The Voice magazine

ISSN:2588-8807

ISSN:1571-3466

Motto: Actuated towards Africa’s advancement

Volume 21. NO. 182. March 2019

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First complete African magazine published in The Netherlands since August 1999

NIGERIANS DECIDE! Buhari wins disputed Presidential polls in Nigeria.

Incumbent

Macky Sall wins

Senegal Presidential Election

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Call us today on +31684999548 or +31648519292 E-mail: info@thevoicenewsmagazine.com

The Voice Magazine Volume 21. No 182 March 2019 Edition

VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE IN NIGERIA’S FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS, GET YOUR PVC AS IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE AT ELECTIONS IF YOU ARE OF AGE 18 & ABOVE.....

Page 4 - Editorial: Nigeria wasteful elections.......

Pages 8 & 9 - Feedbacks – Pages for your letters Pages 10 & 11 - NIGERIADECIDE ELECTIONS 2019: Buhari Re-Elected President despite strong challenge.

Pages 12 & 13 - ‘Someone must account’: Ivorian president on Gbagbo’s ICC acquittal in The Hague Pages 13 & 14 - Kagame steps down, Egypt’s Sisi takes helm at African Union Pages 20 -23 - Face to face with Lourdes Lobede on Voice Chat...

Page 24 - Soweto Gospel Choir Take Home 2019 Grammy Award Page 25 - Canada takes in hundreds of freed African migrants sold in Libya as slaves Page 26 - Philanthropy and Health in Africa Page 27 - Poverty not an obstacle to excellent healthcare in Africa: Bill Gates Page 28 - Rwanda poised to open Africa’s first Smart phone manufacturing factory in 2019 Page 29 - Malawi will not live-broadcast May election Pages 30 & 31 - African Private Sector leaders take the lead to rewrite Africa’s healthcare narrative Pages 38 & 39 - Côte d’Ivoire: former football star Kalou Bonaventure doing well as Mayor of Vavoua Page 42 - Algeria’s Bouteflika confirms candidacy for election Page 43 – South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa fires gun for May 8 election, vows growth Page 45 - Sierra Leone declares rape a national emergency Page 50 - Gbagbo and Blé Goudé’s Release: Too Little, Too Late Page 51 Comoros supreme court bars key opposition figures from contesting in presidential election Page 53 - South Africa: white family told to pay R200 000 damages for force-feeding faeces to a black employee Page 54 - The ‘amazing’ African woman who caught Trump’s attention has been identified Page 55 - Nigerian Ambassador To Ethiopia Warns Travellers Against Carrying Over $3000 Page 57 - Meet Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, a black trailblazer in medicine Pages 58 & 59 - This gifted boy with autism is the youngest ever to attend Oxford University at age 6 Pages 60 – 65 - Sports stories around the world

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Living positive

Eliane

Facts about HIV and sexuality • HIV is a virus. It can only survive in the human body.

• People can unknowingly be living with HIV for years without feeling sick.

• When untreated, HIV is found in blood, sperm, vaginal fluid and breast milk.

• Unprotected sex is worldwide the main cause of HIV transmission, equally affecting men and women.

• Condoms, PrEP and HIV medication provide effective protection against HIV transmission through sex. Only condoms protect against other sexually transmittable infections.

Sexual education Sex is part of a healthy adult life. As for any other aspect of a healthy life style, children have to be educated about healthy choices.

Being open about my HIV status was the greatest thing to do for my own freedom. But being a mother of three, I also have to educate my children. They too could face prejudice, HIV stigma and discrimination.

I told them my story in a child-friendly way, by portraying HIV as a small dragon in my blood. I take medication every day to keep the dragon asleep. As long as he is sleeping, the dragon is totally harmless. I took medication to prevent the dragon from coming to their blood when I was carrying my sons under my heart. I reassured them that my dragon can never pass on to them. I can hug my children and take care of them, without any risk. HIV cannot be passed on by sharing the bathroom or using the same cup.

Some months later, we were talking on how children are conceived. I strongly believe they need to learn from an early age how to love and respect their body and make responsible choices. My role is to guide them while they develop into teenagers and adults. They need to know that sexuality is natural and beautiful. And I do not want to become a grandmother too soon either! As parents we work on building trust with them. I believe, that by educating them, my children will know what to do when it comes to love. As a mother I will always support them.

This is something I never learned from my own parents. I found out the hard way! I do not want my kids to go through the same. The most important value I teach them is to love and respect every other person as much as they respect themselves.

Everybody deserves to be loved and respected, no matter their sexual orientation, background or gender. Educating my children for a happy and healthy sex life as adults also means I want them to learn how to protect themselves from getting a sexually transmittable disease, including HIV. They will protect themselves and their future partners. And I hope they will also talk to their friends about it.

I prefer to talk with them now in trust and in the safety of our own home. They are growing older and they may go to Internet and search out of curiosity. I have no control whatsoever on the information they find themselves. I make the choice to be their Internet when it comes to sexual education.

Hiv Vereniging The Dutch Association of People Living with HIV (Hiv Vereniging) represents the interests of all people with HIV in the Netherlands, irrespective of background.

We provide information about living with HIV and organise all kinds of meet-ups.

Servicepunt Our team of expert volunteers can be contacted for any question about living with HIV, by telephone on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 14:00 – 22:00 hrs, or by email: servicepunt@hivvereniging.nl.

See www.hivvereniging.nl

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Editorial

Nigeria wasteful elections.......

P

resident Muhammadu Buhuri has been re-elected President of Nigeria although this is not the focus of our editorial this month. It is on the wasteful spending in conducting elections in Nigeria. The President said and I quote severally during his first 4 years tenure in office that the era of wasteful spending was over in Nigeria. We never understood what he meant with that assertion because if you look at the just concluded presidential elections, it is huge cost to do politics in Nigeria. As if that is not bad enough, the preparation and outcome of the election itself points to the surface how wasteful spending of scare resources could have been put into better use for the advancement of the country.

Nigeria’s elections are among the most expensive in the world, with the cost soaring from above N1 billion in 1999 to over N100 billion in 2015 and in 2019m over N242.45bn.

The country’s huge cost of elections has surpassed that of the world’s largest democracy, India, with a population six times bigger than Nigeria’s. And even more expensive than countries like Australia, Canada and United in Kingdom and yet the end result is disgraceful.

When President Muhammadu Buhari approved the proposed N242.45bn (equivalent to $672.35m at official exchange rate) to the National Assembly for this year’s general elections; hopes were high that finally the electoral body is properly being equipped to do its job without interference from any quarters because of lack of funding. The body had enough funds to prepare for the election and deliver to Nigerians a free, fair and credible elections in 2019. The money was to be shared between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and five other security agencies that police the elections.

The federal electoral umpire will spend a total of N190bn, representing 73.51 percent of the proposed amount, while the remaining N52.45bn (26. 49 percent) would go to security agencies that will police the voting process like the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) was allocated N4.28bn, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) N3.

57bn, Nigeria Police Force N30.54bn, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) N2.63bn, and Directorate of State Security (DSS) N12.21bn.

And we are reliably informed that these budget does not include other money INEC got from international organizations working on election areas and supporting Nigeria to deliver a credible elections.

One of the reason for the high budget was to enhance card readers according to INEC. Reports across the country informed us that the card readers did not function well in many polling stations, particularly in the East. Was that deliberate or faulty machines?

Organizing election has become a process of making money for some people in Nigeria and this year probably is the worst,

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not even under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 did we witnessed the type of lawlessness and reckless abandon of abuse of the electoral process with wide intimidate, destruction of INEC properties, alleged abuse of ballot materials in the hand of criminals, abuse of position and office before and during the elections. The Pastor Amb. Elvis Iruh president assured that people Editor-in-Chief arrested would be dealt with by the law.

The Buhari administration should be ashamed of the poor conduct of this election; we are however not surprised, the President had vowed on camera to the international press he would not lose the election and he would not congratulate anyone else except himself. It was a script rather than a confident statement. We said in our previous editorials that the odd favours him above other candidates; he has the electoral institutions in his grip and control.

It was obvious that the election was not properly managed, could it be the fault of the Electoral chairman but he was appointed

by Mr. President. He is the worst electoral Chairman Nigeria has had in recent times with his performance, postponing an election that he had 4 years to prepare for on the eve of the election. Even the president demanding an explanation why that should occur despite the huge amount of money spent on preparing for this elections.

With this performance, INEC should be disbanded and none of the present crop of administrators should ever be entrusted with such responsibilities no matter their titles and level of education. The hope that under this ‘discipline administration’, we would hold an elections that will not witness vote buying, ballot snatching, violence or unruly behaviors is far below expectations and the spending does not justify the end result.

The cash spent on organizing and conducting 2019 elections is enough to fund the dualization, reconstruction and rehabilitation of 62 key economic roads across the six geo-political zones of the country. Also, the election budget is about 44 times higher than what the 36 federal universities will spend on capital projects in the new academic calendar.

We pray that one day, we would revisit this huge electoral system, reduce the number of political parties, probably introduce a zero party system where every individual will come out and vie for office rather than hiding behind party umbrellas.

When the process is completed, whoever they declare winner at all electoral offices should know that the system which elected them was neither free, fair or transparent so they should not go about boosting about their victory but get down to work.

The Voice magazine The Voice magazine is editorially independent although we enjoys the support of our readers, subscribers, advertisers, non-­governmental organizations and in­ dividuals of like minds; however the magazine publishers are in no way af­filiated to any of these bodies or to any other ­ publishing institution or political interest or group.

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The Voice is published digitally online except on demand, we print hard copy..

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On the Editorial board are Ambassador Elvis Iruh, Jonathan Mgbejume, Sandra Iruh-Monsels, and Henry Oduenyi READ THE VOICE ON LINE AT www.thevoicenewsmagazine.com Our Affiliate partner: www.thenigerianvoice.com Registration NO: (Kvk. Nr. 34.110.928) TAX (BTW) NO: NL806215809B01 ISSN: 1571-3466 (For Print edition) ISSN: 2588-8807 (For Digital edition) For payments, use these bank details: Stichting Paddi Europa SNS Bank Account No: NL29SNSB0908374372 Swift Code: SNSBNL2A OR Stichting Paddi Europa Knab Bank Account No: NL77KNAB0725202238 Swift Code: KNABNL2H

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The Voice magazine is published in the Netherlands by Stichting Paddi Europa and it is p ­ ublished online from 2016 around the world. It is registered at the Chamber of Commerce Amsterdam. The Voice aim to serve as a vital link among African readers in the Diaspora and we ­provide ­objective information and organizes opinion exchange among African people both in the ­continent and abroad. Thus it strives to foster and enhance complete understanding of ­developing c­ ountries problems and bring information to help address those issues. TV

Volume 21

NO 182

March 2019 www.thevoicenewsmagazine.com

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Letter to the Editor Feedbacks/Comments Dear readers, thank you for your continued support through your feedbacks and comments. In as much as we would like to reflect your comments or feedbacks, you simply have to follow the instructions.

You need to indicate your name, email address and possibly your telephone number. We do not take responsibility for the content of your feedback, comments, reactions to articles published in our magazine. We do not accept the use of foul words or abusive words as well; we want to respect each other’s opinions even when we disagree with them. If you do not want us to disclose your details, indicate in your letter to the Editor, that would be

respectfully obeyed.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and column posts.

We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful Thank you for your cooperation.

TV

feedback

Management.

I lived in denial with my HIV/Aids Status Dear Editor, Recently a friend shared your magazine with me where I am reading a column written by one ELIANE, I am really happy for her but we are not all so luck. I live in a rural area in Kenya, still I cannot fully disclose my identity for fear of rejection in my community. Now, despite having accepted my HIV status, l face a lot of challenges, making friends, having people to trust and engaging with activities without the fear that you can infect someone else.

I was constantly sick in the last four years, it was while I was lying helpless in my hospital bed that I realised that I am truly living with HIV and I thought it was the end of me. When I was tested and told that I am HIV positive four years ago, I insulted the nurses and told them that it cannot be true. I lived in denial until I became too sick to do anything.

“I have now come to accept that there is nothing I can do to change the fact that I am now HIV positive and I will do my best to live positive. But it is not easy in rural setting where everybody knows you. Can you ask this writer how best to deal with this situation I am in now? Struggle for acceptance within the community.

Thank you.

Grace Machida

Can HIV be transmitted through kissing?

Dear Editor, I am happy that your publication has started talking about HIV/Aids through your magazine. I want to ask a question that is disturbing me. I have read that HIV virus cannot be transferred apart from sexual intercourse.

What about kissing a person who is living with HIV/ Aids. Can HIV be transmitted through kissing?

And secondly, what if both of them are positive, is also harmful if they kiss each other on the lips? I would appreciate if the answer is given through this medium so that other readers can be educated about it.

Thank you.

