Features | - Part 181

Africa’s Economic Future Depends on Its Farmers

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – When the economies of Nigeria and South Africa recently rebounded, it wasn’t oil or minerals that did the trick. It was agriculture. Faster and more sustainable agricultural growth is crucial not only to the continent’s economy, but also to its ability to feed and employ its surging population. Agriculture still accounts for a quarter of gross domestic product and as much as two-thirds of employment in sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, agricultural growth has the…

Congo Elections Won’t Be Held Before April 2019, Commission Says

Posted on by The Editorial Team

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo that were due last year won’t be held before April 2019, the electoral commission said, a delay that undermines a pact President Joseph Kabila’s supporters made with his political opponents for him to step down this year. The commission said in a statement that it will need 504 days to organize the polls once it completes the enrolment of voters. The body says it has finished…

Rwanda Army Tortured Suspected Rebels, Opponents, Group Says

Posted on by The Editorial Team

KIGALI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Rwanda’s military detained suspected rebels and supporters of an exiled opposition group, subjecting them to beatings, mock executions and electric shocks, Human Rights Watch said. The New York-based advocacy group has confirmed 104 cases of people illegally detained, many of whom were tortured, in army detention centres between 2010 and 2016, it said Tuesday in a report. The total number is probably higher because of the secret nature of…

Swiss Secrecy Redux? Medieval Zug Bets on a Cryptocurrency Future

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) In May a devastating computer virus called WannaCry locked up the systems of carmakers, train operators, and even hospitals. The hackers demanded users pay to get their data back with the digital currency bitcoin. Some did, and when the cyber extortionists needed to swap tens of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin in August, they turned toShapeShift, a digital currency exchange based in the lakeside town of Zug, Switzerland. Only part of the money…

McKinsey Offers to Repay Fee Billed to South Africa’s Eskom

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – McKinsey & Co. said it is willing to repay consulting fees for work done for Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. if a court finds that the state-owned South African power utility acted illegally when making the payments. Eskom last week said it will ask McKinsey to return 1 billion rand ($73 million) in unlawful payments and that Trillian Capital Partners refund it 564 million rand. Trillian was the so-called supply development…

Liberians Elect New President As Johnson Sirleaf Steps Down

Posted on by The Editorial Team

MONROVIA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Liberians vote Tuesday to choose a new legislature as well as a president to replace Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from among 20 candidates who include a retired soccer star, a former warlord and a wealthy chicken farmer. Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female president who’s governed the impoverished nation for 12 years, has thrown her support behind Vice President Joseph Boakai, 72. He’s the leader of the ruling Unity…

Mugabe Dents Deputy’s Leadership Bid in Zimbabwe Cabinet Change

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe replaced his finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle that weakened his vice president, who’s considered one of the main contenders to succeed him as leader of the southern African nation. Mugabe, 93, removed Patrick Chinamasa as finance minister, giving him a new cyber-security portfolio and stripped Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa of his position as justice minister. Chinamasa was replaced by former Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo, while the justice portfolio was given…

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