Parliament has implored government to find lasting solutions to recurrent disasters, citing River Nyamwamba in Kasese District which is said to flood at least three times a year.

Legislators said it was unbecoming that every year the country experiences devastating effects of floods which could be averted.

“It has become common that every month of May, June and October, River Nyamwamba bursts its banks and leaves very many people dead and property destroyed. It is not happening in Kasese alone but Rwenzori sub-region, because districts like Ntoroko, Bundibugyo, Kabarole and Bunyangabu are also affected,” said Hon. Florence Kabugho (FDC, Kasese District Woman Representative).

Kabugho raised this as a matter of national importance during the plenary sitting chaired by Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa on Wednesday, 18 September 2024.

She said the recent floods on 07 September 2024 caused damage, that left Kasese residents questioning if government still cares for them.

“The floods have killed people, destroyed houses and swept away merchandise, leaving the business community suffering. We know government has released money to desilt that river but we are not seeing what that money is being used for, the people of Kasese think that government has neglected them,” said Kabugho.

Kabugho prayed that government sends technocrats to Kasese to find out the lasting solutions to the floods. whose seasons are known but continue to affect the population.

Pakwach District Woman Representative, Hon. Jane Avur, said her people are not any different from those in Kasese following the flooding of the River Nile banks which has curtailed education.

“The River Nile has burst its banks and as a result, pupils in Pakwach are unable to access schools. Teachers have also rebelled because they cannot continue to use the small canoes, they are asking for motorised boats from the Office of the Prime Minister,” Avur said.

Cognisant that primary seven pupils are yet to sit for the national exams, Avur called on the Office of the Prime Minister to urgently respond.

Hon. Gilbert Olanya (FDC, Kilak South County) said the season of floods in Elegu, Amuru District is known to the ministry in charge of disasters and asked for the progress of the permanent solutions government promised his people.

The Minister of State, Office of the Prime Minister (Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees), Hon. Lillian Aber, said her ministry is working with United Nations agencies to establish a long-term mitigation plan for disasters that happen in Kasese, Ntoroko and Bundibugyo districts. She added that her ministry had already sanctioned relief food for Kasese residents affected by the River Nyamwamba floods.

The Minister of State for Water and Environment (Environment), Hon. Beatrice Anywar, talked of an inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Prime Minister which has been charged with the responsibility to respond to the Kasese floods.

“The committee is already holding meetings since last week. There are some directives raised by the President that the committee is incorporating. In the meantime, there can be interventions such as clean water which is needed by our people,” Anywar said.

The Deputy Speaker revealed that his office receives complaints about disasters on a weekly basis and proposed that since seasons for most of the disasters are known, there should be a solid solution.

Tayebwa went on to direct the Minister of Relief and Disaster Preparedness to table a comprehensive report detailing government’s preparedness to mitigate disasters on 25 September 2024.

“I am receiving nearly every week issues of disasters and the answers we get are the same. We request the minister to bring a report on how prepared they are to mitigate disasters. Right now I do not think Hon. Rwemulikya can be here because of what is happening in Ntoroko,” Tayebwa said.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.

The ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA) convened a technical review meeting on the digital market study in all ECOWAS Member States for a better understanding of the dynamics of this rapidly growing sector from 09 – 13th September 2024 in Freetown, Republic of Sierra Leone.

In line with its mandate to keep under review commercial activities in the ECOWAS Market with a view to regulating practices which may distort the efficient operation of market conduct or which may adversely affect the economic interests of consumers, ERCA in collaboration with Member States conducted a study on digital markets, an evolving sector driven by technological innovations and changes in consumer preferences.

Digital technologies have in recent times entered all sectors of the economy and as more and more entities embrace the use of digital systems and technologies, competition authorities are increasingly confronted with the need to assess the unilateral conduct of players in these markets.

The meeting brought together the technical experts of the nine (9) Member States that contributed to the study. The primary objective of the meeting was to review the draft reports of Member States in line with Terms of Reference (ToR). In addition, the meeting sought to harmonize the country reports and discuss the methodology, analysis, findings, and conclusions, thus enabling the finalization of the study within the adopted timeline. It is also to discuss and adopt the roadmap for the finalization and submission of the final draft of the country and synthesis reports.