****** Editor’s Reply We would communicate with our expert to attend to your questions in our subsequent editions.

FEEDBACK

Breastfeeding With HIV Dear Editor, I have been following your magazine for a while now and I must confess, it is very rich with so much interesting stories and articles. Of interest is a column living positive, it is a page on HIV/ Aids, I feed it interesting as I have friends back in Africa living with the disease. One of the biggest challenge why they are not involved in relationship, sexually as well is fear of getting pregnant and

Thanks to Councilor Nweke for promoting our image in Europe.

Dear Editor, I am delighted to read your interview with Councilor Collins Nweke in The Voice! He is really working hard to support our image in Europe. I wish him success and God’s blessings for the family.

The Voice is doing well to inform all of us outside the Continent what roles we can play to support our countries and our families. Keep the information rolling!

God’s blessings for health and success.

Judge Florence Mumba.

affecting the child through their blood or breast feeding at infancy. If I understand the article, it is been recommended that HIV-positive mothers who takes antiretroviral drugs throughout the period of their pregnancy can breastfeed until the infant is 12 months old?. According to her write up the risk is 0 to 1%, although very low but there is still the risk so is it advisable for such mothers to breast feed their infant? Knowing the very little risk of becoming infected with HIV. Thank you.

Editor’s Reply Thank you Judge Mumba.

You have always been an inspiration to us and always encouraging us. We never forget how you supported us while you we started this magazine, we are celebrating 20 years anniversary this AUGUST 2019.

Best wishes as well ma.

Editor.

Please encourage Mr. Nweke to join Nigerian politics.

Dear Editor, Interesting to read the master piece interview with Mr. Collins Nweke, it is such a shame that we have brilliant brains here in the Diaspora, benefiting our slave master while we suffer back in our country, Nigeria and continent at large. I can understand how difficult it is for people like Nweke to join our politics but we need him and others. If they just continue to give advice to these greedy and thieves politicians, nothing would change. It is like putting water in a basket and expect it to hold.

I trust that with comments like mine, he would

in future think about it? Of course he has a good career in Belgium but Naija is still home.

Thank you.

By Chukwuyem Abia Amsterdam, The Netherlands

***** Editor’s reply We would pass your message to him sir.

He will respond to your call or give you his reasons why he is not involved with politics in Nigeria. www.thevoicenewsmagazine.com

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NIGERIADECIDE ELECTIONS 2019:

Buhari Re-Elected President despite strong challenge.

It

is official that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, has been declared winner of the Presidential election held on February 23, 2019 in Nigeria.

Buhari, who is the incumbent President, defeated the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, to emerge winner in the keenly contested poll but remain controversial in some quarters.

Announcing the final results of the election, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, said President Buhari polled a total of 15,191,847 to defeat his closest rival and the PDP candidate, Atiku, who polled 11,262,978.

From start, Buhari proved to be the man to beat, leading all other candidates and ending with a wide margin of almost four million votes ahead of Atiku, and drawing his largest block of votes from the core Northern states in Nigeria.

The 76-year-old Buhari won in a total of 19 states, scoring the statutory 25 per cent of total votes cast in those states, while his main challenger, Atiku, won in 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

With the announced result, President Buhari has satisfied the requirement of the law, which states that to be declared

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President, a candidate must have a majority of votes cast nationwide and at least 25 per cent of votes cast in twothirds of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The announcement of Buhari as winner brings to an end six days of an electoral process that began effectively after a week of postponement, prompted by logistical challenges in the distribution of electoral materials, according to INEC. As at the time of press, Mr. Atiku has not concede defeat and congratulate Buhari on the grounds that there is too many irregularities for him and his party to accept the result and concede defeat. They are considering legal action to challenge INEC and the APC of several irregularities.

The PDP has however called on its supporters to be calm and patient as they pursue the due process of the law to address what they describe as ‘day light electoral robbery

by APC and the agencies of government they used to rig the presidential polls’.

The shift in the date of the Presidential and National Assembly elections to February 23 from February 16 had triggered outrage across the country, heightening tension among the citizens and the political parties, with the ruling APC and main opposition PDP accusing each other of colluding with INEC to influence the outcome of the elections.

It also generated concern among local and international observer missions, casting doubt about the credibility of the process.

The fears were soon dispelled as INEC stepped up its communication with stakeholders, offering the assurance that it was set to deliver a free, fair and credible election.

Buhari’s victory comes amid protest by the main opposition party against what it describes as lack of level playing field in the run-up to the presidential election, as well as observed lapses in the electoral process, including alleged over-voting, vote buying and other forms of electoral manipulations.

The PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, had declared that the results as being announced by INEC in Abuja were unacceptable by the party.

The party called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to halt the collation and announcement of results, insisting that the outcomes were not valid.

Also echoing the PDP National Chairman in a statement on Tuesday, the Deputy Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, Tanimu Turaki, said, “We have evidence from the smart card reader accreditation data that what is being announced by INEC has been seriously tampered

with and manipulated.”

He stated further, “The PDP predicates its demand on available evidence to the effect that data from the card readers are being reconfigured to suit the manipulations, rigging, and over-voting already carried out during the election in some states by the All Progressives Congress (APC).”The election this year is the sixth since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999. Buhari was first elected President in 2015, on his fourth attempt to lead the country.

The focus now shift to the Governorship race where both parties are expected to fight out to control majority states in Nigeria. If the outcome of the Presidential election is anything to go bye, then it is going to be battle for the souls of the states in Nigeria.

TOTAL VOTES POLLED BY PARTIES IN NIGERIA ELECTION 1 A 19,209 2 AA 14,380 3 AAC 33,953 4 AAP 8,902 5 ABP 4,523 6 ACD 11,325 7 ACPN 7,223 8 ADC 97,874 9 ADP 54,930 10 AGA 4,689 11 AGAP 3,071 12 ANDP 3,104 13 ANN 16,779 14 ANP 3,586 15 ANRP 4,340 16 APA 36,866 17 APC 15,191,847 …..

WINNER 18 APDA 26,558

19 APGA 66,851 20 APM 26,039 21 APP 3,585 22 ASD 2,146 23 AUN 1,092 24 BNPP 1,649 25 CAP 1,111 26 CC 2,391 27 CNP 1,874 28 DA 2,769 29 DPC 5,242 30 DPP 14,483 31 FRESH 4,554 32 FJP 4,174 33 GDPN 41,852 34 GPN 4,924 35 HDP 1,663 36 ID 1,845 37 JMPP 1,853

38 KP 1,911 39 LM 1,438 40 LP 5,074 41 MAJA 2,651 42 MMN 14,540 43 MPN 2,752 44 MPN 2,752 45 NAC 2,279 46 NCMP 1,378 47 NCP 3,799 48 NDCP 1,192 49 NDLP 1,588 50 NEPP 1,524 51 NFD 4,096 52 NIP 2,248 53 NNPP 6,111 54 NPC 10,081 55 NRM 6,229 56 NUP 5,323

57 PCP 110,196 58 PDP 11,262,978 59 PPA 21,822 60 PPC 8,979 61 PPN 4,622 62 PT 2,613 63 RAP 2,972 64 RBNP 1,792 65 RP 2,388 66 SDP 34,746 67 SNC 28,680 68 SNP 3,941 69 UDP 3,970 70 UP 1,561 71 UPN 1,631 72 WTPN 732 73 YES 2,394 74 YPP 21,886

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‘Someone must account’: Ivorian president on Gbagbo’s ICC acquittal in The Hague

I

vory Coast’s president Alassane Ouattara says justice must be served to the victims of the 2010 post-election violence, following the acquittal of expresident Laurent Gbagbo by the International Criminal Court.

Outtara told Radio France International, on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, that his comments on the acquittal have to be reserved, since ‘it’s an ongoing trial’.

But he added: “Someone must be responsible for the 3,000 deaths. I hope that justice will shine a light on that, it is what the victims are asking for.”

ICC judges acquitted Gbagbo and his aide Charles Ble Goude on charges stemming from a wave of violence after disputed elections in the west African nation in 2010.

More than 3,000 people died on both sides of the Ivory Coast conflict after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Ouattara, his internationally backed rival.

Gbagbo, the first former head of state to stand trial at the ICC, is currently living in Belgium under conditions pending a possible prosecution appeal following the acquittal on January 15.

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He had been held in the Netherlands since 2011.

The ICC’s unwillingness to let Gbagbo return to Ivory Coast is thought to have been linked to the country’s refusal to surrender Gbagbo’s first wife, Simone, despite an outstanding ICC warrant for her arrest for her role in the post-election violence.

She was convicted and jailed by the courts there in 2015, but Ouattara granted her an amnesty last year along with 800 others.

Investigations must continue Ouattara denied that any pressure had been brought to bear on the ICC to prolong the detention or trial of Gbago.

“Interfering with international or national justice, this is not how I manage my country… let justice take its course,” he said, refusing to discuss any possible return of Gbagbo. “Let’s wait and see.”

“We are continuing our investigations in order to establish who is responsible (for the deaths),” Ouattara said in the interview to be broadcast Monday.

Gbagbo’s release has come at a particularly tense time in Ivory Coast.

Ouattara pledges not to block Soro’s presidential ambitions Ouattara also returned to the subject of the resignation of the speaker of the National Assembly, Guillaume Soro, who headed rebel forces during the Ivorian war, and then joined the government under Gbagbo.

Soro is a member of Ouattara’s Rally of Republicans (RDR) and is rumoured to have fallen out with Ouattara and possibly to have his own presidential ambitions.

Ouattara said he believed there were ideological differences between the two but “no problem” between them.

“I’m not a man to force anyone (to resign)… Soro believed that we did not share the same ideology. We are a social liberal party and he considers himself a Marxist.

I understand that this is not compatible with his beliefs,” he said.

“He is a young man that I consider as one on my sons. I do not rule out that he will return.”

Nor did Ouattara rule out Soro standing for the presidency in 2020.

“It’s his choice, he can do as he wishes. The constitution authorises him to do so and it is not a question of me standing in the way of his candidature….”

‘I can run if I want’ With presidential elections due next year, Ouattara has not said whether he will seek another term, and the coalition he formed with Henri Konan Bedie, his former ally against Gbagbo, has collapsed.

“It’s very clear, I can run if I want. There’s a new constitution (since 2016),” he said.

“All the legal opinions that I have consulted have confirmed it. I will announce my decision in 2020. I can take a decision up until July 28, 2020,” he said.

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Kagame steps down, Egypt’s Sisi takes helm at African Union

R

wandan President Paul Kagame, who led an active, reformist tenure as African Union chair has passed on the baton to Egypt, seen as more likely to focus on security issues than expanding the body’s powers.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi officially took over the rotating post of ceremonial head of the AU at the start of a two-day summit in Addis Ababa last month.

The meeting highlighted the “links between the Mediterranean and Lake Victoria,” as a metaphor for sub-Saharan Africa.

“Egypt has an interest in Africa, they want to strengthen their position on the African continent and they don’t want to be seen as a country only focused on the Arab world,” said Liesl Louw-Vaudran, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies.

Kagame’s leadership of the AU focused on institutional and administrative reforms. Sisi however is expected to focus more on security, peacekeeping and post-war reconstruction, issues closely tied to the AU’s 2019 theme of “Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons”.

“The road is still long” in terms of reaching the AU’s goal

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of “silencing the guns” by 2020, Sisi told delegates on Sunday. He announced he would hold a “forum for peace and development” in the town of Aswan, southern Egypt, in 2019.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday that peaceful elections in DR Congo, Mali and Madagascar, peace deals in South Sudan and Central African Republic and the truce between Ethiopia and Eritrea, were however signs of a “wind of hope” on the continent.

Guterres also hailed the solidarity shown in Africa, where countries house nearly a third of refugees and displaced people in the world.

“Despite the continent’s own social, economic and security challenges, Africa’s governments and people have kept borders, doors and hearts open to millions in need,” he said.

“Unfortunately, this example has not been followed everywhere.”

The chairmanship of the AU rotates between the five regions of the continent, and South Africa will take over from Egypt next year.

- Reforms and resistance While multiple crises on the continent will be on the agenda of heads of state from the 55 member nations, the summit will also focus on institutional reforms, and the establishment of a continent-wide free trade zone.

While the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) was agreed by 44 nations in March 2018, only 19 countries have so far ratified the agreement. It requires 22 to ratify it for it to come into effect.

The single market is a flagship of the AU’s “Agenda 2063” programme, conceived as key to transforming the continent’s economies.

Cairo is backing the initiative, but analysts say it will be less likely to focus on the financial and administrative reforms pushed by Kagame.

Kagame, who has been leading institutional reforms since 2016, pushed for a continent-wide import tax to fund the AU and reduce its dependence on external donors, who still pay for more than half the institution’s annual budget.

But member states have resisted both this and moves to strengthen the powers of the AU Commission, its executive organ. In November 2018, most states rejected a proposal to give the head of the AU Commission the power to name deputies and commissioners.

