Day: June 23, 2023

Zimbabwe’s electoral body has cleared 11 people to contest in presidential elections in August, after many politicians complained of exorbitant application fees.

The Zimbabwe electoral commission raised registration costs to $20,000, up from $1,000 in the previous elections. Fees for the MPs' positions were raised from $50 to $1,000.

Opposition parties said the fee had a negative effect on democracy as most people earn less than $300 a month.

Zimbabwe will hold presidential, parliamentary and council elections on 23 August.

The electoral commission worked late into the night to approve the 11 candidates.

They include the two front runners, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his main rival Nelson Chamisa. An exiled former government minister will also run as an independent.

The number of candidates is half that of 2018, after many familiar faces opted out citing the exorbitant registration fee.

Zimbabwe is facing cash shortages, and an economic crisis that has eroded earnings - most people earn less than $300.

At least 10 hopefuls were rejected, and for the first time in years, no women candidates were cleared to contest.

They have four days to appeal against the electoral body’s decision.

Source: BBC

Zimbabwe heads to the polls in August against a backdrop of one of the world's highest rates of inflation and accusations of an intensifying crackdown on the opposition.

Long-time president Robert Mugabe was deposed in 2017 but many say that little has changed.

In the run-up to the vote, questions linger over how free and fair the ballot will be in a country that is trying to rehabilitate its image.

When are the elections?

Zimbabweans will vote on 23 August to elect councillors, members of parliament, and a president. If there is no outright winner in the presidential contest, a run-off will be held six weeks later, on 2 October.

Who is running for president?

Zimbabwe's electoral commission has approved 11 candidates.

This is sharply down on the 23 who contested the last election, in 2018, no doubt because each candidate now has to pay $20,000 (£16,000), up from $1,000 (£800).

But the contest is likely to be between two candidates:

Incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa, from the governing Zanu-PF party

Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, from the Citizen's Coalition for Change (CCC)

Mr Mnangagwa, 80, has led Zimbabwe since the military forced Robert Mugabe to resign in 2017, and then won a disputed election a year later. He was a long-time ally of Mugabe before the pair fell out.

Mr Chamisa, 45, came second in 2018, winning 44% of the vote. A 2020 court ruling stripped him of the leadership of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and he subsequently lost access to party assets and state funding.

He formed the CCC in 2022, remains hugely popular in urban areas and is the main face of the opposition.

Other contenders include Saviour Kasukuwere - an exiled former Mugabe ally - and Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC's new leader.

Who will win?

Zanu-PF has the advantage of incumbency, state power and access to state resources. The party, which has been in power since independence in 1980, also retains strong support in rural areas.

However with the economy in such a mess, many people, especially those in urban areas and the youth, think it is time for a change.

Rural voters normally turn out in huge numbers, unlike urban and youth voters, which could work against the opposition. The government has also refused to allow Zimbabweans living abroad to vote - which could also work against Mr Chamisa.

Polling so far has predicted different results, so it is hard to use that as a guide as to who may end up president.

Furthermore, human rights activists say that in the past Zanu-PF has used various tactics to stay in power, including violence and intimidation, state-media blackouts and negative coverage of the opposition. Zanu-PF has previously denied using dirty tricks against its opponents.

What are the main issues?

The cost-of-living crisis continues to be at the core of voters' concerns, with the last three years having been some of the worst in a decade. In the 12 months leading up to May this year, prices rose by 86.5%, one of the highest annual inflation rates in the world.

Meanwhile, businesses are struggling to cope with crippling power outages and an unstable local currency, which lost 86% of its value between January and early June.

Allegations of corruption also remain a source of frustration, with a very low rate of prosecution. During the Covid pandemic, equipment was allegedly procured at inflated prices - the health minister was fired but then exonerated by the courts.

How do the elections work?

For members of parliament and council candidates, the election is won on a first-past-the-post basis - in other words the person who has the most votes.

