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In 2014, the International Labour Organization (ILO) made an estimate of $150bn as the annual proceeds generated from forced labour which is a derivative of human trafficking. The continual adverse impact of this ugly menace can be seen in all continents of the world, with its prevalence in Asia, America, Europe and Africa. The economic opportunities associated with this age-long crime against humanity has been one of the driving forces behind this practice. Painfully speaking, the end to this quagmire is still far fetched because of its cancerous nature and the potential profits attached thereof seem to be irresistible. By way of simple comprehension, human trafficking can be defined as an organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited (Merriam Webster). This subject matter is so broad that its ultimate explanation seems to be an uphill task. Human traffickers have led their unsuspecting victims into bonded labour, forced labour and child labour. Statistically speaking, Asia and the Pacific have the highest number of child workers, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest incidence of child labour. The house-help system in Nigeria can also be likened unto child labour due to the numerous cases of domestic violence and maltreatments being experienced by the children involved. A lot of goods and services such as clothing, cocoa, bricks and gold are being produced through forced labour. It is worth noting the various types of Human Trafficking, which are: Trafficking of children/minors Sex Trafficking Labour Trafficking Coerced Marriages Trafficking for the harvesting of vital human organs In 2019, while having a discussion with a young lady, she told a touching story of her experience in Cotonou (Benin Republic) where she was brought to voluntarily in search of greener pastures. It was unknown to her that the woman who brought her to Cotonou was a sex trafficker who sold her high hopes of prospective success. She eventually managed to abscond from her traffickers and found her way back to Nigeria, but the damaged had already been done. Fortunately for her, she was one of the lucky ones. Alot of them never escape, some are killed and their families never know, others become drug addicts and in some cases die of drug overdose. There are many other stories of young girls who are trafficked to Italy and Spain in search of greener pastures. Many couldn't make it back home to their respective families. Young African men have trafficked and smuggled themselves to far-off countries in search of a better quality of life. A large number of them die under adverse conditions, while crossing a desert or the Mediterranean Sea. It should be pointed out that there are lots of factors that lead to this menace and these factors still encourage youths to undertake these gruesome death defying trips to other countries in search for a better quality of life. Some of these factors are: Poverty Unemployment Institutionalized social discriminations against women and children. Advent of Internet with its facilitations of commercial sex trading. The ease associated with transportation of victims due to the effects of globalization. Corrupt practices associated with law-enforcement agencies and the inadequacies inherent thereof. The alarming consequences and the societal impacts of human trafficking has always been a great cause of concern. Victims were subjected to physical abuse, emotional traumas and psychological stress. Other health related consequences of human trafficking are STDs and other transmittable diseases like HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. World organizations have put in a lot of efforts into fighting the ugly menace of human trafficking. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the single largest global provider of services to victims of trafficking, reported that, there was an increase in number of cases in which victims were subjected to forced labour. Reports show that, 2010 was particularly notable as the first year in which IOM assisted more victims of labour trafficking than those who had been trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation. The IOMs' main focus is "to provide secure, reliable, flexible and cost-effective services for persons who require international migration assistance (Wikipedia). Various world governments bodies have also expended a lot of finance and manpower in the fight against Human Trafficking. The Human Rights Protection agency in Nigeria are also putting all hands on deck in determining the underlining cause of human trafficking in Nigeria. Conclusion Human trafficking will always be a threat to the right of freedom and free will. There is no doubt that it must be nipped in the bud, anything less would be considered social injustice. Human trafficking in Africa is a direct consequence of poverty, unemployment and poor social economical reforms. Creation of employment opportunities through direct government investment in infrastructure, manufacturing and industrial services will boost the economy and the quality of living. Government investment in healthcare infrastructure and services will also have a positive impact on the quality of living in Africa. Lastly, the creation of a social benefit system funded through taxes is essential in any modern day economy. People need something to fall back to when they are unemployed, and a social benefit system is the only fair solution to this. We conclude by saying, it might not be possible to totally eradicate human trafficking in any country but a balanced social economic system will ensure people have a good quality of living, which will reduce the likelihood of them becoming victims of human trafficking. Disclaimer - This article is not owned by Changeinafrica.com, we have agreed to post it because human trafficking is a subject that should be on everyone's minds. We have also edited some sections to make it suitable for our audience. Liability for its content lies with its Author. Any questions should be emailed to the author at chinemeremuzoukwu@gmail.com and the publisher at admin@changeinafrica.com

Managing mental health in Africa is very challenging because this issue is highly stigmatizing in our culture. Aside from the obvious challenges like poverty, tribal conflicts, civil wars and diseases such as HIV, malaria, and TB. One of the biggest problems faced by Africa is the lack of funding available to support mental health initiatives, as well as the scarcity in the number of psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health facilities. I guess to sum up Africa's attitude towards mental health i would refer to a quote from Kenya's humour writer Ted Malanda, on the death of American actor Robin Williams, who committed suicide due to depression. In his quote, Malanda states that: “I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that depression is an illness…In fact, it is such a non-issue that African languages never bothered to create a word for it,” . Resources to support Mental Health in Africa In various African countries, only 1% of the budget is allocated on mental health. Moreover, according to the WHO Regional Office for Africa, the ratio of mental health workers to the region's population is only 0.9:100,000 which is extremely low compared to the global ratio which is 9:100,000. In addition, one third of these workers are non-professionals. Clearly, there's a big shortage in the mental health workforce in Africa. Mental health misinformation In many African cultures, mental illness is an uncommon topic. The differences in culture, manifested symptoms, and interpretations to these symptoms play a huge role why this topic is taboo. Due to the widespread stigma about this topic, only a few higher educational institutions teach about it. This puts a limitation on graduating students who want to enrol in programs related to mental health. For that reason, there is a shortage in mental health workers in the region which subsequently leads to a limited access of treatment options. Moreover, even if there are a few facilities and workers available, several families are hiding members of their families who are suffering from a mental disorder because of fear of discrimination which is rampant across the region. One of the biggest misinformation about mental health in Africa is that only weak people have mental health issues. There is also the wrong assumption that associates every mental health case with suicide. You have other types of misinformation such as mental health being associated with juju attacks, mental health associated with witchcraft and finally mental health being associated with religion. As a Christian you often hear the scripture "there will be no rest for the wicked". So many Christians believe that bad things only happen to bad people or wicked people are the only ones that can't sleep, are anxious or worried. This is preposterous and a myopic way of thinking, yet it still doesn't stop people from thinking that way. Impact of Covid 19 lockdown on mental health When Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020, the number of mental health issues have significantly increased in Africa. A survey conducted by WHO for dates June to August 2020 indicated that front liners and responders have reported symptoms of anxiety and depression due to working in high risk environments with little to no protective equipment issued to them. In a similar survey conducted by researchers from the King’s College London entitled "The Mental Health Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Sub-Saharan Africa" stated that the pandemic has led to several mental health issues because of the many challenges it brought to humanity such as job losses, discrimination and stigma to patients, physical distancing, and the lockdown. What African governments and employers can do Promote social interventions; Strengthen peer support; Equip mental health workers with adequate knowledge and resources to better help the people who are suffering from mental illnesses; In line with Covid-19 guidance, equip frontline staff, first responders, and caregivers with enough training and protective equipment to better serve the public; Employers must also include in their wellness programs the importance of mental health and how to conduct psychological first aid; What regular people like you can do Having enough sleep - Sleep is very important because this is the time that your mind and body get recharged. During your sleep, your body releases hormones that help repair damaged cells. Moreover, if you get enough sleep, your mind and body function better. Having enough sleep also boosts your immune system and mental well-being making you less susceptible to illnesses, both physically and mentally. To maximize your sleep, go to bed and get up at similar times daily. Incorporating more self-care routine in your daily activities - The best self-care routine you can do to yourself include eating healthy meals on time, exercising regularly, allocating time for relaxation, keeping up with your personal hygiene, and making time to do things that give you joy. Doing these things don’t only make you feel good, but scientifically speaking these activities are proven to improve your physical and mental health. Minimizing social media and negative news - Avoid reading or listening to news that can only cause you distress or anxiety. It’s also not healthy to spend too much time on social media, especially if you have the tendency to compare your life to others. Remember, social media is a place where all the fancy things and winning moments are highlighted so there’s no need to compare your current reality to them. If you’ll ever use social media, use it to spread positivity, show support to others and don't get embroiled in online arguments or disputes. Social media is not a true reflection of life, it is mostly a one way stream of opinion. You find that it becomes more frustrating when you see that your opinion doesn't matter much online, unless you are a celebrity, large organisation or influencer. Keep in touch with those who love, support, and care about you - If you ever feel like your mental health is declining, connect with people whom you trust and you know will show unconditional love and support. Don’t discriminate - People who are suffering from mental health issues need more love, understanding, and support. Show more compassion, don't make it about yourself, don't make it about religion, just listen and be supportive. I suffered from depression as a kid into adulthood, although i was never diagnosed in Nigeria, my friends always complained about how i always looked angry or reacted over little things. When i got diagnosed in UK, i told my sister who is currently studying medicine and she said its because i don't serve God the right way. I told my mum and she said i should pray, but when i told my older brother he said he is here to support me and if i ever needed to talk, i should let him know. In a summary, the only support i got in my family was from my brother, everyone else judged me. Seek professional help - Don't hesitate to seek expert help. Don’t let the judgment of others stop you from getting better. After all, what you need the most is you. Let the experts help you get better so you can live life with the best quality. It is understandable that in Africa, there isn't alot of mental health support but there are support groups and materials you can find online to help yourself. If you search online at Mental Health support groups in Africa you will find alot of resources to help yourself. Conclusion Today, Africans have gradually become more open to seeking professional help and addressing their mental health issues. With all the problems the world is facing today, it is high time that African governments provide adequate resources needed to support mental health initiatives in Africa. It is fair to say that the statistics of mental health in Africa isn't accurate because people don't seek help and bottle everything in until they explode and someone get's hurt. Africans have to juggle their day to day issues in life with the lack of government support or hope for a better future for themselves and their families. Most of the countries in Africa are considered as developing nations and the social amenities available in the western world isn't available to the average person in African. We hope you have found this article enlightening and now understand that mental health issues should be treated with respect and should not be trivialised by anyone. People with mental health issues need to be treated by mental health professionals and supported by family/friends through that journey. Being depressed, stressed or anxious doesn't mean you are losing your mind, it just means you need to take care of your mental health. If you are by chance losing your mind or suffer from a more severe mental health illness such as Schizophrenia, Multiple personality disorder or even something as bad as Psychopathy, then you do yourself no justice by not getting a diagnosis and early treatment which will allow you live a normal life.

General update ACFTC Trade deal On January 1st of 2021, trading under the ACFTC agreement commenced for the first time. The African Union were responsible for brokering the Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement in 2018. 44 out of 54 African countries have signed up to this agreement. As part of this agreement, 90% of tariffs will be knocked off goods and commodities traded between all 44 member states. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimated that the agreement will boost intra-African trade by 52 percent by 2022. The general objectives of this agreement are: To create a single market, deepening the economic integration of the continent; To establish a liberalised market through multiple rounds of negotiations; To aid the movement of capital and people, facilitating investment; To move towards the establishment of a future continental customs union; To achieve sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic development, gender equality and structural transformations within member states; To enhance competitiveness of member states within Africa and in the global market; To encourage industrial development through diversification and regional value chain development, agricultural development and food security; To resolve challenges of multiple and overlapping memberships; While this is a great win for Africa, the AU need to do use this trade agreement as a platform to incentivise other joint African initiatives. Especially in areas of peace, legislation and poverty eradication. AU Chairman seeks second term The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki has announced his intentions to run for a second term in office. Mr. Faki became AUC chairman in 2017. He seeks re-election for another four years in office (2021-2024) and will present results achieved during his first term, at the Assembly of next AU summit due in Addis Ababa from February 6 – 7. One must point out that under Mr. Faki’s leadership the horn of East Africa has seen a rise in domestic and cross border dispute. Not to mention the rise in terrorist activities across Africa. While the position of AUC chairman doesn’t carry much authority, Mr. Faki should be applauded for brokering the ACFTC trade deal which moves African closer to a single market. Concerns about the availability of Covid 19 vaccines in Africa Various government officials in Africa are working towards procuring Covid 19 vaccine doses but have expressed concern that Africa may have to wait for months before receiving Covid-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organization. Through various initiatives driven by the WHO, Africa have secured 900 million doses of the vaccine, enough to inoculate about 30% of the continent's 1.3 billion people this year. Unfortunately, hoarding by wealthy nations, funding shortfalls, regulations and cold chain requirements have slowed the process of rolling out the vaccines. The head of WHO Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus is quoted saying: "The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure and the price will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the poorest countries," To keep yourself updated on Covid 19 press releases in Africa visit https://www.changeinafrica.com/pressrelease. President Joe Biden reverses Trump Muslim ban During Trump's time as US presidents, one of first acts was to issue a series of executive orders, to ban Muslim countries. Unfortunately for Africa, 46% of the countries on Trump's list were from Africa. Well good news, the new president of US as reversed Trump's racist Muslim travel ban which affected Nigeria, Tanzania, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan and Libya. Eastern Africa Update Ethiopia - Tigray civil war Ethiopia is still reeling from the aftermath of the Ethiopia-Tigray war which started on November 2020, after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused Tigray of attacking Ethiopian military bases. The UN have reported that more than 56,000 Ethiopian refugees have arrived in Sudan, after being displaced due to the Ethiopian-Tigray war. About 800 refugees arriving since New Year. There are numerous reports of Eritrean troops entering the Tigray region and killing innocent civilians. There are even reports of Eritrean refugees in Tigray region being forces back to Eritrea. The UN have raised concerns with the Ethiopian government about reports of human rights violations and wide spread killing in that region. Both the Ethiopian government and Eritrean government deny committing any human rights violations in the Tigray region. The evidence is building up and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is slowly turning from a Nobel laureate to a war criminal who breaks international laws. Border dispute between Sudan and Ethiopia In recent developments, the border dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan continues. There is a risk it might escalate into a full blown war if both parties don’t de-escalate. According to BBC, Clashes between Sudan and Ethiopia over the disputed al-Fashaga region have increased in recent weeks after Sudan in late December announced it had regained control of all its territories that were under the control of Ethiopian militias for over 25 years. The Ethiopian government on the other hand are blaming “third parties“ within Sudan for causing the recent border conflict and insist it is Sudan that has trespassed into their territory violating Ethiopia’s sovereignty. Ethiopia’s Army Chief of Staff General Birhanu Jula is quoted saying; "Ethiopia does not want to go to war with friendly Sudan but wants to solve the problem peacefully," Nile Dam conflict between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt If you don't know about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), located across river Nile, then let me provide some context. