|
Morning Africa |
Register and its all Free.
If you are tracking the NSE Do it via RICHLIVE and use Mozilla Firefox as your Browser. 0930-1500 KENYA TIME Normal Board - The Whole shebang Prompt Board Next day settlement Expert Board All you need re an Individual stock.
The Latest Daily PodCast can be found here on the Front Page of the site http://www.rich.co.ke |
read more |
|
President @APMutharika Albino killers may face the death penalty @thetimes Law & Politics |
The president of Malawi has called for a debate on introducing the death penalty for “albino hunters” after the most recent case of a victim being killed for his body parts.
A priest and a police officer were among a gang of 12 arrested over the kidnapping and murder of McDonald Masambuka, 22, the 22nd person with albinism to have been killed in the country since 2014.
Suspects led police to a shallow grave containing his dismembered body. He went missing on March 9 from Machinga in the east of the country. His legs and some bones had been removed. A surgical assistant and one of the victim’s closest relatives are among those facing charges over his death, police said.
The body parts are made into charms or potions by traditional healers who claim they bring wealth and good fortune. The entire body of a someone with the condition can sell for tens of thousands of pounds.
|
read more |
|
Afonso Dhlakama died - apparently of kidney failure caused by diabetes - in or near his Gorongosa mountain hideout early on Thursday Daily Maverick Law & Politics |
the result of his death would “probably be instability within Renamo as there is no clear successor”, said an official in South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Co-operation.
“But no serious impact on the general stability of the country and probably the end of Renamo’s threat to Frelimo.”
Fauvet said Dhlakama “exercised iron control over Renamo, and there is no obvious successor, nobody who can negotiate with Nyusi with the same authority”.
“The worst possible outcome would be for Renamo to fall apart, with its armed force just becoming groups of bandits raiding villages and staging ambushes. Hopefully, the government and the remaining Renamo leadership can negotiate some kind of stopgap solution that will avoid such a scenario.”
Thomashausen, who had known Dhlakama since 1981, agreed with the South African official that Dhlakama’s death did not pose a threat to Mozambique’s democracy.
But he did not quite agree that it would end Renamo’s political threat to Frelimo. He said Frelimo had suffered a big loss in the recent by-election in Nampula city and so Renamo could still do well in the general municipal elections in October.
But that would, he acknowledged, depend on a smooth succession within Renamo.
He said there could be a fierce contest for the party’s leadership between its secretary-general Manuel Bissopo and Dhlakama’s daughter Maria Soares who heads the party’s parliamentary caucus.
Afonso Dhlakama, a thorn in the side of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party for nearly 40 years, died – apparently of kidney failure caused by diabetes – in or near his Gorongosa mountain hideout early on Thursday
Conclusions
A ''mercurial'' Leader is dead was happens to the Party? I think it disintegrates.
|
read more |
|
Popular Putin prepares for Cold War 2.0 @asiatimesonline Law & Politics |
Immediately after his official inauguration on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to announce a new government. And a bombshell is in the making. The new cabinet is bound to be a Stavka: that is, a war cabinet.
Yet the new, absolute red line is Syria – as recently delineated by the Russian Defense Ministry: Any attack on Russian assets or personnel will be met with a devastating response.
Back in February 1945, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Josef Stalin met in Yalta to design the post-World War II world – which ended up being framed by the Cold War. Now, in a Cold War 2.0 environment, Russia is repositioning Crimea as a debate hub on global cooperation – complete with a brand-new, billion-dollar international airport and the Crimean Bridge, spanning 19 kilometers across the Kerch Strait, and open for traffic in late May, six months ahead of schedule.
That’s what “Russian aggression” feels like.
|
read more |
|
U.S. freezes funding for Syria's "White Helmets" @CBSNews Law & Politics |
Now they are not getting any U.S funding as the State Department says the support is "under active review." The U.S had accounted for about a third of the group's overall funding.
"This is a very worrisome development," said an official from the White Helmets. "Ultimately, this will negatively impact the humanitarian workers ability to save lives."
The White Helmets, formally known as the Syrian Civil Defense, are a group of 3,000 volunteer rescuers that have saved thousands of lives since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. A makeshift 911, they have run into the collapsing buildings to pull children, men and women out of danger's way. They say they have saved more than 70,000 lives
|
read more |
|
16-APR-2018 :: War Drums Putin cornered like a Rat in Syria - What happens next? @TheStarKenya Law & Politics |
In his book from 2000, Putin briefly tells a story of the first time he learned “the meaning of the word cornered.”