In the presidential race, however, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to be declared the winner, otherwise there will be a run-off election between the top two.

When will we get the results?

By law the presidential election results must be announced within five days after voting ends.

Will they be free and fair?

Civil society groups and the opposition doubt that polls will be free or fair. They cite what they say has been a systemic crackdown on government critics.

The arrests and convictions of opposition figures and government critics has intensified over the last two years.

The electoral reforms that the opposition have demanded for years - to level the playing field, provide access to public media and remove ex-military personnel from the electoral body - have not happened.

CCC leader Mr Chamisa says more than 60 of the party's meetings were banned, or disrupted by police during by-elections last year, prompting fears it will happen again.

As former Zimbabwean politician Jonathan Moyo put it, Zanu-PF will not "reform itself out of power".

What happened in the last election in 2018?

This will be the second time Mr Mnangagwa and Mr Chamisa face each other.

Five years ago, the president won in the first round with 50.8% of the vote, but violence followed polling day in which six people were killed when security forces opened fire on protesters.

Observers generally commended the freedom of movement during the campaign period and relative peace on voting day, but the EU for example noted major shortcomings including state resources being misused in favour of the incumbent.

The EU said the final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors.

Mr Chamisa's party failed in its legal challenge to have the result overturned after arguing that the presidential and parliamentary vote tallies were off by tens of thousands.

Source: BBC

Members of Development Planning Co-ordinating Unit (DPCU) of the Kadjebi District Assembly have been trained on Project Management at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.

The participants were taken through the introduction to Project Management, Project Initiation, Project Planning, Project Execution and Project Closing and Ex ante Evaluation by Officers from the Oti Regional Co-ordinating Council (ORCC).

Opening the training, Mr. Cletus Chevure, the Kadjebi District Co-ordinating Director, said the orientation was necessary to build the capacity of staff since there were gaps in their work.

He said without acquiring knowledge is like working in the darkness, 'so there's the need to gain new skills daily and charged the participants to take the training seriously.'

Reverend Wiafe Asante, the Oti Regional Economic Planning Officer, said the ORCC had noticed project management as problem for most Assemblies in the Region, Kadjebi inclusive.

He said they observed the deficiency during monitoring visits to project sites in the Region and this has necessitated the training to help learn and improve on what they already knew.

Rev. Asante asked the District Engineers to terminate expired projects, but they should do final accounts before terminations to avoid Court cases and been slapped with judgment debts.

On Project Initiation, he said, this is the stage where problems are identified through feasibility studies and needs assessment.

The Regional Economic Planning Officer said at planning stage, resources must be assessed well, all stakeholders involved, and information well communicated to avoid rejection and successful project execution.

Mr. Johnson Senyo Kumah, the Acting Regional Engineer, who spoke on Project Planning, said planning and management were essential, but 'the key is not to prioritize what's on you

He explained project schedule as a timetable that organised tasks, resources and due dates in an ideal sequence so that project could be completed on time.

Mr. Kumah said some tasks were critical, others not and that many tasks had some slack and could therefore, delayed a bit without delaying other tasks or affecting the project finish date.

The Acting Regional Engineer said projects compete with one another with same resources, so there was the need to 'manage resources in such a way as to optimize the use of a limited supply, trade-offs must be made.'

He said in project execution, there must be a Contingency Plan, or better still, Plan B to address unforeseen events that might cause the project costs to increase.

Mr. Kumah entreated the participants to work as a team and contribute their quota to the development of Mother Ghana.

Mr. Edward Arthur, Internal Auditor, ORCC, who spoke on Project Execution, said in the project management process, project execution tends to get the spotlight, because 'it is the stage where things get done and the activities completed or not during it have a big say in a project's performance.'

He said; 'No matter flawless your project plan is, projects in the execution phase are still subject to potential drawbacks.'

On Quality Assurance, Mr. Arthur said, 'there's an element of quality control in quality assurance-they go hand in hand.'