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is a Hydroelectric power dam with the capacity to generate 6,000 megawatts, making it the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa. Upon completion it will provide power to some 65 million Ethiopians, who currently suffers from intermittent and insufficient supply of power. Construction started in April 2011 and concluded July 2020. It is estimated that the dam will take 5 to 15 years to be filled up from river Nile. Until this process is completed, the dam's output will be limited to the number of turbines switched on. The problem with this hydroelectric power dam is that, Ethiopia is located upstream of it, while Sudan and Egypt are located downstream of the dam. Egypt and Sudan have both expressed worries that the $4bn dam will greatly reduce their access to water. Ethiopia on the other hand sees the hydroelectric project as crucial for its economic growth and a vital source of energy. In latest development, talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan collapsed. To date, neither party has agreed on what quantity of water from river Nile and frequency of fill should be allowed when filling the dam. Egypt is reliant on river Nile for irrigation and drinking water. They have voiced their concern that this dam poses and existential threat to Egypt. Sudan on the other hand are concerned, water discharged from GERD dam “poses a direct threat” to the safety of Sudan’s Roseires Dam downstream on the Blue Nile. Ethiopia wrote to the African Union, insisting that they will fill the reservoir for the second year in July with 13.5 million cubic metres of water, whether an agreement is reached or not. Uganda 2021 Presidential Election On the 14th of January, Uganda's presidential elections were held and incumbent President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni won a sixth term in office, after being in power since 1986. According to published election results, Museveni had 59% of the votes. while Bobi Wine won 35% of the votes. Bobi Wine declared the election as rigged and alse. While the US embassy in Uganda released a statement claiming the elections were tainted by harassment of opposition candidates and the suppression of media and rights advocates. On the 13th of January 2021, Facebook closed the accounts of some Uganda government officials they believed were fake. In response, the communications regulator in Uganda ordered all telecoms firms to block access to social media and messaging apps. By 5 pm on 13 January, the Uganda authorities ordered a complete shutdown of the internet in Uganda, which came into effect b 7 pm. A move which Amnesty rInternational condemned, stating it was clearly intended to silence the few accredited election observers, opposition politicians, human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and bloggers who were monitoring the elections. As of the time of writing, Museveni's main opponent Bobi Wine was under house arrest. Museveni's action show he is worried that Bobi Wine will rile up the youths in Uganda and cause a rebellion. Not to mention, he is clearly intimidating and suppressing his opposition. Locust Infestation in the Horn of Africa Bloomberg reports Kenya has cleared most of the second wave of desert locust swarms that entered the country from neighboring Ethiopia and Somalia in mid-November 2020, affecting almost a third of the 47 counties in Kenya. According to a statement on Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture website “The total number of swarms that settled in the country between November 2020 and January 2021 are 75, out of which 66 have been treated,”. They go further to state the exercise was largely successful. It was only last year that a similar swarm of locust infested 39 of Kenya’s 47 counties and also swamped Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda and Yemen. It was considered the worst infestation they had seen in the last 70 years. Libya power struggle Libya has been in crisis mode due to the power struggle between the internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in the capital Tripoli, which is backed by Turkey, and the Libya National Army (LNA) in the East, led by General Khalifa Haftar and backed by Russia and the United Arab Emirates. UN data estimates that the recent conflict has claimed more than 2,000 lives. According to CNN, the October peace deal, brokered by the United Nations, was meant to see all foreign forces leave the country by January 23 but Wagner the Russian backed military contractor has instead opted to dig a trench across Libya. This only means Russian doesn’t intend to honour the October peace deal. CNN reports that the trench and fortifications appear to be designed to impede or stop land attacks on LNA controlled areas in the east, which run through the populated coastal areas of Libya, where most clashes have happened since the 2011 fall of the previous regime. This is another example of how foreign governments like Russia, China and Saudi Arabia seek to control trade in African regions. In some cases it is done subtly through debt trap diplomacy but in other cases control is establish by supporting and empowering civil wars and conflicts, allowing them to swoop in and save the day only the be declared heroes. Another trend to notice is how former president Trump‘s policy of not getting involved in foreign conflicts has given China and Russia a stronger foothold in Africa. Impact of Covid 19 on economic growth in East Africa In East Africa Kenya currently has the highest number of Covid 19 cases as of the 21/01/21. Kenya has reported 132,326 cases of Covid 19, Rwanda has reported 99,730 and Tanzania has reported 26,279 cases of Covid 19 as of 21/01/21. The bar chart below shows the cumulative cases of Covid 19 in East Africa as of 21/01/21. To keep yourself updated on Covid 19 press releases in Africa visit https://www.changeinafrica.com/pressrelease. Kenya’s health minister told Reuters that Kenya has ordered 24 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca. These vaccines are expected to start arriving in the second week of February. The economic growth of countries in East Africa has been severely impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic as shown in the bar chart below. Overall, the economic growth of East Africa‘s will perform better in 2021 when compared to 2020. New malaria mosquito as emerged in East African countries CNN reports that an Asian breed of malaria mosquitoes in East Africa which originally migrated from India are posing a significant concern to researchers and scientist. Researchers from Netherlands' Radboud University Medical Center and Ethiopia's Armauer Hansen Research Institute have warned that the larvae of Anopheles Stephensi, which is India's main mosquito vector of malaria, are now "abundantly present" in locations across East Africa such as Ethiopia, Sudan and Djibouti. The key concern is that this breed of Asian mosquito is more susceptible to the malaria parasite than the mosquitoes that naturally inhabit those region, making them an efficient and effective spreader of the malaria parasite. According to World Health Organisation, the African region was home to 94% of all malaria cases and deaths in 2019. While malaria is both treatable and preventable, 409,000 people still died of it in 2019. West Africa Update Boko Haram strikes again in Niger In December 2020, 337 boys were kidnapped from their school in Kastina State, Nigeria. They were later returned physically unharmed after negotiations . Boko Haram claimed to be the culprit but the Nigerian government vehemently denied this. On January 17th 2021, Boko Haram struck again, this time in Niger. Niger's Defense Ministry claim that at least four soldiers were killed and eight others were seriously wounded in the attack. Members of the terrorist organization apparently detonated an explosive device previously planted in the Diffa region as a military vehicle containing Niger soldier was passing. Over the last 11 years, Boko Haram have been responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people in Nigeria alone and displaced more than 3 million people in west of Africa. Mali army and French forces killed 100 extremist The Inquirer reports that during joint operations between Mali army and French forces, a 100 extremists were killed in January 2020. The joint operation was carried out from January 2nd to January 20. It also led to the capture of 20 motorcycles and the seizure of weapons and other materials. Inquirer’s report states the extremists were pushed out of areas in central and northern Mali such as Serma, Foulssaret, Doni and Boulikessi, where a recent extremist attack killed at least four soldiers. Nigeria police launch "Rescue me" app Nigerian security services have been criticised locally and internationally for the way they handled the EndSARS protest, which resulted in the loss of many Nigerian lives. The Nigerian government are yet to acknowledge their part in the atrocities committed during the protest. In a recent development, the Nigerian police released a new security app called "Rescue me". The app is meant to improve the response time when the police is called to a crime scene. According to the Premium times, The Commissioner of police in Jigawa State, Usman Gonna, told reporters that the police developed the application to tackle insecurity through technology. He stated that the application would improve the response time of police officers to emergency situations in real time. The application requires internet services and is GPS based. It can be downloaded on Google Play Store and Nigeria Police National Command and Control Safety Centre’s official website, www.npfc4i.com. Rise in pirate attacks off the coast of West Africa In a recent Aljazeera report, the International Maritime Bureau called the Gulf of Guinea, off the coasts of Nigeria, Guinea, Togo, Benin and Cameroon as the most dangerous sea in the world because of piracy. On the 24th of January, it was reported that, pirates attacked M/V Mozart, a Turkish cargo ship off the coast of West Africa, kidnapping 15 sailors and killing one. Anadolu news agency states that after the pirates kidnapped most of the crew members, they left the ship in the Gulf of Guinea with three sailors on board, and the vessel is currently heading to Gabon’s Port-Gentil. Sad one of the crew members of the vessel was killed in an altercation with the pirates. Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company as called for a more effective military response to these surging pirate attacks and record kidnappings off the coast of West Africa. According to a report issued by the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre on Jan 13th, the number of attacks on vessels globally jumped 20% last year to 195, with 135 crew kidnapped. They state that the Gulf of Guinea alone, accounted for 95% of hostages taken in 22 separate instances, and all three of the hijackings that have occurred. That number as now gone up to four hijackings as a result of the recent M/V Mozart kidnappings. Southern Africa Update New Covid 19 strain discovered in South Africa The new variant of Covid 19 is fast spreading in South Africa and has been a cause for concern locally and Internationally. One of the possible key characteristics of this new variant is that it spreads faster than the ordinary Covid 19 strain according to The Wall Street journal. Multiple sources and medical experts have expressed concern that the new variant might make vaccines less effective. According to The Scientist, the new Covid 19 strain is quickly becoming the dominant strain in South Africa. In Africa as a whole, South Africa as reported the highest number of Covid 19 cases and Covid 19 deaths as shown in the charts below. Travel restrictions placed on South Africa With a variant strain of Covid 19 spreading at an alarming rate in South Africa, the international community have expressed concerns that this it could find its way across their borders. In reaction to this, flights to and from South Africa have been banned by different countries. Most notably of these is the US and the UK. According to CNBC US President Biden reinstated flight restrictions to South Africa, UK and Brazil as all three countries have reported mutated strains of Covid 19. Cyclone Eloise hits Mozambique According to UN reports on the 26/01/21, Cyclone Eloise hit Mozambique leaving at least six people dead and 12 injured but these numbers are expected to rise as more information becomes available. The storm also damaged more than 8,800 houses and at least 26 health centres, and disrupted power and communication links. The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also report that more than 176,000 people, including up to 90,000 children, have been affected, with several thousand displaced. Jens Laerke, an OCHA spokesperson told journalists at a media briefing in Geneva that the most urgent humanitarian needs identified so far include food, tents, drinking water, hygiene kits, COVID-19. Dubai based port operator DP World signs 20-year concession agreement with Angola Ship Technology reports that Dubai based port operator DP World signs 20-year concession agreement with Angola to run the Multi Terminal (MPT) at the Port of Luanda, Angola’s largest port. The concession agreement stipulates that DP World would be required to invest nearly $190m over the course of the agreement. The $190 million will be utilised to restore of the current infrastructure at the port, acquired new equipment, which will enhance its efficiency and bring the port operations in line with global standards. Jonas Gwangwa, South African jazz musician and activist, dies aged 83 On the 25th of January, it was announced that Jonas Gwangwa, an Oscar-nominated South African jazz musician who campaigned against apartheid for decades, died at the aged of 83. He is known to have composed scores of films such as like Cry Freedom (1987) and, at the 60th Annual Academy Awards in 1988, he performed his nominated song Cry Freedom. He also performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute in 1988. In 1991, he returned to South Africa and in 1997 composed the theme for their Olympic bid. South African president Cyril Ramaphosa led tributes, saying: A giant of our revolutionary cultural movement and our democratic creative industries has been called to rest; the trombone that boomed with boldness and bravery, and equally warmed our hearts with mellow melody has lost its life force. Jonas Gwangwa ascends to our great orchestra of musical ancestors whose creative genius and dedication to the freedom of all South Africans inspired millions in our country and mobilised the international community against the apartheid system. Northern Africa Update Morocco start shipping of vaccines to various regions According to The North Africa Post, Moroccan authorities procured 2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid -19 vaccine and have started supplying several regions with the vaccine ahead of its immunization campaign. Morocco is also expected this month to receive its first shipment of the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sinopharm company. They have ordered 66 million vaccine doses for the immunization of 33 million people, which include both Moroccans and foreign residents. Algeria approaching bankruptcy Algeria‘s Prime minister Abdelaziz Djerad has raised concerns that the country is slowly approaching bankruptcy. Rising costs incurred due the Covid-19 pandemic and a drop of in value of oil and gas export by 40% has both led to a massive budget deficit as shown in the chart below. The government is currently using from its foreign reserves to address this deficit. Algeria’s foreign reserves were valued at $29 billion at the end of 2020, which is less than their non oil exporting neighbour Morocco. Prime minister Abdelaziz Djerad has ordered a spend cut across the country to offset the loss in income caused by the drop in oil and gas prices. He is quoted saying “The situation calls for urgent measures to ensue sustainability of public funding,”. Another key concern for Algeria is their growing national debt which is approximately $87 billion in 2020 and is forecast to grow to $132.52 billion by 2024 as shown in the chart below. Libyan Navy intercept 80 EU bound migrants On 22/01/21 the UN International Organization for Migration reported that Libyan coast guards intercepted more than 80 EU bound migrants in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya. Libya has not been the same since the late president Gadhafi was removed from power and killed by a mob. While he was a tyrant and responsible for various acts of human rights violations, Libya was more hospitable, had less civil unrest and had a more stable economy. International Organization for Migration stated that in 2021 some 300 people, including women and children, were returned to the Libya and ended up in detention," . They go further stating "We reiterate that no one should be returned to Libya.". Egypt remove air space restriction on Qatar Egypt was part of a gulf coalition in 2017 that placed a ban on Qatar preventing them from using their air space. The coalition was led by Saudi Arabia and included other countries like United Arab Emirate, Doha, Niger and Gabon. The air space restrictions were part of a number of sanctions placed on Qatar after Saudi Arabia accused them state sponsored of terrorism. On January 5th the gulf coalition came to a peaceful resolution with Qatar and agreed to open their air space. The peace deal was brokered by the US and Kuwait. Arabianbusiness.com reported that EgyptAir will resume flights to Qatar after the three-year rift between Doha and Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain ended on the 5th of January 2021. EgyptAir Holding Company’s chairman, Roshdy Zakaria, said Tuesday via text message that they plan a daily flight to Qatar and may add a second if there’s demand. A date for resumption hasn’t been agreed. Central Africa Republic Central Africa Republic Civil War escalates Almost a month ago President Faustin Touadéra was re-elected into office for a second term. Some of his opposition have accused him of election fraud and sided with rebel factions to try and overthrow the government. As a result, Touadéra enlisted help from Russia paramilitary and Rwanda UN peace keeping troops. Both of these groups were present during the election and have remained in Central Africa Republic to keep the peace. On the 26th of January, the Financial Times reported that Russian paramilitary and Rwandan troops killed 44 rebels and thwarted their attempt to overrun the capital Bangui in an effort to overthrow President Touadéra. These rebels have even gone as far as cutting off food supplies to the country from Cameroon according to The Guardian. This has resulted in food shortage and rise in prices of food supply.

