According to Clause 51, liabilities incurred before
marriage remain the sole responsibility of the
spouse who bore them, unless the property
involved becomes part of the matrimonial
estate, at which point the debt
may be shared.
In a move aimed at curbing bigamy, the bill proposes
penalties for individuals who knowingly marry
someone already in a monogamous union.
Clause 92 recommends a sentence of
up to five years in prison or a fine of
Shs10 million for those found guilty.
This is however is not the first time that a
bill legislating marriage is in the House.
Initially tabled in Parliament as the Marriage and Divorce
Bill in December 2009, the draft sought to modernise
Uganda’s marriage laws by recognising various
forms of marriage, addressing marital rights
and duties and providing clear guidelines
for the dissolution of marriage.
Among its most controversial clauses was the
prohibition of the return of bride price and
the outlawing of widow inheritance.
The original draft also equalised divorce provisions,
correcting prejudices... that allowed men absolute
rights to initiate and control divorce proceedings.
It further challenged customary norms by
introducing a clause that bride price
could not be treated.... as a
prerequisite for marriage.
Speaker Among referred the bill to the Committees of
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and that of Gender.
Later, the Domestic Relations Bill was introduced
in 2003 but faced strong opposition from Muslim
groups, who rejected its provisions
banning polygamy.
In 2006, after a continued pushback, particularly from
religious groups, the bill was split into two; the
Muslim Personal Law Bill which covered
Muslim marriages and the Marriage
and Divorce Bill that applied to
other recognised marriages
in Uganda.
The revised draft of the Marriage and Divorce Bill
sparked controversy again when religious leaders
and sections of the public argued that the
proposals within it contradicted African
cultural practices. As a result, despite
being tabled multiple times, the bill
was shelved.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of
Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.
________________________________________
Review of Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Study to Shed Light on Closing Malawi’s Land Administration Gaps
October 4th, 12:35pm
(Source: UN Economic
Commission for Africa)
The workshop is taking place against the backdrop
of commitments by the Government of Malawi to
implement the AU Declaration on Land Issues
and Challenges in Africa
Land governance stakeholders have convened in
Lilongwe, Malawi to review an assessment study
of the gaps in land administration institutions,
capacity and training needs.
Organised by the Economic Commission for Africa,
the workshop aims to facilitate a collaborative
discussion on challenges and gaps or
inadequacies in the policy, legal and
institutional frameworks governing
women's land tenure security, and
gender-responsive land governance.
The validation of the study will be followed by a high-level
Policy Dialogue ....aimed at creating a multi-stakeholder
platform to deliberate on women’s land tenure security
and gender-responsive land governance and look into
policy and legal issues affecting women’s land rights
and tenure security. It will also be an opportunity to
secure necessary input into a policy brief that
clearly shows the government’s pathways
towards implementing gender-responsive
land governance and also draft a strategy
action plan and roadmap --- to ensure that
women’s land rights issues are addressed.
The workshop is taking place against the backdrop of
commitments by the Government of Malawi to
implement the AU Declaration on Land
Issues and Challenges in Africa.
This aligns with the AU Declaration on land, which calls
on the AU Member States to review their land sectors
and develop comprehensive policies to meet Member
States’ specific land needs. The review of the land
sector includes mainstreaming gender in the
development and implementation of national
land policies that promote economic growth
and preserve the livelihoods of African
communities, as this is considered key
to land policy growth for nation-states
and the continent.
Between 2016 and 2018, Malawi was part of a six-
country project examining opportunities to main-
stream land governance issues in the agricultural
National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP).
One key recommendation of the study was to Empower
Women & Vulnerable Groups in Agriculture to promote
equitable agricultural investments including through
programmes to allocate land and secure rights to
land for women.
Since then, Malawi has made great progress in enacting
laws to support land governance including women’s
rights to land. To show its continuous political will,
Malawi made a request for technical assistance
to ECA in 2019 through the Ministry of Lands,
Urban Housing and Development.
