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SLPP’s Julius Maada Bio Wins Sierra Leone Presidential Election Pg. 5

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SLPP’s Julius Maada Bio Wins Sierra Leone Presidential Election

Afrikan Post

Bio was the SLPP presidential candidate in the 2012 presidential election, but he received 37% of the votes as he was defeated by the incumbent president Ernest Bai Koroma who won 58% of the votes.

Bio led a military coup in Sierra Leone on January 16, 1996, ousting his close friend and the leader of the NPRC junta government, Captain Valentine Strasser. Bio justified his actions as a means to return Sierra Leone to a democratically elected civilian government and end the Sierra Leone civil war.[2] Bio fulfilled his promise to return Sierra Leone to democracy; and he handed power to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the SLPP following Kabbah's victory in the 1996 presidential election.

In a run off vote Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) won Sierra Leone’s 2018 presidential election, reportedly taking 51.81% of the votes with All People’s Congress (APC) Party contender, Dr. Samura Kamara’s taking 48.19%

Brigadier General (Ret.) Julius Maada Bio, the new president was sworn in at an undisclosed location. Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh is Vice President,

Julius Maada Bio 5th President of Sierra Leone Incumbent Assumed office 4 April 2018 Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh Preceded by Ernest Bai Koroma Head of State of Sierra Leone In office 16 January 1996 – 29 March 1996 Preceded by Valentine Strasser Succeeded by Ahmad Tejan Kabbah as president Personal details Born 12 May 1964 (age 53) Tihun, Bonthe District, Sierra Leone Political party Sierra Leone People's Party Spouse(s) Fatima Jabbie Children 4 Alma mater Benguema Military Training Academy American University; University of Bradford Religion Christianity (Roman Catholicism) Military service Allegiance Sierra Leone Service/branch Sierra Leone Army Years of service 1984–1996 Rank Brigadier Commands Chief of the Defence Staff of the Armed Forces Chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council Battles/wars First Liberian Civil War Sierra Leone Civil War Brigadier (Ret.) Julius Maada Wonie Bio (born May 12, 1964) is a Sierra Leonean politician and the 5th and current president of Sierra Leone since April 4, 2018. Bio was the presidential candidate of the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party. He defeated Samura Kamara of the ruling All People's Congress in the runoff vote of the 2018 Sierra Leone presidential election with 51.8% of the votes to Kamara"s 48.2%.

Bio succeeded Ernest Bai Koroma as president, who was constitutionally ineligible to run for the presidency having served the maximum two five year terms. Bio is a retired Brigadier in the Sierra Leone Military. He was the military Head of State of Sierra Leone from January 16, 1996 to March 29, 1996 under the National Provisional Ruling Council.

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NPRC was as the Secretary of State South, stationed in the country's second capital Bo. He was later moved to Freetown to serve as Secretary of State in charge of Information and Broadcasting. At this point, he was promoted to Captain alongside other junior lieutenants. As a leading member of the coup that kicked out the APC government, Bio served as Supreme Council of State member throughout the NPRC's stay in power and when Strasser's deputy, captain S.A.J. Musa, was sacked and exiled to the UK, Bio was appointed to the position of Deputy Chairman of the NPRC.

On January 16, 1996, Bio led a military coup, ousting Captain Valentine Strasser, following a dispute within the governing Supreme Council of State (SCS) over whether to seek peace with the RUF before multi-party elections, planned for March 1996, or go ahead with the election notwithstanding the ongoing war in the country, and the conAfter graduating from secondary school, Bio applied for admission into Fourah Bay College in Freetown in 1985 at ditions for participation (or disqualification) of junta members in the elections. The coup was backed by many high age 21. However, Bio ultimately enrolled in the Republic ranking NPRC soldiers including Colonel Tom Nyuma, of Sierra Leone Armed Forces military academy at Lieutenant Colonel Komba Mondeh, Lieutenant Colonel Benguema, just outside the capital city of Freetown. He Reginald Glover, Lieutenant Colonel Idriss Kamara, and trained as a cadet officer under the command of Major Fallah Sewa, the head of cadet training at the military acad- Lieutenant Colonel Karefa-Kargbo. Captain Valentine Strasser then the leader of the NPRC and the military Head emy. of State of Sierra Leone was handcuffed at gunpoint by his Bio graduated from the Military academy as a Second own military bodyguards who were supposed to protect him Lieutenant in the Sierra Leone Army in October 1987 at and was immediately flown into exile in a military helicopter age 23. His first post as a commissioned officer was at the to Conakry, in neighboring Guinea.

Lungi Garrison in Port Loko District in 1987. Bio was later posted to Kambia District as part of the Economic After retiring from the military in 1996, Bio moved to the Emergency Unit, created by President Joseph Saidu United States, where he earned a Masters Degree in Momoh to combat smuggling and other crimes along the Guinean border. In 1988, Bio was again re-posted at Lungi International Affairs from American University in Washington, DC. He also served as the president of and trained by United Nations forces in aviation security.

International Systems Science Corporation, a consulting and After the training, Bio was transferred to Benguema as a investment management firm based in the United States platoon commander.

In 1990, the Sierra Leone Government contributed military personnel to the West African Peacekeeping Force, ECOMOG, which was mandated to keep the peace in the Liberian civil war. Bio and several other Sierra Leonean soldiers, including Captain (OF-2)|Captain Valentine Strasser, and Lt Solomon Musa were deployed to Liberia as part of Sierra Leone’s contingent to ECOMOG. At the time, thousands of Liberians were fleeing to Sierra Leone weekly, exposing the country’s fragile security and adding to the economic hardship.

After a year in Liberia as an ECOMOG soldier, the Sierra Leone Government ordered Bio and several members of Sierra Leonean soldiers serving in Liberia to immediately return to Sierra Leone and report to the Military baracks|army barracks in Daru, Kailahun District to populate newly formed 600 man battalion of soldiers set up by President Momoh to repel the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels who had attacked villages on the border between Sierrra Leone and Liberia, in March 1991. The soldiers included future NPRC members Lieutenant Solomon Musa, Captain Valentine Strasser, Lieutenant Sahr Sandy and Lieutenant Tom Nyuma.

Participation in 1992 military coup On April 29, 1992, Bio was one of a group of young Sierra Leonean soldiers including Captain Valentine Strasser, Lieutenant Sahr Sandy, Lieutenant Solomon Musa, Lieutenant Tom Nyuma and Captain Komba Mondeh that toppled president Joseph Saidu Momohs All People's Congress (APC) government in a bloodless military coup.

The young soldiers formed the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) with Strasser as their leader and Head of State of Sierra Leone

Bio's first appointment following the formation of the

Political career Bio officially became a member of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) in 2005. That same year, Bio sought the leadership of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) at its national convention in Makeni on 3 to 4 September 2005; he took third place, with 33 votes, behind Vice President Solomon Berewa, who received 291 votes, and Charles Margai, who won 34 votes. J.B. Dauda polled 28 votes

On the night of 31 July 2011, Julius Maada Bio won the election to become the SLPP's 2012 presidential candidate at the SLPP convention, which was held at the Youyi Building in the heart of Freetown. In the national election, he faced off with President Ernest Bai Koroma of the ruling APC and was defeated, winning 37% of the vote, but established the SLPP as the only viable opposition party in Sierra Leone.

Julius Maada Bio was elected President of Sierra Leone in a run-off election held 31 March 2018. He scored 51.8 percent of the votes according to official results from Sierra Leone's National Elections Commission. He succeeded Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC who had been President since 2007.

Personal life Maada Bio is an ethnic Sherbro and a practicing Roman Catholic Christian. Bio's wife, Fatima Bio is a practicing Muslim and a Gambian national, though she grew up in Kono District in Sierra Leone; and her mother was born in Kono District, Sierra Leone and her father is a Gambian native. Bio and Fatima were married in 2013 in London in an interfaith wedding ceremony that was held in a Church and a Mosque prayer services in London. The couple have one child together that was born in London. Bio has three children, all three born in the United States from a previous marriage.

