East Africa | - Part 4

Rwandan President Sees Growth Accelerating on Banking, Mining

KIGALI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Rwandan economic growth is expected to accelerate this year and next as the outlook for industries including financial services, tourism and mining improves, President Paul Kagame said. The pace of expansion is expected to increase to 7 percent next year from about 6 percent this year, Kagame said Thursday in an interview in Dubai. That compares with 2016’s growth rate of 5.9 percent, which was a three-year low. The pace of…

Nakumatt Kenya Creditors Face Haircut on Debt, Government Says

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Creditors owed more than 30 billion shillings ($289 million) by Nakumatt Holdings Ltd. will take a haircut if a plan by East Africa’s biggest retailer to enter administration goes ahead, said Kenya’s Industry & Trade Secretary Adan Mohamed. Nakumatt directors will next week seek the High Court’s approval to appoint an administrator and protection from insolvency in order to buy time from creditors including tax agencies, banks, landlords and suppliers. Approval by…

Specter of Violence Looms Over Kenya After Two Disputed Votes

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The specter of political violence lingers over Kenya after two shambolic elections within three months left the East African nation no closer to resolving a stalemate over who’s its rightful leader. While President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of both contests, his main rival Raila Odinga rejected the Aug. 8 vote as rigged and boycotted a court-ordered Oct. 26 rerun after the electoral agency ignored his demands to fire staff and change…

Deadly Somalia Bombings Highlight Failed Bid to Quash Al-Shabaab

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MOGADISHU (Capital Markets in Africa) – Three deadly bomb attacks in Somalia’s capital this month have highlighted the failings of a decade-long international effort to quash an al-Qaeda-linked insurgency in one of the world’s poorest countries. While African Union troops helped the federal government drive the Islamist group known as al-Shabaab out of Mogadishu in 2011, the group has continued to stage assaults in the city. The U.S. blamed it for the country’s deadliest-ever attack — an Oct….

Tanzanian Opposition Leader Arrested for Inflammatory Speech

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DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tanzanian police arrested the leader of the opposition Alliance for Change and Transparency after he gave a speech about the current state of the country’s economy. The authorities detained Zitto Kabwe on Tuesday and he’s currently being questioned about the speech he made on Oct. 29 in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital, Abdallah Khamis, the ACT’s spokesman, said by phone. The party’s lawyers are trying to…

Kenyatta Named Winner of Kenyan Vote Rerun as Odinga Cries Foul

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was announced as the landslide winner of a chaotic election rerun that his main rival Raila Odinga rejected as a sham. Kenyatta, 56, won 7.48 million votes, or 98.3 percent of the total cast on Oct. 26, Wafula Chebukati, the chairman of the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission, said Monday in Nairobi, the capital. The turnout was 38.8 percent, down from 79 percent in an Aug. 8 contest that…

Rwanda Asks UN for Details After Anti-Torture Panel Halts Visit

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KIGALI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Rwanda’s government called on the United Nations to publicly describe the impediments the global body said prompted its torture prevention panel to cut short a fact-finding visit to the East African country last week. The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, which was on the fifth day of its one-week visit, said Oct. 20 it couldn’t continue because of “a series of obstructions” from authorities and fears of reprisals among those…

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