Egypt, like fellow regional heavyweights Nigeria and South Africa, is not keen on a powerful AU, one African diplomat told AFP. Cairo has “never forgotten” its suspension in 2013 after Egypt’s army deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who had in 2012 became the country’s first democratically elected president, the diplomat said.

“Traditionally, leaders of big powers have not really helped the position of AU chairperson, as they don’t want an AU which is too strong or too intrusive,” said Elissa Jobson of the International Crisis Group.

Kagame suffered a setback after expressing “serious doubts” on behalf of the AU about the results of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s recent presidential election, which was officially won by Felix Tshisekedi.

The country’s Catholic church had also questioned the result.

But the DRC’s constitutional court validated

the results anyway and continental heavyweights South Africa, Kenya and Egypt acknowledged Tshisekedi’s victory.

“This whole thing was an embarrassment for the AU, it showed the limitations of what the AU chairperson can do,” said Jobson.

Amnesty International expressed fears that Egypt’s chairmanship could undermine human rights in the AU. “During his time in power President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has demonstrated a shocking contempt for human rights,” said Najia Bounaim, Amnesty’s North Africa Campaigns Director.

“Under his leadership the country has undergone a catastrophic decline in rights and freedoms,” she added.

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Victory Outreach is a Pentecostal Church, Bible based believing people in the trinity of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

What would you like to know? Our vision?

Which activities we organize? Or would you like to hear testimonies about how we follow God? One thing is certain, we would like to get to know you and therefore you are more than welcome to visit one of our services. You can visit us every day of the week.

You may have been a believer for many years already. Or you might still be searching for the meaning of life and asking yourself whether or not there is God. Within Victory Outreach Almere we would like to help you find the answer. We will gladly teach you the exact meaning of “a living faith�.

With us you will truly see and experience the supernatural power of the living God. You can always count on love and comfort when you need it. You will discover that we have a wonderful diversity of people with lots of different backgrounds, characters and personalities. But there is one thing we have in common. We all follow the same God, Je18

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sus Christ.

In that diversity and love for God we are a family where you are more than welcome.

We personally hope to meet you during one of our services.

God bless you as you come in Jesus Christ name.

Amen

Pastor Roel & Ida van Rooij Senior Pastor Victory Outreach Almere.

Barbeelstraat 12, 1317 PZ Almere The Netherlands Telephone: 036-8417007; Telephone: 036-7505571 info@voalmere.nl www.voalmere.nl

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Face to face with Lourdes Lobede on Voice Chat...

Africa needs to recover its ILLUSION and drive to pursue its dreams to shine bright!

O

ur guest one face to face chat this month is a Global HR Professional and having worked in various capacities around the world is now running her own company where she does consultancy jobs for individuals, companies, businesses and organizations around the world.

She would be talking to us on what she does, a bit of her personality and life and this interview is revealing of how best you can handle your business ideas better in a challenging world we live in now. After 17 years across industries, cultures and countries as a Global HR Professional, HR Lands’ founder, Lourdes Lobede, established her own consultancy firm for Global People Strategy Development in The Netherlands.

When asked why she had to do this, read her explanation, “Because understanding “People Strategy” is the key to improve productivity, and “misunderstanding leadership” is TV: Introduce yourself to our worldwide readers please?

Lourdes: My full name is Lourdes Ndelela Kaje Lobede; I’m a mother, a friend, a partner and a Global HR professional.

But foremost, a stubborn, enthusiastic, joyful, determined and passionate human being with a global mindset and committed to give back and contribute to the prosperity of the African continent, by shining a light on its Human Capital.

TV: Where do you come from in Africa?

Lourdes: My mother comes from the Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea. My father came from Mbuji-Mayi in the Republic Democratic of Congo. They met in Spain in the early 70’s and that’s where I was born and raised for 21 years.

TV: You presently live in the Netherlands and how long have you lived in this country?

Lourdes: I came to the Netherlands 6 years ago this month. I was looking to be relocated back to Spain after my US assignment, and I found a job in the Netherlands. This is a very organized and family-oriented country, so I found it a good place to raise my 3 teenage kids.

TV: What do you do? I know you are a woman of many parts!

Lourdes: Few years ago, I would have answer “what don’t I do?”

But life has taught me, along with maturity that time is to be invested in the things that matter, that you need to take your whole self to work and that to obtain results you must focus. I have recently jumped into entrepreneurship, after more than 20 years as an Executive in Global HR. The focus of my company, HR Lands, is to help companies to be ready to Operate Globally and Manage Global Workforce, by developing Global Mindsets, Global Structures and best Global Practices. On the other hand, whilst I encourage companies to “think globally” I also 20

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a liability with a great cost impact for the business”.

Putting in 17 years’ experience in developing business leaders with diverse backgrounds and competencies, gives a unique and realistic “inside look” at business requirements and that she what she does best now. She and her team will assist you to align your business strategy with your capacity development strategy, so your human investment can pay off.

Join us as we chat with her through this interview by Pastor Ambassador Elvis Iruh, Editor-in-Chief of The Voice magazine Happy reading.

encourage them to “act locally” with a Social Initiative (“Local Me Foundation”) that encourages the investment in “local content” (local education, local entrepreneurs, and local services).

TV: As a woman with African background, how has Africans cope in the Diaspora particularly with the Netherlands?

Lourdes: I am greatly impressed to learn almost every day about a new initiative driven by an African to enhance, empower or simply give voice to other Africans both in the diaspora and back in the African continent. My experience in Spain was, for many of my youth years, an exercise of “invisibility” and tries not to attract attention to yourself.

I grew up without any African models, completely separated from my own history and negated my existence as a black Spanish citizen till this date. In the Netherlands, although I see exactly the same invisibilities happening for descendants of ex-colonies, I think we are living a great moment in history where Africans in the diaspora have finally realized that we MUST be part of the solution and take responsibility for the change we want to see.

TV: What is your impression of their development?

Lourdes: For me, the first and most important step has been taken: STOP BEING A VICTIM and waiting for a Messiah.

I think there is plenty of room for collaboration and joint venture. There is far more reach and impact in a joint effort of people with common goals, than 100 individual initiatives pretending to do “their own thing”. I do believe that years of tribalism and “classification” amongst us, is sometimes, stepping in the way of seeing the bigger picture and really committing to a higher common good.

Agreeing to disagree and still sit down at the table of negotiation is our next step: COMMITMENT TO THE HIGHER GOAL. TV: Are you still in contact with your country of origin in Africa and if yes, what contribution do you make towards its advancement?

Lourdes: I had the great opportunity to be assigned to West Africa in my work, and for 12 years I was in and out of Equatorial Guinea.

My contribution was mainly focused on education and career advice for the youth and to help them learn to discover their own abilities and how the simple skill of selling in the market of Malabo relates to that of a “Porsche Seller” in the USA. Eliminating limited views about themselves, to aspire higher and to seek for opportunities to develop further and achieve their dreams. I’m still very much in touch with the country and I will be there in May for the “African Technical Talent Forum” with a program called “WANNA BE U”.

TV: Many African countries are still rated poor and underdeveloped! What can we do differently to change the perspectives?

Lourdes: Says who? Compared to what? What metrics/ criteria are they using? What is the aim behind that

narrative? Changing the way WE see ourselves, is the only way for others to change the way they see us. Africa already has the talent and the resources we need to be successful in every way. We need to celebrate our successes and share our successful stories.

Build upon our Strengths, Acknowledge our challenges, Learn and Collaborate to improve in our weaknesses, hold ourselves Accountable for our responsibility and professionality in the process, and Focus on one thing at a time.

TV: There is a new agitation that Africans need to tell more of their stories than depending on western media to tell their stories for them?

Lourdes: I can recite to you the full story of Western Society and Spain from the Cave Man, Greeks, Romans, all the way to the Carlist’s wars and even how William of Orange liberated the Dutch from the Spanish. Up till this year I couldn’t give you the name of one single African King or Queen.

People refer to Africa as a country and not a continent despite there is 54 of them… And they think Afrikaans is our language, when there are between 1500 and 2000 languages.

Hell, yes! It is time to tell our story from our own eyes and points of views. We have the right to make mistakes too; our own mistakes.

A very good friend of mine and journalist, Lucia Mbomio, said: “When we don’t tell our stories, they make us the story and when they make us the story, we lose our place as leading actors of our own future”.

TV: Are we capable of telling our own stories with all the challenges Africa face today?

Lourdes: We don´t need permission or validation to tell our stories. We have the right to our opinion like every other human being. Right or wrong, time and history will tell, but our own.

Now, when we talk about news or informing people, we have the obligation to be rigorous, professional, transparent and open to criticism and growth in the process.

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Continued from Page 21 TV: Women empowerment – how well is African women faring?

Lourdes: African women have always been strong, powerful and probably the drivers of the progress we are living today.

However, same as it happens with post-colonialism, where ex-colonies sought external validation, many women in their greatness still waiting for “African Men” to validate them. Many of them will die without being conscious of their own greatness.

I think the question is how well are men doing recognizing African Women’s greatness and contributions and how well are Women emancipating from external validation?

My answer then will be: President Sahle-Work in Ethiopia with a 37% female cabinet is a clear path for Africa’s future, when there is a clear vision, empowerment and recognition.

TV: You have ideas on how best to empower black women. What will be your suggestion to an African woman immigrating to Europe for a better life idea?

Lourdes: In my leadership-training course, I always tell the participants, that everyone CAN lead from where

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they are. I was born and raised in the Diaspora, but I will not cease to work until immigration from the African continent is a choice and not an act of necessity. African woman, you raise households of an average of 5 children, sometimes without a father, sometimes far away from family members and yet you manage to feed them, cloth them and send them

to school, YOU ARE ALREADY HEROES, CLAIM YOUR THRONES! TV: What motivates?

Lourdes: Humanity. Some people might think is my color or my roots, however, it is my humanity. I can’t negate that I am as European as much as I am African; however, the African continent (as well as most unfavorable places in the world) has been dehumanized in order to be colonized. I keep playing in my mind the scene of the movie “Instinct” with Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr., where he reduces him, muzzles him and asks him ‘What have you lost? What did I take away from you?’ And he thought it was control, but it was ILLUSION. Africa needs to recover its ILLUSION and drive to pursue its dreams to shine bright!

TV: What is your future plans and how do you intend to work more with Africans in Europe?

Lourdes: I am taking my own advice of leading from where I am, collaborating with my expertise, as much as I can, in initiatives that work towards African emancipation, and focusing on Capacity Building. I’m in the process of registering my Foundation “Local Me”. These are aimed at collaborating in building African capacity for other foundations and have a ripple effect both in the Diaspora and the African continent.

TV: Apart from your normal job, have you been involved in other activities and if yes, like what please?

Lourdes: Since my first encounter with the motherland in 1997, I have been involved in educational activities and career orientation activities. I am currently supporting a group in Equatorial Guinea called “Locos por Cultura” (translated “Crazy about Culture”), aiming to give voice to the youth using arts (‘Making Culture, Sowing Hope’ is their motto). This group and the theatrical group “Bocamanja” have recently started a sensitization campaign about sexual education and preventing early pregnancy called “No te apresures, tu futuro importa” (translated “Don’t rush, your future matters”). I have put them in contact with our Cecilia’s “Eben Blekker Foundation” aiming at the same goal, so they can join forces.

On the 8th of March I will be giving a short motivational speech about “Women Empowerment” during the International Women celebration at the Gemeente Amstelveen.

In May, I will launch in Equatorial Guinea “WANNA B U” aiming to the youth to recognize in themselves the basic skills for different professions and how to make informed choices for their future career.

TV: What do you plan to do in the next few years or where do you expect to see yourself?

Lourdes: I see myself travelling the African continent spreading the knowledge and serving as a catalyst and a hub for African Human Capital, within the next 2 years. I see myself growing my own business in Africa in the next year and continue to build bridges and opportunities for fair-trading and partnerships.

TV: We cross path at The Voice Achievers Award in 2018, what do you think of the awards and what is your impression for the future of the event?

Lourdes: Do you know when you feel in your bones that you are at the right place at the right time? That’s how I felt during

the Voice Achievers Awards. Creating a platform to celebrate our success and to inspire people to action is one of the greatest initiatives that I’ve seen in the Netherlands in the past few years.

Meeting this entire incredible people that have stepped up to co-create Africa’s future, is amazing! On growing path, for participants, I see Africans taking ourselves more seriously in terms of accountability and professionalism; and for organizers,

going a step forward into setting specific goals and outcomes, specially for the workshop day.

TV: Lastly what would be your advice to those reading your interview right now?

Lourdes: I am you yesterday. Yesterday when you thought your voice didn’t matter, yesterday when you thought you were too small to make a difference, yesterday when someone told you your story and you believed them without questions, yesterday when you didn’t remember that Thomas Edison was expelled from school because someone classified him as “dumb” (yet he invented electric power generation), yesterday when you thought you were alone, yesterday when you were asleep.

