’t rent or buy a house that costs more than 30 per cent of their income because that would be a burden.

She said the houses are costly in Kigali because the land is expensive.

How I did it

Vincent Sakindi Kayumba says he built his home in Kanombe, a Kigali suburb using a loan of Rwf30 million, repayable in 15 years.

The annual interest rate on the loan is 17 per cent. Kayumba, who earns Rwf1 million a month, says few people can secure such a big loan.

“Besides the principal loan, the bank also gave me other personal loans to finance my construction project,” Kayumba says.

The presidency has condemned a recent statement by a retired colonel, Dangiwa Umar, against the ongoing anti-corruption campaign of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

A presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, made the condemnation in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday.

Mr. Shehu was reacting to a statement issued by Mr. Umar in which he accused the government of President Muhammadu Buhari of being unfair in the war against corruption.

In his statement on Sunday, the retired colonel commended President Buhari for suspending two officials enmeshed in scandals, but criticised other actions of the administration.

“The decision by the Federal Government of Nigeria to suspend the SGF Mr David Babachir Lawal and the DG NIA Mr Ayodele Oke while they are being investigated is a welcome development in its war against corruption,” Mr. Umar said. “It is also remarkable and commendable that the Government has decided not to detain the duo while they are being investigated.”

Mr. Umar faulted the continued detention of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, despite various court judgements.

“The only explanation one can find for Col. Dasuki’s lengthy detention without trial is that he belongs to the wrong camp. He has also the misfortune of having served as National Security Adviser to the much vilified Nigerian President of Ijaw extraction,” he said, while accusing the federal government’s anti-corruption war of being a “President Buhari personal struggle.”

In his reaction on Monday, Mr. Shehu said the Buhari administration would neither succumb to media attacks nor would it be deterred by false accusations.

“The war against corruption is here to stay. As long as President Buhari is in power, Nigerians can rest assured of that.

“It will not succumb to media attacks. It will not be deterred by false accusations. It will not be quenched by disgruntled elements.”

The spokesperson said President Buhari’s administration is quite familiar with the barrage of verbal attacks that have accompanied the administration’s determined war against corruption.

“A number of Nigeria’s elite, uncomfortable with the disruption of business as usual, have fought viciously, usually via the media.

“However, this comment, coming from Umar, is highly disappointing. Because he is not in a position to label accusations. He should, instead, allow others to do this.

“Curiously, despite the various accusations and media attacks, no one has so far come forth with any evidence of President Buhari’s selectiveness in the war against corruption,” he said.

Mr. Shehu challenged anyone or organisation with any evidence of bias or partiality in the fight against corruption to make it public

He stated that all the agencies involved in the war against corruption were allowed freedom to carry out their responsibilities, without any interference whatsoever from the Presidency.

He said, “If Umar or anyone else feels that they have any evidence to the contrary, they are encouraged to make this public.

“Ultimately, the final frontier of the war against corruption is the judiciary.

“After the anti-graft agencies have gathered proof of corruption and made arrests, they present the accused before competent courts of the land, who have the final say on who is guilty of corruption and who is not.”

Mr. Shehu maintained that President Buhari had never interfered with the judicial process, despite publicly expressing his frustration with how slowly corruption cases were handled.

“Again, anyone with a shred of evidence to the contrary is encouraged to go public with it.”

“A number of Nigerian elites have over the years benefitted from various forms of corruption, including monthly payouts from the office of previous National Security Advisers.

“Let me clarify that this is not in reference to Colonel Umar in particular.

“The Buhari administration has offended so many of our greedy elite by putting a stop to this, plugging many of the holes through which our country’s resources, belonging to each and every one of us, were looted by a few.

“Naturally, these elites are frustrated. But we shall not allow them to frustrate the war against corruption,” he said.

By Theopista Nsanzugwanko

Guangzhou — Large Chinese ladies shoe manufacturing firm, Huajian Footwear, says it now wants to invest more into Africa where it hopes to create at least 100,000 job opportunities.

The factory management also says it expects to train 2,000 African citizens in China in the art and technology of making quality shoes -comparable anywhere around the globe.

The President of the Huajian Group of companies, Zhang Huarong said that when he met the journalists from 27 African countries who visited the factory located in the city of Dongguan, Guangdong. He said this was the plan for the next two decades, targeting middle-income countries, which are also pro-quality and trust in the development process and political stability, the safety of people and working tools.

Zhang said that already, this company had begun to invest in Ethiopia, where his factory was known as Huajian International, a light industry in a city that employs more than 6,000 staff. He said the factory pays (minimum) wages of between $75 and $95 while others receive up to $500 and $ 1,000 for management staff, a remarkable improvement on the existing government minimum wages in Ethiopia – which are pegged at between $15 and $20.

He said the factory gets up to 50 per cent of its resources from within Ethiopia, 20 per cent from China while the remaining 30 per cent is sourced from other African countries. Zhang said the company that produces more than 20 million pairs of shoes in two factories, and that it sells the bulk of its shoes to the United States and Europe where they have clients who give orders to a specific brand or celebrities.

“In both these industries we make ladies shoes that we do not sell in these countries of China and Ethiopia but we send everything to our markets in Europe where we have got many customers all the time,” he said.

He said the two factories’ total sales amount to $300 million, and generated a profit of five percent per annum. He said so far more than 150 Ethiopians had undergone training within the company, and that 50 others are getting further training, but the strategy is to ultimately recruit 1,000 to 2,000 more across Africa.

He said the African recruits were trained in China to get to know the required qualities and other issues relating to the manufacture of shoes – always aiming at achieving ‘excellence’ in their industries.

On its investments in Ethiopia, he said the factory went at the express invitation of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who encouraged the Chinese to invest in his country during his visit to China recently.

