Tanzania's president dismisses two ministers as part of a constitutional amendment

Tanzania's president dismisses two ministers as part of a constitutional amendment

    Monday, July 22, 2024   No comments

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has dismissed two senior ministers in a major cabinet reshuffle, acting presidential communications director Sharifa Nyanga has said.

The dismissals of Foreign Minister Januye Makamba and Minister of Information, Communications and Information Technology Nabi Nnuye came amid rumours that they were secretly planning to challenge President Hassan’s re-election bid.

The current Tanzanian president took office after the death of her predecessor, populist leader John Magufuli.

In a statement issued by Tanzania’s Secretary-General Musa Kusaluka, he announced the appointment of Mahmoud Thabit Kombo as a member of parliament and minister of foreign affairs and East African cooperation. Kombo was Tanzania’s ambassador to Italy.

According to the statement, Jerry Sila will replace Nnuye as the new Minister of Information, Communications and Information Technology. Sila previously served as Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development.

The amendments also included a number of figures in official positions at different levels in the state, including the Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, a Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, a Deputy Minister in the Office of the Head of Public Service and Good Governance, and a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in East Africa.

Deogratius John Ndigimbe was appointed as the new Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, who previously held the position of Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office for the portfolio of "Labor, Youth, Employment and Persons with Disabilities".

According to the statement, Ridwani Kikwete was appointed as Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, who previously held the position of Deputy Minister of State in the Office of the President for "Public Service and Good Governance".

Kosatu Shumi was also appointed as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, succeeding Mabrouk Nasser Mabrouk, who will be assigned other duties. Meanwhile, Deus Clement Sango was appointed as Deputy Minister in the Office of the President for "Public Service and Good Governance".

Dennis Lazaro Lunda was also appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, replacing Stephen Lugwahuka Byabatu, whose appointment was cancelled. The cabinet reshuffle also includes the appointment of permanent secretaries and district chief administrators. According to the Turkish Anadolu Agency, the latest cabinet reshuffle reflects the Tanzanian president’s efforts to strengthen her administration and address internal challenges as she prepares for her re-election campaign.

Lula da Silva: What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, but rather annihilation... and “Israel” is behaving like Hitler

Lula da Silva: What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, but rather annihilation... and “Israel” is behaving like Hitler

    Sunday, February 18, 2024   No comments

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Israel of committing "genocide" against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, likening what it was doing to the Holocaust during World War II.

Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he attended an African Union summit, that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, it is genocide,” adding that it is “a war between a highly prepared army, and women and children.”

He continued, "What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has not happened at any other stage in history. In fact, it had already happened when Hitler decided to kill the Jews."

These are among the harshest statements made by the leftist Brazilian president regarding the Israeli aggression against Gaza and the Hamas movement since its outbreak on October 7, and since then he has strongly criticized the retaliatory military campaign launched by Israel against the besieged Gaza Strip.

As a result, the Foreign Minister of Israel, Israel Katz, decided today, Sunday, to summon the Brazilian ambassador to “Israel” to rebuke him in the wake of the Brazilian president’s statements, which he described as shameful against “Israel,” according to the Israeli media.

For his part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described Lula da Silva's statements as "shameful and dangerous."

He said that comparing "Israel" to the Nazi Holocaust and Hitler is crossing a red line, noting that "Israel" is fighting to defend itself and ensure its future until complete victory.

Previously, the Brazilian President denounced the provocative actions carried out by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza, stressing that they had “reached an unacceptable extent.”

He stressed the need to "pressure Israel to comply with United Nations resolutions," stressing that he came to deliver a message of support to the Palestinian people, and that Brazil is against the war, pledging to provide financial aid to UNRWA.

G77 + China: The largest intergovernmental coalition within the United Nations meets at turning point

G77 + China: The largest intergovernmental coalition within the United Nations meets at turning point

    Sunday, January 21, 2024   No comments

 

The intergovernmental organization known as the G77 + China holds its summit this month in Africa. The summit is held during challenging time. UN secretary general was present to highlight some of these challenges including the war in Gaza and threat of spillover effect that could widen the conflict or increase its intensity.

The opening of the summit called the “South Summit” in Kampala, Uganda, was overshadowed by what Liu Kuo-chung called the continued influence of “the old international economic and political system, in undermining international peace and development,” amid a consensus among the participants on the importance of changing the global financial and economic system that emerged after World War II.

The summit is being held in Africa, which is witnessing increasing competition between the major powers to enter it, each according to its priorities. For China, the continent constitutes a cornerstone of its “Belt and Road” initiative, and the summit aims to enhance cooperation in the fields of economics and development among member states, develop and transfer technology, and bridge the gap. Science between North and South countries.

The Group of 77 (G77) is an international governmental alliance, the largest of its kind within the United Nations system. It was established in 1964 with the aim of defending the interests of developing countries, promoting the economy, and coordinating common issues affecting the countries of the South.

The group was established on June 15, 1964, at the end of the first session of the United Nations Trade and Development Program (UNCTAD) in Geneva, where the joint statement was announced and signed by 77 developing countries from around the world.

Between 10 and 25 October 1967, the group's first ministerial meeting was held in Algiers, during which the "Algiers Charter" was approved, which included the founding structure of the group.