You are the master not only of your future, but also of the future of others. You don’t need to have a project, a plan or everything figured out. All you need is to SHOW UP & DARE TO DREAM! Her company, HR Lands is committed to transform Human Capital Management & Development, into a global and diversifying experience that guides its clients to discover, shape and re-invent talent and drive business results “anywhere” in the world therefore we recommend them to you.

Do you need help? Do you want more information?

Contact us, we’ll be happy to assist Lourdes Lobede Director HR Lands Korenbloemlaan 55 1187EG Amstelveen, The Netherlands Call: T: +31 (0) 622 353 545 E-mail: info@hrlands.com www.hrlands.com

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South Africa: Soweto Gospel Choir Take Home 2019 Grammy Award

Multiple award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir have won the Best World Music Album Grammy for their collection of songs titled Freedom. The awards took place last month in Los Angeles and were hosted by Alicia Keys.

This was the group’s fifth nomination in this category and they have now won the prestigious award a total of three times.

Receiving the award on behalf of Soweto Gospel Choir were album producer Diniloxolo Ndlakuse Shimmy Jiyane, Mary Mulovhedzi and Mulalo Mulovhedzi whose late father David Mulovhedzi co-founded the group with producer/director Beverly Bryer 17 years ago.

MORE ABOUT THE ALBUM: The Grammy Award winning album Freedom was recorded in June 2018 as part of the group’s tribute to the 100 Years of Mandela celebrations. It features a selection of South African struggle songs including their scintillating version of Johnny Clegg’s poignant Asimbonanga.

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OTHER AWARDS THE GROUP HAVE WON: The Soweto Gospel Choir are no strangers to international and African accolades and awards, having previously won an Emmy for their collaboration with global pop icons U2 as part of ESPN’s 2010 FIFA World Cup coverage, (tied with Rihanna and Jay-Z’s Superbowl performance), as well as four South African Music Awards and a Metro FM Music Award among others. The group was also nominated for an Oscar for their collaboration with Peter Gabriel on the theme song for the film Wall-E. The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa tweeted out this message, “ Congratulations to the Soweto Gospel Choir for being awarded the Best World Music album for ‘Freedom’ at the #GRAMMYs. This is the choir’s third Grammy award and we thank them for telling our story to the world and flying the flag high”.

Herman Mashaba also has this to say on the group – “Hearty congratulations to The Soweto Gospel Choir for winning the third Grammy Awards. On behalf of residents of the city of Johannesburg and people of South African in general, we are proud of the group.

The choir faced tough competition in the World Music Album category: artists such as Nigerian musician Omara “Bombino” Moctar; Malian musician Fatoumata Diawara; and Nigerian musicians Seun Kuti & Egypt 80.

Canada takes in hundreds of freed African migrants sold in Libya as slaves

C

anada has resettled over 150 African migrants stranded in Libya since the 2017 CNN slave trade expose that showed smugglers auctioning migrants off as slaves outside Tripoli.

Canada’s immigration minister, Ahmed Hussen, confirmed the country’s resettlement programme to local media Global News on Wednesday saying at least 600 migrants will be resettled in Canada over the next two years.

After the 2017 CNN report, “Canada was one of the few countries to step up to work with the UNHCR to resettle these refugees directly from Libya and offer them a new home in Canada,” said Hussen.

“To date, we have resettled more than 150 people and over the next two years, we anticipate more than 600 people will come to Canada under our regular refugee resettlement program,” he added.

Some of the resettled migrants were captured by

smugglers and sold into slavery while trying to transit through Libya to Europe. Others were detained by Libyan officials in government-run migrant detention centres in the capital where they faced abuse and malnutrition.

“We are also taking action to resettle 100 refugees from Niger, rescued from Libyan migrant detention centres, including victims of human smuggling. Some people have already begun to arrive in Canada and processing for remaining individuals is underway,” Hussen was quoted by the Global News.

The report added that the resettlement of the 150 migrants to Canada was not announced because it was not done under the special resettlement programme used for Syrian and Yazidi refugees.

Early this year, Canada announced that it is opening its borders to one million more immigrants by 2020.

In November 2017, there was worldwide outrage over the video aired by CNN showing migrants being sold in Libya.

Demonstrations were held in some African countries, Europe and the United States to elicit a swift action by world leaders.

The Libyan government said it will investigate the migrant slave auctions after pressure to find the perpetrators – believed to include government officials.

The footage showed about 10 men being sold for $400 as farm labourers in a night auction in the country where smugglers are reported to have robbed, kidnapped, abused and killed migrants who are unable to pay for their freedom.

Amnesty International implicated Italy in its report for the abuse of migrants who were mainly from Nigeria.

The report accused them of providing technical support to the Libyan department that runs the detention centres, enabling the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept people at sea and striking deals with local authorities, tribal leaders and armed groups to stop the smuggling of people and increase border controls.

It cited a footage that showed a boat called the Ras Jadir donated

by Italy in April 2017, being used by the Libyan Coast Guard during a deadly incident on November 6, 2017 resulting in the drowning of about 50 people.

Amnesty International called on the European Union to insist that the Libyan authorities end the policy and practice of arbitrary arrests and detention of refugees and migrants, immediately release all foreign nationals held in the detention centres, and allow the UNHCR to operate unhindered.

It also called on the Libyan authorities to sign the Refugee Convention and adopt an asylum law.

By ISMAIL AKWEI www.thevoicenewsmagazine.com

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Philanthropy and Health in Africa

T

he impact of adequate healthcare on a strong African economy has long been a topic for debate, and an added dimension is the role the organized private sector can play to complement government efforts in providing better healthcare for all citizens across Africa.

A recent publication of the World Health Organization titled ‘The Health of the People’ focused on the health of the 738 million people living in the African Region. The report, which acknowledges that Africa confronts the world’s most dramatic public health crisis, offers hope that over time the region can address the health challenges it faces, given sufficient international support. I must add here that the best support for Africa should come from Africans themselves.

In September, on the sidelines of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York, my foundation together with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and GBCHealth brought together African and global leaders and other personalities to discuss the continent’s health challenges and opportunities for investment. The partners also released preliminary findings from our forthcoming “Healthcare and Economic Growth in Africa” report, calling for greater African private sector involvement and investment in healthcare.

To me, business and healthcare are interwoven, and only a healthy population can ensure the best labour force to build any economy successfully. Adequate healthcare for all has led to calls for greater private sector involvement in healthcare financing, humanitarian support and philanthropy.

This is also crucial for us in Nigeria and in Africa, where the Dangote Group has operations in more than 17 countries.

The main vehicle for my humanitarian interventions is the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) which was incorporated in 1994 as a charity in Lagos with a mission to enhance opportunities for social change through strategic investments that improve health and wellbeing, promote quality education, and broaden economic empowerment

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opportunities. Our primary focus is health and nutrition, supported by interventions in education, empowerment, and humanitarian relief with a main objective to reduce the number of lives lost to malnutrition and associated diseases by combating chronic malnutrition in children in Africa.

I believe that better health for Nigerians and Africans starts with better maternal and child health, and this is why it is the key pillar of the ADF strategy. To this end, we will be looking to leverage our achievements to date from our efforts to eradicate polio and enhance routine immunization in Nigeria, through our partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Federal Government of Nigeria and our State governments in Northern Nigeria, including Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Yobe.

The partnership on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization, which also focuses on primary healthcare delivery, has been extended to run through to 2022, to provide routine immunization to prevent common childhood diseases and ensure a polio-free continent.

Millions of dollars have been contributed by the Foundation to this program, as part of our commitment to better health for Nigeria and Africa.

In this spirit of collaborative public and private sector partnerships for development, my foundation, ECA, and GBCHealth will convene the Africa Business: Heath Forum 2019 on the 12th of February 2019 on the margins of the 32nd African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Through the efforts of my foundation, we will continue to be part of the push to make Africa healthier and greater. This is crucial for our individual and collective growth. I want to, therefore, call on all our business, community, traditional and political leaders to work together to invest and innovate in health solutions for a prosperous Africa.

Thank you

By Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Aliko Dangote Foundation

Poverty not an obstacle to excellent healthcare in Africa: Bill Gates Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said last month that excellent basic healthcare that would prevent easily treatable but deadly conditions was achievable even in Africa’s poorest nations.

“The good news about health is that by spending modest amounts on the prioritised areas, you can get phenomenal benefits,” he told AFP on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

“You don’t have to get all the way to middle-income before you can run a great primary healthcare system.”

The Microsoft founder mentioned interventions such as vaccines, safe delivery for mothers and the availability of antibiotic drugs as ways to drastically improve health outcomes.

Gates, whose foundation has spent around $15 billion remain key causes of mortality.

“If you look at the big killers of children, these are things that we have cheap interventions for, diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria,” said Gates.

“The first 10 percent of spending in rich countries gives you 90 percent of the benefit.”

He praised Rwanda, which has achieved universal health care coverage despite being one of the world’s poorest countries, as a “fantastic example”.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Rwanda halved mortality in children under five between 2005-2010, while the mortality rate due to malaria has decreased nearly 85 percent. in Africa since 2000, on Saturday took part in the launch of an initiative to increase investment -- mainly on the part of governments -- in the health sector.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who sparked the initiative, called on African nations to put at least 15 percent of their budgets towards healthcare.

In 2016, an average of 7.5 percent of budgets was spent in this sector on the continent, according to AU figures.

Gates noted that while efforts to improve healthcare in Africa have cut child mortality and increased life expectancy, “the numbers are still quite troubling”.

According to the AU, more than half of all Africans don’t have access to essential healthcare services, 70 percent of people affected by HIV/AIDS live on the continent and infectious diseases eradicated elsewhere

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Rwanda poised to open Africa’s first Smart phone manufacturing factory in 2019 Ina bid to solve the massive ICT and technology issues that the country is facing while also creating more jobs in the fast pace growing IT world, Rwanda is set to open its first smartphone factory making it the first in Africa to locally manufacture phones that will meet the demand of the African market.

The announcement was made by Paula Ingabire, Rwanda’s

which will provide close to 20,000 jobs.

The Rwandan reports that, while addressing the house, Minister Paula Ingabire said “once the factory starts producing smartphones, people will be paying in installments over a period of 24 months. We also have to work with telecommunication companies to seek ways of reducing prices on internet use, which will boost ICT penetration and digital services.”

The phones will be among the first devices to run Android Oreo, an OS optimized for apps like YouTube Go, Facebook Lite and Twitter Lite that are made for the African market.

The news comes in a few months after Ashish Thakkar announced in 2018 that his company would roll out the first phones for sale this year after setting up factories in Rwanda and South Africa at the Africa Investment Forum.

In November 2018, after 22 years of dealing in a variety of technology products through Mara Group, Ashish Thakkar unveiled Maraphones and a prototype at an event in South Africa. The first unveiling was at the

Minister for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Innovation at the East African country’s parliament Standing Committee on Education, Technology, Culture and Youth on February 7, 2019.

Speaking to the legislature, Minister Paula Ingabire explained that the deal is in partnership with Ugandan investor Ashish Thakkar who is already in talks with Rwanda’s authorities to set up his Pan-African technology company, MaraPhones under Mara Company and start production by April 2019 World Economic Forum in 2016 .

According to African Review, Maraphone-Mara X will be the first made-in-Africa, full-scale smartphone, to be manufactured in plants across Africa. Thakkar explained that Maraphones will produce high quality and affordable smartphones to primarily serve the population of Africa and also with the aim to export to other continents such as Europe.

With this successfully in the bag, Rwanda is becoming Africa’s leading country in terms of development and economic growth with grounded vision of about working towards the future.

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Malawi will not live-broadcast May election

M

alawi citizens will not have access to the live broadcasting of elections, as it has been the case before. In the 2009 and 2014 elections, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) gave Zodiak Broadcasting Station rights to broadcast official results.

Malawi is set to host its elections on May 21 Tripartite Elections, however, the MEC recently disclosed that there will be no official broadcaster for the elections.

“The Commission has made a decision that for 2019 Tripartite Election, there shall be no official broadcaster for the elections,” said National Elections Consultative Forum (NECOF) in Lilongwe MEC chairperson, Jane Ansah.

“The Commission has considered that the broadcast industry has undergone some transformation in the past years and the reasons that warranted the issue of official broadcaster no longer exist.”

Ansah also stated that there is no reason for the electoral body to approve an official broadcaster adding that voters should regard all results broadcast on radio stations during counting of votes as unofficial.

“Stakeholders should note that during polling and results management, if they hear announcement of results on a radio station or television by a MEC Commissioner or official, then they should take that as official communication from MEC,” she said.

During the meeting, Ansah also provided various updates on various activities the body is undertaking ahead of the elections.

Also the Malawian Electoral Commission (MEC) has extended the deadline for submissions of names for those who aspire to be monitors and observers’ for the country’s upcoming Tripartite Elections on May 21.

This follows a request by political parties to be given to time to identify and recruit their monitors. The MEC had previously scheduled 1st March as the deadline with the new date pegged at 15 April.