ECA responded by supporting Malawi in a project on
Strengthening Women’s Land Tenure Security and
Entrepreneurship, with training of gender & land
stakeholders conducted in December 2020.
With the outbreak of the COVID-19, Malawi - like many
other countries - faces challenges of ensuring food
security, particularly the availability of agricultural
inputs to meet its demand in view of supply chain
disruptions that emanated from COVID-19 related
restrictions.
Because of pre-existing gender inequalities, deep-rooted
discrimination and feminine poverty, the multifaceted
consequences of the COVID crisis impacted women
more than men, while - at the same time - placing
increased responsibilities on women’s shoulders.
In such an unprecedented and difficult context, ECA
secured funding to continue supporting Malawi
under the project Gender-responsive Land
Governance in Africa as a Pathway for
Enhancing Women’s Resilience in the
Context of COVID-19.
Under this project, the assessment study and
policy dialogue, are being undertaken.
The workshop has assembled a diverse group of stake-
holders -- from the Ministries of Lands, Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Agriculture, Gender, Local
Government, Parliamentarians; Representatives
of parliamentary committees on agriculture;
and legal practitioners.
Others include representatives of farmer organisations,
UN agencies such as FAO, UN Women, UN-Habitat, UN
resident coordinator, OXFAM, Landnet, National Land
Coalition, Centre for Environmental Policy and
Advocacy (CEPA) and NGOs working on land
and women.
Gender advisory committee representatives, gender
and human rights technical working groups and
Representative of the women’s caucus
committee and the Land Justice
Consortium will also be present,
as well as representatives from
academia (LUANAR, University
of Malawi) and research
institutes (such
as Mwapata).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of
United Nations Economic Commission
for Africa (ECA).
____________________________________________
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mali
said that they appreciatethe
efficiency in the supply of
weapons from Russia
October 4th, 1:57am
RT.ru
Mali highly values the prompt delivery of
military equipment purchased
from Russia.
This was stated in an interview with RIA
Novosti by the Mali's Foreign Minister
Abdoulaye Diop.
"We highly appreciate the prompt delivery
of all the military equipment that Mali
buys, and all the support that we
receive from Russia," he said.
In addition, Diop noted the country's interest
in purchasing new Russian weapons.
Earlier, the Malian Foreign Minister expressed
confidence that the results of the
investigation into Kiev's ties
with terrorists will be made
public in a timely manner.
In addition, he expressed Mali's
interest in joining BRICS.
___________________________
South Africa: Sites of the
anti-apartheid history on
UNESCO Heritage List
August 3rd, 5:48pm
teleSUR)
Recently added to the list of UNESCO, are
various sites in S. Africa related to the
long and bloody struggle against
apartheid ---- as World
Heritage sites.
The system of institutionalized racial segregation was
established in South Africa after the Second World
War. It was finally eradicated in the early 1990s –
largely due to the sacrifices of activists like
Nelson Mandela, who came to serve as the
country’s first post-apartheid president.
Recently nominated to UNESCO as “Human Rights,
Struggle for Liberation and Reconciliation: Nelson
Mandela Legacy Sites” - the heritage consists of
fourteen component parts scattered throughout
the country, all related to the political history of
South Africa in the twentieth century.
These include the Union buildings, which are now the
official seat of the South African government... and
house the offices of the president. Over the years,
they have hosted many important events, such
as the inauguration of South Africa’s first
democratically elected president
in 1994.
A nine-metre-high bronze statue of Nelson Mandela has
been standing at the foot of the buildings since it was
unveiled one day after his funeral in Qunu – a village
near the birthplace of the late president – in
late 2013.
In the words of Tokyo Sexwale, an anti-apartheid activist
who was in prison with Mandela, The inclusion of the
site on the heritage list symbolizes world
recognition of South Africa’s long
journey towards freedom.