Although the group has expanded and its members have increased to 134 countries, it still maintains its name due to the significance and symbolism of the event, and the strength and diversity of attendance it expresses at the founding conference.

The group includes two-thirds of the member states of the United Nations, representing 80% of the planet's population, and approximately 43% of the world's economy.

The group includes 134 countries from various developing countries, and the member countries are divided by continents; she:

Asia:

Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, East Timor, Turkmenistan, UAE, Vietnam, Yemen and Azerbaijan.

Africa:

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde Islands, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, etc. Kenya and Equatorial Guinea Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

North America:

Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad and Tobago.

South America:

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Continent of Oceania:

Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The neocolonial food economy: How Bill Gates and others threaten Africa's agricultural future?

The neocolonial food economy: How Bill Gates and others threaten Africa's agricultural future?

    Monday, September 18, 2023   No comments

A report on the American “The Nation” website, under the title “The New Colonial Food Economy,” by Alexander Zaitchik, author of the book “Owning the Sun” - A History of the Medical Monopoly, spoke about the consequences of the actions of the global billionaire Bill Gates and other business giants in the areas of food. And agriculture, on small farmers in Africa and the countries of the South.

“Last summer, the global trading system finalized the details of the revolution in African agriculture,” the report stated, explaining that “under the project, the trade bodies sponsoring the African Continental Free Trade Area seek to restrict all 54 African countries to a model “It aims to replace farmers’ traditions and practices, which have persisted on the continent for thousands of years.”

He continued, "The main goal is farmers' human right to seeds and crops, and to share and cultivate them according to personal and societal needs."

"By allowing corporate property rights to replace local seed management, the protocol is the latest front in a global battle over the future of food," he adds.

Based on draft laws written by Western seed companies more than three decades ago in Geneva, the new generation of agricultural reforms seek to impose legal and financial penalties across the African Union on farmers who fail to adopt seeds manufactured abroad and protected by patents, including This includes genetically modified versions of local seeds, according to the report.

The resulting seed economy would turn African agriculture into a bonanza for global agribusiness, foster export-oriented monocultures, and undermine resilience during a period of profound climate disruption.

This new seed economy includes not only major seed and biotechnology companies, but also sponsor governments, in a more complex and controversial effort to re-engineer global agriculture for the benefit of biotechnology and agribusiness, not for the benefit of African farmers or the climate, the report asserts.

The author adds, “Tightening ownership laws on farms across the African Union would represent a major victory for global economic powers, which have spent the past three decades campaigning to undermine farmer-run seed economies and oversee their forced integration into global agribusiness value chains.”

These changes threaten the livelihoods of Africa's small farmers and their collective vital biological heritage, including a number of staple grains, legumes and other crops, which their ancestors developed and protected since the dawn of agriculture.

For farmers who are on the path to a global market drive to standardize and privatize their seeds, the risks are simply preserving their right to economic self-determination.

In a statement to the website, one of the farmers warns: “Companies have changed our food culture... They are now using threats to change our agricultural culture. If we replace traditional seeds with foreign seeds that cannot be replanted, what happens if the new seeds do not arrive? It is an attack on our survival!” .

While Western governments are crying foul over Russia’s termination of the “gain deal”, European governments are banning the import of grain from Ukraine

While Western governments are crying foul over Russia’s termination of the “gain deal”, European governments are banning the import of grain from Ukraine

    Wednesday, September 13, 2023   No comments

Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria will introduce restrictions on the import of grain from Ukraine. 

This was stated by Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy after negotiations with colleagues.

 Countries want to introduce restrictions on the import of Ukrainian grain at the national level until the end of 2023, if the EC does not extend them at the pan-European level.

Poland has already announced a unilateral ban on grain imports, and Romanian farmers are threatening to block ports and customs if the import ban is not extended.

Related to the grain deal, and after a meeting between Erdogan and Putin in Sochi, Russia, Turkeye, and Qatar agreed to form an alternative structure that would supply African countries with grain and fertalizer. Russia has offered to provide free grain to Africa.

The grain will be provided by Russia, the logistics will be financed by Qatar, and the operation will be managed from Trukeye, which is also asiring to become a natural gas hub for the world.

Healthcare inequity: How Big Pharma and Western Governments betrayed countries of the Global South

Healthcare inequity: How Big Pharma and Western Governments betrayed countries of the Global South

    Thursday, September 07, 2023   No comments

First, it was Western governments that prioritized the vaccination of people in Europe over the need to protect the most vulnerable. For two years, EU governments either banned the export of covid vaccines outside the bloc or pressured companies to prioritize orders coming from Europe, even after many people in Europe were vaccinated, not just once, but twice.

Now, it is the turn of big pharma; companies that are headquartered in the West and protected by western governments, have been bullying African governments to sign deals for the supply of vaccines at higher prices.

It is now reported that Pharmaceutical giant Janssen/Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and generic manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII) charged the South African government more than the European Union for COVID-19 vaccines – and South Africa assumed all the risk in ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ contracts with Pfizer, J&J and SII.

 

This is according to an analysis of the contracts led by Health Justice Initiative (HJI), a South African NGO that won a court challenge last month to get access to all South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine contracts.

 

J&J charged South Africa $10 a dose, 15% more than the company charged the European Union (EU), and the government was required to pay a non-refundable down payment of $27.5 million.

Read full story.