The South African National Assembly on Thursday approved an extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), paving way for extradition of suspects in state capture allegations.
All political parties gave their nod to the Extradition Treaty and another treaty on mutual legal assistance on criminal matters.
South Africa and the UAE concluded the treaties in September amid rising concerns over the magnitude of a rising trend in acts of international terrorism and organised crime.
The treaties are designed to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in combating crime, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services said.
The Extradition Treaty will be applied retrospectively with specific reference to the Indian Gupta family accused of collaborating with a number of senior South African government officials in looting from the state coffer, known as state capture, the committee said.
Senior members of the Gupta family reportedly have sought refuge in Dubai, the UAE since fleeing South Africa earlier this year after Parliament called for them to be investigated for allegations of state capture.
With the Extradition Treaty in place, proceedings could begin to bring them to South Africa to face criminal proceedings, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said.
DA Member of Parliament Glynis Breytenbach said he hoped that the Guptas would be held to account for “looting our fiscus and that there will be no place for them to hide.’’
The South African Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services reportedly has received seven or eight requests for mutual legal assistance to other countries from the South African Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation in criminal matters regarding investigations into state capture.
President Biya won disputed elections on 7 October amidst rising unrest in Cameroon
On 6 November, Paul Biya was inaugurated for the seventh time. The 85-year-old has already been in power for the last 36 years and will now serve another seven-year term.
President Biya won disputed elections on 7 October amidst rising unrest in Cameroon. The country is divided into the Francophone area – which makes up four-fifths of territory – and the smaller Anglophone area. In the last two years, the latter region has been in a situation just short of civil war.
Over the decades since unification, the Anglophone regions have been increasingly dominated() and felt resentful. This led to a movement that, in 2016, began by holding strikes and peaceful demonstrations. Activists called for the restoration of the English-speaking education and judicial system.
The government responded with furious repression and shut down any discussions about federalism. This led to a spiralling crisis. Today, the talk is about secession, while the conflict has become bloody. There are now over 300,000 internally displaced persons and more than 40,000 refugees in Nigeria. At least 90 villages have been razed, while over 400 civilians have been killed and thousands more wounded. 40% of Cameroon’s revenue derives from the Anglophone regions, but the local economy has been deeply undermined by the insecurity.
This is the context in which Cameroon’s elections were held last month. In theory, this exercise was an opportunity for citizens to shape the direction of the nation. But the reality is very different.
The body that organises Cameroon’s elections is supposedly autonomous, but all its members are appointed by the president and can be removed at will. All electoral disputes are settled by the Constitutional Council, but all its members are also appointed by the president. The Minister of Territorial Administration, another presidential appointee, handles all other administrative issues connected with elections.
In Cameroon, the voting system is first-past-the-post and uses multiple ballots. Voters are given papers for all the candidates and then cast their vote by putting their favoured nominee into the ballot box. This means they can leave the booth with the papers of the other candidates, allowing vote-buyers the ability to check how people voted. Calls to adopt a single ballot paper system have been ignored.
For presidential hopefuls, getting onto the ballot in the first place is challenging. Nominees must pay around $60,000 to submit their candidacies. They must either be endorsed by a party with at least one elected official or, if running as an independent, produce at least 300 signatures from specific kinds of dignitaries from every region.
In the elections themselves, there are close to 25,000 polling stations. What candidate can field representatives in each of these locations? The official campaign period lasts two weeks and it is illegal to campaign before this period. How can one visit 360 districts in just 14 days? The presidential campaign team, which includes ministers and other dignitaries, travels the country at the expense of the state, meaning the playing field is nowhere near level. Meanwhile, the state media turns into the ruling party’s propaganda machine.
Despite the very high hurdles, however, I decided to run for president. I have spent the last 25 years defending good governance and fighting corruption. In 2000, at a time Cameroon was accused of being the most corrupt country in the world, I founded the national chapter of international anti-corruption NGO Transparency International. Needless to say, this earned me the ire of the establishment. I went on to work for bodies such as the African Development Bank and High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa.
In this time, I watched as my country steadily moved in the wrong direction. And with the worsening situation in the Anglophone regions threatening to pull apart the fabric of our nation, a sense of responsibility weighed on my soul. I knew that I had to put my experience at the service of our citizens and attack the issues at their source – the system.
In the end, though, I withdrew my candidacy and backed Maurice Kamto. There is nowhere in African where the opposition has removed a dictator like Biya without presenting a common front. In Cameroon, the remaining eight candidates held some further meetings, but never met once together as a group. This meant that there was no single opposition candidate. This fact discouraged voters who concluded it was a waste of time.
In the final tally, Biya officially won with 71.28%. Kamto came second with 14.23%. But there were reports of massive fraud. The absence of opposition officials at many polling stations allowed the stuffing of ballot boxes. An incomplete biometric system meant that certain people voted multiple times.