Let’s kick off by exploring the term “Trumpism”. According to Wikipedia; Trumpism is a term for the political ideology, style of governance, political movement and set of mechanisms for acquiring and keeping powers that are associated with the 45th United States president Wikipedia’s definition of Trumpism shy’s away from what Trumpism truly reflects in terms of policies and actions. We defined Trumpism as a facist and racist far right form of governance that utilises divisive and dishonourable tactics to acquire and maintain political power. We refuse to acknowledge Trumpism as just another ideology or methodology because this would insinuate that there is logic behind the actions and policies implemented through Trumpism, when there are none. Trumpism is everything that encompasses and epitomises President Donald Trump and should be much more likened to psychopathy. A psychopath lacks emotions and doesn’t need a reason to kill, much like the behaviour associated with Trumpism defies all human logic and can only be put down to Trump’s own thought process, which makes no sense at all. There will always be people who support Trumpism but this form of politics has no place in a progressive world. President Donald Trump spent the last four years in office spreading hate, discord and instigating conflicts, both at home and abroad. His actions during his four years in office surmises what Trumpism stands for. Now that we are done exploring what “Trumpism“ means, let’s look at instances of Trumpism and where possible, explore how it has impacted Africa. Trumpism incites Islamophobia During his tenure as president, Trump incessantly targeted the muslim community inciting islamophobia and tagging them as terrorist. Through a series of executive orders, Trump issued travel bans which were tagged as the “Muslim travel ban” because they predominantly affected Muslim countries. The travel ban was challenged legally which led to a second executive order being issued and Iraq was taken off the list. The travel ban was later extended through a Presidential proclamation to include North Korea, Chad and Venezuela, while Sudan was taken of the travel ban list. In total, six African countries were impacted by this travel ban and they included, Nigeria, Tanzania, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan and Libya. If you are a fan of statistics like me then 46% of the countries impacted by Trump’s Muslim travel ban were from Africa. Trumpism gains followership through the spread of false information and rhetoric According to Glen Kesler of the Washington Post, President Donald Trump made approximately 30,000 false claims during his four years in office. Firstly, let’s differentiate between the two common types of false information spread by Trump. Misinformation and disinformation are both the spread of false information but the key difference between them is intent. Misinformation is the spread of false information and it doesn’t care about intent, so it isn’t strategic or targeted in nature. Disinformation on the other hand, is the spread of false information with intent, so it is strategic and targeted. I think the best example of disinformation is the Trump speech that led to an insurrection at Capitol Hill on the 06/01/21 when congress came together to certify the 2021 election result and confirm Joe Biden as the next US President. In Trump’s speech on the 06/01/21 to his supporters, he kept on reiterating the false narrative that the election was stolen and instructed his followers to march on Capitol Hill. Trump’s intent was to use this disinformation to rile up his supporters and disrupt the election certification process at Capitol Hill. At the end of this incident, six people died, including a police officer. Trump was quick to distance himself from the event and stated he was committed to a peaceful transition. As the proverbial saying goes “There is power in the word of mouth”, something Trump never seemed to learn in his four years in office. This domestic terrorist attack at Capitol Hill was a build up of years of disinformation being spread by Trump on Twitter. The disinformation became more severe after the presidential elections. Trump insisted that the democrats stole the election but produced no evidence. He insisted there was wide spread voter fraud but provided no evidence. All the while his 80 million followers on Twitter bought into this disinformation and eventually acted upon it, leading to a domestic terrorist attack at Capitol Hill by a bunch of white supremacist. Africa on the other hand has been a victim of Trump’s misinformation rather than disinformation. For instance Trump stated that Chloroquine medication was a game changer against COVID 19 and also claimed he was taking it. As a result of this misinformation there were multiple reports of chloroquine overdose in countries like Nigeria. These are but a few misinformation and disinformation tactics used by Trump. Least we forget Trumps disinformation that Barack Obama is not American and that his birth certificate was fake. During an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on the 25/05/2011, Trump repeated his claim that he had a team in Hawaii investigating Obama’s birth and said he’d been told the birth certificate was “missing” or didn’t exist. We all know where the story goes from there. It was all disinformation perpetuated by Trump with the intent to build political clout among those Americans who still have the fantasy of a white, anti-immigration America, where people from ethnic groups are targeted. Trumpism incites discrimination During Trump‘s presidential debate with Biden, he was asked point blank to denounce the far right white supremacist organisation call “Proud Boys“. Trump’s response was for “Proud Boys” to “stand back and standby”. Well “Proud Boys” and millions of other Pro Trump supporters stood back and waited as instructed by Trump. On the 06/01/21 hundreds of Pro Trump supporters matched on Capitol Hill, broke into the building and tried to cause an insurrection, all while waving a confederate flag which is a known symbol of black oppression and slavery. Some of the Pro Trump supporters waved Neo Nazi symbols and some even carried KKK flags. Proud Boys joined the march on Capitol Hill with hundreds of other white supremacists. At the end of the day, they did this because they bought into the racist, facist rhetoric that goes with Trumpism. Six people lost their lives during the Capitol Hill insurrection and questions are being asked about what would have happened if it was BLM supporters that broke into Capitol Hill. Would Trump have treated them differently? According to reports, it took Trump an hour before mobilising the National guard to quell the insurrection at Capitol Hill. If it was BLM protesters that broke into Capitol Hill, the death toll would have been in hundreds because black people are treated differently. With Trumpism there is a clear divide in racial preferential treatment being given to white people over ethnic groups and minorities. Let‘s not forget the George Floyd incident and how Trump described Black Lives Matter protesters as a symbol of hate and thugs. All the while he kept totally quiet during the George Floyd protests, when the black community and country as a whole needed the voice of assurance from their leader. Trump and his administration have always insisted there was no systemic racism in US, yet the statistics show that black people are most likely to be stopped or pulled over by the police and most likely to be shot. The one movement that united the black community worldwide against racism, was the very same movement Trump incited hate against by calling them thugs and a symbol of hate. Trumpism became the very mechanism for inciting racism in against black people. Africa has been on the receiving end of racial hate spread through Trumpism. Below are some of Trump’s famous quotes about Africa: The Washington Post quoted Trump as saying "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" Trump allegedly said this during a discuss was about immigrants entering the US from El Salvador, Haiti, and countries on the African continent. Trump is quoted telling four US Congress women of ethnic origin “go back to the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,”. It so happens one of these women was born in Somalia and naturalised in the US. “I really like Nelson Mandela but South Africa is a crime ridden mess that is just waiting to explode - not a good situation for the people!”. This was a tweet in December 2013. “Every penny of the $7 billion going to Africa as per Obama will be stolen - corruption is rampant!” This was a tweet in July 2013. “Why are we sending thousands of ill-trained soldiers into Ebola infested areas of Africa! Bring the plague back to U.S.? Obama is so stupid” This was a tweet in September 2014. I guess the quote that really hit home for me and most Africans was hearing that Trump referred to Africa as a “Shit hole”. Till date he denies saying this but multiple witnesses from the press confirmed he said it. The African Union requested an apology from him but he down played it, knowing an apology was also an admission of guilt. It is clear President Donald Trump never had any high opinions about Africa. What right does Trump have to call Africa corrupt when he has been accused of tax evasion and meddling with a presidential election. For crying out loud, he is the first and only president to be impeached twice. Least we forget he was impeached the first time for abusing the position of his office when he intentionally with held aid from Ukraine in order to illicit a favour. Members of Trump’s election carcus were prosecuted in court and found guilty of election tampering and fraud. Trump once more abused the power of his office to pardon these people. It is hypocritical for Trump to call Africa corrupt when he epitomises everything corruption stands for. Trumpism can be likened to Terrorism One would say comparing Trump to Bin Laden is a far stretch and an exaggeration. Some might even go so far as to say it belittles the severity of terrorism. I want to assure you that you are wrong. Let's start by looking at some definitions of terrorism: United Kingdom's Crown Prosecution Service defines terrorism as the use or threat of action, both in and outside of the UK, designed to influence any international government organisation or to intimidate the public. It must also be for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause; MI5 defines terrorism as groups that use violence and threats of violence to publicise their causes and as a means to achieve their goals. They often aim to influence or exert pressure on governments and government policies but reject democratic processes, or even democracy itself. The FBI defines International terrorism as violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups who are inspired by, or associated with, designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations (state-sponsored). The FBI defines domestic terrorism as violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature. The UN General Council states that criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them. By now, you would have noticed that there are hundreds of acceptable definitions of terrorism worldwide, with no two of them the same. There are however common characteristics associated with these definitions of terrorism. Most notably, almost all definitions incorporate elements of threats, violence, incitement, criminality and religious/political/environmental extremism. All definitions assume that there is a party committing acts of terrorisms and there is a party that is the recipient of the acts of terrorism. Lastly, governments tend to mold their definition of terrorism around their legislation to protect themselves from being classed as terrorist by their own constituents. While you ask yourself how Trumpism has encouraged terrorism, i implore you to ask yourself two questions: Has Trump incited violence in the last 4 years? Quick answer would be "Yes", absolutely yes. On the 6th of January 2021, while lawmakers at Capitol Hill were certifying president elect Joe Biden’s victory, President Trump took the stage near the White House to address Pro Trump supporters. In the aftermath of Trump's speech, a number of his followers took his words to heart and forcefully entered Capitol Hill with intent to hurt and kill congress members, including Vice President Pence. Their actions have been classed as an act of domestic terrorism on US soil. What did Trump say in his speech that riled up his supporters? In his speech, he instructed his supporter to march on Capitol Hill. He is quoted as saying "If you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore". He then continued with his false rhethoric claiming the election was stolen. We all know what happens from there. Six people died including a police officer. Has Trump directly or indirectly killed anyone in the name of driving his political agenda? Research published by Robert A. Hahn of the Department of Anthropology, Emory University, attributed 132,630 deaths that occurred between April 3 2020 and July 21 2020 to Trump making face mask wearing non mandatory. Not to mention that as a leader, his people follow him and he refused to wear a face mask until he caught the virus. All six people that died in the Capitol Hill insurrection have also been attributed to Trump. If you are still not convinced about how Trumpism kills, then visit https://trumpdeathclock.com/. According to the Trump death clock website, Trump is currently responsible for the deaths of 238,032 people in America and counting. Trump was briefed about the dangers associated with Covid 19 in January 2020. Yet he down played it in public view, comparing it to the flu. He waited till March 16th 2020 before he acted and experts have estimated that, had mitigation measures been implemented one week earlier, 60% of American COVID-19 deaths would have been avoided. I ask you my dear readers, what is terrorism? You associate it with suicide bombers and Muslim extremist but what do call a man responsible for more than 200,000 deaths?. What do you call an ideology that is backed by extremists such as “Proud Boys” and spreads hate which leads to violence ? Trumpism and everything it stands for is no different from terrorism. Trumpism led to unfavourable and divisive foreign policies Immigration Trump’s stance on immigration is well documented. He doesn’t want Muslims to come to America, he thinks Africa is a shit hole and he is building a physical wall between the US and Mexico, to stop Mexicans entering the US illegally. Well statistics show that the number of migrants detained at the US-Mexico border in 2019 was double the amount in any of the four years of Obama’s administration as shown in the graph below. In short, Obama’s administration recorded the lowest amount of migrants detained at the US-Mexico borders, when compared to his predecessor George Bush and his successor Donald Trump. As of December 2020, the Trump administration had spent $15 billion on an ineffective wall. While the numbers of migrants detained at the border came down in 2020 as reported by DHS, it only came down to figures similar to those posted by the Obama‘s administration. Obama didn’t need $15 billion to achieve this and I am certain that money could have helped a lot of people. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran Also known as the Iran nuclear deal, in 2015 the five members of UN’s security council and the EU, signed an agreement with Iran to stop enriching uranium for the purpose of developing nuclear weapon. Without going into much details, Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium was reduced by 97 percent, from 10,000 kg to 300 kg. Stockpile of medium rich uranium was reduced from a 196 kg to zero. The use of nuclear centrifuges were also constrained and the IAEA were given access to inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities regularly. In return, it was agreed than Iran would receive between a $100 to $120 billions from their assets that had been frozen by the international community. In a summary, this deal was good for the international community and Iran. Along comes Trumpism, in 2017 the US withdrew from the deal and Trump once more used disinformation to justify this. Through tweets and press conferences, Trump told the world that Obama gave Iran $100 billion to stop building nuclear weapons. He insinuated that the money came from the US treasury coffers but in reality it was Iran’s money, which was frozen by the international community as sanctions against Iran. As usual, Trump’s intention was to create the narrative that Muslim countries like Iran are terrorist and Obama negotiated with them. Well it definitely worked, because Pro Trump supporters believed every bit of it, even though details of the Iran nuclear deal is in the public domain. Since Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, the US have imposed new sanctions on Iran. Furthermore, the US launched a drone strike on Iran that killed a top Iranian general called Qasem Soleimani. They claim he posed a clear and present danger to the US but have provided zero evidence to justify the assassination. In a report by UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Agnes Callamard, stated that the US had not provided sufficient evidence of an imminent threat to life to justify the attack. The US drone attack on Iran was no coincidence and it was a clear violation of International law. The US already withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 because they knew they were going to commit acts which would be perceived as a breach to international law. As a result of Trumpism, Iran started enriching Uranium to build nuclear weapons once again. Iran enriching Uranium and bolstering their nuclear capability is bad news for Africa. The closest African countries to Iran are Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea. Somalia, Libya and Ethiopia are a little further out but not too far to be affected by radiation fallout from a nuclear strike. According to armscontrol.org there are four types of ballistic missiles which can be used to arm a nuclear weapon. Short-range ballistic missiles, traveling less than 1,000 kilometers (approximately 620 miles); Medium-range ballistic missiles, traveling between 1,000–3,000 kilometers (approximately 620-1,860 miles); Intermediate-range ballistic missiles, traveling between 3,000–5,500 kilometers (approximately 1,860-3,410 miles); and Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), traveling more than 5,500 kilometers. According to armscontrol.org, Iran’s ballistic missile inventory shows that they are suspected to have ballistic missiles capable of reaching 2500 kilometres plus, which is approximately 1510 miles plus. Iran is 1,427 miles from Egypt and 1,812.65 miles from Sudan. Somalia which is the furtherest Eastern African country is 2356.80 miles from Iran. This simply means that East Africa is within shooting or rather nuking range of Iran. God help us all, if Iran wakes up on the wrong side of their bed . Paris Agreement on climate change The Paris climate change agreement was created in 2015 and signed by 198 countries with a goal of preventing global temperatures from rising above 2 degrees celsius. Between 2012 and 2020, Donald Trump’s opinion on Climate change and Global warming changed numerous time. We have captured five of his popular quotes which reflect these changes: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”— Donald Trump, Nov. 6, 2012 “Ice storm rolls from Texas to Tennessee - I’m in Los Angeles and it’s freezing. Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax!” — Donald Trump, Dec. 6, 2013 “I’m an environmentalist. A lot of people don’t understand that. I think I know more about the environment than most people.” — Donald Trump, Aug. 26, 2019 “Climate change is very important to me. I’ve done many environmental impact statements in my life, and I believe very strongly in very, very crystal clear clean water and clean air.” — Donald Trump, Dec. 3, 2019 “Nothing’s a hoax about that. It’s a very serious subject. I’m a big believer in that word, the environment.” — Donald Trump, Jan. 9, 2020 On June 1, 2017, Trump announced that the U.S would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Climate change agreement which they signed on the 4th of November 2016. Unfortunately, the terms of the Paris agreement stipulated that countries which join the agreement can’t give notice of withdrawal within three years of joining. The U.S had to legally abide to these terms and gave a new notice of withdrawal on the 4th of November 2019. The U.S leaving the Paris agreement had a detrimental effect on funding developing countries in Africa received towards Climate change projects. During Obama’s administration, the U.S contributed $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world’s largest dedicated fund which helps developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and enhance their ability to respond to climate change. It was set up by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010 and plays a crucial role in helping countries fulfill the terms of the Paris climate change agreement. GCF currently has 159 Climate change projects in their portfolio worth $24 billion. They have so far committed $7.3 billion to delivering climate change projects. $4.9 billion worth of projects has already been implemented. to date. You can see from the GCF chart below that 63 out of the 159 projects in GCF’s portfolio are aimed at developing countries in Africa. Losing the U.S contribution of $3 billion to GCF’s committed funds would have a negative impact on climate change initiatives in Africa. Countries like the U.S and China contribute the highest amount of carbon footprint in the world because they are very industrialised. Africa as a continent has one of the fastest growing industrial economies in the world. While they only contribute a small portion of CO2 emissions to the world, their growing economy, population and increase in industrialisation, means their carbon emissions will increase, making the need for climate change initiatives in Africa essential. US withdrawal from W.H.O during the COVID 19 pandemic Historically, the U.S have been the largest contributors to W.H.O. In 2019 alone, they contributed over $400 million to the WHO, which was roughly 15% of WHO’s overall budget. When Trump announced that the U.S was withdrawing from its W.H.O commitments pending an investigation, the W.H.O had already secured commitments amounting to 94% of their $450 million COVID-19 funding target for 2020. While the U.S withdrawal will have little impact on W.H.O short term, it would undoubtedly have a detrimental impact long term, especially on Africa. Africa receives more than double the budget allocated to any of the five other regions the W.H.O administers globally, and about 60% of that budget focuses on limiting the spread of infectious diseases. W.H.O‘s Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, acknowledged at a press briefing that halting U.S. funds would have broad repercussions on areas such as Polio eradication as well as other priority programs that address communicable diseases such as HIV, and malaria. If the U.S and the western world in general have learnt anything from the spread of COVID 19, it is that infectious diseases are not limited by borders nor do they discriminate based on race or economical status. The decision for U.S to withdraw from W.H.O, especially during a pandemic was careless, selfish and dangerous for Africa and the world in general. Trade war with China Since July 2018, the US and China have been embroiled in one of the biggest and most expensive trade wars in human history. So far, the US has slapped tariffs on US$550 billion worth of Chinese products. In return China set tariffs on US$185 billion worth of US goods. I am not going to bore you with the timeline for this trade war, because it is like a movie that never ends. I am not joking, the trade war always starts with US increasing tariffs on Chinese imports, then China reciprocates the gesture by increasing tariffs on US imports. Then both parties file cases with the World Trade Organisation, after which, both parties agree trade talks. While trade talks are ongoing both parties agree to suspend any tariff actions . Once trade talks fall through they begin their trade war again. All trade talks to date have failed to come to a final compromise. China and US have had more than 15 trade talks over two years and still have not agreed anything. If you are interested in reading a vicious boring predictable cycle of the US and China playing ping pong with the world’s economy visit https://www.china-briefing.com/news/the-us-china-trade-war-a-timeline/. So why did Trump start a trade war with China? Well, Trump has been clamouring for trade tariffs on China since the 80's according to the Wall Street Journal. On a 1987 newspaper ad, Trump states that Japan and other nations have been taking advantage of the US for years. Trump advises that the wealthy nations should be taxed to end their huge trade deficits and reduce their taxes. Then on May 2nd 2016, during Trump’s campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, Trump said “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country and that’s what they’re doing. It’s the greatest theft in the history of the world.” . When the US announced they would be increasing tariffs on China goods in July 2018, they sighted unfair trading practices and intellectual property theft as their justification for this. In reality, Trump was only implementing a 34 years old plan without weighing the wider consequence. Before we proceed, we need to define the economic term "Trade deficit" because it is about to come up a lot. In simple terms, trade deficit is the negative net difference between expenditure accrued from importing goods and revenue generated from exporting goods. It occurs when a country’s revenue generated from export is exceeded by expenditure accrued from importing goods. The US is known to have a large trade deficit with its trading partner countries. As of 2019, 42.1% of the US trade deficit in goods was with China and was worth $346 billion. This trade deficit was created by $452 billion in imports from China to US. When Trump came into office in 2017 the US - China trade deficit was at $375.58 billion. It climbed to $419.53 billion in 2018, just when Trump decided to start the trade war with China. As a result of the trade war, the US-China trade deficit drop from $419.53 billion in 2018 to $167.04 in 2019 as shown in Statista’s chart below. You would probably say that this was beneficial to US but you are wrong as you will soon find out. While the trade deficit with China went down, America's total trade deficit went up. Between Q3 2018 and Q3 2010, America's total trade deficit went from $152.41 billion to $188.41 billion as shown in the table below. Since Trump came into office, America's total trade deficit has increased not decreased. Ultimately, Trump's trade war wasn't beneficial to the American economy. On the other hand, China has a trade surplus not a trade deficit. This means that unlike the US, China’s revenue from exporting goods exceeds their expenditure from importing goods as shown in the chart below from Statista. Although China’s economy is in a trade surplus, their GDP growth rate has declined since the start of the trade war in 2018, as shown in Statista's bar chart below. Africa is an innocent bystander in this trade war. China is Africa's largest trading partner and Africa's largest foreign investor. When Trump increased tariffs on China goods, it had a reverberating negative impact on Africa's economy. The trade war between China and America has impacted African in three key areas. The first being the GDP growth of China's economy which impacts their demand for goods in Africa. The second is a drop in African commodity prices and the third is contraction of Africa's economy. As previously stated, China's economy has grown at a very slow rate due to the trade war with US. The COVID 19 pandemic further plummeted China's GDP growth rate to 1.85% in 2020. Due to the this slow GDP growth rate , China's import from Africa reduced. As you can see from the UN comtrade bar chart below, China’s import from Africa stopped increasing in 2018, when Trump started the trade war with China. By 2019, China's import from Africa remained the same as 2018. It is forecasted that in 2020 and 2021, the import figures will continue falling as China tries to balance their economic growth. To top things off, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reduced Africa's forecasted GDP growth from 3.3% to 3.1% in 2019. They cited the trade war and China's slow GDP growth rate as some of the key factors causing Africa's economy to contract. IMF also warned that the trade war could alone cause up to a 1.5 percent cumulative drop in Africa’s GDP growth by 2021. These dire forecasts have reduced investor confidence in the African market, leading to a drop in commodity prices, local currencies, and major stock exchanges. This is very much aligned with basic macroeconomics principles. When demand for goods and services reduce, the supplier in this case Africa, suffers from what we call “over capacity”. To stimulate economic trade, Africa had to reduce prices of its goods and services exported. The bottom-line is US started this trade war and China are no saints but they are still Africa's biggest trading partner. So harm to China's economy is harm to Africa's economy. Never thought i would ever hear myself say that. US withdrawing military support to Africa Around January 2020, the US signaled intentions to withdraw a large percentage of their military presence from Africa. Former U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper stated that the reason for this was to free up more resources to address challenges from China’s military. The last i checked, China has not openly challenged the US military forces, if anything, the US have been the aggressor in 2020. In the 21st century, if China wants to challenge the US, it definitely won't be via military. China are already engaged in cyber warfare and trade wars with the US. Both parties have intercontinental nuclear war heads that keep each other in check and guarantees mutual self destruction. It is estimated that there were approximately 6000 US military personnel in Africa helping to fight various elements of terrorism especially in the eastern regions of the continent. The withdrawal of US troops from Africa is aligned with Trump's foreign policy to reduce the involvement the US in foreign wars. One of the key ideologies of Trumpism is that terrorism is foreign element associated with Muslims. An Trump's strategy to handle this is to ban Muslims from immigrating to America and to withdraw American troops from countries currently under the scourge of terrorism. US troops have also been withdrawn from Iraq, Afghanistan and other foreign countries since Trump took office in 2016. The BBC chart below give a better picture of how the presence of US troops abroad has reduce since Trump became president. Least we forget, this was one of his promises during his 2016 presidential campaign. In December 2020, Africa was dealt another blow when approximately 700 US troops were ordered by Trump to withdraw from Somalia early 2021. US defense officials claimed that many of the forces will be redeployed to neighboring Kenya which had roughly 200 US military personnel on ground at the beginning of 2020. The biggest terrorist faction in eastern Africa is the Al-Shabab, a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaeda that has between 5,000 and 10,000 fighters according to US defense officials. The US reducing its military presence in Somalia will only incentivise these terrorist group to grow and spread. In 2019, it was reported by New York Times that the US was scaling back its military presence in West Africa by 25% even though insurgents are now attacking northern Burkina Faso and pushing south along the borders with Niger toward areas that have never been targeted by extremists before. This includes the Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo and Ghana, where the Pentagon has established logistics hub. Our view is this, the US are within their right to withdraw some or all their troops from Africa if they want to. It is safer for their soldiers and it saves them money. Where does this leave Africa?, maybe they need to turn to China or Russia, as both countries see Africa's potential where the US doesn't. The only issue with this is that China and Russia both have ulterior motives for investing in Africa, but then again, who doesn't. Trumpism influencing African evangelism I know you are thinking, what in heaven's name is this writer talking about. A while back i spoke to some friends in Nigeria and they all seemed to have the same perspectives of Donald Trump, that he is God sent and they love him. Wow, goodness gracious, that was how i felt hearing their different justifications for liking Trump. Well none of the reasons outlined by these former friends had anything to do with Africa's economy or US foreign direct investment in Africa. Their justification for liking the racist, fascist Donald Trump was completely selfish and religious driven. Before we go further and before you bite my head off, i would like you to know my stance on religion. I am a Christian but i am not a bigot, I believe we all serve one God and i don't believe in judging people even if they don't serve God. It is not my place to judge any man or woman about their lifestyle, their religion or their sexuality and i reserve the right to withold my opinion about such topics. Listen, if we all spoke our minds every time we had a thought we would have no friends, a black eye and probably would be dead or in prison. Your thoughts are sacred and while it is necessary sometimes to speak out, sometimes it is necessary to shut up. What a man or woman does in their bedroom is not the business of any religious zealot, so i find it despicable when some Africans target people because of their sexuality or religion. Now that is out of the way, let's look at why a large portion of Africans like Donald Trump. Even though he calls our continent a "Shit hole", even though he puts immigration bans on our countries, even though he doesn't care about African security, even though he withdraws funding from W.H.O knowing that alot of African countries would be impacted. Well to sum it up, some African's like Trump because they identify with his alleged religous beliefs. Republicans are known to be mostly christians. They are anti-abortion, anti-LGBT, anti - immigration, gun loving people. I recently read an article titled "Trump is out, but US evangelicalism remains alive and well in Africa". In this article, reference was made to a tweet from Reverend Kenneth Meshoe stating: "Please pray for peaceful elections in the US tomorrow (3 Nov), and specifically for President Donald Trump to be re-elected as the President of the United States of America" But why? Why would a South African Reverend pray for a man who calls Africa a "Shit hole", to be re-elected? There is only one logical explanation and that is, he believes Trump is doing God's work in the White House because Trump is a Christian. A former friend of mine claimed that God put Trump in office to promote Christian agendas. Well i am a Christian and Christ will be weeping at what people have done in his name. I am not even going there. Go an readup how many people Christians killed in the past because they believed they committed blasphemy or were witches or were Muslims or they were idol worshipers. I think the Christian agenda has been spread quite enough and people need to stop using God's name as an excuse to judge, spread hate or commit acts of terrorism. In another example, Bishop Mark Kariuki of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya claimed that a Trump victory would be a vote in favour of “good morals”. Good morals? Trump epitomises everything that is the opposite of good morals. To see Christian leaders who are supposed to unite, promote an ideology that spreads division is a disgrace. What happened to the good old "Judge not least you be judged"? Well if you are in this category that support Trumpism just because you want to spread a Christian agenda, i say this to you, you don't speak for all Christians, you speak for yourself and those selfish individuals that can't see beyond their nose. Conclusion Trumpism has been detrimental to Africa and the rest of the world as shown in this article. We should celebrate that Trumpism goes out of the window with Trump on the 20/01/2021. We should also be cautious not to expect any better from the Biden administration. Africa needs to stand as one and African Union plays a big part in this. African presidents are notoriously poor at governing themselves and someone higher than them needs to hold them to account. In EU, legislation set by EU parliament supersedes any legislation set at country level. This means that an EU court has more power than a German court. African Union needs to redefine their structure to be similar to that of EU's. If African Union can set legislation that supersedes legislation in African countries, the rights and democracy of Africans can be protected. Resources could be shared between countries and terms for exported goods should be governed from an African Union perspective rather than a country perspective. Imagine a Nigerian election or Ugandan election run solely by African Union with the help of EU. How will elections be rigged? How will presidents get away with manipulating their constitution to extend the length of their presidency? Put simply, with our proposed restructure of African Union, these Presidents won't be able to escape with tyranny, fascism or corruption. Countries like Somalia and other under developed countries would receive aid and military support from African Union. African Union recently announced the creation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This will allow African countries strengthen their trading stand point, as they would be working to one policy and speaking with one voice. We hope this is the beginning of something new for Africa. An Africa united would be at the forefront of world trade, America knows this and so does China, why don't we. We hope you enjoyed the article, thank you. You can follows us on: Twitter - https://twitter.com/ChangeinafricaC Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Changeinafrica2020/ You can also subscribe for our free magazines and articles at: https://changeinafrica.com/subscribe