The MEC is the country’s electoral commission whose objectives include, among others, an improved delivery of quality electoral services to the stakeholders, and an improved collaboration and partnership with interested parties – political parties, Non-Governmental Organizations, mass media, electorate, religious communities, academics and government.

“Each contesting political party or independent candidate

shall be allowed a maximum of two monitors per polling stream and two monitors at the Constituency Tally Centre,” reads a statement issued by the MEC commission.

“Political parties are expected to submit up to four monitors’ names to district council officer. Only contesting parties and independent candidates would be allowed to place monitors at polling stations and Constituency Tally Centers, while the rest would be observers.”

The MEC has recently announced that it has approved nine presidential candidates for the upcoming elections; one of the presidential aspirants has been rejected after further analysis by the commission.

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African Private Sector leaders take the lead to rewrite Africa’s healthcare narrative, with support from African Heads of State GBCHealth, Aliko Dangote Foundation and ECA Collaborate on Inaugural Africa Business: Health Forum 2019 to improve health care for African nations.

GBCHealth, Aliko Dangote Foundation and the UN Economic Commission for Africa jointly held the inaugural Africa Business: Health Forum on the margins of the 32nd African Union Summit. It brought together leaders from government and business with a strong appeal for greater collaboration between the private and the public sector on health outcomes. This garnered commitments from public sector leaders including the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed; the President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi; and the President of Djibouti, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh as well as business leaders present, to change drastically health outcomes in Africa.

The Forum saw the launch of the African Business Coalition for Health (ABCHealth), a private sector led coalition of companies and philanthropists who will come together to positively transform health care for Africans growing population. Business and public sector leaders at the forum lauded this initiative as a timely game-changer to improve the health sector in Africa.

A vision of GBCHealth and the Aliko Dangote Foundation, ABCHealth will mobilise private sector champions committed to advancing health outcomes across Africa.

Beyond the “usual suspects”, a reference used by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede to qualify current health champions,

ABCHealth will engage a new crop of African business leaders in the drive to change the reality of the average African as far as health is concerned.

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, co-founder of ABCHealth, and co-chair, GBCHealth said, “Only partnerships will help solve the health challenges the continent faces. Healthcare in Africa is constrained by scarce public funding and limited donor support; out-of-pocket expenditure accounts for 36% of Africa’s total healthcare spend. Given our income levels, it is no surprise that healthcare spend in Africa is grossly inadequate to meet Africa’s needs leading to a financing gap of $66bn per annum.”

The private sector remains an under invested stakeholder in the war to fix Africa’s health problems and this is why ABCHealth aims to bring the right parties to the table, and provide a focus for well-meaning individuals or companies who are committed to the health agenda, thus minimising mistakes in approach,” Aig-Imoukhuede added.

In his keynote remarks, Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Aliko Dangote Foundation, said the Africa Business: Health Forum would identify issues and solutions to Africa’s health challenges with a view to mobilising the will to confront it headon. The Foundation’s Executive Director, Halima Aliko-Dangote, delivered his remarks.

African private sectors leaders take the lead to rewrite African health care narratives with the support of African Head of States.

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Dangote stated, “Governments from both developed and developing countries are increasingly looking at publicprivate partnerships (PPPs) as a way to expand access to higher quality health services by leveraging capital, managerial capacity, and know-how from the private sector.”

“With the launch of ABCHealth, business leaders can now

also restated strong commitments to facilitating quality healthcare, for all African citizens.

Speaking at the opening, Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed said; “We need to make the health sector our priority. We must capitalise on private-public partnership modalities in healthcare and recognise that it requires a great deal of inter-dependence between governments and the private sector”.

In support of the objectives of the Forum, the President of Botswana said that mobilising expertise, financial resources and innovations would go a long way towards improving Africa’s healthcare. This was reaffirmed by the President of Djibouti who said; “No country can achieve economic development without a physically, mentally and socially fit population,” hence reaffirming that health is a major economic driver.

In his remarks in what will be one of his last public appearances as Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe also said, “Achieving our health goals is not a matter of political will, it is a matter of political choice – we want to Aliko Dangote signing agreement with Bill Gates working towards Africa’s hear ‘I will do the right thing and put my advancement in the area of health development. money here, in health’.”

Didier Drogba, the legendary footballer, who through his foundation facilitates health and education make commitments and contribute directly to a healthy and access for vulnerable populations, had inspiring words at prosperous Africa, enabled by collaboration and business the Forum. “Scoring the many goals at the champions’ partnerships. Not only will this be a social good, but there is league final cannot be compared to helping that one child a profit potential, and we will drive real, sustainable action get a better chance at life.”

The Forum also had three parallel sessions on Publicacross Africa”, Dangote added. private partnerships, Domestic On her part, Executive Secretary of mobilization of funds for the United Nations health and Transforming health landscape – health research and Economic Commission for Africa innovation.

(ECA) and co-convener of the forum, Co-founder of ABCHealth, Vera Songwe said, “A healthy Africa Aig-Imoukhuede closed the is a productive Africa; a productive forum with an impassioned Africa is a prosperous Africa. Health call to action. “Africans must spending remains largely inadequate play their role in this fight to to meet the growing healthcare needs ensure that health outcomes are and Africa has a financing gap in as equitable in this part of the this regard of at least $66 billion per world as they are elsewhere. annum”. Citing findings from the Africans have no choice, there ‘Economic Growth in Africa’ report is no alternative, and we must launched during the Forum, Songwe ensure that we fix health in added, “Only two countries (Algeria Africa.” He asked public and and Namibia) spend more than 5% private sector leaders to make of GDP on health, and out-of-pocket their commitments known, and payments are still extremely high. to join ABCHEalth in making The report shows us just how much history for the good of Africa. economic impact can be made from He also thanked the co-sponsors investing in health”. of the forum Zenith Bank and Government representatives, business Access Bank for their support. leaders and other key private and public sector stakeholders

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Côte d’Ivoire: former football star Kalou Bonaventure doing well as Mayor of Vavoua Bonaventure Kalou, many of you will remember him as a professional footballer, he played with Feyenoord football in Rotterdam, The Netherlands before moving to France where he played and retired. Since then he has returned to his native country, Ivory Coast where he joined politics and last year (2018), he contested for the seat of the Mayor of Vavoua and won. So he is one of the rising stars of African politics with a career from football like the President of Liberia, President George Weah.

Kalou is 40 years old; he played also for the Ivorian Elephants, led by their former captain Didier Drogba, notably at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, during which he scored a goal for his country.

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He is a native of OumĂŠ in Ivory Coast.

The former striker was trained at ASEC (1995), the flagship club of African football. He has successively worn the colors of various foreign clubs: Feyenoord Rotterdam (1997), AJ Auxerre (2003), Paris St. Germain (2005), RC Lens (2007), Al Jazira (2007) and SC Heerenveen (2008).

Bonaventure Kalou is the older brother of center forward Salomon Kalou (now Hertha Berlin and exChelsea striker). He retired from active sport in 2010 to start business and then politics.

Since the Ivory Coast’s national star, Bonaventure Kalou, was elected Mayor of Vavoua in Center-west, his activities has been monitored by the press and we are glad to report that he is living up to expectation in his political career. Loved by the people and always follow him around to inspect ongoing projects in his province.

Both George Weah, President of Liberia, Bonaventure Kalou, Mayor of the Ivorian city of Vavoua both once played for Paris SaintGermain. As they have enjoyed their footballing career together, they seem to be enjoying life in politics as well, something new in Africa to see these ex-footballers joining politics.

We are making efforts to get Bonaventure Kalou for an interview, during his season here in 1997, he was voted the Best African footballer in the Dutch league through an award ceremony organized by the Voice magazine. It is no surprise that he has continued to shine brighter in his new chosen career- politics. www.thevoicenewsmagazine.com

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2019 Presidential Election Result: ATIKU & PDP STAND “ It is not over until it is over. Our stolen mandate must be reclaimed. We as a party and myself have mutually decided to challenge the result of this election in court and we are extremely confident that at the end of the day justice would be done and the mandate of Nigerians would be restored.

This is the worst election in this country in 20 years and we will not allow it to stand.

I told the Peace committee yesterday that if you allow this election to stand, Buhari, if he is well, if he is alive, he would be life president. He’s going to amend the constitution and subdue everybody. He would amend the constitution to remove term limits and this is what we fought against in the past.”

- Alhaji Atiku Abubakar GCON

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Algeria’s Bouteflika confirms candidacy for election Algeria’s ailing president has announced that he will seek a fifth five-year term in April’s election in the gas-rich North African nation.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika made the announcement via Algeria’s official APS news agency last month ending months of speculations.

He has faced questions over whether he is fit enough to remain

in office after two decades in charge.

The 82-year-old leader suffered a stroke in 2013 and has only been seen in public a few times a year throughout his fourth term.

His top challengers are former Prime Minister Ali Benflis, the runner-up in the 2014 election; influential retired Gen. Ali Ghediri; and the leader of a moderate Islamist party, Abderazak Makri.

A record number of candidates want to run for Algerian president in April’s election, amid growing uncertainty about whether ailing incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika is fit for a fifth term.

A total of 186 people have requested documents to declare their candidacy since the electoral process began last month. That’s more than double the number of potential candidates at this stage in the last vote in 2014.

Most won’t get the signatures necessary to appear on the April 18 ballot. But the multitude of potential candidates suggests frustration with the status quo and Algeria’s political structure.

The 82-year-old Bouteflika, who has led Algeria for 20 years, is expected to announce his candidacy soon despite the fact that a 2013 stroke left him speaking and moving with difficulty. He is rarely seen in public.

CAR president names new Prime Minister The President of the Central African Republic Faustin Touadera, has appointed Firmin Ngrébada as Prime Minister, replacing Simplice Mathieu Sarandji who resigned last week, under a decree issued on Monday afternoon in Bangui. Until his appointment, Mr. Ngrébada was Chief of Staff to the President. He led the government delegation to the peace talks in Khartoum, Sudan, which resulted in the signing of a Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement between 14-armed groups and the government on 6 February 2019 in Bangui.

Ngrébada has been a close collaborator of President Touadera for a long time. At the time when the latter held the post of Prime Minister under François Bozizé’s regime, he was his Deputy Cabinet Director, while Simplice Mathieu Sarandji, whom he had just replaced in the Prime Ministry, was the Cabinet Director.

It therefore has a heavy responsibility to form the inclusive government provided for in the Khartoum Agreement.

It was under the aegis of the African Union and the United Nations that this Peace Agreement on Peace and National Reconciliation was negotiated in Khartoum from 22 January to 5 February 2019.

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South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa fires gun for May 8 election, vows growth South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month announced general elections would be held on May 8, as the ruling ANC party looks to reverse falling popularity due to weak growth, unemployment and corruption.

Ramaphosa sought to strike an optimistic tone and said South Africans were now “much more hopeful” after he took over one year ago from his scandal-tainted predecessor Jacob Zuma.

Delivering the annual state-ofthe-nation address to parliament, Ramaphosa said that progress had been made tackling corruption and reviving the weak economy.

Zuma, who was notably absent among other former presidents attending the speech, was forced to resign by ANC lawmakers due to mounting graft scandals that are being probed by a judicial commission in Johannesburg.

“A year ago, we set out on a path of growth and renewal,” Ramaphosa said.

“Emerging from a period of uncertainty and a loss of confidence and trust, we resolved to break with all that divides us.

“We resolved to cure our country of the corrosive effects of corruption and to restore the integrity of our institutions.”

Alleged corruption under Zuma - known as “state capture” centred around millions of dollars being syphoned off through the government and state agencies awarding fraudulent contracts to favoured companies in return from bribes.

“We have had to deal with the effects of state capture on vital public institutions, including our law enforcement agencies, whose integrity and ability to fulfil their mandate had been eroded in recent years,” Ramaphosa, who served as Zuma’s vice-president, said.

RACE TO ATTRACT VOTERS Delivering sharp criticisms of Zuma’s record, Ramaphosa said “mismanagement and corruption had severely undermined” state-owned companies such as the debt-laden Eskom power monopoly, which he admitted posed a major threat to the economy.

Ramaphosa has struggled to produce immediate results since taking over, with growth less than one percent last year, and record unemployment stubbornly high at more than 27 per cent.

The ongoing judicial commission into graft has also heard blow-

by-blow details of how bribes were paid to several government and party officials, including senior cabinet ministers serving in Ramaphosa’s government.

Ramaphosa is under pressure to move against the implicated officials, but he must also strive for party unity through the election, in which the ANC will face the centralist Democratic Alliance and radical left Economic Freedom Fighters parties.

The president received a boost ahead of his Thursday evening speech when French energy giant Total announced it had found gas deposits off the southern coast of South Africa.

Ramaphosa in his speech called the discovery a potential “game changer” for the economy.

The president ended his speech with a call for South Africa to rediscover its post-apartheid optimism, 25 years after the end of white-minority rule when elections brought Nelson Mandela to power.