The legal challenge against the election results that followed exposed the Constitutional Council as political institution. This all played out on national television and many citizens, for the first time, witnessed the fraud that cripples our electoral process.
The danger that Cameroon now faces is that its elections’ lack of credibility could lead voters to question the need to participate. And if electoral justice becomes captured by politics and hence incapable of addressing issues raised by the proper, the streets will take over. Since the presidential elections, there have been demonstrations against what has been described as a faulted political process. These demonstrations have been relayed to the Diaspora in Europe and America.
Cameroon needs to design an adequate electoral system. It is essential to make reforms so that the individual controlling the process is not also a player in it. This year, Cameroons saw first-hand the effects of a lopsided system. If the electoral playing field is not evened out then the country risks being stuck in an interminable loop created by a government for the government. Cameroonians will only stand for this so long. Till then, Cameroon remains a state captured by a few oligarchs.
19-year-old Alice Monday gave birth to her first child one Tuesday afternoon in October, when she visited the toilet, thinking it was the usual running stomach she was experiencing, little did Alice know that she was in labour.
Giving out young girls into marriage at the age of 18 and 19 is common in the community and surrounding villages.
Banono community is located in Kufana district of Kajuru Local Government area of Kaduna. It is 20 kilometres from the local government headquarters and approximately 60 kilometres from Kaduna town.
The community has a population of about 3000 inhabitants, 60 percent of which are women of reproductive age.
At her age, Alice had no idea of processes a woman passes through while giving birth.
She never visited a health facility for antenatal care, because none is existed in her close to her village.
None of the women in the community counselled her on what to expect, or educated her on the stages and phases of pregnancy.
The situation Alice found herself in during the delivery process placed her in a state of trauma that took a while to disappear.
“My name is Alice Monday, I am 19 years old and this is my first child.I gave birth behind my house because the hospital is too far.I had stomach pains that is why.One of the problem we pregnant women face here is we do not have a hospital in this community and the nearest one is far.”
Her mother in-law said, she was away from the house attending to other issues when the children rushed and informed her that a new baby has arrived and had to rush back home.
Her husband Monday Ishaya was full of praises to God as he joyfully narrated their experiences.
The situation in Banono could also be compared to Ungwar Aku also in Kajuru Local Government. Both communities suffer similar fate with absence of all essential amenities.
Unlike banono, Unguwar Wahala a near by village of about 10km, who share a similar culture, the people of unguwar Wahala Had decided to make arrangement, where a midwife visits the community once a month to provide health talk to women in the community in some cases the health worker had even provided skill services in some deliveries.
The challenges faced by Banonno and adjoining communities are enormous; they have no health facility, no motorable road, no portable water (located 8 km away), no electricity, everything modern is missing in these communities.
Pregnancy is supposed to be a thing of joy, but the case is not same with Patrick Daniel who said whenever his wife is pregnant, he is always disturbed because of absence of health
19-year-old Alice Monday with her newborn child
facility in the community which deprived his wife the joy of attending antenatal.
He said when the pregnancy of his wife is eight months, she would start taking herbs so as to ensure safe delivery.
And whenever her condition was critical, she will be transported on a motorcycle to the nearest health facility which is 20 kilometres away in Kasuwan Magani.
“ We do not have hospital here in Banono Community.if the labour comes with complications we carry the woman on bike to the hospital in Kasuwan Magani.We would start given them herbs when the pregnancy is eight months and after delivering both the mother and the child are given herbs which helps the child in growing.Because of expenses and lack of transport,we don’t like going to the hospital which is as a result of lack of hospital in our community.Transport fare to the nearest hospital cost me and my wife 1200 naira”.
Most women are attended to by Traditional Birth Attendance (TBAs), who are not able to handle complications whenever the need arises.
A community member said they had lodged several complaints since year 2000, to the then Administration, but their demand is yet to be made.
A visit to the community reveals that the village lack basic amenities.
The Chairperson of Kajuru Local Government, Mrs Felicia Kyomson, said she is not aware of the existence of Banono village, but promised to visit there, to appreciate challenges faced by the people, with a view to helping them.
“My name is Mrs Felicia Khomson chairperson Kajuru Local Government Authority, Ofcourse we would visit the community to find know what there problems are.We would commenced capital projects in most of these remote places.”
In an interview, Director Primary Healthcare, Kaduna State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Iliyasu Neyu, also said he is not aware of the community.
He said, his agency will visit the community, adding that Government is working at all levels to comply with the world health organisation’s standard of providing health facility to citizens at every 5 kilometres radius of a community.
District Head of Kufana, Mr Titus Dauda, who took over leadership in June, promised to visit the area after rainy season to interact with the people for possible intervention.
Mr. Titus said the district has made available tricycle ambulance in every ward to help convey the sick to hospitals, but the tricycles could not access some of the communities due to difficulties of the terrain.
This story is with funding support from Devcoms Network, under its MacArthur Foundation Maternal Health Project
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July
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