Arcadia Foundation

The son of Togo’s late dictator has been re-elected president, election officials said, extending the family’s four-decade rule in the west African nation.

Faure Gnassingbe succeeded his father, President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who died five years ago after ruling since 1967.

President Gnassingbe had 1.2 million votes, according to preliminary results released by the country’s election commission Saturday.

His main challenger, opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre, got nearly 700,000 votes, the commission reported.

“The opposition will contest the results” in court and on the streets, Union of Forces for Change representative Kofi Yamgnane told reporters Sunday.

Indeed they did. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the opposition party headquarters in Lome, the capital.  The opposition’s insistency the election was stolen has further raised political risk amidst fears of a new wave of violence in Togo. Protesters in Lomé have already been met with tear gas.

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If you ask most Ghanaians how they would like to see their country in the next thirty years, undoubtedly, their answer would be to see less corrupt and more prosperous. Indeed, Ghanaians do deserve to have a country as such and indeed, they are starting to see such prosperity today.

It appears as though Ghana will retain 38% of its domestic oil revenue, an advisor to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Joe Amoako-Tuffuor has stated, quoting a Daily Graphic report from March 6, 2010.

With the country’s current GDP at well over $18 billion, Dr Oteng-Adjei said the total revenue to the government and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in respect of royalties, income tax and interest payment on oil and gas exploration would be $1 billion per annum, at an average crude oil price of $60 per barrel.

With oil, telecoms and alternative investors pouring in to the country, we mustn’t take a blind eye to the gaping holes in their sustainable development plan, one of which, being ongoing corruption in governance.

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Its undebatable that Nigeria is suffering from a crisis of leadership. The real victims, however, may be the casualties of civil unrest so violent in past days, its not a question of when an unorganized government will hunker down and control the situation but if.

Amidst the controversy encircling the executive office, a recent resurgence of ethnic clashes may showcase the further dissolution of a transitional government.

During the absence of former/current President Yar ‘Adua due to serious health issues, acting President Goodluck Jonathan is set to meet with security chiefs to discuss the recent clashes involving Muslim herders and Christian villagers that killed hundreds of people near the central city of Jos.

A security meeting in Abuja is begging held as authorities in Jos bury hundreds of hacked bodies of victims, mostly women and children, in mass graves.

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In TIME Magazine’s ‘A Postcard From Kampala‘, Glenna Gordon masterfully depicts the near-tangible sense of fear within the homosexual community in contemporary Uganda. She documents a couple’s mutual trepidation of expressing love while a controversial bill looms over them. The legislation, if passed, would just about make it illegal to be homosexual. The civil unrest that has followed has left a nation on the brink of losing their own modern culture and economy for the sake of barbarism.

Pepe Julian Onziema looks great in a suit. Tall and lanky, she doesn’t slouch to hide her height and doesn’t apologize for her boyish figure. Or for anything. She’s got at least 10 suits: pinstripes, white linen, black, gray, navy and others. She buys them from a guy who runs a shop on Entebbe Road, a major Kampala thoroughfare. He knows her build, and he knows what she likes.

These days, though, Onziema doesn’t wear suits nearly as often as she used to. As one of a dozen or so publicly out Ugandan homosexuals, Onziema knows that even a trip to a local shop is risky. Wearing a suit can be a death wish.

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It has been a difficult month for the Tories across the pond in Britain – talk of internal divisions and doubts over their economic policy make question time fun to watch again.  Now is the time for a positive PR campaign, some votes for the blue boys. The Guardian gets proper credit for reporting this one – they’re at least getting international commendations; no lesser global statesman than Robert Mugabe has offered David Cameron his endorsement.

“We have always related better with the British through the Conservatives than Labour,” Zimbabwe’s president said today. “Conservatives are bold, [Tony] Blair and [Gordon] Brown run away when they see me, but not these fools, they know how to relate to others.”

If David Cameron relates to others like Robert Mugabe relates to others, I for one am happy I’m on this side of the pond.