There, on that stair landing, I got a quick and lasting lesson in the meaning of the word cornered. Tere were hordes of rats in the front entryway. My friends and I used to chase them around with sticks. Once I spotted a huge rat and pursued it down the hall until I drove it into a corner. It had nowhere to run. Suddenly it lashed around and threw itself at me. I was surprised and frightened. Now the rat was chasing me. It jumped across the landing and down the stairs.
|
read more |
|
OCT 15 :: Putin is a GeoPolitical GrandMaster Law & Politics |
Putin has always been considered a grandmaster of geopolitics, but of late has been placed under tremendous pressure by the oil warfare specialist –President Barrack Obama of the US.
In the context of the interminable Russiagate saga, increasingly harsh US sanctions, the Skripal charade (which, incidentally, has totally disappeared from the Western news cycle), and the serious escalation in Syria – in contrast to the Russia-Iran-Turkey attempt at a peace process in Astana – that’s an all but inevitable option chosen by the Kremlin.
|
read more |
|
U.S. says will be consequences for China's South China Sea militarisation @Reuters Law & Politics |
Sarah Sanders told a regular news briefing: “We’re well aware of China’s militarization of the South China Sea. We’ve raised concerns directly with the Chinese about this and there will be near-term and long-term consequences.”
U.S. news network CNBC reported on Wednesday that China had installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three outposts in the South China Sea. It cited sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence.
Asked about the report, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a regular news briefing: “We’re well aware of China’s militarization of the South China Sea. We’ve raised concerns directly with the Chinese about this and there will be near-term and long-term consequences.”
CNBC quoted unnamed sources as saying that according to U.S. intelligence assessments, the missiles were moved to Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef and Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands within the past 30 days.
They would be the first Chinese missile deployments in the Spratlys, where several Asian countries including Vietnam and Taiwan have rival claims.
Last month, U.S. Admiral Philip Davidson, nominated to head U.S. Pacific Command, said China could use its “forward operating bases” in the South China Sea to challenge the U.S. regional presence and “would easily overwhelm the military forces of any other South China Sea claimants.”
Conclusions
|
read more |
|
China threatens Taiwan, but how far will Beijing go? Asia Times Law & Politics |
While the media continue to focus on developments from the recent summit between Pyongyang and Seoul and the upcoming meeting between Pyongyang and Washington, Beijing has taken advantage of the diversion to increase pressure on Taiwan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a highly-charged speech before the National People’s Congress, warned that Beijing was ready to fight its enemies in a “bloody battle” to regain its past glory and preserve its empire. Subsequently, an editorial in the Global Times, a state-owned but unofficial outlet for ideas that Beijing wishes to float for reaction, said China must prepare for a “direct military clash in the Taiwan Straits”. These are not just words.
In recent weeks, Beijing sailed its aircraft carrier and associated support vessels through the Taiwan Strait, conducting live-fire exercises, and flew its bombers and fighters around the island nation at least twice last month.
This is not the first display of force by China in the area and China has not hesitated to engage in actual hostilities with regard to Taiwan.
Given the narrowness of the Taiwan Strait – 130 to 220kms – and the range of modern weaponry, Chinese airplanes would be vulnerable not long after reaching the midpoint between the two nations. An incursion into Taiwanese airspace – let alone an actual overflight – would create a major international incident. That says nothing about what could transpire should a Chinese airplane be shot up – or even shot down.
The US added more fuel to the fire by flying two B-52 long-range nuclear-capable bombers within 250 kilometers of Guangdong on the mainland to the west of Taiwan late last month. This is in addition to the Freedom of Navigation (FON) operations conducted by US warships in the South China Sea, not too distant from Taiwan.
Events in the airspace and seas around Taipei are certain to heat up this year, and while it is clear that bullies understand and respect only force, what is not known is how things will play out. Taiwanese independence and Xi Jinping’s face are at stake.
|
read more |
|
Taiwan Livid After China Secretly Installs Cruise Missiles On Contested Spratly Islands @zerohedge Law & Politics |
"In one or two months, China will hold more long-range military training and increase combined forces operations when engaged in such activities in waters near Taiwan,” Yen said when responding to another lawmaker Chiang Chi-chen about Beijing’s increased military exercises in the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea.
Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank, said deploying missiles on the outposts would be important.
“These would be the first missiles in the Spratlys, either surface to air, or anti-ship,” he said.