Source: Wikipedia

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New Patriotic Power (NPP) Delegates Congress in Atlanta, Georgia

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Obaa Yaa Frimpong and Dr. Tina Abrefa Gyan won the two top positions as Chairperson and First Vice respectively in the recent New Patriotic Party (NPP) USA elections held on Friday, March 16th, 2018. Online Voting ended on Friday, March 16 prior to the NPP USA Congress in Atlanta, Georgia.

Obaa Yaa Frempong captured the chairmanship position by a wide margin in the contest with 78 percent of the vote as against 22 percent for Dr. Anthony Adade, a Former Chairman of the Massachusetts branch of the NPP.

Tina Gyan, however, faced a tough competition from Dennis Oppong Kyekyeku and Capt. Ben Agyei-Odame (Rtd), a Nuclear Medicine Technologist. Tina won by 44 percent, she was followed closely by Dennis with 40 percent of the votes with Capt. Odame trailing with 16 percent. In her acceptance speech, Obaa Yaa promised to work hard to build on the existing structures of the party in the USA and implored all the members to join hands with a focus on ensuring brighter fortunes for the party.

Swearing In of New Executives by Sammy Awuku, NPP National Youth Organizer

Dr. Kwasi Ayim Darko NPP Atlanta Chairman and Host

Augustine Agbenaza went unopposed as he held on to his position as General Secretary. North Carolina based Emmanuel Darko won the position of National Treasurer in a hotly contested race by beating Dr. Kwesi Ayim-Darko and Abubakar Abdulai. The National Youth Organizer of the ruling NPP, Sammy Awuku, swore in the newly elected Executives of NPP USA with a charge to uphold and defend the tenets of the party.

Many dignitaries trooped into Atlanta to grace the 2018 NPP USA Congress of which included Mrs. Hawa Koomson - Minister for Special Initiatives, Dr. Fred Kyei Asamoah - CEO of Covet, Hon. Charles Owiredu - Deputy Minister of Foreign affairs, Nana Adjei Yeboah - Student Loans CEO, Hassan Tampuli - CEO of National Petroleum Authority and Agnes Adu - CEO of Ghana Trade Fair Authority. Others were Gabby Otchere Darko - former CEO of the Danquah Institue, Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA) Joe Anokye, Edward Kofi Osei - Director of Tema Ports and the deputy minister of Interior Hon. Henry Quartey.

The Honorable Keynote Speaker of the Congress Mrs. Samira Bawumia, Ghana's Second Lady, assured the gathering that Ghana was moving in the right direction and enumerated series of campaign promises that have been fulfilled within one year of the Akufo-Addo administration. She expressed her profound gratitude to NPP USA for their contributions towards the party by way of financial and human resource development evident in a lot of members relocating to Ghana to take up positions in Government.

She said, “The Government places a significant premium on the contributions and expertise of the Diaspora towards national development. This is reflected in the many hands the President has invited from across the globe to help in the administration.”

Ministers and Dignitaries at the Event

Washington DC Metro Delegates

NPP Communicators

Mrs. Samira Bawumia Receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from Nana Agyei Yeboah, Former NPP USA Chairman on Behalf of Nana Akufo Addo

The Second Lady also said the government has set up a diaspora relations office at the seat of the presidency to serve as a link between the diaspora and government. “This is a landmark achievement on the part of the Government of Ghana which has formalized the engagement of the Ghanaian diaspora for effective migration management and national development planning” she added.

Mrs. Samira Bawumia encouraged the gathering to take advantage of these opportunities and many projects in the offing to help bring and promote investment in Ghana since the Government has created an enabling environment for business to thrive.

The Congress was crowned with a dinner dance and cultural display by various groups and a special performance by legendary master drummer Okyeremah Asante. Frank Adjei-Mensah, a Ghanaian born US-based author presented copies of his latest publication, titled “NURTURING THE AMERICAN DREAM” to the second lady after which a lifetime achievement award was presented by NPP USA to

Obaa Yaa Amponsah frimpong -NPP USA Chairperson Mrs. Samira Bawumia on behalf of Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo.

The 2018 NPP USA Congress happened at the Embassy Suites in Atlanta, Georgia over a period of two days.

April

Newest African Ambassadors Present Letters of Credence at White House

From the Editor

O u r G r ea tes t G lor y is n o t in n ever f a llin g b u t in r is in g ever y time we f a ll .

We ar e committted to b r in gin g th e commu n ity th e bes t in N ews f r om Af r ica a n d th e D ia s p or a . Yo u may als o vis it o u r web s ite a t www. af r ik an pos t. co m f o r d aily n ews u p da tes o n Af r ica.

D is cla imer : Th e o p in ion s ex pr es s ed in ar ticles a n d s to r ies in th is N ews p aper ar e th o s e o f th e a u th o r s a n d do n ot n eces s a r ily r ef lect th e views o f Af r ikan Pos t . All commen ts a n d s u g g es tio n s a r e welco me.

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D E PA R T M E N T S Vol 10 Issue 4 CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

His Excellency Mamadou Haidara, Ambassador of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire

Patience Ozorkor Welcomes 16th Grandchild Pg. 36

3 Ghanaian teenage Girls Get into Harvard, Yale and MIT Pg. 14

South African Airways Appoints Marlene Sanau As New Vice President Of Sales, North America Page 14

When God is Not Enough: The Tragedy of Rachel Pg. 11 Press Release: Joan-De Agbila Releases New Debut Album, “Thanksgiving” (Aseda)!

Pg. 15

UPDATE Why Ashantis and Ivorians Have Common Ancestry Pg. 25

His Excellency Eric Andriamihajamananirina Robson, Ambassador of the Republic of Madagascar AMIP News

On March 28, 2018, two new African Ambassadors presented their Letters of Credence to President Trump at an Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House.

They are:

His Excellency Mamadou Haidara, Ambassador of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire

His Excellency Eric Andriamihajamananirina Robson, Ambassador of the Republic of Madagascar

The presentation of credentials is a traditional ceremony that marks the formal beginning of an Ambassador’s service in Washington

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Dr. Bawumia Visits Silicon Valley

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, left Accra, yesterday, for a fiveday working visit to the high-tech city of Silicon Valley, California, United States of America.

He was accompanied by 15 leaders of Ghanaian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firms, made up of representatives ofthe Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), Hubtel, SoftTribe, DreamOval, GE, IBM, TrotroTractor, EDEL Technology Consulting, Rancord, Nsano, Expresspay, Bluespace, Callens Solution, and Bsystems.

During the visit, the Vice President will hold discussions with Silicon Valley's thought and technology leaders to explore the possibilities of developing strategic insight, decisions and partnerships with the view to helping to enhance the digitisation of the Ghanaian economy to move Ghana beyond aid.

It would be recalled that the Vice President recently visited a number of Ghanaian ICT firms to understand their challenges in order to aid policy formulation.

The visit to Silicon Valley is, therefore, to engage world leaders in ICT in order to exchange ideas and fashion out Ghanaian solutions to Ghanaian challenges.

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Vice President Bawumia is also scheduled to meet with Corporate Executives of cutting edge digital technology organisations, including Microsoft, Facebook, Tesla, and Alphabet, and visit a number of facilities, including the G.E. Digital Centre and the IBM Watson Centre.

He will also meet with the Ghanaian community and brief them on happenings back home.

The Vice President and his team are expected back home Saturday, April 14.

Source: ISD (Rex Mainoo Yeboah)

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Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Former Wife Of South Africa Anti-Aparthied Hero Nelson Mandela Has Died

Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela-Mandela‚ a stalwart in the fight against apartheid‚ has died at the age of 81.

Her PA‚ Zodwa Zwane‚ confirmed the struggle veteran’s death on the afternoon of Monday, April 1, 2018.

“It is with profound sadness that we inform the public that Mrs. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela passed away at the Netcare Milpark Hospital‚ Johannesburg‚ South Africa on Monday April 2‚ 2018.

She died after a long illness‚ for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year. She succumbed peacefully in the early hours of Monday afternoon surrounded by her family and loved ones,” the family said in a statement.

The family will release details of the memorial and funeral services once these have been finalised.

Born in Bizana in the Eastern Cape in 1936‚ she moved to Johannesburg to study social work after matriculating.