On the 29th of January 1986, Yoweri Museveni was sworn in by British-born Chief Justice Peter Allen as the 9th president of Uganda. After being sworn in, he walked outside the Uganda parliament, and gave a speech saying: “The people of Africa, the people of Uganda, are entitled to a democratic government. It is not a favour from any regime. The sovereign people must be the public, not the government.”. Little did the world know that Yoweri Museveni would turn Uganda into an authoritarian fascist regime, where he is still president after 35 years. Yoweri Museveni‘s youth influence Museveni was born on the 15th of September 1944 in Rukungiri, Uganda. He received good education throughout his youth and university life. One might argue that his university education played a large part in making him who he is today. In 1967, Museveni studied economics and political science at the he University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. It is believed that this is where he learnt radical ideologies and got himself involved in pan-African politics. This was evident when he formed the University Students' African Revolutionary Front activist group and led a student delegation to Mozambique, where he received guerrilla warfare training. Museveni‘s university thesis was on applicability of Frantz Fanon's ideas on revolutionary violence to post-colonial Africa. It was evident that in Yoweri Museveni's university days, he had radical ideologies about post colonial Uganda and didn’t mind using force to implement them. If history serves me right, this is exactly what he has done in his 35 years as president. Uganda before Yoweri Museveni For this article to be objective we must look at both sides of the coin. Before Museveni took office, Uganda was not better off. The country had been through a number of coups, the Uganda Bush civil war and was one of the poorest countries in Africa. Uganda produced one of the world‘s most notorious military tyrants in Idi Amin. Idi Amin became Uganda’s president in 1971 after overthrowing the then civilian president Apollo Milton Obote. Idi Amin would later be ousted from office in 1979 and went into exile. In 1980, Apollo Milton Obote became president again for a second time and was in office till 1985. During his second term in office, Uganda was thrown in civil war. By July 1985, the Amnesty International estimated that Obote‘s regime had been responsible for more than 300,000 civilian deaths across Uganda. President Obote was ousted from office for a second time by his own military general. The military briefly held power before Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army seized control of the country. Fast forward 35 years later, Yoweri Museveni still has control of the country. The new generation of African leaders During Museven’s early years in office he was celebrated by the western world as part of a new generation of African leaders. Others on this list included Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and South Africa's Thabo Mbeki. In the late 80’s and early 90’s, Sub Saharan African countries held multi party election, which resulted in this new generation of African leaders. The west believed that these leaders would push for democracy and social economical reforms in Africa. The west looked forward to an economically stable Sub-Saharan region which would promote trade between themselves and African. Unfortunately, most of these new generation of African leaders failed to live up to the expectations of their people and the wider international community. They became intoxicated with power and refused to let go of it. In a bid to make the role of President a life time job, most of these new generation of leaders adopted their own version of democracy. A version that is characterised by fascism, human rights violations, election rigging, manipulation of their country's judicial system to extend the limit of their presidency and most notably, the silencing of any opposition leaders that would threaten their presidency. For example, Museven is still president of Uganda after 35 years in office in 1986, Paul Kagame has been president of Rwanda for the last 20 years and Isaias Afwerki is the first and current president of Eritrea for the last 28 years, he is also the leader of the only political party that exists in Eritrea. On the other hand, Joaquim Alberto Chissano, the former president of Mozambique has been credited for transforming the war-torn country of Mozambique into one of the most successful African democracies, after serving as president from 1986 to 2005. He didn't hold on to power like Museveni, Kagame or Afwerki and should serve as an example for future African leaders. Timeline of Yoweri Museveni six terms as president We have put together a timeline of key events in President Yoweri Museveni’s 35 years in office as the president of Uganda: On the 29th of January 1986, Museveni is sworn in as the president of Uganda. Museveni states he considers the idea of a Head of State clinging to office for “15 or more” years ill-advised. He also promises a new era of peace and economic stability in Uganda. Uganda joins IMF‘s Economic Recovery Program in 1987. In 1989 Amnesty International releases a human rights report on Uganda which highlights that Museveni’s NRA troops committed gross human right violations. Museveni is commended by the international community for his initiatve used to tackle the spread of HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Museveni was elected chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1991 and 1992. In 1994 Museveni appoints Africa’s first female vice president Specioza Naigaga Wandira Kazibwe Uganda’s 1995 constitution is created and provides for a two-term limit on the tenure of the president. In 1997 Museveni introduces free primary education. In 1998, Uganda became the first country eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.They receive US$700 million in aid. In August 1998, Museveni supports Rwanda in invading the DRC again during the Second Congo War, to overthrow Kabila. Museveni Wins the presidential election for a second term in office from 2001 - 2006. He then proceeds to change the two term limit on the tenure of a president to a life time presidency, allowing him to run for office again in 2006. International community including the US, withdraw all aid from Uganda. A referendum to restore multi-party politics was held in Uganda on the 28th of July 2005 and was successful. In 2005, the International Court of justice ruled that Uganda must pay compensation to the DRC for human rights violations during the Second Congo War. Museveni runs for president in the February 2006 elections, in a bid to get a third term in office, after stating in 2001 that this was his last term in office. In October 2011, the annual inflation rate reached an 18 years high of 30.5 %, causing food and fuel prices to increase. In 2014, Museveni signed an anti-homosexuality bill into law. This act was widely condemned by the western world and the former US President, Barack Obama. Museveni wins a fourth and fifth term in office spanning from 2011 - 2021. Both election results were challenged by his opposition and Museveni was accused of election rigging. Ugandan Courts agree the elections had misappropriations but still vote to uphold the results. On the 27th of December Museveni signs the Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 2 2017, commonly known as the "Age Limit" bill . The bill removes the age limit cap of 75 years for a presidential aspirant. This allowed Museveni to run for a six term in office from 2021 - 2026. In January 2021 Museveni wins his sixth election or seventh term if you count when he seized power in 1986, but for legal reference let’s stick to sixth term in office. Once more his opposition Bobi Wine accused him of wide spread voter fraud and opposition intimidation. Uganda’s economy under Yoweri Museveni leadership. Let’s start by comparing Uganda’s economy to the rest of Africa. Africa comprises of 54 countries and Uganda has the 18th largest economy in Africa as shown in the table below. When Museveni seized power in 1986, Uganda was one of the poorest countries in Africa. Since then Uganda’s GDP grew from $7.93 billion in 1986 to $118.69 billion in 2019 as shown in the chart below. Uganda’s economy has been growing at a slow rate due to flooding, Ebola and locust invasion. The chart below shows the GDP growth rate of Uganda’s economy since 2015. It is forecasted that Uganda’s economy will contract in 2020 due to the COVID 19 outbreak. That said, Statista.com also forecasts that Uganda’s economy will rebound and grow at a faster rate between 2021 and 2025. Let’s look at where Uganda ranks in terms of the poorest countries in Africa. GDP per capita is a measure used to determine the wellbeing and quality of living in a country. Uganda’s GDP per capita has improved since 1985. It grew from $396.29 per person in 1985 to $915.25 in 2020. These stats show that poverty levels have been reducing since Museveni took office. The last economic statistics to look at is Uganda’s national debt. The chart below shows Uganda’s national debt as a percentage of GDP. This indicator tells investors how likely a country is to pay back borrowings in the future. What the graph below shows is that Uganda’s debt has slowly and steadily started to trend upwards in relation to their economic growth. Uganda's Debt to GDP percentage was 46% in 2020, this percentage is considered reasonable within the context of Uganda being able to pay back its debt. It is also a massive improvement when compared to Uganda's Debt to GDP percentage between 1997 to 2006, which at one point was at 70% as shown in the chart below. In terms of actual numbers, Uganda’s actual debt went from $6.06 billion in 2014 to $16.41 billion in 2020. It is forecasted that this figure will increase to $25.21 billion by 2024. This only means that Uganda is spending more money than their economy is capable of generating. It is undeniable that President Yoweri Musevini has been responsible for bringing Uganda out of the thresholds of poverty in the 80’s and growing their economy to what it is today. Yet, you cannot ignore the alarming rate at which Uganda’s national debt has increased in relation to their economic growth, which has slowed down. The World Bank points out that about 700,000 young people are reaching working age every year in Uganda, yet only 75,000 jobs are created each year. More than 70% of Ugandans survive by creating employment through agriculture. Uganda faces economic turmoil in the future. Musevini has to diversify Uganda's economy, increase manufacturing and export. The current unemployment levels in relation to population growth will only expedite rebellion among the youth in Uganda. This could lead to a collapse of Uganda's economy and send Uganda back 40 years to a time of political unrest and civil wars. Museveni’s new opposition Bobi Wine I find it disconcerting when people rile up rebellions and resistance in Africa without weighing up the economical and social consequences in the aftermath. Only a mad man will do the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome and young politicians like Bobi don’t understand that. When you incite your followers instead of calling for calm, you don’t show leadership, you show immaturity. Again, look at Libya are they better off now? A lot of people died during Uganda’s 2021 elections and this could have been prevented by a single tweet. A combination of youth, unemployment and protests in Africa is always a recipe for riot, rebellion, destruction and deaths of innocent lives. We can't say if Bobi Wine has the knowledge, competence, leadership skills and most importantly, the cool head to lead Uganda. It is often the case that young African political leaders try to garner strength by riling up the unemployed frustrated youth in their country. Would Bobi Wine do a better job than Museveni? We will leave that up to the Ugandan people to decide. While Museveni is tarnishing the good reputation he has garnered for bringing Uganda out of poverty and tackling HIV/AIDS, Bobi Wine has yet to achieve anything on the political landscape for Uganda or the international community. He campaigns around youth and his political party is all about empowering youth, which is not bad but it definitely isn’t what Uganda needs now. Uganda needs a political leader with experience, someone who is capable of navigating the political landscape and international community, someone would can align Uganda with better foreign policies. Conclusion In the last 35 years, President Yoweri Museveni as been accused of numerous human rights violations from the use of child soldiers, silencing and intimidation of political opponents, rigging of elections and inappropriately influencing Uganda’s judicial system and constitution. While Museveni will no doubt try and dispute these allegations, one allegation he can’t dispute is that he has intentionally manipulated Uganda’s constitution twice to extend his stay in office. Firstly, when he changed the two term limit in Uganda’s 1995 constitution and secondly when he changed the President age limit in the Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 2 2017. There is no doubt that he has overstayed his time in office and needs to step down. The greater concern is he risks destabilising Uganda’s fragile economy and decades of peace, all in the name of holding on to power. There are even rumours he wants to hand power to his son. History has shown the danger of holding on to power too long. Libya is a perfect example, when Gaddafi was ousted, Libya was plunged into chaos and still have not recovered to date. It is now a cesspool for terrorism. We fear the same fate may await Uganda and Museveni if he doesn’t relinquish power. Our recommendation is as follow; The African Union need to adopt an EU model of governance which will allow legislation passed by African Union to supersede legislation passed by any member of African Union. Museveni’s key strength has been his ability to influence Uganda’s legislation and constitution. If AU had the authority they could supersede this and protect the democracy of Ugandan people. Museveni should step down and a new election should be held, one that is governed by African Union and monitored by EU. Bobi Wine should pacify his followers and not make the mistake Donald Trump made in inciting rebellion and violence. Innocent people will die and in death there is no hope. Sources Wikipedia Statista.com Worldbank IMF Amnesty International Bobi Wine's website

Overview The Grand Inga Dam is described as a series of seven proposed hydropower stations at the site of the Inga Falls, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). If completed as planned, this Dam would have the capacity to supply 40 GW of power, which is more than a third of the total electricity produced in Africa. Making it the largest power station in the world. The Grand Inga Dam is believed to be a part of a greater vision by the international economic community to develop a power grid across Africa that will spur the continent's industrial economic development. It's reported that the Grand Inga Dam will be constructed in 6 phases. Inga Dam I and Inga Dam II, were commissioned in 1972 and 1982 respectively. Inga Dam I was designed with the capacity to generate 351 MW. While Inga Dam II has a capacity of 1,424 MW. Inga Dam III is currently in the design phase, with the ultimate design and size being subjected to signficant debate. The construction of the successive phases of Grand Inga will hinge on availability of a market and funding for the projects. The total project has been estimated to cost $80 billion, including cost of the transmission lines needed to carry its power across Africa and potentially to Europe. Rehabilitation of existing Inga Dams DRC faced a number of problems rehabilitating Inga Dam I and II. The existing dams were operating below 40% of their design capacity, producing a combined output of below 700 MW out of a possible 1775 MW. Subsequently, there were numerous attempts to rehabilitate both power stations and their electrical grid. In May 2001, Siemens was reportedly negotiating with the DRC government over a billion-dollar partnership that would involve the restoration and modernization of the its electrical grid.This included the rehabilitation of both Inga power plants but work was delayed. In June 2003 there was also a report that the World Bank had signed a $450 million contract with Siemens to improve water and electrical distribution in the DRC. Again, this included the rehabilitation of both Inga power plants (which were reported to be at 30% capacity).It is unclear what happened to these contracts. In May 2005 a Canadian company MagEnergy signed an agreement with SNEL to rehabilitate some of Inga II's turbines, with a completion goal of 2009. The actual work to rehabilitate Inga II began on 27 April 2006, just under a year after the initial agreement with MagEnergy was signed.This first phase, which involved fixing a single 168 MW turbine and other emergency repair work, was reported 90% complete in April 2009, and the second phase was estimated to take an additional five years. However, there is doubt over whether the government accepts the validity of the contract, and in the meantime the Canadian company First Quantum was hired to rehabilitate two separate Inga II turbines. SNEL has received funding from the Regional and Domestic Power Markets Development Project to carry out repairs. It should be noted that the Regional and Domestic Power Markets Development Project was supported by the World Bank, African Development Bank, and European Investment Bank. ​ Environmental and Economic impact of building Inga Dam I and II If Inga Dam I and II were both fully functional and provided at least 80% of its combined 1.8 GW capacity to DRC's national grid, then it would undoubtably be classed as enviromentally beneficial because it reduces carbon emissions. Unfortunately, even with the installation of these two dams, 84% of Congolese people still lack access to electricity. While Internationalrivers.org and Banktrack.org argue that both Inga Dam projects displaced thousands, destroyed livelihoods and impoverished generations while plunging the country into debt. It would have been a travesty not to exploit the great Inga Falls as a sustainable source of energy to DRC. There is clearly a problem of reliance on fossil fuel as a source of energy in DRC. Reports show that their carbon emissions increased by 3.77% between 2015 and 2016. This represented an increase by 238,393 tons over 2015, when CO2 emissions were 6,326,381 tons. Worldometer also reported that 73.1% of DRC's carbon emissions come from transport (fossil fuel driven) as shown in the chart below. Internationalrivers.org suggests that instead of DRC's government to chase after large hydropower projects they should invest in other abundant resources such as solar, micro-hydro and wind power. While solar and wind power are also sustainable sources of energy, there is no guarantee that after installation these assets won't dilapidate due to inadequate maintenance, just like Inga Dam I and II. More importantly, hydropower energy is cheaper than wind and solar energy supply. Hydropower energy supply is constant when compared to solar and wind, which are intermitent in nature. That is, wind doesn't blow 24 hours a day nor does the sun shine 24 hours of the day, but water does and can flow 24 hours of the day. Flowing water or hydropower as an energy source, is more reliable than wind and solar energy. That said, the fact that both Inga Dam projects didn't achieve benefit realisation means they offer no enviromental benefit to DRC. The Inga Dam I and II were tagged as economic disasters by multiple media outlets and watch dogs. In order to connect the power generated from both dams with the copper and cobalt mines located near Zambia's border in Katanga, a new project was commissioned to build the longest high-voltage direct current power line in existence, bypassing local communities and converting into alternating current at its final destination. This new project was called Inga Shaba power line and was politically motivated as western investors and the Congolese government wanted to support the Shaba mines during a period of elevated copper prices. The government also wanted to consolidate its power over the secessionist southern province, and the West had an interest in seeing the Congo stay firmly in the anti-communist camp. The project cost was constantly revised upward and eventually reached $500 million over budget. As of 1980 the costs of the Inga-Shaba power line totaled 24% of Congo's debt. As of 1999, Congo still owed the U.S. Export-Import Bank over $900 million, leaving American taxpayers unpaid. ​ Conclusion The DRC government are pushing ahead with the Grand Inga Dam project against all reservations and advise by concerned stakeholders. The government are looking for investors to build Inga Dam III even though the construction would displace thousands of more people. We would recommend that the DRC government focus on repairing Inga Dam I and II to deliver its design output. The government should also endeavour to rehouse or reimburse people that were displaced from their homes by building these dams. If the existing Inga dams cannot deliver any evidential value to the people of DRC, then the goverment should stop investing into hydropower projects. We hope that the Grand Inga Dam project is completed because it will benefit DRC and Africa economically and environmentally. That said, we cannot ignore the incompetence shown by the DRC government in maintaining and operating Inga Dam I and II. It is only logical to assume that the same behaviour will persist with the Inga Dam III project and the overall Grand Inga Dam project. A way out of this could be for the DRC government to establish a public private partnership with an investor who has the resources to bring this project to fruition and continually ensure it delivers to the required benefit realisation it was designed for. What cannot and should not be taken for granted is the economic and environmental benefits hydropower energy can bring to DRC and Africa.

