Politics | - Part 13

Army Is Ouattara Achilles’ Heel as Ivory Coast Economy Roars

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – As Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara presides over Africa’s fastest-growing economy and leads a ruling coalition that’s just won a fresh majority in parliament, he still faces a key threat to national stability: the army. A two-day mutiny by soldiers demanding better pay and living conditions that paralyzed several cities last week was the second uprising in three years. It showed that the world’s biggest cocoa producer is still vulnerable after…

Election Vexing Foreigners Makes Kenya Stocks Cheapest on Record

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Investor trepidation seven months from Kenyan general elections has turned the country’s stocks into the worst-performers of 2017, and driven valuations to the weakest on record. The Nairobi Securities Exchange All-Share Index has fallen 6.9 percent to the lowest since September 2013, the biggest slump among 94 benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg. The looming Aug. 8 vote has prompted concerns of a repeat of violence that marked voting in 2007 and foreign investors, who…

Hate Speech in Social Media Targeted by Kenya Before August Vote

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s communication authority said it increased monitoring of social media in a bid to combat hate speech before the East African nation holds presidential elections in August. Authorities have spent 1.1 billion shillings ($10.6 million) since 2015 to monitor broadcasters and last year paid an additional 1 billion to examine social-media output, Chairman Ngene Gituku told reporters Thursday in the capital, Nairobi. “We are working with other government agencies…

Ugandan Leader Seen Preparing Successor as Son Named Adviser

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KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s appointment of his son as a senior adviser may be a move to stem dissent in the governing party and prepare a successor to his 30-year rule. Museveni, who secured a fifth term in a 2016 vote, named Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the 42-year-old head of an elite military group, as his adviser for special operations. The chief of Uganda’s defense forces was also replaced, army spokesman Paddy Ankunda…

Ghana President Picks Investment Banker as Finance Minister

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana appointed investment banker Ken Ofori-Atta as finance minister following elections last month that saw the return to power of the New Patriotic Party. The announcement was made by President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday in comments on Citi FM radio. Ofori-Atta, 57, held the post of executive chairman of the Accra-based investment bank Databank Financial Services Ltd. for 12 years until 2012 and served as director of fundraising during the NPP’s campaign for the…

West African Leaders Meet on Gambia Standoff as Deadline Looms

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BANJUL (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Economic Community of West African States meets in the Nigerian capital Monday to discuss how to get Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to step down next week without the bloc having to resort to force. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari hosts his Senegalese and Liberian counterparts in Abuja on Monday, according to a statement e-mailed by the Nigerian presidency. Sierra Leone Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh and former Ghanaian President John Mahama will also attend, it said….

Nigerian Militants Threaten to Widen Attacks on Oil Industry

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group whose attacks on infrastructure curbed Nigerian oil output last year, threatened to widen its campaign after becoming frustrated with government talks. “The Nigerian state is not ready for any form of dialogue and negotiation with our people to addressing the issues sustaining the unending sufferings and deprivation,” the Avengers said in a Jan. 6 posting on its website. The militants said the Jan. 3 award by…

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