During the opening of the meeting, the Executive Director of ERCA, Dr. Simeon KOFFI, on behalf of the Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Madame Massandjé TOURE-LITSE, welcomed the delegates to Freetown and thanked them for contributing to the study. He also thanked the Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Trade and Industry for hosting the review meeting and appreciated the strong coordination and partnership in ensuring the success of the meeting. He acknowledged Sierra Leone’s commitment to ensuring the implementation of the Community Competition Rules with efforts already ongoing in the review and finalization of a competition policy framework for the establishment of an independent national competition authority of Sierra Leone. He emphasized the importance of conducting such studies with a view to assessing the digital market landscape in Member States, which is crucial for the economic development of the community. He further highlighted the digital market transformation and stated that conducting such a study would assist in knowing the challenges as well as leveraging its potentials for strengthening integration within the sub-region.

H.E. Harouna MOUSA, the Resident Representative of the ECOWAS Commission in Sierra Leone, on behalf of the President of ECOWAS Commission H.E. Omar Alieu TOURAY, thanked the government of Sierra Leone for hosting the meeting and reiterated ECOWAS’s unwavering commitment to deepening economic integration, emphasizing the importance of having a level playing field for all the players through the enforcement of competition rules. H.E. Mousa echoed a similar statement, stressing the importance of the study as essential for the promotion of a competitive and consumer-oriented environment, ensuring that all market participants have a level playing field. He highlighted that the digital market study is not only crucial for fair trade but also for the overall economic development of the region.

The opening statement of the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Hon. Fatmata KARGBO, representing the Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon. Alpha Ibrahim SESAY, welcomed ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority and experts from Member States. Hon. Kargbo conveyed the Minister’s keen interest in the implementation and enforcement of competition rules in Sierra Leone and underscored the Ministry’s strong commitment to the objectives of the meeting. Hon. Kargbo went further to elaborate on the importance of the digital market to Sierra Leone’s economic development, highlighting it as a sector that the government of Sierra Leone is focusing on in terms of youth employment and for supporting the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), who are the direct beneficiaries in the digital market.

The technical review meeting concluded with recommendations for each Member State’s study report and agreed on the finalization of the study report with the adoption of the roadmap for the conclusion, adoption, and publication of the study reports. The closing speech was delivered by the Minister of Trade and Industry, who thanked ECOWAS for choosing Freetown to host this important meeting and the Member States for their active contribution to this study. He reiterated Sierra Leone’s commitment to take part in the process of promoting competition and consumer protection in West Africa.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Along the southern banks of the Congo River lies a group of villages in the Mpouya district. This is where Roch Boetou-Kadilamio, Disaster Management Coordinator for the Congolese Red Cross (CRC), noticed a woman displaying possible signs of mpox in early february. 

“She was interacting with other community members as she waited for her turn to receive household items distributed by CRC to families displaced by recent floods,” Roch explains. 

Many African states, including the Republic of Congo, have weak health care systems characterized by inadequate surveillance, diagnostics and patient-care facilities to effectively and efficiently control the spread of diseases, including the recent sharp increase in mpox cases in many countries. 

The Republic of Congo shares a more than 1.700-kilometer-long border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – the current epicenter of the mpox – leaving it at very high risk of imported cases. 

For this reason, the IFRC has taken a regional approach, launching an emergency appeal in August 2024 to fund operations across numerous countries already impacted by Mpox, or that are stepping up prevention measures in hopes of limiting the disease’s spread.

Early warning allows early action 

Being on the ground in the village and trained to monitor risks allowed Rock to identify the suspected mpox case and report it forward to health authorities for follow up and mitigation efforts. This was possible due to a Disaster Risk Reduction programme, implemented by CRC in partnership with the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), which aims to strengthen the capacity of communities to anticipate, respond to and quickly recover from disasters. 

“We train communities to be aware of potential risks including health risks, detect them early, and seek help timely to reduce further spread of disease and deaths,” said Dr. Lambert Boteya Djoke, Head of Health and Social Action for the CRC.