“At times it has seemed that the milk of human kindness that allowed us to reconcile in 1994 had gone sour. But we will not surrender to the forces of pessimism and defeatism,” he said.

Despite dipping in the polls, the ANC is tipped to win the parliamentary election with around 60 per cent of the vote.

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Column: The prodigal son (Part 2) - The journey home

By Evelyn Amo We spoke about the prodigal son and the season which made him famous. He made a mistake, realized it and went back to make amends (Luke 15-11:32). He learned a few lessons about life one could say, or at least we hope he did. Here is a young man, who had made a mess of his life and found himself at a low point. We see him enjoying, then struggling and eventually losing all he had. He tried to do what he could for himself and saw it was not working but he didn’t stay there. Something helped him change his mind to go back. Something helped him get up and take yet another step.

His circumstances was challenging but this young man’s mind was working well from the moment he came to himself. A series of thoughts followed, provoking and challenged him to act.

He acknowledged his mistake. Pride did not take over him. One could say he had no choice. He did, there’s always a choice to be made in every situation. Not making a choice in itself is also a choice. Whether it was lust of the flesh, lust of the eye or the pride of life; the hardship of life seems to have cause an awakening. You can’t beat life as a teacher.

We didn’t see the father in conflict with the son over his choice. He allowed him to live and learn some lessons. Life happens to us no matter the choices we make. Our choices just determine the paths we are placed on. However the case the son eventually acknowledged his mistake.

He also saw where he was and knew he didn’t belong there.

Regardless of the mistakes he made which landed him there.

He didn’t like it and didn’t want to stay there. Some of us make a mistake or a wrong turn in life and we sentence ourselves to life imprisonment because of pride. We don’t want to lose face even when we know we did wrong. And with that heart, room is created to feel that this is what you deserve. Guilt and unforgiveness continue to keep you in your mess. This young man decided to humble himself, go back and seek mercy from his father. He wasn’t going to demand anything from his father. He wasn’t going to justify his actions but show repentance and seek forgiveness.

There’s something I noticed also in this parable . Something outside the young; the relationship with his father. His upbringing or the home situation. When this young man got Into trouble, the training he got back home helped him back

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on track. The reason I say this is because he knew his father’s character. He knew that no matter what, his father wouldn’t reject him. He knew there was a home for him to go back to.

He wasn’t’ afraid to go home. He could trust the character of his father not to have changed. He had a father who was so good, even his servants had in abundance. I believe the father also knew the kind of foundation he had laid in raising his son. The father was confident to release his son’s portion to him upon his request. He had invested in training his children the way they ought to go.

He had put the logistics in place should the need come, they could use it to safety. And when the time came that’s exactly what happened.

His training helped him find his way.

His fathers love, consistency and care led him home. He went back, humbled himself and sought the fathers love.

And His father received him back with joy.

There’s also a great lesson in here for parents. The training we give our children is very important. The home we create for them can help them deal with challenges in life. Our character and integrity as parents are being watched by our kids with keen interest.

Can they trust our love, acceptance and care even when they make a mess of their lives?

How do we treat our children when they make mistakes. Are we training them only in fear thus crumbling their ability to learn how to become healthy individuals? Can we trust the foundation we are giving them to help them navigate through life?

The same applies to our relationship with our heavenly father. He has made all the necessary arrangements for us to return to him no matter what we face. His character is unchanging, we can trust him and his word. The logistics are in place to return if we go astray. Let every physical prodigal child return to their parents and let every spiritual prodigal child return to God the father. He is waiting with arms open wide to receive you.

Lets learn from this amazing father and his son. Mistakes happens in life but repentance and reconciliation is also possible when we lay the right foundation. The bible says, if we say we have not sinned then we lie and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins to God He is FAITHFUL & JUST to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9).

Sierra Leone declares rape a national emergency Rape and sexual assault of young women have been a worrying trend in Sierra Leone in recent years.

A five-year-old girl who has been left paralysed after being brutally raped by her uncle has finally called people and authorities to action.

Starting off with a campaign against these sexual abuses, the president of the country, Julius Maada Bio,has finally been pushed to declare the prevalence of rape and sexual violence a national emergency.

The young victim’s case is among many others that have been left unpunished in Sierra Leone. Police statistics cited by VOA state that reported cases of sexual and gender-based violence nearly doubled last year to over 8,500, a third of which involved a minor.

The figures could even be more, as most cases are never reported, according to activists. Hitherto, sexually-motivated crimes carried a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and few cases were successfully prosecuted, according to VOA. Following the president’s declaration, people convicted of sexual offences against minors would now face life in prison.

“Each month, hundreds of cases of rape and sexual assaults are being reported in this country.

These despicable crimes of sexual violence are being committed against our women, children and even babies. Some of the fatalities are as young as 3 months old. Seventy percent of survivors of this traumatic experience are under the age (of) 15,” the president said at the

State House on Thursday.

“Some of our families practice a culture of silence and indifference towards sexual violence, leaving victims even more traumatized,” Bio added.

“We as a nation must stand up and address this scourge.”

Twelve years ago, following intense campaigns by activists and other lobbyist groups, the Senegalese parliament passed its first gender equality laws in 46 years of independence.

Authorities and security agencies have, however, been slow in implementing these policies and this has been blamed on lack of funding and other resources.

In December, the first lady, Fatima Bio launched her “Hands Off Our Girls” campaign to increase awareness of violence against girls across West Africa.

She launched the campaign under the theme: “Ending Child Marriage and Reducing Teenage Pregnancy to Empower Women”, with support from other African ladies.

Out of 30,000 women and girl survivors of sexual violence in Sierra Leone, 93 per cent are below the age of 17, said Rainbo Initiative, a local organisation helping survivors with free medical and psychosocial services.

Many of the victims end up contracting sexually transmitted diseases including HIV, while others get pregnant.

The president’s declaration has, therefore, been hailed by many as a major step for the West African country, even though the government has also been urged to focus on providing more support services for victims, especially the poor.

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STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI ON THE OUTCOME OF FEBRUARY 23, 2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

My Dear Nigerians, First and foremost, I give thanks to Almighty God Who has spared our lives to witness another victory for Nigerian democracy and victory for our party APC. I thank the millions of Nigerians who voted to re-elect me as your president for the next four years. I am deeply humbled and profoundly grateful to you for judging me worthy of continuing to serve you and for your peaceful conduct.

In particular, I would like to thank Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for his masterful leadership as Co-chair of the Campaign Council. I would like to also thank the Party Chairman Adams Oshiomhole, the Director General of the Campaign Council Rotimi Amaechi, all members of the Presidential Campaign Council and other various Support Groups.

My grateful thanks to all those who contributed to the logistical expenses of the campaign in such a vast country like Nigeria.

I also thank the millions of volunteers, self-appointed overseers, canvassers, agents, escorts and sentries who

sacrificed so much of their time and resources to ensure the success of these elections. I do not have the words adequate to thank them.

Although Saturday’s elections were relatively peaceful, troublemakers in a handful of states attempted to disrupt an otherwise orderly process. Security agencies will bring to justice all those arrested in the process.

I am very sad at the grievous loss of lives during these elections. Security agencies will step up their efforts to protect voters in the forthcoming State elections.

I would like to commend our security agencies, as severely overstretched as they are, for handling the difficult task of securing the country during the election period.

I will like to make a special appeal to my supporters not to gloat or humiliate the opposition. Victory is enough reward for your efforts.

We give thanks also to our Domestic and International observers for contributing to the success of our elections and for their interest in our country and our developing democracy.

The new Administration will intensify its efforts in Security, Restructuring the Economy and Fighting Corruption. We have laid down the foundation and we are committed to seeing matters to the end. We will strive to strengthen our unity and inclusiveness so that no section or group will feel left behind or left out.

I thank you for your support and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria

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Coming Soon From 15-17 August 2019

Watch out for details on our website & social media outlets For more information, please send us email at info@thevoicenewsmagazine.com TV Management

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Senegal President Macky Sall wins re-election with 58%: official Senegal’s president Macky Sall has won his re-election bid garnering 58% of the votes cast, according to the National Vote Counting Commission.

The majority win hands Sall a second term without a run-off vote. Opposition candidate Idrissa Seck came second with 21 percent of votes, while Ousmane Sonko placed third with 16 percent.

As at press time, the two major opposition candidates has not indicated if they would challenge the outcome of the election results although many have thought there would be a second round of voting to determine the winner of the elections.

President Sall has been criticized for squeezing out rivals with a tight grip on the playing field, which was, never level. Although he has used his first term in office to propel Senegal’s economic growth to more than six percent – one of the highest in Africa.

Senegal has long been viewed as West Africa’s most stable democracy, with peaceful transitions of power since it gained independence from France in 1960. More than 66 percent of 6.7 million registered voters took part in the election.

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Mauritania shuts 2 global associations without notice The Mauritanian authorities have closed two charity foundations operating in the country, according to a foundation source and local media reports.

“The authorities closed the Al-Khair Foundation and denied its staff entrance to its Nouakchott headquarters,” one AlKhair official, preferring anonymity for security reasons, told Anadolu Agency.

According to reports in the local media, Al-Khair and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth — both of which have offices in the capital — have been closed since Tuesday.

The Mauritanian authorities, for their part, have yet to officially confirm the closures.

The two foundations are known for providing assistance to orphans and needy families.

Recent months have seen the closure of other charity groups in Mauritania, including the Center for the Development of Islamic Scholars headed by prominent Mauritanian academic Mohamed Hassan Ould Daddou.

This week’s apparent decision to close the two charities has drawn widespread criticism on Mauritanian social-media

platforms.

Some observers believe the move is part of a wider crackdown on Islamic associations in Mauritania, which they say began after parliamentary polls held last September.

Gbagbo and Blé Goudé’s Release: Too Little, Too Late

O

n 15 January 2019, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) acquitted Laurent Gbagbo (former President of Côte d’Ivoire) and Charles Blé Goudé (former Youth Minister in Gbagbo’s government) from all charges of crimes against humanity committed in Côte d’Ivoire in 2010 and 2011.

It was a historic acquittal, but not a ‘shock acquittal’. The case itself began on a curious note because the Prosecutor only focused on one side of the conflict, in spite of widespread allegations that supporters of the other side committed massive crimes. This gave rise to perceptions of victor’s justice.

No one denies that serious crimes of international concern were committed by both sides. The issue before the Court, however, was the culpability of Gbagbo and Blé Goudé. In 2011, Gbagbo was transferred to the ICC. The case proceeded on shaky grounds with the Pre-Trial Chamber being unable to confirm the charges against Gbagbo for lack of evidence.

In June 2013, the Pre-Trial Chamber gave the Prosecutor five additional months to find credible evidence that would meet the minimum legal requirements to confirm the charges.

Gbagbo remained in detention while the prosecution searched for evidence.

When the charges were confirmed one year later, Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert disagreed with her colleagues. She was not convinced that the evidence on record was sufficient to commit Laurent Gbagbo to trial, and expressed the view that ‘charges should only be confirmed if the evidence has a realistic chance of supporting a conviction beyond reasonable doubt’. Read Judge Van den Wyngaert’s dissenting opinion here. In March 2014 Charles Blé Goudé was surrendered to the ICC. The joint trial of Gbagbo and Blé Goudé started in 2016. Thijs Bouwknegt provides a revealing account on the

case in his article Gbagbo - an Acquittal Foretold.

For the reasonable trial observer, the question was not whether Gbagbo and Blé Goudé ought to be acquitted. The question really was one of judicial courage and judicial independence, which were on full display when on 15 January 2019, Trial Chamber I, by 2-1, Judge Geoffrey Henderson, and Judge Cuno Tarfusser (Presiding), forming the majority, proclaimed that the prosecution had failed to substantiate its various 50

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claims against the two men. Therefore, Gbagbo and Blé Goudé had no case to answer. They were acquitted and their release was ordered. The prosecution tried but failed to convince the Trial Chamber that there are exceptional reasons why the acquitted persons should remain behind bars pending appeal.

Rather, the Trial Chamber found that the prosecution’s case was ‘exceptionally weak,’ and not likely to succeed on appeal.

The prosecution then filed an application with the Appeals Chamber.

On 18 January, by a majority of 3-2, the Appeals Chamber decided to detain the acquitted persons pending a hearing two weeks later on 1 February 2019. That decision is problematic because it appears to be against the plain reading of Article 81(3)(c) of the ICC Statute, which states that an acquitted person shall be released immediately, subject to the Trial Chamber issuing a new order, which the Trial Chamber did not do. Indeed, Judge Howard Morrison and Judge Piotr Hofmański were of the view that the Prosecutor’s application for continued detention was inadmissible and issued a dissenting opinion.

On 1 February 2019, the Appeals Chamber rendered its oral decision followed by a written judgement to release the acquitted persons with conditions, pending the Prosecutor’s appeal. The conditional release, like the Appeals Chamber’s decision to detain after acquittal, appears to be contrary to the provisions of the ICC Statute as eloquently discussed by Kevin Jon Heller in his article.

