14 September 2022
South Africa: According to the article’s author’s calculations, overweight and obesity cost the country’s health system 33 bn Rand per year (1.9bn USD) – 15.38% of government health expenditure or 0.67% of GDP. There is thus “an urgent need for preventive, population-level interventions to reduce overweight and obesity rates”.
https://theconversation.com/obesity-costs-south-africa-billions-we-did-the-sums-188768
Tunisia: The government and the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) have reached an agreement to increase public sector workers’ wages by 3.5% over the next three years. A multi-billion-dollar loan from the IMF for the country is conditioned on a deal between authorities and the union. The short article does not state whether that condition is now fulfilled.
BBC Africa Live 14 September 2022. 15:09
Ethiopia/Tigray: A second day of drone strikes has killed ten in Mekele, the capital of Tigray region.
BBC Africa Live 14 September 2022. 11:28
Kenya: New president William Ruto said food and fuel subsidies would be ended because they were expensive and ineffective. In another reversal of his predecessor’s policies, he had six judges sworn in today Wednesday – nominated by the Judicial Service Commission three years ago, ex-president Kenyatta had blocked their taking office claiming that “they were ‘tainted’.”
BBC Africa Live 14 September 2022. 6:33
Ghana/Environment: The tree cover has decreased by 20% since 2000. The main reasons for deforestation are logging, illegal mining and unsustainable farming practices. “The current forest restoration strategy adopted by the government through the Youth in afforestation Programme is unsustainable.” Political interference needs to be reduced and the necessary human, logistical and financial resources need to be made available. Ideally, “(t)he current approach should shift to a community-based and voluntary approach”.
https://theconversation.com/ghanas-efforts-to-employ-young-people-and-regrow-forests-could-work-better-190012
Ghana: Inflation has reached 33.9% year-on-year in August. “The cost of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels shot up by over 46%.” And transport fares are to go up by 30% next week.
BBC Africa Live 14 September 2022. 18:55
13 September 2022
Burkina Faso: The head of the junta has dismissed the defence minister General Barthélémy Simporé and will now assume the role himself. No reason was given for the dismissal.
BBC Africa Live 13 September 2022. 7:29
Kenya: The new president has so far been “fond of quoting the scripture, praying and even sobbing in public”, also during his election campaign. The evangelical Christian is “likely to put religion centre-stage while in office”, though apparently, the self-styled “hustler” “plans to be the leader of people from all faiths” (11% of Kenyans are Muslims, around 85% Christians). Ruto has also said that “(t)here is no room for homosexuality in Kenya” and he opposes abortion.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62835681
Kenya: Food security is a big worry for Kenyans. The price of maize has doubled over the past year. The article’s author advises the new Kenyan government what to do for a sustainable solution
https://theconversation.com/kenyas-maize-price-has-doubled-in-a-year-6-ways-to-avoid-a-staple-food-shortage-190149
Kenya: William Ruto has today Tuesday been sworn in as President. Rigathi Gachagua, the new Vice President, “sent crowds into laughter after he fumbled while taking” his oath.
BBC Africa Live 13 September 2022. 11:46
BBC Africa Live 13 September 2022. 12:08
South Africa/Racism in the media: The article’s author’s content analysis of six South African English-language newspapers from 1994 to 2014 shows that substantial black ownership of South Africa’s commercial media resulting from Black Economic Empowerment/BEE “did not significantly “transform” historical racist tropes (over-used themes and clichés) of blackness in South Africa’s newspaper content.” Racism is subtle, “inferential”, by no means overt, with black people presented as “deviants”, “disorderly”, “criminals”, “lawless”, “incompetent”, the “damned”, or “excessively violent”. Yet media should transform ideologies of the past…
https://theconversation.com/racism-in-south-african-newspapers-persists-even-after-decades-of-black-media-ownership-190105
Sudan: According to Unicef and NGO Save the Children, a third of the country’s children miss out on school. Amongst the reasons are unrest following the October 2021 coup d’état, “skyrocketing” inflation, lack of infrastructure, lack of teacher…
BBC Africa Live 13 September 2022. 9:05