Also read: Nelson Mandela; husband of late Winnie Mandela

She met lawyer and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela in 1957 and they were married a year later.

They had two children together.

However‚ her marriage life with Mandela was shortlived‚ as he was arrested in 1963 and sentenced to life imprisonment for treason. Mandela was eventually released in 1990.

During Mandela’s time in prison‚ Winnie MadikizelaMandela was not spared the reach of the apartheid forces.

She was placed under house arrest and at one time banished to Brandfort‚ a town in the Free State.

In 1969‚ Madikizela-Mandela became one of the first detainees under Section 6 of the notorious Terrorism Act of 1967. She was detained for 18 months in solitary confinement in a condemned cell at Pretoria Central Prison before being charged under the Suppression of Communism Act of 1950.

Controversy In 1991‚ she was convicted of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault of Stompie Seipei‚ a young activist who was killed by a member of her bodyguards‚ the

Russia Cancels $20 Billion In Debt Of African Countries April

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Mandela United Football Club.

Madikizela-Mandela’s bodyguards had abducted Seipei‚ 14‚ in 1989‚ along with three other youths‚ from the home of Methodist minister Paul Verryn.

Her six-year jail sentence was reduced to a fine and a two-year suspended sentence on appeal. Her marriage to Mandela began to flounder a few years after his release.

A letter she purportedly wrote to her young lover found its way into the newspapers. “You’re running around f…ing at the slightest emotional excuse‚” she wrote.

“The fact that I haven’t been speaking to Tata [Nelson Mandela] for five months now over you is no longer your concern. I keep telling you the situation is deteriorating at home. You are not bothered because you are satisfying yourself every night with a woman‚” Madikizela-Mandela reportedly wrote.

In his book Odyssey to Freedom‚ veteran advocate George Bizos described how Mandela would not attend legal consultations Bizos had with Madikizela-Mandela during the Seipei trial.

“He drew the line at attending our consultations‚ primarily because these meetings were also attended by the young lawyer … her lover during the latter part of Nelson’s imprisonment and after he was released‚” Bizos wrote in his book.

The couple divorced in 1996‚ 37 years after their marriage.

After the first democratic election in 1994‚ MadikizelaMandela became an MP and was appointed deputy minister of arts and culture. She was fired by Mandela after an unauthorised trip to Ghana. She had been an MP ever since‚ despite limited appearances in Parliament in the past few years.

In 2016‚ she was conferred an Order of Luthuli in Silver during the National Orders Awards ceremony for her excellent contribution to the fight for the liberation of the people of South Africa.

Source: Herald Live/Times Live

President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had canceled the debt of African countries in excess of $ 20 billion.

To help the African continent overcome poverty, Russia has decided to cancel more than $ 20 billion in debt contracted by African countries.

“As part of the initiative to help the poorest and most heavily indebted countries, we have canceled more than $ 20 billion in debt for the benefit of different African countries,” Putin said. Russian media.

The Russian leader announced the initiative following a meeting with Guinean President Alpha Condé Vladimir Putin added that in 2016, Russia had allocated $ 5 million to the African countries through the Organization of African Unity The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

***Via Sputniknews

Source:www.howafrica.com

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Charlottesville-Winneba Foundation to visit Ghana sister city in April 2018

April 2018

Zimbabwe: United States Zdera Senators Arrive in Zimbabwe

By Daniel Nemukuyu Two United States of America senators, Messrs Jeff Flake and Chris Coons - who were involved in the drafting of a recently proposed amendment to the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) - arrived in the country yesterday on a whistle tour during which they will discuss Zimbabwe-US relations before flying back on Sunday.

The delegation landed at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport yesterday afternoon and is expected to meet separately President Mnangagwa, members of civic society and opposition political parties in two days before flying back.

Fifty-six people will travel to Charlottesville’s sister city in Ghana in April. It’s a record number, says trip organizer Dave Norris, president of the Charlottesville-Winneba Foundation based in Virginia in the United States.

“We normally average about eight or 10 or 12 people,” said Norris, who has traveled to the city of Winneba in Ghana five times previously.

A welcome banner from a past CharlottesvilleWinneba Foundation trip to Ghana CBS19’s Courteney Stuart will be traveling with the delegation and reporting on the trip. Her travel is made possible by sponsorship from Virginia National Bank.

Norris says he believes heightened awareness of racial issues and the trip’s theme spurred greater interest.

“We made a decision to focus this trip specifically on doing a deep dive into the history of the transatlantic slave trade and the origins of slavery,” said Norris, noting that the delegation will be led by Charlottesville’s first black female mayor, Nikuyah Walker.

“It’s really connected with people, particularly with what happened in Charlottesville last summer,” he said.

National Education University.

It’s also rich in history that has been painstakingly preserved including slave castles, where captives were held before being loaded onto boats and sent to the New World.

Norris hopes the trip will lead to changes in Charlottesville.

“One of the potential outcomes of this trip is to inspire some action to tell the story of slavery, now that it will be informed by knowledge of the roots of slavery and the origins of the slave trade,” he said.

Anderson says she’s already packed for the trip and has made t-shirts featuring Charlottesville and Winneba that the delegation can wear and share with people they meet on the trip.

She’s counting the days until the April 30, 2018, departure.

“Just the thought that in 35 days I’m going to be standing on African soil, watching the sunrise from Africa, and just being in the very place from where my ancestors originated, that thought has stuck with me and I have had my mind on nothing else,” she said.

The trip is funded privately, and Norris says Fitness instructor and activist Myra Anderson is one money is still being raised to cover 10 scholarof the 56 people going. She says the trip will be ships. Contribute to the Charlottesville“healing” after the trauma of the summer.

Winneba trip fund by visiting www.gofundme.com/Winneba2018 “I’ve read about Africa in books, many, many, many books, but now being afforded the opportunity to get a bigger view, a global view, firsthand experience of some of these historical sites that I’ve Source: Courteney Blum Stuart / CBS19 only read about in books is very exciting,” NEWS Anderson said.

Winneba is a coastal community in Ghana, a country on the west coast of Africa. Like Charlottesville, Norris says, it’s a college town, home to Ghana’s

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US embassy's public diplomacy officer Ms Stacy Lomba confirmed the development, saying the head of delegation, Senator Coons, would address the media this afternoon.

"The delegation is here in Harare to meet the President of Zimbabwe, civic society and opposition political parties," she said.

"Remember, the senators participated in the ZDERA amendment and they will depart on Sunday after meeting all the targeted people."

Senators Coons and Flake and members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee introduced a Bill to lay a framework to try and mend relations between the US and the new Government in Zimbabwe. The senators made numerous demands which they said Zimbabwe should meet before sanctions imposed on the country in 2001 could be removed.

President Mnangagwa advised the senators to first visit Zimbabwe so they could make their comments from an informed point of view.

The US embassy issued a statement yesterday inviting journalists to a media briefing today.

"Senator Chris Coons will address a media

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briefing on Saturday (April 7, 2018) at 2.15pm at Armadale Lodge in Borrowdale," said the embassy.

"You are invited to this event, which will start promptly and ends at 2.45pm. The briefing provides you with an opportunity to understand US's position on the future of the US-Zimbabwe relations."

Last month, the US government proposed what was termed a revised version of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001, with a lot of prescriptive demands similar to those made by the MDC-T and its alliance partners the same month.

President Mnangagwa last month urged the US administration to make informed decisions on Zimbabwe and stop reading only the text of opposition political parties that are afraid of elections.

He said the US should have an appreciation of the situation on the ground to make rational decisions.

Messrs Flake (Republican) and Coons (Democrat) -- who are members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee - recently unveiled a proposed revised version of ZDERA of 2001.

They proposed conditions similar to demands made by the MDC Alliance through its Plan and Environment for A Credible Election (PEACE) document launched by its presidential candidate, Mr Nelson Chamisa, last week.