It is not clear whether the Prosecutor will actually appeal.

Following the conditional release of the acquitted persons, the Prosecutor issued a statement that when the Trial Chamber submits its written and reasoned decision for the acquittal, her office will examine it carefully in order to take a decision on whether to appeal.

Renowned international criminal lawyer and President of the ICC Bar Association, Chief Charles Taku, shared his personal observations on the Appeals Chamber’s unusual decision to detain the acquitted persons before the 1 February hearing.

‘The order of detention of acquitted persons casts a slur on the image and integrity of the Court. It is an affront to the international rule of law. Under exceptional circumstances only, should acquitted persons be moved to safe houses to await appeals against their immediate release upon acquittal and not in the detention centre of the ICC. The safe houses option must be exceptional and the threshold for the exceptional circumstances must be very high. The detention adds to a catalogue of challenges the Court is facing. I am afraid that the outcome of the hearing tomorrow may not redress the damage caused to the image of the Court.

The unfortunate precedent may be pointed to by states and persons disaffected by the Court, as one more compelling reason for forsaking the Rome Statute and the Court. Yet, I honestly believe that the precedent is not justified under the Rome Statute’.

Comoros supreme court bars key opposition figures from contesting in presidential election Thirteen candidates have been cleared for the March presidential vote in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros, the Supreme Court announced last month, barring the main challengers of President Azali Assoumani.

Nineteen candidates had registered for the March 24 election and of those given the go ahead, only Azali is backed by a party. The others are contesting as independents.

Azali, who was voted into office in 2016, is tipped to win the election.

Key challengers barred His chief rivals were former vice-president Mohamed Ali Soilih and Ibrahim Mohamed Soule, whose bids for the top job were quashed by the Supreme Court, which is composed exclusively of Azali’s allies.

An arrangement to rotate power among the three islands in the archipelago nation helped quell years of discontent and coups in the late 1990s.

The election will take place under the provisions of the constitution modified at Azali’s initiative in a contested referendum held in July 2018.

The reform enables the president to hold two fiveyear mandates instead of one. If Azali wins, he will be considered as starting a first term, which would allow him to vie for a second in 2024.

Soilihi said he had been barred from standing because he was accused of “concealing ownership of a company worth billions of which I know nothing about.

“All the opposition candidates backed by parties who could pose a challenge to Azali have been barred,” he said, denouncing what he termed an “electoral hold-up.”

Soule said he was barred because his dossier was signed by the party’s deputy general secretary and not the general secretary Ahmed el-Barwane, who has been in prison for

several months for allegedly assaulting a soldier.

The opposition is in disarray after dozens of arrests.

A security court has handed down a string of jail terms to political figures who opposed a referendum allowing Azali to extend his term in office.

Second round of voting If a second round of voting is needed for the lack of an outright winner, it will be held on April 21.

The new constitution has retained the rotation of presidential power among Grande Comore, Anjouan and small Moheli, but the time period has been extended from five to 10 years.

Azali’s island, Grand Comore, currently holds the privilege.

Azali himself first seized power in a coup against an acting head of state in 1999 and was returned to office until 2006 in a multi-party vote.

That year, power was transferred peacefully for the first time since independence from France in 1975.

Today, Azali’s critics consider that he has taken an authoritian turn, with the possibility of staying in power until 2029.

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Dr. Osahon Enabulele receives The Voice Achievers Personality award

Dr. Osahon Enabulele (Nigeria) who received the African Personality Award at the 2018 Achievers Award event in Amsterdam but was unable to attend due to previous engagements. He finally received his award at his base in Benin-city Edo State of Nigeria. Two principles of the award committee, Mr. Kennedy Eguakhide and Dr. Mrs. Angela Unufe-Eguakhide delivered the award to him. He was pleasantly surprised with the award and he expressed his gratitude for the recognition.

He pledged to continue to support the magazine in its endeavor to promote Africa to the rest of the world.

See Dr. Osahon receiving his award and certificate.

Congratulations to Dr. Osahon Enabulele.

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South Africa: white family told to pay R200 000 damages for force-feeding faeces to a black employee A South African white family that force-fed their black employee two litres of faeces and threw him into a pit has been ordered to pay him R200 000 in damages, Pretoria News reported.

Magistrate Pravina Lazarus, who presided over the case in the Equality Court sitting in Springs yesterday, found that Harry Leicester, his wife, Maria, and son, Chris, stripped Joseph Mona of his human dignity when they force-fed him stools.

“The applicant suffered the lowest form of humiliation. He was treated worse than an animal,” Lazarus said.

They were also ordered to undergo a race-relations programme for three months.

The three, from Endicott, Springs, were charged with crimen injuria after they allegedly called their employee the K-word while they forced him to drink faeces on their farm in December 2017.

This was after Mona failed to switch on the engine of a septic tank.

The trio then threw him in the sewer hole and forced him to drink the faeces.

“The utterances made by each of the respondents are found to be hate speech. Further, such utterances violated the applicant’s constitutional right to human dignity,” Lazarus said.

She said although the respondents had pointed out some contradictions in Mona’s testimony and initial statement to the police, they were immaterial to the case.

She said Mona was not fluent in English and that had led to a language barrier.

Lazarus said that throughout his testimony, Mona had remained “truthful and honest”. She also dismissed the Leicester family’s testimony that Mona fabricated the allegations and that he wanted to extort money from them.

Lazarus ordered that the family issue a written public apology, which had to be published in a local newspaper by March 11.

“The respondents (must) attend a programme on race relations for a period of three months at the SA Human Rights Commission,” Lazarus said.

She said the R200 000 in damages had to be paid over a period of a year.

A criminal case against the family regarding the same matter is pending.

Mona said he wanted the trio to be imprisoned.

“I am happy that the matter in the Equality Court has been finalised, but I am shocked that they were not sent to prison.

“I am not safe and no longer live where I used to reside. I am a target.

“I have not been able to work since the incident. I still have nightmares and I will never work for a white man ever again,” Mona said.

The EFF in the City indicated that it wanted to pursue a civil case and that yesterday’s ruling had paved the way.

In March, last year, the Randburg Magistrate’s Court sentenced convicted racist Vicki Momberg to three years in prison, with one year suspended, after her racist tirade in 2016.

She was found guilty of four counts of crimen injuria on November 3, for hurling racial insults at a black police officer and police call centre operators.

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The ‘amazing’ African woman who caught Trump’s attention has been identified While America is facing a very tough time with the President declaring national emergency to get funding for his planned wall project with Mexico, he has shifted his attention to an African woman on his tweet. And that is generating another round of discussions around the world.

The African woman in the viral video that broke the internet with her football juggling skills and caught the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump has been found after a search for her identity.

For few months now, her video has been posted around the various social media networks.

We can reveal that her full names are Hadhara Charles Mjeje, a Tanzanian mother who is juggling footballs professionally in Malawian capital of Lilongwe to feed her two sons and care for her basic needs.

Wearing her usual African wrap skirt and flip flops while she juggles a football amid a cheering crowd, the 29-year-old viral sensation said she started juggling to earn money for her two sons.

She said in a video chat that she has juggled professionally in several countries across the continent including South Africa, Gabon, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya and Mozambique. And presently she is in Malawi to make money from her skills to support her two sons.

“Some people think that I use black magic but I don’t. There is nothing in this ball. I use my talent which I have developed for six years of practice. It is pure talent, not black magic,” she said.

She added that she wishes to become a professional football player and she admires players like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

Hadhara Charles Mjeje is reported to have been in Malawi since January where she charges about 4 dollars for each two-minute performance. The money she earns foots her rent and buys food to support her family, she claims.

The viral video was shared by Twitter user Akin Sawyerr last month with the caption, “Talent is evenly distributed, opportunity isn’t”, shows Hadhara juggling the football with her legs, head, shoulders, knees, hands and neck, as many

people cheered.

Garnering millions of views and thousands of Likes and Retweets, her talent received a big praise from the United States President Donald Trump who shared the video on his tweet page with the comment: “Amazing!”

At that moment, the identity and exact location of Hadhara were not known, and the only information available was that she spoke Swahili as heard in the video and she was in Malawi – as noted by other videos shared from the country.

She is heard accepting a challenge from the audience to bounce 100 juggles. After the close to two-minute execution of their request, the woman said, “Pesa yenu ndogo” in Swahili which means, “Your money is not enough”, in reference to a possible bet.

While many Africans were tweeting about finding the woman after gaining the attention of the U.S. president, Americans criticized President Trump for sharing the video which they described as “bizarre” and a “waste of time”.

While Africans praised the President of recognizing such a huge talent but they appeal to him to personally use his wealth to support this woman for the sake of her children.

“It is not enough to acknowledge such a rare talent and do nothing about it, great that her video caught the attention of the President of USA but he can go a step further to make life more meaningful for her by helping her to start a small business or even go into proper football as a skill trainer says Joyce Muna from Malawi.

Time would tell what will happen to Hadhara as she has received global attention with her footballing skills.

Nigerian Ambassador To Ethiopia Warns Travellers Against Carrying Over $3000 The Nigerian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Bankole Adeoye, says Nigerians staying in Ethiopia over 14 hours, or transiting to other destinations, need to be wary of carrying monies in excess of $3000, or its equivalent in other currencies.

Adeoye said this is as a result of a longstanding economic policy by the Ethiopian government.

According to him, the policy is being reenforced, causing Nigerian travellers to lose hundreds of thousands in forex while passing through the country.

He further stated that so far, over 25 Nigerians have had monies and valuables confiscated because of the policy.

Adeoye, who was speaking on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, however, said the Nigerian government is working to help recover confiscated monies but wants Nigerians to be aware of the risk of carrying forex in excess.

He urged Nigerians carrying such monies, to declare them, at the point of entry.

“The job of the embassy, the task before us is to make sure that awareness is created, is greater, is intense and most Nigerians are aware when they come that they need to be cleared on arrival.

“So, on Ethiopian Airlines flights, there are now greater awareness and announcement being created. For those who are staying

overnight on transits in hotels, we are also making sure that they are fully aware that this is a peculiar law because the standard international threshold is $10,000.

“But we have assured Nigerians that we will continue to

protect their interests knowing fully well that ignorance of the law is not an excuse. We have over 25 Nigerians that have been involved.

“It is not only cash in foreign currency. It is also valuables to the tune of thousands and hundreds of thousands of Dollars in all currencies that we know.

“But we are assured by the commitment of the Government of Ethiopia that they will refund where the cases have been thoroughly examined by the tax and revenue authorities.

“In two or three cases, there have been refunds because the circumstances were different, and we hope that this step will continue.

“Since we came, we have raised it with the highest level of authorities and indeed the former Prime Minister did give a go-ahead the refund of some of the seized foreign currencies.”

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Meet Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, a black trailblazer in medicine Recently during the commemoration of Black History Month, a feature was done on a shining light, a trailblazer with deep roots to Africa, Nigeria in particular, Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, the surgeon who operated on an unborn baby and restored it into the mother’s womb.

Dr Oluyinka Olutoye is a Nigerian surgeon in Houston, Texas and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center. He is a pediatric surgeon at the Texas Children’s Hospital and the Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Fetal Center.

He received his medical degree from Obafemi Awolowo College of Health Sciences, Ogun State University in 1988 before his post-graduate medical education in paediatrics at Howard University and District of Columbia General Hospital.

He later enrolled at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, in 1996 for his doctoral

Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr Olutoye then took up a faculty position at Baylor College of Medicine and, with his colleague, Dr. Darrell Cass, they established the Texas Children’s Fetal Center at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston Texas. He has been in practice for more than 20 years.

Dr Olutoye gained global acclaim after he led a team of doctors to operate on an unborn baby at 23 weeks old who had a rare tumour at the base of her tailbone.

They removed the baby from Margaret Boemer’s womb and performed the surgery before restoring the baby into the womb.

The procedure was successful and the baby healed while in the mother’s womb. Lynlee Hope was born at 36 weeks old and gained global recognition as the baby who was born twice – thanks to Dr Olutoye.

Dr Olutoye is a member of the International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society and is a Fellow of the Surgical Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics and American College of Surgeons; he is also a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons.

He has won several awards including the 2012 Denton A. Cooley Surgical Innovator Award at the Texas Children’s Hospital, Academy of Distinguished Educators Award at the Baylor College of Medicine, Molecular Surgeon Research Achievement Award at the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery and Mark A. Wallace 2014 Catalyst Leader of the Year at the Texas Children’s degree in anatomy and then sought additional training Hospital. in pediatric, fetal and thoracic surgery at the Children’s

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This gifted boy with autism is the youngest ever to attend Oxford University at age 6

By MILDRED EUROPA TAYLOR At age six, most young children are entering first grade, but not for the extraordinary Joshua Beckford.

Living with high-functioning autism, the child prodigy from Tottenham was, at the age of six, the youngest person ever to attend the prestigious Oxford University.

