PAMLOMO-SAUTI YA JAMII

Addis Ababa, 30 January 2016-African Union Commission Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has called for consideration of proposals for free movement of people in Africa, for leaders to place people at the center of Agenda 2063, to advance the human rights of all peoples, to put an end to the culture that limits the participation of women and girls. Dr Dlamini Zuma also called for an end to indifference to the needs of others, and that of the people of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. Speaking at the opening session of the 26th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa today, the AUC Chairperson also congratulated a group of Zimbabweans who sang a song dedicated to Agenda 2063, and encouraged artists everywhere to embrace the Agenda “as it is our individual and collective aspirations that are captured in it”. The song was introduced to the Heads of State and government, their delegations and other summit delegates at the beginning of the...

After starting out wanting to reduce poverty, aid workers often find themselves living a lifestyle unimaginable back home. Does this cause more harm than good? People tell you how much they struggle to pay school fees and you feel ashamed: what you spend on your ticket home could have kept them in education. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images Awareness of your own privilege in relation to the rest of the world is often a motivator for people drawn to humanitarian or development work. The ironic twist is that in this profession we are transformed from unremarkable young people into a little aristocracy. Secret aid worker: sometimes I go to supermarkets to escape the loneliness Read more People from the developed world usually feel uncomfortable with the idea of house help at first, but are quickly eased into the idea by convenience and the absence of washing machines and dishwashers. Security is the justification for massive 4x4 vehicles as the onl...

Protesters hold a placard during the anti-corruption march in Pretoria, South Africa,(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) A poll last month by Transparency International found that a majority of Africans feel corruption on the continent is getting worse. It turns out they may be right. Sub-Saharan Africa tied Eastern Europe and Central Asia for the most corrupt region in the world, according to Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index . Of the 46 countries surveyed for the annual index released yesterday (Jan. 28), 40 were found to be showing “a serious corruption problem” in their public sectors. Almost 90% of African countries scored less than 50 out of the best of a 100, securing an average score of 33 overall. This is 10 points below the global average. “Indicators for rule of law and justice score particularly badly,” Chantal Uwimana, Transparency International’s director for sub-saharan Africa, said in the report. “While some governments are...

Topping up in Sierra Leone. (Azuri) Distributed power—where electricity is generated locally, instead of delivered via complex grid infrastructure—makes lots of sense for Africa. About 600 million Africans don’t have electricity . But sunlight is a widely available resource across most of the continent, making distributed solar power one of the more sensible options for electrification. Plenty of companies see the potential. This has made parts of Africa a testing ground for cutting-edge solar power. Some countries are developing a whole new type of infrastructure not seen elsewhere in the world: mobile-phone-led, flexible, and controlled by the user rather than big utilities and government. “We are now seeing the first innovation where the leading technologies are actually being deployed in Africa, not being deployed in the mainstream West,” said Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO of Azuri Technologies.  Azuri is based in Cambridge, UK, and installs rent-to-buy ...