The Internal Auditor charged the DPCU members to try solving the right problems during project execution, as 'no matter how good the team or how efficient the methodology, if we're not solving the right problem, the project fail.'

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Albert Henyo, the North Tongu District Director of the Department of Social Welfare, has tasked parents and caregivers to pay special attention to children with visual impairment 'rather than discriminating against them.'

He said disabled children, especially the visually impaired, had an equal chance of becoming great personalities in the future.

Mr Henyo made the appeal at a day's community sensitisation event for children with visual impairment at Juapong ,in the Volta Region.

He charged parents to involve their visually impaired children in all family activities so they could also live better lives.

Mr Henyo further cautioned parents to desist from hiding their children with visual impairment but extend their total support and love towards them.

'Teach them the right things so they can also adjust to life. Show them love and care because they equally deserve that,' he said.

Mr Henyo indicated that children with various forms of disabilities could also become great people if properly trained.

The event, which registered over a hundred vision-affected participants, offered an opportunity for the free provision of medical eye tests services.

The programme, was the third to be organised within the North Tongu District under the auspices of the Department of Children with support from Royal Dutch Visio and Presbyterian Health Services.

The main aim was to provide adequate support for the holistic development of children aged zero to 15 years with visual impairment, to ensure their full participation at home, school, and the community at large.

It was under the theme 'The Holistic Development Programme for Visually Impaired Children (HODVIC).'

Some participants who interacted with the Ghana News Agency, expressed gratitude to the organisers for supporting them.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Africans living in the diaspora have been urged to reconnect with their roots and influence development in their motherlands.

They have also been advised to show keen interest in the economic, political, social and spiritual emancipation of Africa and Africans everywhere.

Bishop Dr Charles Abban, President of the International Clergy Association (ICA), gave the advice during the launch of the International Convention of Africans in Diaspora (ICAD) Conference 2023, organised by ICA in collaboration with NACAG Travel and Tours, in Accra.

The event would happen at four different locations; Chicago, USA-July 28 to 29, 2023; Maryland, USA-August 4 to 5, 2023; New York, USA-August 19, 2023, and Accra, Ghana- December 9 to 10, 2023, under the theme, 'The Truth Need to be Told'.

He said the Conference would bolster tourism and relations between the Diasporas and the African continent.

The Bishop said it would also bring together Africans and African-Americans in the diaspora for a common goal of developing their Motherland- Africa, and consider Africa as their home.

'The conference is opened to Africans, Americans, and friends of Africans on the continent in the United States and around the world, who seek to bring about the true economic, political, social and spiritual emancipation of Africa and Africans everywhere,' he said.

He said among other activities, the Conference would organise a renaming ceremony for the participants and help to establish patent right for inventions made by Africans in the Diaspora.

The Bishop urged the Ga Traditional Council to collaborate with the ICA to receive the diasporas.

Nii Quao Donkor II, Asere Tsono Mantse, said: 'We on the other hand are eagerly expecting the diasporas to come and join us in Africa to participate in all we do here.'

In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Akwasi Awuah Ababio, Director of the Diaspora Affairs, Office of the President, said the mandate of the Office was to engage diasporas and help them regain their lost existence to foster economic, political and socio-cultural development.

He said the Diaspora Affairs had successfully engaged many Africans in the diaspora to come home and contribute their quota to the development of the country.

Mr Ababio said the various programmes put together by the Office had increased Ghana's remittances, making it the second most remitted

country in Africa only after Nigeria.

He said the Diaspora Affairs would continue to lobby for convenience and inclusive policies to build a long-term relationship with diasporas to the benefit of Ghanaians.

Dr Hamet Maulana, President, Ministry of the Future, said Ghana and Africa needed the economic viability and skills of diasporas to positively impact the continent.

He described Ghana as a special country, adding that, he would do everything in his power to make sure that his people scattered in the diaspora returned home.

Source: Ghana News Agency