Zimbabwe Cholera Resurfaces in Harare

When God is Not Enough: The Tragedy of Rachel

April 2018

Dr. Miriam C. Gyimah

As the travel-worn young fugitive neared the end of his journey, escaping from his brother’s wrath, he rested his eyes on a beautiful maiden with whom he could not help but to fall in love. His love for her compelled him to work his body, mind, soul and the rest of his youth to ensure she would become his. After years of backbreaking labor and toil, their wedding day arrived.

When he believed he had won his beautifully veiled bride, he only came to discover that he had been unconscionably deceived. For in the morning, when the sunlight pierced through the shades of their private quarters, it was not the bride of his heart’s desire that laid next to him, rather, the stunned groom set his eyes on her sister’s face. Thus, begins the tragedy of Rachel.

If you are not familiar with the story of Rachel, Jacob and Leah, then it is one worth reading, but it is painful to see how both Laban and God manipulated the lives of the three. Recently, while praying and meditating for a topic, the story of these three came to mind and as I thoughtfully considered and examined their tale and how Leah and Rachel served as co-wives to Jacob, resulting from the deception of their own father, Laban, I began to ache for the sisters, but mostly I felt a deep pain and regret for Rachel because of her end. As I reflected on the story and particularly Rachel’s solution to her problem, I learned that the Lord was giving me a topic where He wanted to caution us about falling into the same trap that led to Rachel’s death.

In the book of Genesis, we learn that because Jacob only loved and desired Rachel, not Leah, and that Leah had been deceptively forced unto Jacob as a wife, the Lord had compassion for Leah and blessed her with children while He shut Rachel’s womb. I suppose it was God’s way of striking a balance of some kind, because He felt for Leah and knew that even if she couldn’t have Jacob’s heart, He could bless her with children where she might feel worthy of him and at least be fulfilled as a mother. It wouldn’t be fair to Leah that Rachel should have the heart, passion and regard of their husband and then also freely bear him children. So Rachel was denied the joys of motherhood and had to suffer a bitter struggle with bareness because of Jacob’s love for her.

Yet, God had mercy on her enough that while He blessed Leah with six sons and a daughter, He eventually blessed Rachel and she bore her sons Joseph and Benjamin before her untimely death.

Quite before her death, The Bible tells us that seeing her sister Leah producing child after child to increase Jacob’s clan, out of jealousy and in desperation, Rachel pleads with Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.”

Gen. 30:1. Later, it is narrated that “God remembered

Rachel and God gave heed to her and opened her womb…so she conceived and bore a son (Joseph) and said, “God has taken away my reproach” Gen. 30: 22-28. But years after when she bore no more children, a desperate Rachel steals her father’s gods before she and her husband move out of her father’s home. This is where Rachel makes her tragic mistake and precipitates her own death. For when Laban accused Jacob of stealing his gods, Jacob, unaware that Rachel had stolen them, prophetically asserts that “the one with whom you find your gods shall not live…” Gen. 31:32. Although Laban searched throughout Jacob’s possessions, Rachel successfully conceals the gods. But she does not escape the repercussion. Rachel later conceived Benjamin and while she was in labor, she suffered terribly and died. The desperate yearning for which Rachel stole her father’s gods tragically and ironically leads her to this end.

Why am I talking about Rachel and how relevant is her calamity to us? I am recounting the story, because too many of us are like Rachel. Like Rachel, although loved and preferred, we unwisely cause ourselves unnecessary pain and heartache. Even if it was no fault of her own that she had to contend with her sister for her husband and that she couldn’t freely bear children, the responsibility of stealing and possessing her father’s gods rests with her. The truth is that time and again, as children of God, we will undergo experiences that will not only test our faith in God, but also call to question our character. Our response to these life events will confirm how committed we are to our relationship with God and how spiritually mature and strong we are. It will also shed light on the underlining truth of our priorities and motivations for serving God. By taking her father’s gods, Rachel steps out of her relationship with God and injects into her life a force that only quickened her end. Again, by stealing her father’s gods well after God had answered her prayers and blessed her with Joseph, Rachel in effect communicates that God is not enough for her and that her burdens and yearnings are too great. She needed something a little more than what God had provided.

Rachel’s decision to possess something extra is consistent with many Christian’s behavioral practices today. While we may attend church week after week, hear the word of God and see His miraculous hand in our lives and the lives of our loved ones, somehow, many of us tend to grab onto something else that may not have the virtue of God in it at all. More and more, it seems that the God that we know is no longer enough. So we run around from place to place, church to church, crusade to crusade, following all sorts of prophets, spiritual leaders and movements, never finding a resting place.

For like Rachel, we are restless, searching for something a little extra, something that we can grasp. Sometimes we find it and other times we are left tired and discouraged, because our trust in the prophets and leaders did not amount to anything.

All the rushing here and there, all the financial and emotional expenditures and investments in something beyond us have left us still empty or worse off. In the mean time, we may continue to attend our regular place of worship, but we are left unmotivated and disillusioned about the power of God. It begs the question: what do we think has happened to the power of God? O, I know. We have been made to believe it is in a handkerchief, no a bottle of oil, or was it salt? No, that was yesterday, but today I think we are going with pepper or is it some kind of water? We have become like chaff and go wherever the wind blows. Sadly, we are looking for God’s power everywhere but in the word of God itself. We are too busy and distracted running around trying to get a hold of some semblance of God’s power that we have neglected the truth and power of God’s word. We have disconnected it from

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our spiritual consciousness that “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” John 1:1. We have forgotten that the power we seek is in God Himself and by simply believing in Him, we have direct access to that power.

But instead of accessing the power via the Word, our easy fix has become every effort under the sun, but the simple act of opening the word of God and attending good ole Bible studies to learn and be taught. No, that is too hard, or is it too practical?

Furthermore, it appears we are unable to pray for ourselves anymore even as Rachel once prayed for herself and the Lord mercifully answered her prayers. Is the omnipresent God suddenly only manifesting His powers at hyped meetings? Do we truly know the spiritual sources of those meetings and their leaders?

We must be careful not to end like Rachel.

When God called Moses out of hiding to return to Egypt for the work of his life, He did something significant. This was before the recording of any biblical law. The Lord took the simple staff that Moses used in his daily labor to manifest signs and miracles.

By so doing, God’s intention was to have Moses demonstrate His miracle working power to all who would come to believe. The staff or rod is a symbolic representation of God’s word. It was a sign that God was with Moses. It was there to remind him that he was not alone and that whatever challenge he encountered could be overcome as long as he remembered God and utilized the staff according to God’s guidance. Exodus 4:20 tells us, “so Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.”

During points of his mission of freeing the Israelites, Moses used the staff to perform miracles to his and the Israelites’ benefit. When the Lord first encountered Moses holding the staff, He asked Moses, “what do you have in your hand?” I ask the same question: what do you have in your hand?

Today, we have more than a symbolic representation of God’s word. In fact, we have God’s word in our hands. We have been granted all the power that we would ever need in His word. We have been given the name Jesus and because this Jesus, God incarnate, has come to die as the last sacrificial offering for man’s sins, we can plead his blood. Thus, if we have His name, His blood and His promises of riches, peace and life eternal, what else could we need?

I ask again, what do you hold in your hand? Do you hold the word of God in your hand, heart, spirit and mind or has something else gotten a hold of you?

Like Rachel, it is what you have attached yourself to that will determine your outcome. Do we opt for the victory and legacy of Moses or the painful repercussions suffered by Rachel?

Jazz Guitarist Nathan Pryce drops single ‘Goodnight’ as a teaser to ‘Dreams’ album

Alexander Adu Kankam, A Teacher talks about his journey to raise fund for Stem Cell Therapy April 2018

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MY JOURNEY (RAISING FUNDS FOR STEM CELL THERAPY

On August 29, 2017, TheAfricanDream.net published a story about US-Based Jazz guitarist, business owner, and technology specialist Nathan Pryce teaming up with musician friends in Ghana to record a musical eulogy in honor of the memory of legendary Ghanaian Highlife musician Paapa Yankson.

When Mr. Pryce was asked at the time whether this was a sign of more to come from him, he responded, “I love music, especially Smooth Jazz and Highlife and I play it leisurely, but this tribute song ‘Tena Me Nkyen’ is particularly very dear to me and those I performed it with and for now I would like to leave things there in honor of my late friend Paapa Yankson.”

