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Senegal begins voting for new president

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2 months ago

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Senegal begins voting for new president

Senegal began voting Sunday for a new president in an unpredictable race following three years of turmoil and political crisis.

Around 7.3 million voters are registered in the West African nation where two favourites have emerged: the governing coalition’s former prime minister Amadou Ba and anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

They were both once tax inspectors but now appear to have little in common. Ba, 62, is offering continuity while the 43-year-old Faye promises profound change and left-wing pan-Africanism.

Both say they will claim a first-round victory – but a second round looks probable with 15 other candidates in the field, including a sole woman, at a date yet to be decided.

Former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, 68, is considered to have an outside chance.

“It’s a symbolic and historic day for me because it wasn’t easy to hold these elections, it was gained through a great fight,” voter Mohamed Bop, 42, told AFP in Dakar.

“So, I’m very relieved and proud,” he added.

The eventual winner will be tasked with steering traditionally stable Senegal out of its recent troubles, and managing revenues from oil and gas reserves that are shortly to start production.

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Voting will end at 1800 GMT and provisional results could be known overnight. The first official results are expected during the coming week.

Senegal has traditionally been considered a beacon of democracy and stability in the coup-hit region, where Russia is strengthening its influence.

Raucous campaign
Hundreds of observers will be out representing civil society, the African Union, the ECOWAS regional group and the European Union.

A raucous campaign, lasting just two weeks after being shortened, followed a dramatic last-minute delay to the election date, originally scheduled for February 25.

President Macky Sall’s intervention to delay the presidential vote sparked unrest that left four people dead.

Sall, who won praise abroad last year by renouncing a possible third-term bid, said he called off the vote over fears it would not go smoothly.

After weeks of political crisis, the country’s top constitutional body stepped in and forced him to reset the date to March 24, despite clashing with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Sall’s hand-picked would-be successor Ba has positioned himself as a last bastion against “bandits” and urged people to vote “for experience and competence instead of entrusting the reins of the country to adventurers”.

“We don’t need officials who need two years of apprenticeship,” Ba said at his final campaign rally on Friday.

“We need to consolidate what we have. We need to go even faster and further,” he said, with a vow to create one million jobs in five years.

But he must also face the darker side of Sall’s legacy that includes mass arrests, persistent poverty and 20 percent unemployment, and thousands of migrants setting off on the perilous voyage to Europe each year.

Senegal begins voting for new president

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Civil societies, Togo president on war path over new constitution eliminating elections

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12 hours ago

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May 9, 2024

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President Faure Gnassingbe

Civil societies, Togo president on war path over new constitution eliminating elections

The hope of having new leader in Togo has been dashed following the abolition of presidential elections in the West Africa country.

The development follows the signing of a controversial and widely condemned new constitution by President Faure Gnassingbe

The new constitution does not allow for election to the highest office in the land, an arrangement that will see the Gnassingbes consolidate their hold on power and extend their six-decade-long rule.

A statement from Gnassingbe’s office on Monday stated that, under the new legislation, only the parliament will have the power to select the president, eliminating direct elections.

According to Africa News, the election commission on Saturday announced that Gnassingbe’s ruling party had won a majority of seats in the nation’s parliament.

The report revealed that there was a crackdown on civic and media freedoms ahead of the vote, as the government banned protests against the proposed new constitution and arrested opposition figures.

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Also, the electoral commission banned the Catholic Church from deploying election observers.

In mid-April, a French journalist who arrived to cover the elections was arrested, assaulted and expelled. Togo’s media regulator later suspended the accreditation process for foreign journalists.

Provisional results showed the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party won 108 out of 113 seats in parliament, and 137 out of 179 positions in the senate.

The new constitution also increases presidential terms from five to six years and introduces a single-term limit.

However, the almost 20 years that Gnassingbe has already served in office would not count toward that tally.

