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Ugandan opposition candidate Bobi Wine has rejected the results declared so far and calls himself the president-elect, despite the electoral body saying not all votes have yet been counted. Bobi Wine alleges Thursday's polls saw the worst vote-rigging in Uganda's history, but did not provide any evidence to back up his claims. He declared the struggle is just beginning. Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, says he'll address the press again in a few hours on the way forward. Early results from the electoral commission give the incumbent, President Yoweri Museveni, a commanding lead of almost two-thirds of the votes so far counted. The military have surrounded Bobi Wine’s house. - BBC
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
The party’s candidate, General Evariste Ndayishimiye, won over 68% of votes in the vote with the main opposition CNL party’s Agathon Rwasa getting 24%, according to the elections body, CENI.
The main opposition party on Thursday filed a petition at the Constitutional Court to contest the results of the vote citing fraud and irregularities.
“We deplore many irregularities with regard to the freedom and transparency of the electoral process as well as fairness in the treatment of certain candidates and voters,” said the President of the Burundi Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Joachim Ntahondereye.
He added that the church “deplores in particular the coercion exercised on certain proxies to sign in advance the counting of the contents of the ballot boxes, the stuffing of some ballot boxes, the voting in place of deceased and refugees, multiple and therefore invalid proxies, the fact that there were in some polling stations voters who voted more than once”.
It also condemns “the exclusion of proxies and observers from the places where the votes are counted, the intimidation and coercion of some voters by administrative officials who accompanied them to the polling booths, the intrusion of unauthorised persons into the counting stations”.
The Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday announced the 2021 revised electoral roadmap and told all those interested in elective offices in the next election to use the media for campaigns.
Mr Henry Muguzi, the national coordinator for Alliance for Campaign Financing Monitoring (ACFIM), a loose coalition of civil society activists advocating for transparency in financing political parties and election campaigns, said the decision to do virtual campaigns may double the cost of campaigns.
Media houses will also aim to make a killing out of the campaigns with high costs of talk-shows,\" Mr Muguzi said.
Also to suffer the blunt of high costs to get media space will be the new comers, women and youth who may not have the financial muscle to manage such expensive campaigns.
Mr Muguzi also warned that Opposition politicians are likely not to have equal access to the radios and TVs because most media houses are either owned by the NRM party members or its sympathisers.
The Burundi Constitutional Court ruled late Friday that the country does not need an interim president as stipulated by Article 121, saying the country already has a president-elect.
The Court president Charles Ndagijimana said that since the president-elect is competent and the position of president is vacant, Evariste Ndayishimiye should be sworn in as soon as possible so that he can assume office in line with the country's constitution.
Burundi's 2018 Constitution, Article 121, states that; \"In case of vacancy caused by resigning, death or any other cause by the president then the Speaker of the National Assembly takes over in the interim until a new president is elected.\"
Burundi government announced a one week mourning of the death of the country's outgoing President Nkurunziza, all sorts of karaoke and music other than religious ones were banned country wide in bars and restaurants and other public places.
[Monitor] Members of Parliament (MPs) sitting on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee yesterday rejected the Electoral Commission's (EC) decision banning open public rallies ahead of the 2021 General Elections.
BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE OPPOSITION MDC Alliance vice-chair Job Sikhala yesterday walked out of the tall walls of Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after he was granted $50 000 bail by High Court judge Justice Erica Ndewere, who blasted the State for bringing unsubstantiated allegations to court. The opposition leader was arrested last month on allegations of fleeing from justice and plotting to subvert the government. “Sikhala’s arrest was a coincidence as the police stumbled upon him while on another mission not related to him. His fleeing was not that of a fugitive, but was running away from unidentified men he reported to be following him and not the police,” Justice Ndewere ruled. The judge said the police should have called his lawyer if they were seeking him, but they did not and misdirected themselves by relying on a vague Press statement they issued. As part of his bail conditions, Sikhala was ordered to surrender his passport to the clerk of court, report thrice a week at St Mary’s Police Station and was barred from posting political audios and videos on social media. In a related matter, MDC Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende, who also faced charges of trying to subvert government, was removed from remand by Justice Webster Chinamhora after the State failed to provide him with a trial date more than a year on. Hwende, who was represented by Harrison Nkomo, had been on remand following his arrest in connection with January 2019 protests over the fuel price hikes. Hwende was one of several MDC Alliance legislators’ activists and supporters arrested in connection with the protests.
Uganda will go ahead with its planned re-opening of the country despite recording more than 150 Covid-19 cases in three days, according to President Yoweri Museveni.
In an address to the nation on Monday evening, President Museveni said that public transport will resume but with necessary health and safety measures in place.
\"For the next 21 days, no private or public transport is allowed in the border districts.
Meanwhile, Uganda on Tuesday recorded 32 new Covid-19 cases raising the national tally to 489.
\"Nineteen of the new confirmed cases are from 1,693 samples from points of entry while 13 are from 423 samples of contacts and alerts,\" the Health Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers suggests Uganda may have breached the agreements on how much water to release from Nalubaale dam -- the main outlet of the world's largest freshwater lake.
Documents filed at the EAC Council of Ministers say Uganda has refused to execute a new policy governing the release of water in Jinja, a decision that has led to flooding of the lake that could claim more lives and cause destruction.
Uganda insists that the policy, which determines volumes of water to be released based on Lake Victoria levels, cannot be implemented as it does not take into consideration several factors, like extraction in the affected countries.