Well, in the first quarter of 2018 this writer discovered that Nathan did not leave things there…

Mr. Pryce has produced an album of a unique blend of sounds mixing smooth jazz with highlife rhythms resulting in a thrill to the well-tuned musical ear. The jazz enthusiast described the yet-to-be-released album as an afro jazz collection.

TheAfricanDream.net was offered an exclusive listening privilege to some of the tracks on the upcoming debut album and we are certain it will produce a new genre of songs.

Mr. Pryce is imressive at blending Earl Klugh style smooth Jazz sounds with Ghanaian highlife.

All songs on the album were composed and arranged by Nathan Pryce himself with help from renowned instrumentalist and flutist Dela Botri who played flute on the album.

Sammy Awuku was on guitar and David Aidoo on the bass.

We are excited to bring you an exclusive single track called ‘Goodnight‘ from the album titled. According to Mr. Pryce who is planning to release a 6-song CD sometime this year, ‘Goodnight‘ is one of the songs on the album to be titled ‘Dreams‘.

“The song is inspired by the search for peace and tranquil in a turbulent life. It is intended to soothe a troubled heart and further calm a relaxed mind while inviting nature into your imagination through the guitar strings and other acoustics,” explained Mr. Pryce.

Click the link below to listen to or download ‘Goodnight’, the first of many songs and prepare for the upcoming ‘Dreams’ album. This work is 2 decades in the making by Nathan Pryce and now a dream come true: https://audiomack.com/song/theafricandreamllc/nathan-pryce-goodnight-2018 Written by Oral Ofori

My name is Alexander Adu Kankam, a former student of SUHUM SECONDARY TECHNICAL SCHOOL (SUTESCO/ABENFO) and PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, AKROPONG. I am a teacher but I am unable to go to work due to a spinal cord injury I sustained in 2016 which has left me paralyzed waist down. It all happened at dawn on 3rd February, 2016 at the Suhum roundabout (over-head): I was on my way to board a car to Afram Plains (where I teach) with a friend.

On our way, we saw a trailer trying to overtake a VIP bus under the over-head. Due to the narrowness of the road, the trailer skidded from the main road to the pedestrain walkway, running into my friend and I. All I could remember from that point was me lying in the middle of the road calling for help. I later found out that my friend died.

I was then taken from Suhum Gov’t Hospital to Koforidua St. Joseph Hospital and later referred to 37 Military Hospital. At 37, I was supposed to undergo two main surgeries;

• On my right leg ( ie Open Distal 3rd Tibial and fibula fracture) • To decompress my spinal cord ( ie paraplegia with T11/12 cord compression from T12 burst fracture)

The first surgery on my right leg was successful but the second surgery was complicated because of bed sore on my back and even around the region where the surgery was supposed to be done. After five months at 37, I was then discharged home to come and treat the wounds and report back when they are healed.

After a year of treating the wounds, we went back to 37 Military Hospital only to be told that “I should accept that this is how I would be “ because the surgery on my spinal cord was supposed to help me sit but since I can now sit without the surgery then there won’t be any surgery for me again.

After our visit to 37 we have tried everything: herbal, physical therapy and spiritual means but there has not been any improvement. My injury has made me lose control of my urine, bowel movement (toilet) and have to battle severe pains, tingling and burning sensations which give me sleepless nights since February 2016 .

I even sometimes have to use my hands to pull out my faeces after days of not passing out. It has also caused me and my parents to spend all we have and through all this, I lost my mom last year to cervical cancer.

Few weeks after the visit to 37, I saw a video on facebook by Baffour Awuah Tabury who is in a similar situation seeking for help to raise funds to go for a stem cell therapy in Mumbai – India which can help improve his situation. So I called him and asked him about the hospital and how to get in touch with the doctors.

I contacted the doctors and after accessing my documents they said I would need $18 000.00 for the stem cell therapy to help me walk again I am therefore appealing to everyone to help me raise this amount to go for the treatment . Please nothing is too small. Anyone can call me on +233246862202/ +233505879028. Go to;https://www.gofundme.com/please-helpkankam-walk-again

April 2018

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Odomankoma Nana

Tune in to Highlife Radio Every Saturday at 4pm for a Special Program by Odomankoma Nana .

Veteran Radio Presenter and Master of Ceremonies.

To Book the Eloquent Odomankoma to be your MC at any event call 703 725 6968

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April 2018

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South African Airways Appoints Marlene Sanau As New Vice President Of Sales, North America

Fort Lauderdale, FL (April 13, 2018) – South African Airways (SAA), Africa’s most awarded airline, has announced the appointment of Marlene Sanau as the new vice president of sales, North America, based at the airline’s North America Regional Office in Fort

Lauderdale. In this role, she will be responsible for implementing sales strategies to strengthen and grow business relationships with SAA’s travel trade partners, online travel agency distribution channels, corporate customers, and key tourism industry organizations. She will also oversee SAA’s team of sales development directors located throughout North America, along with the Business Development and Inside Sales Departments in Fort Lauderdale. Marlene joins the South African Airwaysleadership team in North America with an extensive international airline background having spent over 25 years with Lufthansa German Airlines serving in several sales and operational management positions in the U.S., Germany, Australia, and South Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Central Michigan University. “We are delighted to have Marlene join South African Airways and lead our sales team with her in-depth knowledge of the airline industry and revenue development strategies,” said Todd Neuman, executive vice president – North America for South

17-Year-Old Malachi Jones To Receive Prestigious Literary Honor As part of the award, Jones will receive a $10,000 scholarship. His project was chosen out of 346,000 works of art and writing that were submitted. Jones was one of 16 high school students to be recognized this year. “I remember a loud silence when I received the phone call,” he told the news outlet. “I felt like a siren was going off inside my head, but I was speechless. I had been submitting work to Scholastic since 7th grade, so it is insane to me to think an audience outside my family and peers want to read and appreciate my work.”

A Black teen from Charleston will join a list of literary giants who have received one of the highest regarded recognitions from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.

Malachi Jones, 17, will be the recipient of the 2018 Gold Medal Portfolio as part of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the news outlet writes. Jones—a Columbia University-bound high school senior—submitted a body of work that was centered on the current state of race in America. The inspiration behind the collection of his poems and essays is derived from his own experiences of coming of age as a young Black man.

The awards ceremony will take place at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 7 and his work will be displayed as part of the Art.Write.Now.2018 National Exhibition the same month. Jones is excited that a larger audience will get to read his work. “Having my work displayed there will be serious affirmation of my work. It is amazing to think my ability to write has led to being recognized in this way, and that my work will be seen by so many people,” he said.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards was created in 1923 and notable authors like Stephen King and Truman Capote have been honored.

Source: howafrica.com

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3 Ghanaian teenage Girls Get into Harvard, Yale and MIT

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With highly competitive admit rates of 4.59% for Harvard, 6.3% for Yale and 6.9% for MIT, young Katia Maame Dufie Osei and Afia Sarpong Frimpong (both of Wesley Girls’ High School) and Isabelle Quaye (Ghana International School) managed to find their way through thousands of applicants worldwide.

What all these girls have in common is that they scored higher than 99 percent of all test takers on the SAT in the world.

Harvard University, since its inception in 1636 recorded the lowest admit rate this year.

17- year old Katia Osei has been admitted together with 1,961 students out of 42,749 applicants.

Her outstanding performance in her SAT, WASSCE and numerous excellence awards in high school placed her as one of the few Ghanaian female students to be admitted to Harvard University over the past decade on full scholarship.

Additionally, she was admitted to two other Ivy League schools – Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania.

With over 35,306 applicants, Afia Sarpong has been counted among the 2,229 students who were admitted into Yale University also with full scholarship this year.

Afia also made a tremendous achievement in both her SAT, WASSCE and other high school academic records to be admitted into Amherst College as well.

Wesley Girls’ High School, Cape Coast, can boast of a place in the Harvard and Yale Class entering in August 2018.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is well known for its unrivalled engineering and technology training in the US. Isabelle Quaye, having a compelling record of accomplishment in her high school, national and international platforms, pulled it off among the few to secure her position in the most competitive US engineering colleges: MIT and California Institute of Technology.