Togo has been ruled by the same family for 57 years, initially by Eyadema Gnassingbe and then by his son, Faure Gnassingbe, who took office after elections that the opposition described as a “sham.”

The political opposition, religious leaders and civil society say the proposed new constitution makes it likely that Gnassingbe will stay on when his mandate expires in 2025.

They also fear that the creation of a figure similar to a prime minister, to be selected from the ruling party, could become another avenue for Gnassingbe to extend his grip on power even beyond that new term.

Civil societies, Togo president on war path over new constitution eliminating elections

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Africa

Father mourns 14-year-old daughter poisoned at school, says ‘I’ve failed you my baby’

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4 days ago

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May 5, 2024

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Father mourns 14-year-old daughter poisoned at school, says ‘I’ve failed you my baby’

A father has mourned his 14-year-old daughter, Nomfundo Palesa Tyler Khumalo, who was allegedly poisoned at her school in South Africa.

It was gathered that the incident happened on 8 April 2024 and she passed away on 25 April.

I?ve failed you my baby - South African father mourns his 14-year-old daughter allegedly poisoned at her schoolDetails surrounding the circumstances of her death remain unclear.

A murder case has been opened, and investigations are underway.

The family of Nomfundo is currently struggling to deal with the loss and seeking answers as to why and by whom she was targeted.

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Nomfundo’s father, Gift, on Sunday, May 5, wrote a heartfelt message on X to pay tribute to her.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think you would end up on this page I’ve failed you my baby , should’ve protected you better we even spoke about you being home schooled after you recover unfortunately.. I’m so sorry If Possible I’d easily give up my life for yours,” he wrote on Sunday, May 5.

In an earlier post, he wrote: “I wish the after life is kinder to souls as precious as yours , there is no boundry for my love to you my baby Not even Death itself Don’t forget to visit us in our dreams more exp your Mother It’s never goodbye when there an after life promised I’ll see you soon my child.”

Father mourns 14-year-old daughter poisoned at school, says ‘I’ve failed you my baby’

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Floods kill over 200 in Kenya, cyclone approaches

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6 days ago

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May 3, 2024

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Floods kill over 200 in Kenya, cyclone approaches

The death toll from flood-related accidents in Kenya has surpassed 200 since March, the interior ministry announced Friday as a storm approached the Tanzanian coast.

Torrential rains have lashed parts of East Africa, causing flooding and landslides that have wrecked crops, buried homes, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

According to a statement from Kenya’s interior ministry, 210 people have died “due to severe weather conditions,” with 22 deceased in the last 24 hours.

More than 165,000 people had been evacuated from their homes, with 90 others missing, increasing concerns that the toll may increase further.

Kenya and adjacent Tanzania, where at least 155 people have died in flooding, are bracing for Cyclone Hidaya, which will bring heavy rain, wind, and waves to their coastlines.

Tanzanian authorities warned Friday that Hidaya had “strengthened to the status of a full-fledged cyclone” around 3:00 a.m. local time (0000GMT), about 400 kilometres (248 miles) from the southeastern city of Mtwara.

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“Cyclone Hidaya has continued to strengthen further, with wind speeds increasing to about 130 kilometres per hour,” they said in a weather bulletin.

Kenya’s interior ministry predicted that the storm would “bring strong winds and large ocean waves, with heavy rainfall,” and hit the shore on Sunday.

Since September last year, Burundi’s heavier-than-usual rains have killed at least 29 people, injured 175 others, and displaced tens of thousands, according to the United Nations.

The rains have been exacerbated by the El Nino weather pattern, a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that is normally associated with increasing temperatures worldwide, resulting in drought in some regions of the world and torrential downpours in others.

More than 300 people were killed by rains and floods in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia late last year as the area struggled to recover from its worst drought in four decades.

Cyclone season in the southwest Indian Ocean typically lasts from November to April and produces approximately a dozen cyclones every year.

Floods kill over 200 in Kenya, cyclone approaches

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