Through a network of local and trusted community volunteers, with support from the CRC staff, volunteers send alerts to national health information systems via local health centers. Alerts can also be sent to the Congolese Red Cross headquarters using a toll-free telephone number.

“For the woman at the distribution center who was suspected to have mpox, we quickly alerted the nearest health center but also the health authorities, including the Ministry of Health,” explains Dr. Lambert. “They swiftly visited the site together with a team from the World Health Organization, took samples for testing and once confirmed positive, and followed up with other measures.” 

Accessing even the most remote villages with critical public health information

The Congolese Red Cross, as an auxiliary to the government, is actively supporting authorities in preparing for and responding to the mpox outbreak. Given its extensive volunteer network of more than 30,000 community volunteers across the country, of which 15,000 can be rapidly mobilized, CRC supports in reaching the most vulnerable and remote communities with critical information to mitigate and prevent the spread of mpox. 

“We have communities who live in the forests who cannot easily access public information,” says Nadège Blandine Mabika, the CRC’s focal point Community Engagement and Accountability, Gender and Inclusion, and National Society Development. “We also have communities by the river who routinely cross the border into DRC for trade, medical care and other essential services unchecked. All these communities need to be reached if we are to control the spread of mpox.”

Facing a surging outbreak of a disease with patterns are evolving and not yet adequately understood, the Congolese Red Cross, along with the entire IFRC regional network, remains committed to preventing, controlling and responding to the mpox outbreak for as long as needed. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies is gravely concerned about the business rescue process at the South African Post Office (SAPO) following a presentation to the committee yesterday, 17 September 2024.

The Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) appeared before the committee to provide an urgent update on mitigation strategies to avoid the so-called Day Zero scenario. Day Zero – set for 30 October 2024 – is understood to be the day when the ailing national postal services are expected to run out of cash reserves required for their operations.

The presentation covered the progress to date with implementing the business rescue plan and proposed mitigation measures being considered by the BRPs, who have assumed full management and operational control of the company. The committee noted some of the BRPs’ work to achieve short to medium-term objectives, including reducing approximately R1.2 billion in annual employee costs, right-sizing the entity and paying dividend awards of 12 cents in the Rand to all pre-commencement current creditors.

The committee has, however, expressed its dissatisfaction with the presentation, reaffirming its position that the BRPs have failed to present a cogent business case for the SAPO’s long-term sustainability in line with their statement of intent at the start of the business rescue proceedings, to ensure “the stabilisation, survival and future-proofing of the SA Post Office”.

The committee believes that the BRPs were appointed to implement a three-legged mandate of rescuing, stabilising and ensuring the long-term commercial viability of the Post Office. In the briefing to the committee, the BRPs said nothing about the plan to future proof SAPO, except to say that they needed R3.8 billion from the fiscus. According to the BRPs, this money is used to pay the final tranche of the retirement packages to employees, meet obligations with payroll creditors and use the remainder for capital and operational expenditures.

The committee believes that to access the desired cash draw down from the fiscus, the business rescue process should clearly demonstrate the path to viability and sustainability beyond this requested bail out. Failure to do so is to absolve the BRPs of their obligation to the organisation.

Consequently, the committee has called on the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mr Solly Molatsi, to urgently establish a Ministerial Intervention Team (MIT) to work with the Business Rescue Practitioners and the National Treasury, amongst others, to develop a strong business case to save and restore the Post Office as a reinvigorated going concern. The MIT should, amongst other actions, urgently convene stakeholders and other industry players in the postal services, courier and e-commerce sectors to engage on proposals towards strategic, sustainable and value-creating private sector partnerships. Due consideration should also be given to exploring opportunities to leverage SAPO’s extensive property assets for retail, residential and student accommodation purposes.

To support the process, the committee shall also engage with its counterparts in Parliament to aggressively enhance support for the SAPO by the rest of government. Furthermore, the committee shall also seek a joint meeting with the Standing Committee on Finance to explore any available measures that can be put in place to salvage the situation. The committee firmly believes that no effort must be spared to rescue and revive the South African Post Office as a vital state institution with an important mandate to connect people to one another and to the government in a fast-evolving technological age.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.