He added that such deployments were expected as China built missile shelters on the reefs last year and already deployed such missile systems on Woody Island further to the north.
Poling said it would be a major step on China’s road to dominating the South China Sea, a key global trade route. -Reuters
“Before this, if you were one of the other claimants ... you knew that China was monitoring your every move. Now you will know that you’re operating inside Chinese missile range. That’s a pretty strong, if implicit, threat,” said Poling.
|
read more |
|
"Flattery secures his friendship, criticism his enmity," wrote McCain in "The Restless Wave" Law & Politics |
“He has showered with praise some of the world’s worst tyrants,” McCain added.
He also accused Trump of failing to raise U.S. concerns about human rights.
“The world expects us to be concerned with the condition of humanity. We should be proud of that reputation,” McCain said. “I’m not sure the President understands that.”
Trump’s branding of unflattering news stories as fake news - regardless of their validity - was a technique “copied by autocrats who want to discredit and control a free press,” McCain said.
|
read more |
|
India offered a $1.6bn oil discount, if it pays in crypto @asiatimesonline Emerging Markets |
it’s not difficult to understand why Nicolas Maduro is trying very hard to sell his Petro crypto coin. Launched in late 2017 with the aim of circumventing US trade sanctions while also attempting to ease the pressure on the ever-sliding Bolivar – Venezuela’s inflation rate rose from 4,000% last year to 18,000 % in April and some economists say it could hit 100,000 % by the end of the year – the Petro could be the last roll of the monetary dice for President Maduro.
He claims the token, that supposedly is backed by the country’s oil assets, raised $5 billion after it went on public sale in March and, while domestically opposition politicians argue that is illegal and many in the crypto industry have said it is a national-level scam, Maduro seems to be doing all he can to use it to turn some quick profit.
According to local news outlet Correo del Orinoco, the Venezuelan president has pushed the country’s financial authorities to register 16 new crypto exchanges and the aim is clear. Make it easier for the country’s citizens to purchase the world’s first state-backed crypto-currency.
Maduro also seems to be extending the government’s crypto platform and, via an April 27 announcement, he reportedly told the Venezuelan people they could now invest in the country’s gold, via a Central Bank of Venezuela crypto-based “‘petro oro” initiative.
Now news has emerged that Venezuela, the world’s second-largest crude oil producer, has tried to cut a deal with India, according to Quartz, by offering a 30% discount on petroleum sales if, yes you’ve guessed, payments are made using the Petro.
What a dilemma to have. Make a quick $1.6 billion? Or stick to your principles. Can India dare go down Maduro’s crypto rabbit hole? Is this Delhi’s red pill, blue pill moment?
So, what would you do?
|
read more |
|
Obrigado e tchau, Dos Santos @Africa_Conf Africa |
As his family's business interests shrink and his political supporters decamp, José Eduardo dos Santos is set to lose the last redoubt of the empire he built over 38 years – the presidency of the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola. On 27 April, the party politburo formally approved the candidacy of the state President, João Lourenço, to replace his predecessor as MPLA president at a special congress in September.
With minimal fanfare, President Lourenço has been dismantling Dos Santos's network. The pace quickened after the ex-President appeared to backtrack, at a 16 March Central Committee (CC) meeting, on his prior promise to leave politics this year. Dos Santos had claimed that Angola's first local elections, planned for 2020, were so important that they required his continued presence, perhaps until April 2019. But the proposal was firmly rejected, prompting the party to speed up the timetable for Dos Santos's exit as party chief.
In private, Dos Santos says he has already accepted that he will go, and should be allowed a dignified exit. Tension is high, however. Moments before the CC meeting opened in March, the two men's aides had a heated argument about which of their bosses should be first to enter the conference hall.
For Lourenço, the campaign against his predecessors is aimed at convincing foreign investors that Angola has turned a page. Yet Luanda still rejects any deal with the International Monetary Fund in the hope that oil prices rise to around $70 per barrel, at which level officials believe they can steer the country out of the crisis. Oil production could drop as much as 8% this year because of the fall in investment since 2014.