“It’s a great recognition for UNESCO to do that, but for us,
it’s for South Africa, as I said earlier. It is for human
rights, it's for social justice, it's for the recognition
of what democracy has defended. It was for our
own national self-determination, to take the
affairs of our nation into our own hands.
Therefore, it is important that the UN,
UNESCO, in this case, recognise
what happened here,”
said Sexwale.
_____________________________
Lavrov to attend first meeting
of Russia-Africa Forum
October 2nd, 12:32pm (TASS)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in
the first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa
Partnership Forum in Sochi on November 9-10,
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria
Zakharova said at a briefing.
"On November 9-10, the first ministerial conference of the
Russia-Africa Partnership Forum will be held at Sirius
University in Sochi," she said. "The event will be
attended by foreign ministers from Russia and
African states, as well as the leadership of
the African Union Commission and the
continent's largest integration
associations."
Zakharova added that the meeting will address a wide
range of issues on the Russian-African agenda,
including --- "security, trade, investment,
agricultural industrialization, mining
development, education, health-
care, and sanitary and
epidemiological
well-being.".
_____________________________________________
Ship with 300 passengers capsizes
in Nigeria, 150 people missing —
newspaper
October 2nd, 11:10am (TASS)
A passenger ferry, carrying 300 passengers,
has capsized on a river in Nigeria.
According to the Vanguard newspaper, 150 have
been rescued, and the rest have gone missing.
Search and rescue operations at the
site of the incident are ongoing.
_____________________________________
Nigeria celebrates independence day -
amid protests over economic hardship
October 1st, 8:27pm
(africanews)
Nigerians on Tuesday staged mass protests against
economic hardship as the West African nation
marked its 64th independence anniversary,
with its president calling for patience.
Waving placards, the protestors demanded better
opportunities and jobs for young people,
especially in a country that has some
of the world’s highest poverty and
hunger levels despite being a top
oil producer on the continent.
It is the second mass protest in two months in Africa’s
most populous country amid worsening hardship
caused by the government’s reforms to save
more money and shore up dwindling foreign
investments. At least 20 protesters were
shot dead and hundreds of others
arrested during the last protest
in August.
Although the government has defended the economic
policies, their immediate impact has contributed to
pushing the inflation rate to a 28-year high while
the currency languishes at record lows
against the dollar.
At least 63% of the population is poor. The government
has struggled to create jobs. And the world’s longest
war on militancy continues to unfold in its northeast.
“The truth is, there’s nothing worth celebrating about
Nigeria,” said Adetayo Babatunde-Daniel, a young
entrepreneur who joined the protests.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who was elected in May
last year on the promise of renewed hope, defended the
reforms as necessary steps for progress that prevented
the country’s economic “collapse.”
Additional sources • AP
_______________________________
Nigeria to join BRICS at right
time — foreign minister
October 1st, 6:14pm (TASS)
Nigeria is interested in joining BRICS and it intends
to do so "at the right time," the country’s Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, said.
"We’ll join when the time is right. We never said we are
not joining BRICS. It is about timing. We have already
indicated our interest in joining but we have not
formally written," he was quoted as saying by
the Vanguard newspaper.
Nigeria "will do so at the right time when it is the most
advantageous for [the country] to do so. There are a
lot of reforms going on internally for us to be able
to make that move," the minister added.
Since its inception in 2006, BRICS has experienced two
phases of expansion. In 2011, South Africa joined the
original group -- which included Brazil, Russia, India,
and China. On January 1st, 2024, five new members
officially entered BRICS --- namely Egypt, Iran, the
United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia.
Russia assumed the one-year rotating chairmanship of
BRICS on January 1, 2024. On Moscow’s watch, BRICS
will carry out over 250 events covering a wide range of
issues. The key event of Russia’s chairmanship will be
the BRICS summit in October 2024 in Kazan, Tatarstan
- in Russia’s Volga region.