The Huajian firm itself was established in 1984 in the city of Nanchang in China, initially with 18 employees and three machines; in 1996, it moved to Dongguan and set up a company with 600 employees – where it is producing one million pairs of shoes to date.

Khartoum — The Sudanese Agricultural Bank has signed four agreements with major American companies in the fields of axial irrigation, irrigation pumps, silos, solar energy, and water technology.

“Sudan’s regional and global openness is a great opportunity to transfer technology for the development of agricultural sector,” according to the director-general of the Agricultural Bank, Salaheldin Hassan Ahmed.

“The lifting of the [US] economic embargo is a breakthrough for the banking sector in general and for the Agricultural Bank in particular in its capacity as the backbone of the financing of agriculture,” he told the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) after his visit to the USA last week as a member of a delegation of the federal Ministry of Agriculture.

Ahmed said that after the exchange of documents and the opening of an account at “a major US bank”, the agreements will immediately be implemented.

He described the developments as a good beginning of operations with global banks in Europe, the Arab world, and Asia.

In end March, the Sudanese Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ibrahim El Dikheiri, told SUNA after a two-day visit to the USA that Washington promised to support the agricultural sector in Sudan, and would begin to permanently revoke the economic sanctions against Sudan during the coming three months.

Sanctions

In January, just days before leaving office, US President Barak Obama ordered the easing of financial sanctions against Sudan in recognition of “positive actions in countering terrorism”.

The executive order revoked parts of a US trade embargo, in place since the Bill Clinton administration in 1997. President Obama also lifted a freeze on certain assets of Al Bashir’s government, in light of Sudan’s “positive actions over the past six months.

“These actions include a marked reduction in offensive military activity, culminating in a pledge to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan, and steps toward the improvement of humanitarian access throughout Sudan, as well as cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism,” Obama said at the time.

By Press Release

Justice Efreti Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State has ordered that Fidelia Omoile, a serving Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, official in Isoko- South Local Government Area of Delta State, be remanded in prison custody following her arraignment on Monday, on a two- count amended charge, bordering on conspiracy and money laundering, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Mrs. Omoile was docked for allegedly collecting the sum of N112,480,000.00 (One Hundred and Twelve Million, Four Hundred and Eighty Thousand Naira), as a bribe during the weeks leading to the 2015 presidential election. She was among the over 100 INEC Officials that allegedly collected part of the $115million (N23bn) disbursed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison- Madueke, during the countdown to the 2015 presidential election.

Mrs. Omoile was arrested on April 11, 2016 following intelligence received by the EFCC on the activities of some INEC Staff, who allegedly connived with some Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, in defrauding the Federal Government huge sums of money, running into millions of Naira.

Count one of the charge read: “That you Fidelia Omoile on or about the month of March, 2015 at Asaba within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did conspire among yourselves to receive cash payment in the sum of N 112,480,000.00 (One Hundred and Twelve Million, Four Hindered and Eighty Thousand Naira only) exceeding the statutory limit without going through a financial institution and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 as amended and punishable under Section 15 (3) and (4) of the same Act”.

Count two of the charge read: “That you Fidelia Omoile on or about the month of March, 2015 at Asaba within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did receive cash payment in the sum of N112,480,000.00 (One Hundred and Twelve Million, Four Hindered and Eighty Thousand Naira only) exceeding the statutory limit without going through a financial institution and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (a) of the Money laundering ( Prohibition) Act 2012 as amended and punishable under Section 16 (b) and (4) of the same Act”.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to her.

In view of her plea, prosecution counsel, Sadiq Hussaini, asked for a trial date and sued that the defendant be remanded in prison custody. However, counsel to the defendant, K. O Obamogie, made an oral application for bail of his client and urged the court to grant his prayers. Mr. Hussaini opposed the prayers.

In his ruling, Justice Abang turned down the defendant’s application for bail, directing that the application be filed formally. He also adjourned the matter to June 6, 2017 for hearing and ordered the defendant to be remanded in prison custody pending the determination of her bail.

Morogoro — New plastic bag manufacturing factories in the country will have to install recycling facilities as the government moves to curb environmental degradation, the National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has announced.

NEMC Coordinator for the Eastern Zone Jaffar Chimgege, speaking here over the weekend, said: “As a country, we face a serious challenge when it comes to littering the environment by plastic materials and solid waste…they both pose serious threat to the environment.”

He made the revelation shortly before he welcomed Morogoro Regional Commissioner Stephen Kebwe to officiate at a two-day workshop for environment and health officials on enforcement of the Environment Act.

The officials were drawn from local government authorities in Tanga, Coast and Morogoro regions. Mr Chimgege said various measures, including compelling manufacturers to produce plastic materials of approved specifications, were being undertaken to address the environmental pollution situation.

He cited the recent total ban on production of plastic sachets hitherto used to pack alcoholic drinks, saying new manufacturers of plastic materials will be required to install recycling facilities.

“The aim is to curb environment pollution through reduction of indiscriminately discarded litters of plastic materials on land and water bodies,” he stressed.

Speaking at the workshop, NEMC’s Chief Environment Officer Glory Kombe, pleaded with members of the public, particularly urban dwellers, to reduce the uses of plastic bags when shopping.

“In rural areas, people re-use one plastic bags for several times, they wash and reuse them…this has checked scattering of plastic materials in villages. We should as well consider other materials like baskets,” she advised.

The official as well urged people to separate solid waste to enable recycling factories to reprocess plastic materials for other uses.

Morogoro RC, Dr Kebwe, urged the environment and health officials to effectively enforce the Environment Act, saying the central government has now given more powers to local government authorities to oversee the legislation.