Sanctions imposed by the US Federal Reserve, including a ban on the sale of dollars to banks or institutions based in Angola, still weigh heavily on investment decisions. Nor does the European Central Bank recognise Angola's central bank as an effective supervisor. That restricts financial transfers. With or without an IMF deal, Lourenço's govermment will have to push through a raft of macro-economic and financial reforms to bring in the new investors. And some way down the line, Angolans should see higher growth and more jobs.
|
read more |
|
Angola's new president, Joao Lourenco, has made an encouraging start via @TheEconomist Africa |
FEW presidents have entered office amid such low public expectations as did João Lourenço, who in September became Angola’s first new president in 38 years. His assumption of power did not involve a change of ruling parties. Rather, he was the handpicked successor of José Eduardo dos Santos, who had run the country since 1979, and whose cronies controlled much of the economy. His daughter, Isabel, ran the national oil company, Sonangol, by far the country’s biggest source of hard currency. His son, José Filomeno, ran the $5bn sovereign wealth fund. Even in retirement, Mr dos Santos kept his role as leader of the ruling party. Everyone assumed that he would wield power behind the scenes.
Yet since being sworn in, the soft-spoken Mr Lourenço has unleashed change that seemed unthinkable a year ago. As well as trying to revive an economy battered by low oil prices (which have rebounded), he has mounted a spirited anti-corruption campaign. He is also steadily prising the fingers of the dos Santos clan from the levers of power.
“We don’t know whether he is a real reformist,” says Carlos Rosado de Carvalho of Expansão, a business newspaper. “We don’t know him well enough.”
There are some hopeful signs. Mr Lourenço vows to make Angola less nightmarish for investors. Currently the World Bank rates it a harder place to do business than Syria. Mr Lourenço has unpegged Angola’s currency, the kwanza, from the dollar, prompting it to fall by 27% since January. And he has made the country more enticing to foreign investors by lifting a law that had required them to have local partners who owned about a third of their business. He is also trying to break up state monopolies, which exist mostly to waste petrodollars, and has asked the IMF for advice.
He certainly needs it. Angola’s government is drowning in debt, which is about 65% of GDP (see chart) and rising. Manuel Alves da Rocha, an economist at the Catholic University of Angola, reckons the cost of servicing public borrowing has increased five-and-a-half times since 2014.
At Luanda’s glitzy hotels the talk is of Brazil, where a former president now sits in a cell. “We need a kind of lava jato—several ones,” says Francisco Viana, an MPLA member and head of the Confederation of Angolan Business Associations, referring to a huge investigation into corruption at Brazil’s state-owned oil company that netted numerous politicians. However, Mr dos Santos granted himself immunity from prosecution before stepping down. And after decades of horrific civil war, few want to risk inflaming tensions. Yet Angola is a young country, and memories of the war—as well as patience—are fading fast.
|
read more |
|
Abiy tests the military @africa_conf Africa |
The Prime Minister's first cabinet rewards allies and begins to take on the securocrats' power in politics and the economy
Building on an assertive start, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has revealed more about his leadership style with an aggressive set of federal government appointments. Although hardly unexpected, the moves strengthen his hand and that of the party he chairs, the Oromo People's Democratic Organisation (OPDO), within the four-party ruling coalition, the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
|
read more |
|
Ethiopia, Djibouti May Swap Stakes in Airlines, Ports Africa |
Ethiopia and Djibouti agreed to swap stakes in strategic public enterprises including airlines, ports and telecommunications companies, as the Horn of Africa neighbors pursue deeper economic integration.
The deal would include exchanges of shares in Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise, Africa’s biggest carrier by revenue, Djiboutian Finance Minister Ilyas Dawaleh said in an interview. Shareholdings in companies such as the Doraleh Container Terminal and in a new oil terminal, Ethiopian Telecommunications Corp. and Djibouti Telecom SA will also be swapped, he said.
While the deal has been politically “endorsed,” the two countries will form a committee to work out the details, Dawaleh said by phone April 30. Ethiopian Information Minister Ahmed Shide confirmed the agreement in a text message.
The pact came as Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, made his first foreign visit at the weekend to Djibouti, the tiny state located where the Indian Ocean meets the Red Sea and that’s become a strategic hub for the U.S. and China. Landlocked Ethiopia -- which the International Monetary Fund ranks as the fastest-growing economy on the continent -- is trying to boost its export-oriented manufacturing, making it reliant on neighboring nations with ports.
Dawaleh said Abiy told Djiboutian officials that both countries should start referring to their state-owned enterprises as belonging to all, rather than one nation.