_______________________________________
M23 rebel group generates
approximately $300,000 a
month from mining --- UN
October 1st, 5:47pm
(africanews)
A rebel group in Congo generates around $300,000
a month in revenue through its control of a mining
area in the east of the country, a U.N. official said.
In April, the M23 — a rebel group with alleged links to
Rwanda — seized the Rubaya mining area in eastern
Congo, which holds deposits of a key mineral used
in the production of smartphones and computers.
Over 15% of the world's supply of tantalum, a rare metal
extracted from coltan, comes from Rubaya, Bintou Keita,
head of the U.N. mission in Congo, told the Security
Council on Monday.
“Unless international sanctions are imposed on those
benefiting from this criminal trade, peace will remain
elusive and civilians will continue to suffer,”
Keita said.
Tantalum is among the minerals that were identified
earlier this year in a letter from Congo’s government
questioning Apple about the tech company’s
knowledge of “blood minerals” being
smuggled in its supply chain.
The decades-long conflict in eastern Congo has produced
one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more
than 120 armed groups fighting for power, land and
valuable mineral resources while others try to
defend their communities. Some armed
groups have been accused of mass
killings, rapes and other human
rights violations. The violence
has displaced some 6 million
people in the country's east.
M23, or the March 23 Movement, is a rebel military group
mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis that broke away from
the Congolese army just over a decade ago. They
staged a large offensive in 2012 ...and took over
the provincial capital of Goma near the border
with Rwanda, the same city they are
threatening again.
Congo alleges that Rwanda has been involved in war
crimes in the east and U.S. and U.N. experts accuse
it of giving military backing to M23. Rwanda denies
the claim, but in February admitted that it has
troops and missile systems in eastern Congo
to safeguard its security, pointing to a
buildup of Congolese forces near
the border.
In July, U.N. experts estimated that between 3,000 and
4,000 Rwandan government forces are deployed in
eastern Congo alongside M23, which has been
making major advances.
Last week, a regional court in East Africa opened
proceedings in a case filed by Congo against
Rwanda, accusing it of violating Congo’s
sovereignty and territorial integrity by
sending troops to help rebels in the
country’s east.
___________________________________
Russia, Congo ---- to start
implementing oil pipeline
project shortly - minister
October 1st, 4:58pm
(TASS)
Russia and the Republic of the Congo plan to start the implementation of the Pointe-Noire-Lutete-Maloukou Trechot oil pipeline project in the near future, the republic’s Minister of International Cooperation
and Promotion of Public-Private Partnership
Denis-Christel Sassou Nguesso said
in an interview with TASS.
The signing of the intergovernmental agreement on the
pipeline construction will be the first step after which
the creation of a joint venture is planned with
Zakneftegazstroy-Prometey Ltd. and the
National Petroleum Company, which
acts as a customer ------ to become
authorized companies responsible
for implementation of the project
from Russia and the Republic of
the Congo, respectively,
he added.
"We agreed on finalizing the creation of this venture in
a month or less. Heads of authorized companies have
already signed a respective agreement, which will
enable them to start the work quite fast. It will
take us another three months to draft and sign
the concession agreement. Once it is done
the joint venture will provide the schedule
of construction and implementation of
the project. Then it will be possible to
get started immediately. And we are
full of optimism," the minister said.
The republic is facing logistical challenges, which create
ONE UNION Two weeks before Brexit, the African Union
announced a new single African passport that permits holders to enter any of the 54 AU member states without a visa – an interesting turn in African history which NO-ONE in the West knows or cares about ! What a stunning reflection of how far our mindset and media are, from the 'world community' we say we love.
__________________________________
This is one reason why Rhondda Records is devoting this page to Africa - and there are so many other reasons!
Here are two - one bad - one good.
I was stunned, when I read a year or so ago, that 40% of Africa has no regular electricity supply! How could this be?
And, second, Africa is not only the Mother of the human species... it is, now, becoming the hope of the new multipolar world.