She also made it to Princeton University, which is among the eight Ivy-league schools.

With the help of AFEX Test Prep an educational enrichment agency located at East Legon, Accra, with branches in Takoradi and Kumasi these young girls were adequately prepared to excel in their college preparations and they indefatigably made Ghana proud.

Some 34 other Ghanaian students also received full scholarships to prestigious USA universities through the assistance of AFEX Test Prep. The estimated scholarship amount is about $16.2 million over four years.

“Congratulations! I am delighted to inform you that you have been admitted into. . were words that flooded decision letters of these high school graduates who are ready to fly to the US for higher education.

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By: citinewsroom.com/Ghana

Afrikan

Press Release: Joan-De Agbila Releases New Debut Album, “Thanksgiving” (Aseda)!

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It’s not often that an artist emerges with the combination of a supreme voice, a masterful musical ability, and a spirit-filled ‘grace’ that calls out to one’s soul. Princess Mariam Joan-De Agbila is a rare gem, and she is about to take on the world with her debut release titled “Thanksgiving”, a Holy Spirit inspired album written from the depth of her soul and filled with power and anointing.

Born in Accra, Ghana and raised in Montreal, Canada, singer/song writer/ poet/drummer and author, Joan-De as she is affectionately known, started singing at an early age. Her passion for music continued in college, where she sang and worked on a charitable collaborative single to support a grieving family that had lost their mother to cancer. Singing for the Lord brings her joy and fulfilment. She was a member of the celebrated Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir and excelled under the leadership of founder and then-director, Trevor W. Payne, until her relocation to the United States.

In the States, Joan-De’s music ministry has continued to flourish at Kingslight Chapel International in Woodbridge, VA, under the leadership of her pastors and renowned authors, Apostle Dr. Daniel Armah and Rev. Barbara Armah.

Her debut album will be launched at the church premises, at 14348 Jefferson Davis Hway, Woodbridge VA 22191, (Next door to Woodbridge International African Store and right behind the Popeyes off Route One, Former TODOS PLAZA) on June 30th, 2018 at 6pm.

Joan-De is a mother of three wonderful children and wife to her loving husband Emmanuel, who has been so supportive of her ministry. In addition to her debut album, Joan-De is also working on releasing a motivational, inspirational and devotional book entitled, “Food for the Soul.” While the world waits for the book, they can marinate in her spiritfilled album. Thanksgiving was recorded and mixed by Rev. Emmanuel Nixon of True Way Studios. Visit Joan-De’s website to learn more about upcoming events, performances and so much more.

The album will be available on ALL major digital platforms and will also be sold in stores such as African Supermarkets in the DMV metro area.

Website: https//www.mj-dea.org Email: princessmjde@gmail.com.

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Commonwealth Games 2018: Standard Chartered Bank Launches Botswana’s Isaac Makwala Wins Its First African Digital Bank In Côte Men’s 400m Gold d’Ivoire Afrikan

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Botswana won their first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games as Isaac Makwala won the men’s 400m with compatriot Baboloki Thebe claiming silver.

Isaac Makwala led home a Botswana quinella in winning the Commonwealth Games men’s 400m final at Carrara Stadium on Tuesday.

Makwala, the pre-race favourite, won the gold medal in a time of 44.55 seconds, with countryman Baboloki Thebe second in a time of 45.09sec. Javon Francis, of Jamaica, was third in 45.11sec.

Makwala’s race was all but won with 50m still to go, and the Batswana said he had been confident of ensuring victory: “I came here ready for the gold medal.

“I was training hard for this and you can see from my heat and the final I was just relaxing.

“I knew that if I reached 300 metres first, those guys couldn’t manage me.”

The gold medalist celebrated with 10 push ups, as is his custom, and said of his habit: “I just want to show that Makwala is still there, that I still have the power to go.”

When asked if he would attempt both the 200m and 400m at next year’s world championships in Qatar, he added: “If my fitness level is good I will go for the double.”

https://howafrica.com

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Standard Chartered Bank has announced the official launch of its digital bank in Côte d’Ivoire. This marks the Bank’s first digital bank in Africa and the first-of-its-kind to open in Côte d’Ivoire.

Mr. Bruno Nabagné KONE, Minister of Information technologies and communication of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, was the guest of honour at the official launch event.

The event was attended by dignitaries, business leaders, clients and senior management, as well as sporting legend and Ivorian icon, Didier Drogba. As the Bank’s Digital Ambassador, Drogba shared his experience on the ease of opening an account using his mobile phone. He is the first person in Côte d’Ivoire to open a digital account at the Bank.

Commenting on the launch, Sunil Kaushal, Regional CEO, Africa and Middle East said: “We are pleased to launch our first digital bank in Africa with the support of the Government of Côte d’Ivoire. This is a key milestone on our digital journey as a Bank and underlines our commitment to investing and growing in the market. We have been steadily investing in expanding our footprint in Africa over the years, and this will continue to be a priority moving forward. Digitising Africa remains at the heart of our business strategy for the region, and we look to implement our Côte d’Ivoire model across other markets in the coming months.”

Commenting on the launch, Jaydeep Gupta, Regional Head of Retail Banking, Africa & Middle East, said: “Our new digital bank was developed with our clients in mind. We have taken into consideration the feedback received by our clients at each stage of the design process and have incorporated innovative technology to allow them to execute all banking activities from a mobile device. This includes 70 banking services through the app.”

“In addition, for the first time, the client onboarding journey has been digitised and in under 15 minutes a client can open a new account through the app. What has also been introduced is the ability for clients to track and trace a request submitted, which is a first for Standard Chartered. This is something we are very proud of.”

Isaac Foly, Chief Executive Officer, Côte d’Ivoire, said: “I’m pleased to have launched the Bank’s first digital retail bank in Côte d’Ivoire and proud to see the progress the country has made over the past decade. We have seen how digital transformation has contributed to economic development and will continue to do so, in line with the country’s National Development Plan. Our partnership with Didier Drogba has helped raise awareness, not only for our digital offering, but for enhancing financial literacy and improving accessibility to financial services across Côte d’Ivoire. Promoting the social and economic wellbeing of communities is a key component of our strategy to support sustainable development and our digital bank is certainly another step in the right direction.”

The bank’s digital services are available by downloading the Standard Chartered mobile application. New clients can execute all of their banking activities right from their mobile devices, starting by opening their bank account in less than 15 minutes. They can also provide all verification documents by uploading to the application and fully complete their onboarding process within minutes.

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April 2018

Sale !!!!!

Wigs and Selected Weave

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Top 10 Humorous Questions Africans Get Asked in Foreign Countries Couple of months ago, Nigerian award winning novelist Chimamanda Adichie faced a similar ordeal. She was asked by a French journalist whether “there are libraries in Nigeria”. Adichie responded, “I think it reflects very poorly on French people that you have to ask me that question.”

The journalist tried to explain herself, arguing, “We speak very little about Nigeria in France, certainly not enough, and when we do it’s about Boko Haram and the problems of violence and security. I would like to take advantage of your presence for us to talk about other things and things that we don’t know about your country.”

It is clear that despite access to information via the internet, alongside the growing opportunity to travel to the continent, there is still widespread misinformation about Africa. The misconceptions are then made apparent through the questions people around the world ask Africans. Below is a short list of the ridiculous ones and why.

10. Are you from Africa?

Finally, yes, we are from Africa. But, Africa is not a country.

9. When did you move here?

This one is less ridiculous but worth mentioning nonetheless. There are a growing number of Africans born outside of the continent and many hold onto their African identity even if they were born elsewhere. It is worth being mindful about the assumption that all Africans are born in Africa.

8. Why are you here?

This question can be insensitive if not asked with the proper context. Africans, like everyone else, have a right to immigrate and travel the world. An African may want to share the reasons for their travel, or may not. Either is okay.

7. Do you have a pet monkey?

Like the lion question, many contemporary Africans hardly encounter monkeys, let alone have them as pets.

Many monkeys live in the mountains and rainforests in Africa, and Africans too encounter them only in reserves and zoos.