Abiy said in a statement on his Facebook page that officials from both countries “underlined the importance of working towards the realization of complete economic integration of the two economies.” He didn’t elaborate.
|
read more |
|
Can Ethiopia and Eritrea make peace? via @TheEconomist Africa |
“LIKE Sarajevo, 1914,” said the late Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, of the first gunshots fired on May 6th 1998. “An accident waiting to happen.” Neither he nor his counterpart in neighbouring Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki, imagined that a light skirmish at Badme, a border village of which few had heard, could spiral into full-scale war. But two years later about 80,000 lives had been lost and more than half a million people forced from their homes.
No land changed hands. Two decades on, Ethiopia still occupies the disputed territories, including Badme, having refused to accept the findings of a UN boundary commission. But the conflict’s miserable legacy persists. Thousands of troops still patrol the frontier. Centuries of trade and intermarriage abruptly ceased. Ethiopia lost access to Eritrea’s ports. Eritrea lost its biggest trading partner and retreated into isolationism. It has been on a war footing ever since.
But any rapprochement would almost certainly require withdrawal from Badme. This would be hard to sell in parts of Ethiopia. And Abiy would need something in return, such as access to Eritrea’s ports, which Isaias has never shown much interest in offering. Moreover, the threat from Ethiopia allows him to keep smothering democracy at home and maintaining a huge army. “Making peace would be the end of him,” says an Eritrean refugee who recently arrived in Addis Ababa. “Why would he?”
|
read more |
|
Fear stalks the economy @africa_conf Africa |
President Magufuli's crackdown is hampering economic development plans and intimidating civil servants and companies alike
Tanzania is in the midst of its ambitious second Five-Year Development Plan, a programme to rebuild and improve infrastructure while jump-starting industrial manufacturing with special economic zones and export-processing zones around the major coastal cities.
|
read more |
|
World Bank grants Kenya $1 bln loan for infrastructure projects @ReutersAfrica Kenyan Economy |
Most of the money will be spent in the counties of Garissa, Isiolo, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, and West Pokot which fall below national averages on development indicators, the World Bank said in a statement.
“These infrastructure investments are laying the ground for additional operations that will enable sustainable livelihoods with targeted support to farmers and pastoralists in the region and expanded support to the most vulnerable households through regular cash transfers,” the Bank said.
The funding will go to six projects including an off-grid energy access initiative worth $150 million that the World Bank says will provide electricity to 1.2 million people and contribute 96 megawatts to the national grid.
|
read more |
|
.@CICInsurance takes hit from lenders' collapse @StandardKenya Kenyan Economy |
The chief executive officer, Tom Gitogo, said Imperial Bank had Sh560 million in CIC’s deposits. The insurer also had Sh1.2 billion in Chase Bank but managed to withdrawals some money. According to Mr Gitogo, CIC had invested Sh155 million into a five-year bond that the bank had floated to raise equity. In the case of Imperial Bank, we have made provisions in our current books covering the entire Sh560 million. Bond maturity “As for Chase Bank, the bond was to mature by 2022. We are doing what we call amortisation of the bond by making periodic provisions for it, which will be made fully by the year 2022, when the bond reaches its maturity. For now, out of the Sh155 million, we have made provisions worth Sh45 million,” he added.
|
read more |
|
.@CICInsurance share price data here -16.96% 2018 Kenyan Economy |
Par Value: Closing Price: 4.65 Total Shares Issued: 2615538528.00 Market Capitalization: 12,162,254,155 EPS: 0.18 PE: 25.833
CIC is the leading provider of micro insurance and other financial services CIC Insurance Group Limited FY 2017 Results through 31st December 2017 vs. 31st December 2016 FY Gross earned premiums 14.336192b vs. 11.814012b +21.349% FY Reinsurance ceded [2.241195b] vs. [1.782711b] +25.718% FY Net earned premiums 12.094997b vs. 10.031301b +20.573% FY Fees and commissions income 1.023407b vs. 649.682m +57.524% FY Investment income 1.543581b vs. 1.301671b +18.585% FY FX gain 233.904m vs. 525.321m -55.474% FY Total income 15.600262b vs. 13.017360b +19.842% FY Claims and policyholders benefits expense [7.856468b] vs. [6.469473b] +21.439% FY Commissions expense [2.122470b] vs. [1.538723b] +37.937% FY Operating and other expenses [4.914736b] vs. [4.606009b] +6.703% FY Total expenses [15.081152b] vs. [12.911684b] +16.802% FY PBT 519.156m vs. 114.388m +353.855% FY Profit for the year 478.473m vs. 188.185m +154.257% EPS 0.18 vs. 0.07 +157.143% Dividend per share 0.12 vs. 0.105 +14.286%
|
read more |
|
|
|
|