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Parliament Speaker Edward Sekandi has told critics of the anti-homosexuality bill that it won’t be withdrawn.

Proposed in October, 2009, the measure would broaden the criminalization of homosexuality and introduce the death penalty for those who have previous convictions, are HIV positive or engage in homosexual sex with people younger than 18. Gay sex already is illegal in Uganda.

Sekandi suggested those opposed to the bill present views to the parliamentary legal affairs committee.

“We shall consider your views, but we cannot withdraw the bill,” Ssekandi said Monday. “It has to follow proper procedures.”

Sekandi was responding to a petition presented to Parliament by a group that described itself as AIDS service providers, spiritual mentors and counselors. It is headed by the Rev. Gideon Byamugisha. More than 450,000 people have signed an online petition against the bill.

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Zimbabwe’s cabinet will review new local ownership rules that have sparked concern among business leaders, the industry minister said Wednesday, saying the law had been published “prematurely“.

Zimbabwe published a law three weeks ago requiring that major foreign firms divest 51 percent stakes to locals. Banks and mining companies will be the most affected by the law, which firstly, gives only five years to comply, and secondly, would be a severe hindrance to any interest in foreign investment, one the Minister clearly had in mind while speaking today.

“Indigenisation is here to stay, but it must be done in a manner which brings investment. Unfortunately those regulations were published prematurely,” Industry Minister Welshman Ncube told a meeting of business executives in the capital.

President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, has defended the law as being necessary to end colonial-era inequities.

But Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader who joined the unity government one year ago, condemned the regulations — saying they were drafted behind his back and passed without his approval.

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A meeting organized by the Geneva based Center for humanitarian dialogue in Nairobi brought together women who played leading roles in peace processes in Africa to learn from their shared experiences. Two of the participants, the Arcadia Foundation’s Betty Bigombe and Santa Okot played key roles in the Ugandan peace process. Louise Tunbridge of IRIN Radio began by asking Betty Bigombe, who was one of the mediators, to reflect on what she might have done differently.

Bigombe: Yes, there are areas that I know I went wrong. In any peace processes, in fact often times when I am asked, what would you do differently in peace negotiations and I would say I would first start mediating among mediators because there is always proliferation of mediators. And there is so much back stabbing, there is so much rivalry. And it is one of the areas that I did not pay much attention to. I was so naïve enough to believe that everybody wanted peace. Even the soldiers wanted peace. There were also economic benefits out of the war and therefore wanted it to continue. Those are things I did not guard against and did not really put a framework or a mechanism of trying to deal with such issues that eventually undermine the peace process.

Tunbridge: As a woman trying to step in and mediate a very violent conflict, what is it like?

Bigombe: You first have to prove you matter. And that took a little bit of time. There was a lot of reaction.

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“While the Peoples’ Republic of China is building the new headquarters of the AU, which has already cost Beijing more than US$130 million a year until its completion, other powers did not want to miss the grand ball in Addis Ababa by demonstrating their ’solidarity’ to the African people“, writes Yves Niyiragira, fellow and co-editor of the AU Monitor, an initiative of Fahamu networks for social justice.

During the recently concluded 14th ordinary session of the heads of State and government of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it became abundantly clear to Mr. Niyiragira, who attended the forum: world powers, whether developed or emerging powers, all want a presence in Africa.

Who are Africa’s real allies? Who should they trust? As Mr. Niyiragira states, “there are no permanent friends; only permanent interests.”

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Two years after the violence that devastated Kenya, the country shuffles forward on a razor’s edge. Very soon, the International Criminal Court will decide whether to allow prosecutors to open investigations in to those believed to be responsible for mass expulsions and killings following a controversial election.

This occurs parallel to the uncoordinated political agenda we see today from Kenya, stifling continued investment and hindering Kenya from moving on. Instead of focusing on the real issues, politicians in the region are collating their public relations teams and preparing their respective campaigns for the upcoming 2012 election. How it will end any differently is anyone’s guess.

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