6. You don’t look African. Are you mixed with anything?

Because of the media’s representation of Africans as “dark skin with kinky hair”, many around the world believe that there is only one way to look African.

Scientists have however officially declared Africa as the most genetically diverse region in the world.

Hence, there is no way all Africans can look alike.

Nigerian Brides Sit Exams In Wedding Gowns April 2018

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5. “What is Africa like?”

Africa is the second largest continent by land mass and population. The continent is home to 54 countries. It is impossible for one person to speak on Africa objectively. When an African speaks on Africa then, it may be in the spirit of PanAfricanism.

4. Wow, you speak English so well. Where did you learn it?

English is the official language in more than a dozen African countries. These countries were former British colonies and English is taught in school, and spoken at school, work, and home.

3. Do you speak African?

With over 2,000 languages, no one person, however linguistically astute they are, can speak African. In Nigeria alone, there are over 500 languages spoken.

2. Do you have a lion as a pet?

Although the big cats only exist in Asia and Africa, they do not roam the continent like they once did. In fact, many Africans have and will never see a lion in their life. The kings of the jungles are also endangered as poachers, cities, and the environment impede on their habitats in Africa.

1. Do you have libraries/ internet/ phones/ roads/ cars/ post/ shops/ schools/ money in Africa?

Africa has everything other continents around the world have, and definitely many of the above. A look through our platform makes this evident.

Although access to resources and tools may not be available to all everywhere, many people enjoy the benefits of contemporary life.

Four African countries also have satellites in space, and Africa may be leading the world in some areas, including adoption and use of new technologies such as drones.

Getting married and sitting university exams are pretty stressful events in anyone's calendar, so imagine the problem you face when you find they're both scheduled for the same day.

Students Dorcas Atsea and Deborah Atoh decided their only choice was to tackle things head-on when they found their final exam had been rescheduled for the day they were both due to say, "I do".

The women, who both study Mass Communications at Nigeria's Benue State University, had picked their wedding date in advance, thinking all their college work would be over.

But then they found their final year Media Ethics and Law exam had been moved from its original date in February and rescheduled for the day that they planned their nuptials.

Neither the weddings nor the exam dates could be rearranged, so Dorcas and Deborah exchanged vows with their respective partners in the morning, sat their exams at midday in their bridal finery and then went on to their receptions.

Pictures of the two brides sitting their exams in their wedding attire have been celebrated by social media users.

Gertrude Akhimien was delighted that the women were showing that education is a top priority.

Deborah Atoh told BBC News that she wasn't happy at first when she found out that her exam and her wedding fell on the same day but she then had a change of heart.

"I discovered it was a thing of joy because I would be getting these two important certificates on the same day," she said.

She continued: "My fellow students were so excited when we entered in the exam hall and they took a lot of pictures.

"When I finished my exam, I was singing joyful songs on the way to the wedding reception and when I got there I did a lot of dancing."

Amaka Ihegazie also tweeted her admiration for the women and said women shouldn't have to compromise on what they want. www.bbcnews.com

Meet Marlene Adanlote-Djondo, the Togolese Who Wants to Revolutionize the Wax

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“An inheritance, when we take it, we do not sit on it. It is developed and made to bear fruit. These words are from Togolese Marlene Adanlete-Djondo, 38 years old.

In an interview with a pan-African weekly, she dwelt on her vision of the current market for Wax, the “African fabric”.

With the passion that characterizes her, the young woman decides on the state of play of a sector that is said to be in decline. Between strong competition in the market, globalization and counterfeiting, there is no question for the lawyer training to bathe in nostalgia for “Nana Benz” Togo.

July 2008. After obtaining a Master’s degree in Social Law in France, Marlène Adanlété-Djondo sets her bags in Lomé, from Paris. Two years later, she decided to join Glory of God, the family business. The company specializes in the sale and import-export of loincloths.

Since then, this little girl from “Nana Benz” is the commercial director of the structure. From 2013, she polishes the marketing of a branded loincloth. Three years later, Wina Wax will be born .

She says she has taken her time studying the market to adapt to the new demand and tastes of the new generation of consumers. “We thought about all the issues that affect new users of the loincloth,” she tells the weekly.

Wina Wax does not want to be a brand of loincloth like the others. She wants to stand out. “We chose to work by collection, renew every two years with about fifteen drawings. None of our designs are included in the following collection. We are working on the design of original designs and prints with a local designer team, “she says. The brand is stamped semi-luxury.

“Before the creation of Wina Wax, our clientele was mainly based in the sub-region (Ivory Coast, Benin, Ghana, Burkina Faso). Our strategy today is to go where people do not expect us. Where there is a strong concentration of wax product offerings, “she enthuses.

When asked the question of the crisis that hit the full flea market of the loincloth, it ignites. “To those who no longer believe in the trade of the loincloth, it is after Nana Benz that interests me.

There is always a future in the loincloth because people will always wear it. After Nana Benz is not to lock yourself in the textile. The big challenge is to adapt, “she says.

Source: https://howafrica.com

African-British Boxer, Anthony Joshua is $20m Richer After Defeating Joseph Parker April 2018

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British-Nigerian heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua is expected to earn between £18million and £20million, after beating New Zealand’s Joseph Parker in the unification fight in Cardiff on Saturday night.

This new paycheck will take Joshua’s gross earnings from three fights to £50 million, according to reports. Joshua will even take home more money if he faces the undefeated WBC heavyweight champion America’s Deontay Wilder, who recently produced a tenthround stoppage to beat Joe Ortiz.

The mouth watering fight is being scheduled for the last quarter of the year, according to Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn.

He wins! Anthony Joshua beats Joseph Parker by unanimous decision in heavyweight clash (Photos:

The size of Joshua’s paycheck was determined by two factors, his being the home fighter and his being the headline name on the card. Parker is expected to earn £13million, far more than the £1million pocketed by Joshua’s previous opponent, the Cameroonian Carlos Takam. Joshua then pocketed £15million.

Their earnings form a proportion of the revenue from pay-per-view TV sales and sponsorship deals with the bout being shown live on Sky Sports Box Office. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn recently revealed a world unification bout was provisionally pencilled in for November or December 2018.

“The fight with Anthony Joshua is unquestionably the biggest fight in world boxing and anyone that knows me knows how much I would love to stage a fight like that. “The options are that we go in August in America against someone and then Deontay Wilder, or straight into Wilder. But if we do Wilder it will probably be October, November, December.”

Kenya Launches First Space Satellite, Meet the Only Black Female Bank Owner in the United States To Help Observe Farming Trends

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Kenya has launched its first space satellite which will be used to observe farming trends.

It was launched from an International Space Station in Florida, United States on April 2.

The satellite was developed by the University of Nairobi in collaboration with the University of Rome.

“This is a milestone in Kenya’s exploration into space,” Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma said.

University of Nairobi (UoN) and University of Rome on Monday launched a satellite into the International Space Station in Florida marking the first Kenyan space exploration. It is also a major win for UoN.

The Cube Satellite was developed by a team from the two universities with Foreign Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma celebrating Kenya’s involvement.

Juma termed the launch as a “milestone in Kenya’s exploration into space.”

The selected team from both institutions was first announced during the TICAD VI, as a beneficially of the first round of the KiboCUBE Programme.

KiboCUBE is an initiative that offers educational and research institutions from developing countries, the opportunity to deploy cube satellites (CubeSats) from the Japanese Kibo module of the International Space Station (ISS).

DEPLOYMENT

The Kenyan Cube Satellite developed under the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which is Japan’s National Aero-space agency programme was delivered to JAXA on January 16, 2018 in preparation for its deployment into space.

A team from the University of Nairobi, handed over to JAXA the Satellite it had developed known as “First Kenya University Nano Satellite-Precursor Flight” (1KUNS-PF) at the JAXA Tsukuba Space Centre.

“Kenya is very proud to be associated and involved through TICAD VI in the development of the Satellite. we hope this is only a beginning of many collaborations and initiatives for Kenya under the KiboCUBE programme,” CS Monica Said.

The deployment of the satellite into space will take place in late May, 2018.