Economic Jargon Firstly let’s get some definitions out of the way. GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product and is the monetary value of a country in terms of traded goods and services. The larger a country’s GDP the bigger their economy. It is measured in dollars. Secondly, GDP per capita is the average value of contribution made by each individual in a country. It is particularly used as a measure of the quality of life in a country. It is measured in dollars. GDP growth is the rate at which an economy is expanding or contracting and is measured in %. Creditor is the party loaning out money to another party. Debtor is the party borrowing money from the Creditor. Cashflow is difference between cash flowing into a business and cash flowing out of a business. Overview As a continent Africa has one of the largest growing economies in the world. In 2019 Africa had a nominal GDP of $2.6 trillion with a growth rate of 3.7%. Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt top the list of countries in Africa with the largest economies as shown by the 2019 GDP bar chart below. Nigeria had a GDP of $410 billion in 2019, which amounts to roughly 16% of Africa’s total GDP, making it the highest gross domestic product in Africa. South Africa's GDP was worth $350 billion and ranked as the second highest on the continent. Thereafter, three North African countries - Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco followed in the list as shown in the Statista chart below. Causes of economic growth in Africa Economic growth can be brought on by different factors but the three key ones in Africa are: 1. Foreign Direct Investment Between 2014 and 2018, Statista.com reported that 16 percent of Africa’s Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) originated from China. Chinese direct investment on the African continent represented the main source of FDI, whereas the United States and France held eight percent of the total FDI, respectively. 2. Trade in terms of import and export, which could be domestic or foreign. For example a large part of Nigeria's GDP is generated from exportation of crude oil. Nearly 95 percent of all export value in Nigeria comes from mineral fuels, oils, and distillation products. While in South Africa industries and services make up the largest part of GDP and they also export a large amount of valuable metal and minerals. Statistics show that in Africa crude oil and precious metal are the most export commodities as shown in the map below. Exporting of goods and services within Africa and outside Africa is a big boost to Africa’s economy as it brings in much needed cash flow. 3.Growth in population Recent forecast by The economist shows that by 2050 Africa’s population will double from 1.2 billion to 2.5 billion, with Nigeria‘s population growing from 200 million to 400 million by 2050. From a Macroeconomics point of view, a growth in African population will lead to an increase in demand for goods and services. This could be a plus or minus to Africa’s economy. It’s a plus if Africa has adequate supply to meet the increase in demand. This would mean an increase in trade of goods and services within Africa, causing the economy to expand. On the other hand, if Africa doesn’t have the capacity to meet the growing demand caused by an increase in population, this will lead to commodities becoming scarce, prices will go up for goods and service, and eventually inflation will set in. According to the author of the book called “The fastest billion” Africa’s GDP is forecasted to grow from $2 trillion today to $29 trillion in today’s money by 2050. In the next section we are going to examine how realistic it is to assume Africa’s economy will grow in 15 folds. More specifically, who will own the economy. The impact of decarbonisation on Africa's economy For Africa's economy to grow from $2 trillion today to $29 trillion in 2050, alot of conditions will have to be fulfilled. For instance, Africa would have to export more than they import to ensure they have a positive cashflow. This could largely be impacted by the reliance of Africa on crude oil exportation. Africa's largest economy is Nigeria, and 95% of their revenue is generated from exportation of crude oil. With most western countries commited to decarbonisation, demand for crude oil will definitely fall by 2050, while demand for renewable and green energy will rise. If Nigeria's economy doesn't divest away from crude oil exportation by 2050 their economy will definitely contract and we won't be surprised if they end up in long term recession. This will significantly impact the growth of Africa's economy because Nigeria is its largest contributor to GDP. On the contrary, South Africa, which has Africa's second largest economy has a more diverse economy when compared to Nigeria. They are the world's largest producer of precious metals such as gold, chromium and platinium. They are also involved with automobile manufacturing, metalworking, technology, machinery, textiles, iron and steel, IT, chemicals, fertiliser, foodstuffs, manufacturing and commercial ship repair. What's more impressive is that Nigeria was only $60 billion in GDP ahead of South Africa in 2019, yet South Africa don't export crude oil. We forecast that by 2050 South Africa will be Africa's largest economy because a the reduction in crude oil demand won't impact South Africa the way it would impact Nigeria's economy. Still, even if South Africa becomes Africa's largest economy, it still will not be able to cover the deficit left by Nigeria's contribution to Africa's GDP. The only solution is for Nigeria to diversify its economy and grow other sectors such as manufacturing, farming and Fintech. The demand is clearly there but most of it is being addressed through importation. Nigeria needs to stop importing goods/services and instead focus on creating production capability and capacity at home. Africa’s growing debt I like comparing economies with businesses because it makes more sense when you are explaining stuff to your audience. Africa's economy is like a business and in business you finance operations either through taxation, borrowing or other sources of cashflow. A healthy economy is one that maintains a good balance between cash inflow (such as corporate tax, export revenue, returns on foreign investment) and cash outflow (such as debt and interest paid on borrowing). If your cash outflow exceeds yours cash inflow, then your economy is effectively in recession and owing more money than it is receiving. Africa's growing debt/borrowing when compared to the value of their economy in GDP is alarming and a cause for concern as shown on Statista’s bar chart below. Below are a few facts and forecasts our research dug up from the public domain: Brookings reported that as of 2017, 19 African countries had exceeded the 60% debt-to-GDP threshold set by the African Monetary Co-operation Program (AMCP) for developing economies, while 24 countries have surpassed the 55 percent debt-to-GDP ratio suggested by the International Monetary Fund. Their report also point out that surpassing this threshold means that these African countries are highly vulnerable to economic changes and their governments have a reduced ability to provide support to the economy in the event of a recession. In a nutshell, Africa's debt is growing at a very high rate and the risk of countries defaulting on their debt is also growing across Africa. Between 2010 and 2018, the public debt of sub-Saharan African countries increased by half from 40 to 59% of their GDP. This made sub-Saharan Africa one of the fastest growing debt accumulationg continents in the world when compared to other developing regions. Almost all sub-Saharan African countries have contributed actively to the increase in the debt-to-GDP ratio. More alarming, public debt as a percent of GDP has at least doubled in more than a quarter of sub-Saharan African countries, among which Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Nigeria. Oil exporting countries and Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) have been the main culprits for the rapid accumulation of public debt in sub-Saharan Africa. In two-quarters of HIPC countries, public debt as a percentage of their GDP had increased by at least 50%. This seemed to occur less than 10 years after these countries benefitted from debt relief under the HIPC initiative. This initiative was designed to protect the poorest countries in the world and ensure they were not overwhelmed by unmanageable or unsustainable debt. The world bank reported rapid accumulation of public debt in oil exporting countries such as Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea. In these countries, the debt-to-GDP ratio has more than doubled in 2018 compared to its 2010 level. The fiscal deficits of these countries also widened after the end of the commodity price boom in 2014. When we say fiscal deficit this means that a government is spending more than it‘s receiving. This is one of the key drivers of borrowing in Africa. With exception of Angola and the Republic of Congo, the level of debt in oil exporting countries remains below the average level of other SSA countries. Depth Trap Diplomacy We have established that Africa’s debt, especially in Sub Sahara African countries, is growing at an alarming rate when compared to their GDP. We would now like to examine the creditors instead of the debtors. Using the country-business analogy, let’s briefly look at a typical creditor debtor relationship. In business creditors loan money to people based their capability to afford debt and their history of paying back debt. This is usually referred to has the credit worthiness of a person or business. A lot of factors are considered when loaning a person or business money. Two important ones are Cashflow and income stream. If a person or business doesn’t have a constant source of income then no creditor will loan them money. More importantly if their cash outflow is more than their cash inflow, no business will loan them money even if they have a constant source of income. How does this relate to China’s foreign direct investment in Africa? Well China is the creditor in this story, loaning money to African countries that already have growing debt but more importantly they are loaning money to African countries with a negative cashflow. These countries spend more money than they generate from local trade and export. To sustain their economy they end up borrowing to cover their budget deficit. The term used to describe what China is doing to Africa is called Debt-trap diplomacy. The creditor country intentionally extends excessive credit to a debtor country already struggling with debt or on the brink of becoming cashflow negative. This induces the debtor into a debt trap because any surplus cashflow goes towards paying interest and since these countries still need cashflow they borrow more. This is done with the intention of extracting economic and political concessions from the debtor country when it becomes unable to meet its debt repayment obligations. The conditions of the loans are kept secret and the borrowed money commonly paid to contractors from the creditor country. Over the last decade China has increased its investment in Africa. According to the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a charity that calls for the debts of developing nations to be written off, as much as 20 percent of African governments’ external debt is owed to China. Between 2012 to 2017, Chinese loans to Sub Sahara Africa grew tenfold to more than $10bn per year, according to the ratings agency Moody’s. In 2001, Chinese loans totalled under $1bn. Moody rating agency did note that China’s loans to African countries will help to address the persistent financing gap but also highlighted the lack of transparency over the conditions attached to Chinese lending, and a lack of reform and governance requirements compared with those required by multilateral official creditors, may limit the long-term benefits to Sub Sahara Africa. Conclusion It is clear Africa's GDP is growing especially in Sub Sahara Africa, but there are risks to this economic growth forecast that need to be addressed now. One them is the over reliance of Nigeria (Africa's biggest economy) on Crude oil exportation, which accounts for 95% of their revenue. The second and most important one is the growing amount of debt as a percentage of Africa's GDP. This leads us the most important point, that China using Dept trap diplomacy to leverage Africa into economic and political concession which could see us going back to an era of colonisation where the western world exploited us for our resources. Our African leaders need to act now to reduce and control the debt we have accrued from China and ensure we don't fall into a debt trap that would see our economy grow but leave us without a controling interest in our own economy. Unfortunately the statistics do show that Africa is a willing participant in China's Dept trap diplomacy. We leave you with a chart from Financial Times showing the outstanding debt different African countries have with China. Angola currently owes China about $3 billion while Nigeria owes China.

Overview Akon City is a $6 billion planned construction project in Senegal, to build a futuristic green city. The proposed city will trade solely with a cryptocurrency called Akoin. The city will be built on a 2000 acres piece of land located near Senegal’s coastline, about 62 miles south of Dakar and 35 miles from Dakar's new $575 million international airport. It is being hailed as the Wakanda of Senegal in reference to the fictional futuristic city in the Black Panther movie. The city will feature luxury condos, a beachfront resort, office parks, a university and a hospital. The first phase of Akon City is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, this will include the construction of roads, a Hamptons Hospital campus, Hamptons Mall, a police station, a waste facility, a school, and a power plant. Phase 2 of Akon City will end in 2029 and will focus on integrating businesses to run on Akon’s Akoin cryptocurrency. Looking at the designs of Akon City's, one would definitely draw the conclusion that it is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. That said, we are not here to gloss over Akon's vivid imagination, we are here to review this project from an objective and expert point of view. More importantly, we want to understand the benefits and risks associated with it and how this could impact Senegal and Africa as a whole. It is public knowledge that the budget for this project is $6 million, but where is this money coming from? Akon is told the Washington Post that he has raised $4 billion out of the $6 billion investment required. He is also quoted say "he could not name other business partners, who signed nondisclosure agreements.". Our research identified multiple sources, which included CNN, Reuters, Businessinsider.com and Africanintelligence.com, all confirming Kenyan Businessman Julius Mwale as the sole investor to date. Mwale's spokeman and Jon Karas, the President of Akoin Cryptocurrency both confirmed to Business Insider that Mwale was responsible for funding the bulk of the $4 million currently raised by Akon. On the 4th of June 2020, Akon announced through a press release that KE International had been awarded the $6 Billion construction contract for Akon City. In a further twist, the same press release highlighted that KE International also helped secure the initial $4 billion investment for Akon city from "leaders in the healthcare and technology infrastructure industries," including Julius Mwale, the Kenyan technology entrepreneur behind MMTC. So who is Julius Mwale and what do we know about the construction company KE International? The Kenyan businessman Julius Mwale Julius Mwale is a former Kenya Air Force soldier who fled Kenya in 2000 unclear and sought asylum in the US, according to Capital FM Kenya. In an interview with Mwale, he told Capital FM that he was forced to flee the country after a disagreement with government authorities over the technology research he worked on in the military. Since moving to New York, Mwale founded SBA Technologies, a company that provides a secure platforms for mobile banking and commerce. He has taken up the role of lead investor in a number of projects such as the $2 billion Mwale Medical and Technology City, the $6 billion Akon City project and the Fintech startup Akoin Currency. Should we be concerned that Julius Mwale is the lead and possibly only investor backing the Akon City project? Absolutely yes, i wouldn't jump to such a conclusion without reason. According to public records in the New york alone, Julius was sued for an alleged fraudulent loan, for failing to pay rent and for failing to repay a loan. On two of these occasions the New York court order him to pay the plaintiffs large sums of money. In the other case he agreed to settle with interest. You can find details of these cases below: In March 2012, a New York court ordered Mwale and SBA Technologies — alongside another defendant, Fiona Graham — to pay more than $325,000 to two women who sued Mwale and Graham for what they alleged was a fraudulent loan. In 2015, a New York court ordered Mwale to pay more than $209,000 to the former landlord of his Manhattan office after Mwale was accused of failing to pay rent and other bills for nearly a year. In 2017, Arthur Ntozi, a Ugandan tech entrepreneur, sued Mwale, alleging he failed to repay a $50,000 loan. My key concern is if Mwale was innocent then why have all the court judgements and settlements listed above, gone against him? How credit worthy is this investor? Is the $4 billion his money or did he borrow it to invest in Akon City? If i was a shareholder or end user of Akon City, these are the questions i would ask. Let assume for a moment that Mwale took a loan for invest into Akon City. If he were to default on this loan like he has done in the past, Akon City could be put into administration and its assets liquidated to pay off creditors. In any case, no sensible creditor would loan a man who has a history of defaulting on loans and missing rent payment, $4 billion. So where did Julius Mwale get this money from to invest and what is the consequence for Akon City if he defaults on this assumed loan? The construction company KE International Its not like Akon put out a tender and chose KE International from a 100 other contractors. As previously stated, KE International was key to securing the $4 billion investment from Julius Mwale and Akon announced he had awarded the $6 billion project to them. There is a lack of transperency on the funding and construction agreement for the Akon City project. We can only assume and i say assume, that in return for KE International securing $4 billion from Julius Mwale, Akon agreed to award them the design and build contract. So what do we know about KE International to judge if they have the capability to build Akon City? The short answer is alot. If you go to their website and About page, it is like a nightmare you don't want to wake up from because you have some many questions. On their About page, they boost of having an $8 billion portfolio of work. People would probably look at that figure and say, wow. The reality of it is that out of that $8 billion portfolio they brag about, they fail to mention that $6 billion comes from the Akon City project, which hasn't started construction yet. The remaining $2 billion is for completing the Mwale Medical and Technology City project. To cut the long story short, prior to KE International being awarded the Akon City design and build project, this company has only ever completed one other construction project, which was the Mwale Medical and Technology City project. So what in heaven's name made Akon think that awarding a ground breaking futuristic project to an inexperience company with only one delivered project under their belt was wise? I guess someone has to ask Akon for me. The story about KE International gets more interesting when you look at the people running this company. Well we didn't have to search far or wide for this information because it is all on the About page of their website. To save me time i have added a screenshot of KE International's Management Board. I want you to focus on their job titles and qualifications stated under their photos. Special focus should be put on Director of Akon City project, Paul Martin. Now tell me what you observed before you see my response below the screenshot. At this point it might be clear or not but i will get to it now. All six board of directors are extremely qualified with their expertise ranging from Electrical engineering, to IT, to Information systems and Business administration. These are not easy qualification to get and it is further evidence of their competence and capability. I should know as i am a Chartered Engineer with a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering, MSc in Structural Engineering, Diploma in Business Management, numerous Project management and Asset management qualification, lastly i am about to complete my MBA. I know it seems i am bragging but i think it is key you understand my education and knowledge base for what comes next. Akon City is a massive project that will require detailed Architectural designs, Structural designs, environmental impact assessments, electrical and mechanical designs etc. Out of the six board of directors in KE International, not a single one of them has any qualification in Civil engineering, Structural engineering or Architecture. These three fields will probably take up 70 to 80% of the Akon City project, while other fields like Mechanical, Electrical and IT engineering would take up between 15 to 20% of project work. Yet not a single board of director in a company that is supposed to deliver $6 billion project has any relevant qualification in Civil engineering, Structural engineering or Architecture. If this project was put out for tender, there is no way KE International would have won it. Three key reasons for this are: 1. They don't have the experience - There are companies out there that have completed hundreds of projects similar in cost to Akon City. These guys have only completed one project and that project cannot be measured in the same calibre as the Akon City project. Just take alook at the photos of the Mwale Medical and Technology City project below. This is the only project in their portfolio they have completed. Tell me, do these structures look futuristic to you? They look like structures which could easily be built by an SME contractor not a $6 billion contractor. 