He received a certificate of excellence after getting distinctions in all his courses which were part of an online learning platform for gifted children.

Now 13 years, the young scholar who has dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon was recently listed in the top 30 most remarkable people in the world with Autism who have impacted society.

But he has his father to thank for this incredible feat. At just 10 months old, Beckford’s father, Knox Daniel, discovered his son’s unique learning capability while he was sitting on his lap in front of the computer.

With the keyboard being the child’s interest, Daniel said: “I started telling [Joshua] what the letters on the keyboard were and I realized that he was remembering and could understand.”

“So, if I told him to point to a letter, he could do it… Then we moved on to colours,” Daniel added.

At the age of three, Beckford could read fluently using phonics. He learned to speak Japanese and even taught himself to touch-type on a computer before he could learn to write.

“Since the age of four, I was on my dad’s laptop and it had a body simulator where I would pull out organs,” said Beckford.

In 2011, his father was aware of a programme at Oxford University that was specific to children between the age

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of eight and thirteen. To challenge his son, he wrote to Oxford with the hopes of getting admission for his child even though he was younger than the age prescribed for the programme.

Fortunately, Beckford was given the chance to enrol, becoming the youngest student ever accepted. The brilliant chap took a course in philosophy and history and passed

both with distinction.

Beckford was too advanced for a standard curriculum; hence he was home-schooled, according to the information released to the media.

Having a keen interest in the affairs of Egypt throughout his studies, the young genius is working on a children’s book about the historic and ancient nation.

Aside from his academic prowess, Beckford serves as the face of the National Autistic Society’s Black and Minority campaign. Being one with high-functioning autism, the young child helps to highlight the challenges minority groups face in their attempt to acquire autism support and services.

Last month, the wonder child was appointed Low Income Families Education (L.I.F.E) Support Ambassador for Boys Mentoring Advocacy Network in Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and the United Kingdom.

BMAN Low Income Families Education (LIFE) Support was established to create educational opportunities for children from low-income families so that they have a hope of positively contributing to a thriving society.

Beckford will further hold a live mentoring session with teenagers and his father, Daniel, will facilitate a mentoring session with parents at the Father And Son Together [FAST] initiative event in Nigeria in August 2019.

In 2017, Beckford won The Positive Role Model Award for Age at The National Diversity Awards, an event which celebrates the excellent achievements of grass-root

He is, however, proud of his son’s achievements and believes he has a bright future ahead.

“I want to save the earth. I want to change the world and change peoples’ ideas to doing the right things about earth,” Beckford once said of his future.

communities that tackle the issues in today’s society.

The young boy also raises funds for three autism charities (two in Africa and one in the U.K.) and is celebrated for his campaigns to save the environment. He recently wrote the poem Saving Mother Earth at the TEDx International Conference in Vienna.

Described as one of the most brilliant boys in the world, Beckford also designs and delivers power-point presentations on Human Anatomy at Community fund-raising events to audiences ranging from 200 to 3,000 people, according to National Diversity Awards.

For a super scholar whose brain is above most of his peers and even most adults, Beckford, according to his father, “doesn’t like children his own age and only likes teenagers and adults.”

Parenting a child with high-functioning autism comes with its own challenges, his father added. “[Joshua] doesn’t like loud noises and always walks on his tip toes and he always eats from the same plate, using the same cutlery, and drinks from the same cup,” he said. www.thevoicenewsmagazine.com

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Senegal football coach Aliou Cisse extends contract until 2021

Senegal’s Football Federation (FSF) has officially extended coach Aliou Cissé and his staff until August 2021.

As anticipated for several weeks, the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) on Thursday announced the extension of Aliou Cissé, who has been coach of the Teranga Lions since March 2015.

‘Appreciating positively their collaboration and the results obtained over the past four years, the parties have agreed to continue their collaboration for the next 30 months until August 31, 2021, with an increase in their remuneration under the aegis of the Regulatory Authority and in correlation with the setting of new objectives related to the team’s successful participation in the CAN 2019 and 2021 and the World Cup in 2022”.

Senegal’s Football Federation also announced that assistant coach Régis Bogaert and goalkeepers trainer Tony Sylva have also signed contract extensions

A nice increase for Cisse who was the lowest paid of the 32 coaches at the 2018 World Cup. But to ensure his future, Cissé will have objectives to meet, first in Egypt next summer.

“It is written in black and white on the contract that he must reach the 2019 CAN final,” Augustin Senghor recently said, adding that failure to achieve this objective would not lead to Cissé‘s dismissal.

Welcome news to a whole nation as Egypt is awarded the right to host 2019 AFCON tournament, the biggest football event in the continent.

Cisse’s monthly salary should has also been increased from 13,000 euros to about 22,000 euros.

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Despite everything, as the coach knows, expectations are high in the country.

NBA to start African basketball league with 12 teams across the continent The NBA is launching a professional basketball league in Africa that will feature 12 teams from several countries across the continent.

The league will debut next year, and will be referred to as the Basketball Africa League. It will include teams from several African countries, including Angola, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

The NBA announced its plan along with International Basketball Federation, and will conduct qualification tournaments later this year. While there are several basketball teams across Africa, a pro league will unify them under one umbrella and provide resources and visibility.

“The Basketball Africa League is an important next step in our continued development of the game of basketball in Africa,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement Saturday.

“Combined with our other programs on the continent, we are committed to using basketball as an economic engine to create new opportunities in sports, media and technology across Africa.”

Former President Barack Obama applauded the announcement.

I’ve always loved basketball because it’s about building a team that’s equal to more than the sum of its parts,” he tweeted. “Glad to see this expansion into Africa because for a rising continent, this can be about a lot more than what happens on the court.”

The NBA’s ties to Africa go a long way. Toronto Raptors forward OG Anunoby, whose parents are from Nigeria, and Hornets center Bismack Biyombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were among the players who attended the NBA All-Star Africa luncheon Saturday, where the announcement was made.

Other players with ties to Africa include Joel Hans Embiid, a Cameroonian who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers. NBA global ambassador Dikembe Mutombo, who played for several teams, including the Atlanta Hawks, is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Raptors President Masai Ujiri is from Nigeria.

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The Haitian backbone behind the new world number one tennis player Naomi Osaka Following her shocking win against Serena Williams at the 2018 U.S. Open, tennis star, Naomi Osaka, last month won her second Grand Slam after beating Petra Kivitova at the Australian Open.

The 21-year-old, who is the youngest number one player since 2010, and she has become the world’s topranked athlete in women’s tennis after her victory in Australia.

Born in Osaka to a Japanese mother and Haitian father, Osaka moved to the United States at the age of three with her family, and she currently lives in Florida.

At the age of 16, she rose to prominence and qualified for her first Grand Slam in 2016 at the Australian Open.

But the female star, who has chalked huge successes in her career has her father, Leonard Francois, to thank

for.

Francois, while watching the French Open in 1999, got fascinated by the skills exhibited by sisters Venus and Serena Williams, who were just 18 and 17 respectively – and would later win the women’s doubles title during that year.

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had never played tennis. Wanting the same sports stardom for his daughters, Francois, who had played little tennis, came up with a plan to turn his girls into champions.

In 2006, he relocated the family from Long Island to Florida and soon began training his daughters – Naomi and Mari – full time during the day, mostly on outdoor clay courts while they home-schooled at night.

According to Francois’ training plan included instructional books, DVDs, and making his two daughters hit thousands of balls every day.

Naomi didn’t initially like the idea but the thought of playing with her big sister encouraged her.

“I don’t remember liking to hit the ball. The main thing was that I wanted to beat my sister. For her, it wasn’t a competition, but for me, every day was a competition.

Every day I’d say, ‘I’m going to beat you tomorrow,’” she said in an interview.

The girls started developing their talents in tennis, but their grandparents (from their mother’s side) didn’t like the idea and thought they should opt for a better profession.

The girls were unperturbed. With their father’s help, they took their training seriously and soon started competing against older players on the pro satellite tours, the New York Times report said.

“With a growth spurt in her early teens, Naomi soon towered over Mari. Video clips of the girls’ matches and training began circulating among coaches and agents, but neither sister had an impressive junior ranking or much tournament experience. The United States Tennis Association showed little interest in helping them develop,” the report added.

Although the girls have lived in Florida since their tender ages, Francois decided to have his daughters play for Japan, where they were born, and this was largely due to funding.

Reports said the Japan Tennis Federation had more funding to give the girls so they opted to represent it over the United States. This decision has had its consequences, especially in Osaka’s career and the way people perceive her, both in Japan and the U.S. Even though her surname, Osaka, is Japanese, many were surprised when they realized that she is also half black.

“Osaka” is the name of the city where the tennis star was born and her

mother’s maiden name as well. She uses Osaka because “it was mostly a practical matter when they lived in Japan, helpful for enrolling in schools and renting apartments.”

Analysts believe that Osaka, who is now a top Japanese athlete, will experience an increase in the size of her

endorsement deals ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Her Haitian-born father would also certainly be pleased that his hard work has not been in vain, as statistics show.

Last year, Osaka started at number 68 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. That same year, she advanced in the upper level of women’s tennis when she won her first

WTA title at the Indian Wells Open.

She was then at the number 44 spot but moved up to 22 following that win.

In September, she won the US Open, defeating 23-time major champion Serena Williams in the final to become the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles tournament.

In January this year, the shy and candid star got her second Grand Slam title when she won the Australian Open. Going into that game, she was ranked 4th in the world but the win has seen her move to the number one ranking, making her the new world number one.

By MILDRED EUROPA TAYLOR

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Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to fight for the first time in United States of America.

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nthony Joshua bout breaks Madison Square Garden pre-sale record for highest-grossing fight as the British boxer prepares to face Jarrell Miller in his first professional fight in United States of America.

Anthony Joshua has accepted to defend his WBA Super, IBF, WBO and IBO titles in New York and he is facing undefeated Brooklynite Jarrell Miller who has been making mouth and threatening to kill Joshua in the ring. Many Nigerian fans took offence at his comments and attack on Joshua during the press conference announcing the fight.

Joshua kept his calm and cool and as a true professional, promise that both of them will settle the scores in the ring alone.

Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight world title fight with Jarrell Miller has broken the Madison Square Garden record for highest-grossing pre-sale of a boxing event, though the arena did not reveal the figure.

Joshua will defend his WBA Super, IBF, WBO and IBO crowns against Miller on June 1 in New York, with the fight being broadcast live on DAZN in the US and on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK. Fight fans showed their appetite to see the Brit make his American debut in the home country of the unbeaten Brooklynite by breaking the pre-sale record inside two hours of the midday on-sale.

Tickets go on general sale on StubHub at midday on February 19 following pre-sale for Match room Fight Pass members, and fans hoping to get the chance to see Joshua lock horns with the ‘Big Baby’ will need to move quickly to purchase tickets.

Tickets range from £80 to just under £2,000.

‘We know that AJ is a huge box office hit in the UK but to break the pre-sale record at the iconic Madison Square Garden is astounding,’ said promoter Eddie Hearn.

‘We are building a huge event on June 1 and we look forward to the all the build-up beginning after the press conference in New York.’

‘We are thrilled with the early excitement for tickets,’ said Joel Fisher, executive vice president, MSG Marquee Events.

‘Anthony Joshua versus Jarrell Miller will be an epic event at Madison Square Garden and we encourage fans to purchase tickets now because this fight will sell out.’

Although not every person is thrilled about the fight, former world champion, Lennox Lewis has a different opinion and thinks it is a wrong choice of fight.

(Read the article on the next page)

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Lewis Unimpressed with Joshua-Miller fight

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ormer undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis on the list of people disappointed in Anthony Joshua’s next title defense.

Joshua will defend the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles against Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller on June 1 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The bout will mark Joshua’s U.S. debut.

Joshua was originally set to defend the unified heavyweight title on April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, attempted to secure three other unbeaten fighters as potential challengers: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, former unified heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and current WBC Silver and WBO international heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte.

Lewis solely puts all the blame for failing to secure a deal with any of these men on Hearn.

“I don’t think it was complicated to make the Wilder fight, they were in the best spot possible to dictate exactly what they wanted,” Lewis said. “They cannot cry over spilled milk and say ‘oh I wish I could have got the fight.’

They could have got the fight but they did not take advantage of their position. It’s a situation where they have to know what is going on in their business.

Lewis feels Miller does not present as tough a challenge as the other three men would, and he expected Joshua to have a more quality opponent for his U.S. debut. He added that he feels Miller’s confrontation of Joshua at a DAZN press conference in July was all a setup to get this bout to happen.

“I am with everybody else in this case, I wanted to see a better fight,” Lewis said. “When Anthony came to America last year and Miller came up and crashed his press conference, I thought that was big set-up and I was not fooled by it. I have only seen Miller fight once but I guess it’s the easy sort of fight they want to have in America and then go home. It’s not really a fight that will test Anthony.

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