The regional bloc ordered implementation of the schedule after it emerged that Uganda had been violating agreements to maintain the natural Lake Victoria outflow volumes before Nalubaale dam was built.
In 2005, World Bank senior disaster risk management specialist Daniel Kull led a study that showed that Uganda released more than 50 per cent of the allowed water volumes from Nalubaale and Kiira dams over the previous two years.
June 28: Chakwera, Chilima sworn in
\tMalawi held an investiture for president Lazarus Chakwera and vice-president Saulos Chilima, hours after the elections body declared Chakwera winner of last Tuesday’s polls.
Key statistics
\t
\t\tLazarus Chakwera, leader of the Tonse Allaince = 2,604,043 votes (58.5%)
\t\tArthur Peter Mutharika of the DPP/UDF alliance = 1,751,877 votes
\t\tPeter Kuwani of Mbakuwaku Movement for Development = 33,456 votes
\t\tOut of the 6,859,570 registered voters, 4,445,699 cast their votes
\t\tThe Commission recorded 57,323 spoilt ballots, representing 1.29%
\t\tThe commission received and resolved 10 complaints from all three participating sides
June 27: Chakwera’s victory confirmed by election body
\tMalawi Electoral Commission (MEC) late Saturday declared opposition alliance leader Lazarus Chakwera as the winner of Tuesday’s presidential re-run election.
June 25: Opposition celebrates unofficial Chakwera victory
\tOpposition chief Lazarus Chakwera has ‘taken the lead’ in Malawi’s poll count, according to unofficial results being projected by multiple local media outlets.
Read more – Malawi election commission appeals for calm as it tallies votes
June 23: Voting ends, ballot counting begins
\tPolls have closed in most parts of Malawi privately-run newspaper The Nation reports.
June 23: Malawians vote in crucial presidential poll rerun despite virus
\tVoters in Malawi have already started casting their ballots today in crucial presidential election rerun pitting incumbent Peter Mutharika and opposition coalition leader Lazarus Chakwera.
He said the ‘Real Economy’ is the economy that deals with the nine basic human needs of food, clothing, shelter, medicine, security, physical infrastructure (the railways, the roads, the electricity, the telephones), health infrastructure (hospitals etc.), the education infrastructure (schools, etc.) as well as the teaching of numeracy, literacy, skilling and intellectuality and the spiritual work (churches, mosques, radios, TVs).
Ministry of Finance relief measures
He also outline 11 measures Ministry of Finance will take to provide relief to individual and businesses to offset the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Measures from Ministry of Finance
(i) Allow corporations including small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to delay payment of corporation tax or presumptive tax for taxes due between April and June 2020 and for tourism, manufacturing, horticulture and floriculture to defer until September 2020;
(ii) Defer payment of Pay-As-You Earn (PAYE) tax by those sectors which are most affected until September 2020;
(iii) Waiver of interest on tax arrears;
(iv) Support to water and electricity utilities in order to ensure continued supply of these essential services to consumers during the period April to June 2020;
(v) Expedite payment of outstanding VAT refunds;
(vi) Payment of domestic arrears for goods and services supplied to Government by the private sector;
(vii) For those unable to pay their loans, Government through the Bank of Uganda has already put in the gazette the measures to support businesses; including allowing extension of repayment periods, postponement of loan repayment for a limited period, relaxing the conditions for non-performing loans, reduction of reserve funds commercial banks are required to keep with Bank of Uganda and creating a special liquidity facility to rescue businesses that are not able to meet operational costs due to low demand or reduced production due to COVID-19;
(viii) Capitalisation of Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) with Ug Shs.
100 billion to enable Government to invest in strategic areas;
(ix) Boosting funding to Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) in FY 2020/21 to continue with innovation research and incubation of business start-ups.
(x) Securing funding for the development of Kampala Industrial Business Park at Namanve and for power transmission and substations for Mbale, Kapeeka, Bweyogerere, Kasese, Soroti, Luzira, Jinja and Mbarara industrial parks; and
(xi) Provision of additional UGX 300 billion immediately to boost agricultural production and productivity for seedlings, fertilizers, irrigation, storage facilities and value addition.
The Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday conducted a pilot voters' registration exercise at the Accra Ridge Church to test its Biometric Verification Systems for the upcoming December polls.
The pilot was to ascertain the durability of the equipment towards a successful registration exercise scheduled for June 30.
The prospective voters spent about five minutes to go through the electoral processes at either of the two registration centres mounted at the premises, with a maximum of 20 voters observing COVID-19 precautionary measures and hygienic protocols.
Speaking to the Ghanaian Times, the Public Relations Officer of the Commission, Sylvia Annoh said the exercise was smooth and was to ensure the commission identified any challenges that might occur during the actual registration and find ways of addressing them before and during the exercise.
She explained that the registration officers did not encounter any challenges during the processes or the equipment breaking down, saying, \"We are adhering to the protocols to ensure no one got infected with the virus.\"
ONE of the MDC founding fathers Esaph Mdlongwa has died in his 70s. Mdlongwa, a trade unionist passed away on Wednesday. He was very instrumental during the formation of the MDC in 1999, together with the late Morgan Tsvangirai (president), the late Gibson Sibanda (vice president), Lucia Matibenga (former Public Service Minister), Welshman Ncube (MDC Alliance vice president) and several others. He is also father to popular musician ‘Oskido’ Oscar Mdlongwa who is currently based in South Africa