2. They don't have the qualification - This is a key part of any big tendering process, you look at the team delivering the project and see what experience and qualifications they have. We have already shown they have never delivered a project in the calibre of Akon City. Now we are saying they don't have the necessary qualifications to deliver such a project. Like most projects, you can subcontract out to another company if you lack the skills in house to deliver a project or the resource requirement. In the press release where KE Internation were awarded this project, it was also stated that Dubai based Bakri & Associates Development Consultants would lead the architectural designs under KE International guidance. So it is clear they are going to subcontract most of the work out. Our concern is do they have the competence to guide their subcontractors? Everyone in Bakri & Associates Development Consultants would be more knowledgeable than every singe board of director in KE International when it comes to Architectural design. So what guidance or supervision can they provide on a subject matter they are not experts on. 3. There is a massive conflict of interest - It is clear they KE International most likely were awarded this project because they help secure the funding in the first place. That is a conflict of interest and quite frankly very unprofessional. So we now know that there are issues with both the lead investor for the Akon City project and construction company awarded the project. Even with these factors, that doesn't mean that if the project is delivered is won't provide benefits to Senegal and Africa as a whole. We are now going to look at the benefits of the Akon City project and conclude with the risks our readers should watch out for in regards to this projects. The Akoin Cryptocurrency I am not going to dwell on this area of Akon City because i am not blockchain or cryptocurrency expert. I do however understand the concept of creating value or adding value to a product, service or commodity. Cryptocurrency is the future of digital currency. Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, cryptocurrency has sowed as a secured form of payment and value exchange. The cryptocurrency market was hit by one of the biggest scams in history when Ruja Ignatova, the CEO of Onecoin and self appointed Cryptoqueen defrauded the world of $4 billion. She told people she had invented a cryptocurrency to rival Bitcoin, and persuaded them to invest billions as shown in the BBC chart below. This was a warning shot to the enthusiasts of cryptocurrency, that while blockchain technology makes it one of the most secured payment forms in the world, there are still people like Ruja Ignatova who will try and defraud investors. The success of Akoin cryptocurrency would be great for Africa and young African entrepreneurs. Our concern is with Akon's business motive behind this cryptocurrency and how it impacts Akon City. Its clear that the value of Akoin cryptocurrency is tied to the Akon City project and Mwale Medical and Technology City project. Both of which are coincidentally being built by KE international and both of which have been invested in by Julius Mwale. Without the publicity and promise of Akon City, Akoin cryptocurrency won't have much value and would be like any other cryptocurrency. All we are saying is that investors should be cautious and do their homework. We don't need another OneCoin incident. The benefits and risks associated with the Akon City project To understand the benefits and risks associated with the Akon City project, one has to understand Senegal's economic state. We have put together the infographics below to summarise this. Benefits of Akon City project to Senegal and Africa in a whole 1. Boost to Senegal's and Africa's tourism sector If AKON City is successfully built, it will bring an influx of revenue into senegal's tourism sector. Tourism accounted for 10% of Senegal's GDP in 2019 and accounted for 7.1% of Africa's overall GDP to a tone of $168 billion as shown in the screenshot below. 2. Creation of employment in Senegal Another benefit would be the creation of jobs in Senegal. Unemployment is currently 6.6% of Senegal's 18.84 million population. When compared to Nigeria's unemployment rate of 27.1% (of 200 million people), UK's unemployment rate of 4.8% (of 66.65 million people) and US unemployment rate of 6.7% (of 328 million people), one would be inclined to say that Senegal doesn't have an unemployment problem. This stats show otherwise, unemployment has been on an upward trend in Senegal since 2018 as shown in Statista's graph below. Risks associated with Akon City project 1. Under utilisation of Senegal's natural resources Although Senegal's economy is driven by mining, construction, tourism, fishing and agriculture, Senegal is also rich in natural resources such as iron, zircon, gas, gold, phosphates, and recently discovered oil deposits. Senegal is currently under utilising their natural resources and most of their revenue is still generated from agriculture and tourism. Currently Senegal spends more money importing goods and services than they export. In 2019, Senegal spent $8.892 billion on importation of goods and services but made only $5.374 billion from export. This left them with a negative current account that further devalued their currency in relation to dollars. In order for Senegal to generate more revenue from export than expenditure from import, they have to diversify their economy beyond tourism and agriculture. Taking into account the negative impact of COVID 19 on Senegal's tourism sector and the forecasted impact this pandemic will have on tourism worldwide, is it still wise for Akon to invest $6 billion on Akon City? The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecast that international tourism will fall by around 80% in 2020 worldwide. Furthermore, the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) now foresees a decline in international arrivals close to 70%, with recovery to pre-crisis levels not expected before 2023. The question remains, with the uncertainty surrounding the tourism sector, would it be wise for anyone to invest $6 billion into a futuristic city? If i was to do an investment appraisal right now, the answer would be no. That said, where is the investment appraisal for Akon City and why isn't there transperency from Akon on this. Is there really a business case for this investment or is it just a plot to drive the value of Akon's cryptocurrency startup. 2. Lack of transparency poses a risk to investor and future end users This it is the most publicised project that lacks any form of transparency. Like we have pointed out, Julius Mwale has a history of defaulting on loans and has been taken to court on three different occassions in New York. In all of these cases he was made to pay back money, if he was an innocent man the court wouldn't have order him to payback these loans. He is the lead investor on this project and no one knows where or how he raised $4 billion to invest in Akon City or where he raised $2 billion to build Mwale Medical and Technology City. Is this his personal capital or is it a loan? If it is a loan, what happens to Akon City if he defaults on it and why should any potential investor trust him? There is then the issue of KE International who where awarded the contract to build Akon City. They lack the experience or qualifications to undertake a project of this calibre. Just because they built Mwale Medical and Technology City for $2 billion doesn't automatically mean they have the capability to build a Wakanda like futuristic city. That begs the question, are the concept designs on Akoncity.com buildable or will the architectural designs be more conservative like Mwale Medical and Technology City ,which is anything but a futuristic city. The last problem is the promise that Akon City will trade only in a cryptocurrency called Akoin which is by the way owned by AKON. Hypothetically speaking, what's to stop anyone from saying that Akon City is just a ploy to boost the value of Akoin cryptocurrency, because that is what it looks like without relevant information to dispute this hypothesis. 3. Lack of funds to complete project We already mentioned the risk of the lead investor Julius Mwale defaulting on the $4 billion loan invested in Akon City, assuming it is a loan and not his personal cash. Now we are drawing on a more obvious risk to the completion of this project and that is lack of funds. Can $6 billion build a futuristic city of the size proposed by Akon? I severely doubt that, not unless KE International builds a substandard version of Akon City that will be nothing like the concept designs. No need for assumptions, check out the top ten most expensive structures in the world below. These are not cities, they are buildings and two of them are worth more than 4 times of Akon City. That's without even taking into consideration what these buildings are worth now as $1 now will not have the same value as $1 ten years ago or $1 in two years time. The value of money goes up and down, so has Akon taken this into consideration? Again i ask, where is the investment appriasal for this project and why isn't it made public if Akon has nothing to hide? If he is really looking for investors, the investment appraisal should be made public for potential investor to review. They would want to know what the net present value of the project is and how much value their investment would get them. Conclusion The benefits of Akon City being built are clear, it will boost the tourism sector in Senegal, it will create jobs and provide a much needed boost to the country's revenue. While it is easy to gloss over the great things Akon City will bring to Africa, our research identified too many issues which also need to be taken into consideration. Below are three issues concern parties need to consider about this project: The company appointed by Akon to design and build Akon City lacks the experience and qualifications to deliver a project of this calibre. KE International is a relatively new company and would never have won a tender competition with the big players in the construction industry like VINCI, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, Bechtel and my favorite China Communications Construction Company who have delivered numerous projects in Africa. KE International has only delivered one project since its inception and that was Mwale Medical and Technology City. We know that KE International helped secure the $4 billion investment from Julius Mwale, which is why they were most likely awarded the design and build contract. As pointed out earlier, none of the six board of directors in KE International possess a single qualification in Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering or Architecture. Even if they were to subcontract this project to another company, how can they provide guidance on a subject they are not experts in. In the current climate marred by a pandemic, tourism is not the best sector to invest in and the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has already forecasted a 70% decline in international arrivals with recovery to pre-crisis levels not expected before 2023. So we would recommend that Akon re-evaluates his proposal to build the $6 billion Akon City and release an updated investment proposal to promote transparency with stakeholders. The risk of funds being depleted before Akon City is built is quite high. This can happen two ways: Firstly, the lead investor Julius Mwale could default on the $4 billion loan he invested into Akon City. He already has a history of defaulting on loans and on all three occasions he was taken to court he was order to pay his creditors twice and on the third he settled. If this investor was innocent why would a judge rule against him on three occasions. If he doesn't default on the loan for Akon City, it is most like that Akon City will be liquidated to pay of his creditors Secondly as shown earlier the scale of the Akon City project would most likely cost more than $6 billon. The Shard cost $3.3 billion and was built in 2009, The emirate palace cost $3.6 billion and was built in 2001, Marine Bay Sand was built in 2010 and cost $5 billion. These are not futuristic cities, they are large buildings that cost billions of dollars. Akon City on the other hand has alot of high rise buildings with futuristic designs and yet Akon claims $6 billion is enough to build this cities. We hope our readers find this article informative. While we believe it to be objective we would like to remind our readers that these are our views of the Akon City project. They should not be used for any malicious purposes and we do not take liability for how you interpreted them. Thank you

On the 22nd of December 2020, President Donald Trump pardoned four former US private military contractors, who were convicted by a federal jury in 2014 for unlawful killing 14 out of 17 people in the Nusoor Square traffic circle in Baghdad, Iraq. About 30 witnesses from Iraq travelled to the US to testify against these four men. Unfortunately, Donald Trumps actions has now ensured their testimonies were in vain and the families of those killed will never get justice. The four private contractors responsible for these killings were identified as Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard, all of which worked for a company called Blackwater guards. According to CNN, Prosecutors accused these men of illegally unleashing “powerful sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers on innocent men, women and children.” The original FBI investigation found that 14 out of the 17 deaths were unjustified, according to rules of engagement for private security contractors in Iraq. Among those killed were 9 and 11 years old boys, a doctor, a used car salesman, a truck driver, a businessman, an Iraqi soldier, a gardener, a taxi driver and an aspiring doctor taking his mother to an appointment, according to prosecutors. How this impacts Africa Over the last decade terrorism has grown in Africa, specifically in countries like Somalia, South Africa, Nigeria, Niger, Mali and so many other African countries. Recently, Boko Haram which originated from Nigeria has slowly found its way into neighbouring countries and threatens to spread throughout West Africa. Some of the key factors that have aided the spread of terrorism in Africa are unemployment, poor education, disinformation, media propaganda, cultural differences and most importantly the United States of America. Yes, the United State of America is the biggest factor in the spread of terrorism, not just in Africa but worldwide. There will never be any excuse for the acts of terrorism and it will always be frowned upon in Africa and worldwide. It is not driven by Islamic believes contrary to what people like President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron want you to believe. It is driven by religious zealots who will used any excuse they have to perpertuate acts of terror because of their hatred for western culture and the United States of America. That brings us to a key point. These religious zealot recruit gullible men and women online and feed them propaganda about how Americans have slaughtered Muslims and are killing their people.They play them deepfaked videos of drone strikes carried out by the US on foreign soil. They sell them promises of paradise with virgins and tell them they will live a life of affluence. All of these are lies or rather were lies because over the last decade or two, there has been numerous evidence of war crimes commited by western countries in Afghanistan and Iraq. For instance, On the 19/11/20 the Australian Defence Force announced that their investigation into war crimes committed by Austrialian solidiers in the Afghan war showed credible evidence that Australian elite soldiers unlawfully killed 39 people. The UK opened a similar inquiry into alleged unlawful killings by British troops in Afghanistan, in what was called Operation Northmoor. It was shut down in 2017 without any charges being brought against the soldiers involved. Meanwhile, a 2016 report from the ICC said there was reasonable basis to believe that the US military had committed torture at secret detention sites operated by the CIA. Finally, President Donald Trump decided to pardon four ex-private military contractors that were found guilty of killing 14 innocent Iraqis. Where is the justice for their families? This is why we worry, because what terrorist organisation are now feeding recruits is now being legitimised by Donald Trump. His actions are not good for Africa as the last thing we need is ISIS or Boko Haram using such injustice to spur on gullible youths into commiting acts of terror. We can only conclude by saying that America needs to rise above this kind of injustice and let their justice system do their jobs. People who commit war crimes should not be allowed to walk away, the lives of Iraqis are as important as those of Americans and Africans. Hopefully, the incoming president Joe Biden will do better but we fear the damage done by Donald Trump will come with consequence and retribution.

Overview Time and time again, Nigeria’s security forces have proved that they are incapable of protecting the country’s national security from acts of terror. Over the last 11 years since Boko Haram’s founder Mohammed Yusuf was killed by the Nigerian police, the terrorist organisation has grown stronger in the Northern parts of Nigeria and other neighbouring countries. This blog looks at how Nigeria’s security forces have addressed the Boko Haram problem, if they have at all. The great mistake of Mohammed Yusuf In 2009 the Nigerian military apprehended Mohammed Yusuf, the then leader of the terrorist group called Boko Haram, which was founded in 2002. At this point they had the opportunity to collect intel on the organisation which could have led to the end of Boko Haram or at least seriously damaged their hierarchy. The Nigerian military captured Mohammed Yusuf at his parents-in-law's house. He was then transferred to the custody of the Nigerian police force before being taken to the police headquarters in Maiduguri. It was then reported by human rights campaigners that the Nigerian police executed Yusuf in public view. The Police denied this claim and stated either that Yusuf was shot while trying to escape, or he died of wounds he sustained during a gun battle with the military. Boko Haram activities over the last 11 years Over the last 11 years, Boko Haram have been responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people in Nigeria and displaced more than 3 million people. Most of these people have fled to neighbouring countries like Cameroon. They kill, kidnapped and rape women, while the Nigerian government claims to get dismantled them. The Nigerian military know that this terrorist group hides in the Sambisa forest of Borno state, yet they have done nothing. On April 2014 Boko Haram kidnapped 276 school girls from Chibok. These girls were raped and forced into marriage. Some even gave birth to their rapist‘s kids. The Nigerian government was never ever of retrieve these girls although some of the girls returned, other are still missing to date. In 2018 CNN reported that a breakaway faction of Boko Haram known as ISWAP kidnapped more than 100 girls in Dapchi. All but one was released weeks later, after negotiations. UNICEF recently stated that Boko Haram has abducted more than a 1,000 children since 2013, according to UNICEF. Most recently, 337 students are still unaccounted for after gunmen attacked a school in northern Nigeria, a government official told CNN. A man claiming to be the leader of Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, according to a short audio message shared with the Nigerian media and reviewed by CNN. The Nigerian president has refuted claims by Katsina Governor Bello Masari that more than 300 children are still held in captivity by bandits. The presidency said only 10 boys were still missing, according to reports monitored by a local newspaper The Punch. What needs to be done? Boko Haram needs to be stopped before they become a problem too big to handle. The economic climate of Nigeria bodes well for them in terms of recruitment. As the saying goes, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. With a 27% unemployment rate in Nigeria and the fact that majority of the unemployed are youths who are gullible. The Nigerian government has made itself a fertile ground for Boko Haram to recruit young, jobless, bored zealots to their cause, with a promise of monetary benefits. We recommend the Nigerian government tackle the Boko Haram problem as follows; First ensure the safety of civilians - They need to beef up military presence in Boko Haram hot zones and ensure institutions such as schools, Mosques and Churches are protected around the clock. Security forces must be proactive not reactive to the threat posed by Boko Haram. Find Boko Haram’s base of operation and shut it down- Sounds simple so what’s the delay? The Nigerian government should constantly be searching for Boko Haram‘s locations. Public knowledge is that they hide out mostly in Sambisa forest which is located in Borno State, Nigeria. The Nigerian government should also accept help from western nations and neighbouring countries. Shut out their supply of ammunition- If the Nigerian government truly have control of all their borders, how have Boko Haram been smuggling in guns? Nigeria is not America where they sell guns like candy. Over the last 11 years these terrorists have used weapons which were smuggled into the country or sold in black markets. The government needs to shut these avenues down. Fight the ideal not just the people- Terrorist organisations are known to thrive because of their ideals and the internet age makes it easier to spread their poison to gullible youths. History has shown that eliminating the head of terrorist organisations doesn’t stop these ideals from spreading. For example, killing Bin Laden didn’t stop Alqaeda from spreading their ideals, in short it made him a martyr that inspired other terrorists. The Nigerian government needs to invest in education campaigns to counter these ideaologies, both online and on ground. Create jobs for the Nigerian youth, especially in Northern Nigeria - Jobless youths will always be easy targets for radicalisation and an ideal mind will always be the devil’s workshop. It is confusing how the country with Africa’s largest economy are unable to create sustainable jobs. There are so much problems in Nigeria to solve and more problems means more jobs. Nigeria’s has problems with intermittent power supply, none existent water supply network, dependency on crude oil, importation of used cars which cause pollution, importation of bad fuel, poor road infrastructure, poor credit system, poor healthcare infrastructure, hunger, poverty and to sum it up, unemployment. These are problems the government can solve if they invest into the economy, infrastructure and boost their manufacturing capability. Visit our forum to discuss issues how Nigeria is tackling Boko Haram.

Overview Dangote.com describes the Dangote Oil Refinery as a 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) integrated refinery project under construction in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, Nigeria. It is expected to be Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility. The Pipeline Infrastructure at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery is the largest anywhere in the world, with 1,100 kilometers to handle 3 Billion Standard Cubic Foot of gas per day. The Refinery alone has a 400MW Power Plant that is able to meet the total power requirement of Ibadan DisCo. The Refinery will meet 100% of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products and also have a surplus of each of these products for export. Dangote Industries Limited invested about $12 Billion. Dangote Petroleum Refinery will create a market for $11 Billion per annum of Nigerian Crude. It is designed to process Nigerian crude with the ability to also process other crudes. The benefits of this refinery to Nigeria's economy and environment can not be over emphasized. In the following sections we will review some of these benefits and disbenefits for our readers. ​ Job creation Reuters reports that unemployment in Nigeria jumped to 27.1% in the second quarter of 2020. Working on the assumption there are approximately 200 million people in Nigeria, that would mean there are approximately 54 million people without jobs in Nigeria. Our research found conflicting estimates of how many jobs Dangote's oil refinery would create. The Punch quotes the COO of Dangote Industries Limited has estimating that the refinery will produce 300,000 direct and indirect jobs in the first quarter of 2019. Hydrocarbon Technology reported that the project is expected to generate 4,000 direct and 145,000 indirect jobs. NS Energy also reported that the integrated refinery and petrochemical project is expected to generate 9,500 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs. Whatever the number of jobs stipulated, one thing is for sure, jobs are going to be created both during and after the construction of this oil refinery. Increase in Nigeria's FOREX reserves ​Nigeria is currently suffering from scarcity in FOREX, which is one of the reasons the foreign exchange rate for Naira is low when compared to other African countries with a lower GDP than Nigeria. The Central bank of Nigeria reports that FOREX reserves have slowly reduced over the last 5 years as shown in the chart below. Overall the value of Nigeria's export has fallen by $38 billion over the last five years, going from $97.6 billion to $59.5 billion. While importation fell by only by $4.05 billion over . This means Nigeria is importing commodity in dollars more than it is selling commodity in dollars, hence the reason their FOREX reserves are depleting. Once Dangote's oil refinery starts operating, there will be no need to import fuel into Nigeria. This means there will be less demand on Nigeria's FOREX reserves and hopefully over time an increase in the value of Naira. Environmental impact of Crude oil refineries in Nigeria Dangote's oil refinery solves Nigeria's problem of dirty fuel imported from europe. A report from the Guardian showed that international dealers export to Nigeria around 900,000 tonnes a year of low-grade, “dirty” fuel, made in Dutch, Belgian and other European refineries. They also found that hundreds of small-scale artisanal refineries produce large quantities of illegal fuel from oil stolen from the network of oil pipelines that criss-cross the Niger delta. What's worst is that the international resource watchdog group Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) undertook a laboratory analysis which showed that the black market fuel in Nigeria was highly polluting but of a higher quality than the imported diesel and gasoline from Europe. The average “unofficial” diesel tested exceeded the level of EU sulphur standards 152 times, and 40 times the level for gasoline. Dangote's oil refinery will remove the need for Nigeria to import fuel. It is also reported that the fuel being produced by this refinery will meet Euro V regulation. Nigeria joined the Paris climate agreement in 2015 which was signed by 198 countries that agreed to prevent global temperatures from rising above 2 degrees celsius as from 2020. Carbonbrief.org reports that Nigeria pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2030, when compared to “business-as-usual” levels. This pledge rises to 45% on the condition of international support. Logically one would expect that such a commitment would mean that Nigeria would gradually shift away from using fossil fuel and embrace a more greener and sustainable source of energy. That simply hasn't happened. Nigeria already has four oil refineries that are either not working or partially working. Over the last 60 years the Nigerian government has failed to maintain and keep these refineries operational. ​ If Nigeria can maintain and operate more than 20 power stations since the early 60's such as Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro Power stations, why can't they maintain their existing oil refineries? BBC's answer to this was that, previous efforts to repair Nigeria's dilapidated refineries and build new ones had been scuppered to protect the interests of powerful fuel importers, some of whom have been linked to a subsidy scam costing the country billions of dollars a year, correspondents say. It should be noted that although Dangote's refinery will undoubtedly create jobs in Nigeria and boost the economy, it will definitely increase carbon emissions in the country. More importantly it requires a large carbon footprint to build such a refinery. ​ Market competition in Nigeria's oil refining sector From an economic point of view, the benefits of job creation, cleaner fuel and a stop petrol importation, might be outweighed by a lack of competition and wide spread monopoly of the oil refining sector in Nigeria. While Dangote Oil Refinery is a public private partnership, Dangote Industry Limited owns controlling shares in the refinery, not the Nigerian government. This could mean that Dangote Industries have the power to drive the prices of fuel up or down. It is unconfirmed if the Nigerian government have put control measures in place and retain the power to regulate fuel prices in Nigeria. Oilprice.com reports that Nigeria's four other oil refineries are old, in dire need of refurbishment and utilise below 30% of its capacity. This means that on completion of Dangote's oil refinery, it will have little or no market competition. In September 2020 Reuter reported that Nigerian conglomerate BUA Group had selected France’s Axens to build its 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery and petrochemicals plant in Akwa Ibom. Barring any complications, Dangote's 650,000 barrels per day oil refinery will be competing against BAU's 200,000 barrel per day oil refinery. Yet having two functional oil refineries is Nigeria does exactly scream market competition. Plus, with Nigeria's history of corruption and recent civil unrest, there most likely won't be a long list of investors lining up to u all build new oil refineries in Nigeria. ​ Market competition is what drives prices down for customers, ensuring they get better value for money. Imagine if MTN was the only mobile network in Nigeria. Mobile tariffs would be higher because customers don’t have any other alternatives. Nigeria needs more than one or two privately funded oil refineries to promote market competition and protect the end user's interest. Conclusion Dangote's Oil Refinery is a plus to Nigeria's economy both in terms of job creation and boosting the countries GDP. Whatever money was spent on importing fuel will now be recycled within Nigeria and that is a boost to their economy. The environmental benefits are also a plus for Nigeria as the fuel imported from Europe has been found to be dirty. This is bad for Nigeria's air quality and the health of its people. In terms of disbenefits, this oil refinery will definitely increase carbon emissions in Nigeria as this is unavoidable. The key question for the Nigerian government is how does this oil refinery fall within factor into Nigeria's commitment to reduce carbon as per the Paris climate change agreement. There doesn't seem to be any strategy in place and it is clear that the demand for crude oil world wide is reducing as most countries try to adopt a renewable and green energy sources to reduce carbon emissions which are damaging their environment. Nigeria's economy is largely dependant on crude oil exportation, what happens in 20 years when the demand for crude oil is zero or nothing. The question about market competition has to be addressed to ensure consumers get fair prices. The government needs to create competition for Dangote's oil refinery, by either fixing their existing four oil refineries or encouraging other investors to build something similar. Although we will advise against more oil refineries as they simply are not sustainable for Nigeria's future economy.

Reuters today reported that a group of activists and celebrities including the Cofounder of the Black Lives Matter movement Opal Tometi and climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, signed an open letter to Nigeria's president Muhammadu Buhari, demanding that he hold accountable security personnel accused of shooting anti-SARs protesters. The letter also demands the release of jailed police protesters, the lift on ban to protest and the allowance of an independent human rights monitor to investigate the actions that led to the killings at Lekki Toll Gate. Speaking from Los Angeles on a Zoom conference call, Opal Tometi tells Reuters that; "We care about the issues of police brutality no matter where they're occurring. The violence that people have been met with is intolerable. People are missing and people have died as a consequence of speaking out," Tometi said. "We will not abide it." While we see the value in this open letter issued by Opal Tometi, there are number of issues to address, so please read on. Let's address the elephant in the room There was a protest, it started off peacefully, it later degenerated in violence, looting, destruction of public properties, an assassination attempt, the alleged murder of peaceful protesters at Lekki Toll Gate and the alleged murder of Nigerian police men and military officers. What do we know for certain? Nigerian's have the legal right to protest peacefully, which they did. But a combination of built up emotions, frustration and juvenile deliquency led some parties of holigans to deviate from the original purpose of the protest. They looted, they burnt buildings and destroyed public properties, all of which is a crime and someone has to be held account for this. Was continuous protesting the best course of action to solve a 60 years problem? We cannot speak for every Nigerian but let us analyse this. Historically speaking, this is not the first time protests have happened in Nigeria. One of the most popular ones was the June 12 election annulment protest after the then military ruler Ibrahim Babangida annulled a perfectly legal election. Nigerian security forces ended up killing at least 11 demonstrators but nothing changed and Abiola was never president. There has been more than three coups in Nigeria all in the name of change and yet nothing changed. In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian military government occupied the region and there was no change. Instead an icon Ken Saro Wiwa was executed for a crime he stated he did not commit. We can go on and on but the point here is history has not been favourable to protesters in Nigeria, both during military rule and democratic rule. This could be because of a number of reasons such as a culture of oppression and corruption within Nigeria. What we do know is, out of 200 million people in Nigeria, there are roughly 54 million people unemployed and 1/3 of Nigeria's populaton is below the ages of 30. Unemployment and youth do not go well with protests in any country. Alleged killing during the antiSARs protest Both sides and i mean the government and the protesters have accused each other murder. In terms of evidence, there seems to be an abundance of video and pictures showing that the Nigerian military did shoot at peaceful protesters. On the other hand, we have seen a video of a senior police officer being lynched and killed by what appears to be antiSARs protesters. Again, we cannot confirm anything as deepfaking videos has become quite easy these days. The double edge sword of Nigerian justice If we were to assume for a second that the available video evidence of what happened during the antiSARs protests were all accurate, then the Nigerian government has breached the humanitarian right of the Nigerian people by killing peaceful protesters and they should be held to account by the international community. On the other hand, the protesters that commited crimes such as killing police officers (if the videos are real), burning of public property, looting, stealing and even allegedly breaking prisoners out of prison in Benin City, should be held to account by the Nigerian government and given a fair trial. Where does this leave Opal Tometi's open letter to the Nigerian president? We believe her letter is based on the assumption that the protesters who are imprisoned did nothing but protest peacefully. This is where the problem lies, there were protesters that went about their business peacefully but there were protesters that didn't. We can only summarise that Opal Tometi is telling the government to release all the protesters (both the guilty and innocent ones) and to also prosecute the military officers that killed protesters at Lekki tollgate. It seems hypocritical to ask for justice and yet also ask for protesters who caused destruction to be released. What did we conclude? The military personnel responsible for the deaths of protesters at Lekki tollgate should be brought to justice and given their day in court like any other democratic justice system. The protesters that commited crimes during the antiSARs protest should be held to account and brought to justice also. If Nigeria wants change then there cannot be double standards when dealing with crime. The Nigerian government should allow an independent humanitarian body to investigate the deaths at Lekki tollgate, the protesters that have been arrested and the protesters that have vanished. This is the only way the international community will ever trust Nigeria again. This is a point highlighted by the open letter to the president and we applaud Opal Tometi for this. Black Lives Matter should focus on only humanitarian issues and leave political issues for other movements. BLM is now the cornerstone for protesting against racial injustice against black people. One of the arguements we constantly have in the western world is that BLM is not political nor is taking the knee during an event. It is a humanitarian movement with no political agenda. That doesn't seem to be the case, as the actual organisation called BLM has involved themselves in alot of political issues in the US such as campaigning to reduce police numbers in local communities instead of campaigning to educate them. We conclude by saying: Yes the peaceful protesters should be exonerated and released from jail, yes the military officers responsible for the Lekki tollgate killing should be arrested and given their day in court, but no the protesters who damaged public properties, looted or killed people should remain in jail and be given their day in court also, otherwise it is one sided justice.