Being one of the first people in any field is harrowing, let alone the only person. It’s not a surprise, then, there’s Kiko Davis, the only Black woman in the country to own her own bank. Rolling Out recently sat down with her to talk about how she managed to break into such a rare position.

Kiko Davis is the trustee of the Donald Davis Living Trust, the majority stockholder of First Independence Bank, the 10th largest African-American owned bank in the United States, as well as founder and president of the Don Davis Legacy Foundation, established in 2016 to perpetuate the legacy building efforts and initiatives envisioned and developed by her late husband, Donald Davis. But how does courage factor into all this?

She gives her explanation: “Courage is my superpower. I have the ability to take fear and use it as a tool to conquer adversity and challenges, no matter how insurmountable they may seem. The more substantial the obstacle, the stronger I become.” With hardship, though, comes unique benefits, and Davis says being a Black woman has informed her experience at First Independence Bank in unique ways. “The ability to genuinely connect with people and inspire a culture of synergy. It’s a God given talent that comes naturally. People tend to lend the very best of themselves when they feel leaders are passionate about them and their environment.”

Like many other successes, Davis learns from and models herself after great success stories of the past. For her, one such figure is Shirley Chisholm. “She was the first Black congresswoman and the first major party Black candidate to run for president in 1972. I want to thank her for being fearless. She faced intense racism, bigotry, misogyny and even several assassination attempts, all for the platform of equality, education and justice. One of my favorite quotes by Chisolm is, “In the end, anti-Black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing: anti-humanism,” she says.

In time, she hopes to mentor other Black women to get similar results. “I believe in the old adage: “To whom much is given, much is required.” I believe giving back is the rent you pay for occupying a seat at the table of success. Just like an apartment, if you don’t pay your rent, you can be evicted. More than being the right thing to do, it empowers you. Helping others reach their full potential adds more to your life than anyone could ever take away. Everyone needs a good mentor or teacher to guide them on their journey to greatness. Plus, it just down-right feels good,” she explains.

Afrikan

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Top 10 African Countries With Highest Number of Citizens Deported From the U.S.

As He Leaves For Senegal Bio Makes History

April 2018 Page

President Donald Trump has made clear his stance to deport all undocumented immigrants from the United States and Africans have suffered the most since he assumed office.

A year after Trump took office, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported a drop in the total number of deportations from 240,255 in 2016 to 226,119 in 2017. However, it is a different story for African immigrants.

The number of Africans sent back home has more than doubled from the previous year. Among the top 10 African countries on ICE’s list, deportations were as high as 140%. 756 people from these countries were deported in 2016 and the number jumped to 1815 people in 2017.

The top African country is the 13th on the ICE global list of removals by country or citizenship. The top country globally is Mexico followed by Guatemala and Honduras.

These are the top 10 African countries with the highest number of citizens deported from the United States.

Somalia Somalia had most of its citizens – among other African countries – kicked out of the United States. It is also the 13th on the ICE list of removals by country.

198 Somalis were deported in 2016 and the number more than doubled in 2017 with 521 people.

Nigeria 242 Nigerians were deported in 2016 and the number increased to 312 in 2017.

Ghana 94 Ghanaians were deported in 2016 and the number increased to 305 in 2017.

Senegal 21 Senegalese were deported in 2016 and the number increased to 197 in 2017.

Liberia 27 Liberians were deported in 2016 and the number increased to 107 in 2017.

Kenya 63 Kenyans were deported in 2016 and the number increased to 103 in 2017.

Guinea 16 Guineans were deported in 2016 and the number increased to 88 in 2017.

Morocco 22 Moroccans were deported in 2016 and the number increased to 67 in 2017.

Cameroon 29 Cameroonians were deported in 2016 and the number increased to 58 in 2017.

Egypt

44 Egyptians were deported in 2016 and the number increased to 57 in 2017.

In what appears to be the first step in the right direction by curtailing the huge expenditure of previous governments, the newly elected president of the Republic of Sierra Leone, His Excellency Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio has made history by being the first president to travel with the smallest delegation ever on an official travel.

He is leaving Sierra Leone on an official invitation from the president of Senegal with just an eight man delegation. This, according to many, is a step in the right direction as this can curtail government’s expenditure and save more money for the basic services of the people.

It is now our hope that he continues in this direction of saving government’s money in order to support his programs outlined in his manifesto especially the Free Education, which is one his flagship projects.

By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara

17 Year Old Forced Into Marriage In Sierra Leone

In Worreh Mankankry, a village in Bombali district, the northern province of Sierra Leone, a 17 year old teenager, Mazizi Christo Turay, has been forcefully handed in marriage to a 50 year old man, Alpha Kamara.

The girl’s father, Mohamed Lamin Turay, head of the Poro Society and community chief, according to family sources, is believed to be in the same secret society (Poro) with Alpha Kamara where the two had mutual agreement of giving his teenage daughter, Mazizi Christo Turay, in marriage to Alpha Kamara.

The victim, whose mother left her father when she was only 14 years old due to ill treatment from her father, is now used as the sacrifice for the Poro society agreement between her father and the forceful husband in question.

Her efforts in trying to resist this ungodly act from her father is yielding no dividend but rather continuously putting her at loggerheads with her father and other family members. Her father is persistently giving death threats to her with daily maltreatment including severe beatings one of which left her body severely wounded. Her father has made life very miserable due to her reluctance in accepting the man he wants her to marry.

Contacting Mr. Turay, the father of the victim on the said issue, in an adamant tone told me that he can even go to the extent of killing his daughter if she defies his orders. He further told me that his daughter is now in hiding, to which he believes, one Abdulai Kuyateh, the boyfriend of his daughter and for whom his daughter has been reluctant to obey his orders, is behind this recent development. Mr. Mohamed Lamin Turay also added that he had an agreement with Mr. Alpha Kamara of initiating all male children of his daughter when they shall have given birth but his daughter is proving otherwise. He therefore told me that he is going to search for his daughter in every corner and when he finds her, she either agrees to marry the man he had chosen for her or have her killed.

This medium is therefore calling on all authorities concerned to come to the rescue of Mazizi Christo Turay, whose life is at stake because of her refusal to go into early marriage.

By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara

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Afrikan

Africa’s Scientists Encouraged To Become The Next Einstein

April 2018

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South African geneticist Vinet Coetzee held up a malaria-diagnosing scanner that she said can be developed for use in Africa’s rural areas without the need for blood samples or lab tests.

“This can be rapid, affordable and non-invasive,” she said. “It can reduce health inequality and bring us one step closer to a world free of malaria.”

Scientists In this photo taken Monday, March 26, 2018, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame opens the Next Einstein Forum conference in Kigali, Rwanda. The largest-ever gathering of scientists in Africa has met to encourage a new generation of breakthroughs on the continent. (AP Photo/Andrew Meldrum) The prototype was among the research projects highlighted at the Next Einstein Forum conference last month in Rwanda to encourage the development of young scientists across Africa. Organizers called it the largest-ever gathering of scientists on the continent.

“We can go from a dark continent to a bright continent,” said Nigerian chemistry professor Peter Ngene, who described how he plans to use nanotechnology to store solar energy efficiently in hydrogen batteries.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the current chair of the African Union, opened the gathering by linking scientific progress to Africa’s development at large.

“Knowledge economies are prosperous economies,” he said. “Today, more than ever before, adequate math and science proficiency is a prerequisite for a nation to attain high-income status and the gains in health and well-being that go along with it.”

The president added: “For too long, Africa has allowed itself to be left behind.” As the continent catches up it cannot afford to leave out women and girls, Kagame said, urging Africans not to accept the global gender gap in science as inevitable.

“The movie ‘Black Panther’ gives positive role models of African women in science,” said Eliane Ubalijoro, a professor at McGill University in Montreal, who pointed out the large number of women at the conference. “We are creating Wakanda right here!”

Africa lags behind the rest of the world in scientific output, but research on the continent is growing rapidly and a few countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and Mali have increased their research and development spending efforts “to the level of a middleincome economy,” according to the UNESCO Science Report.

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The Next Einstein Forum began in 2013 to help the continent move forward and now sponsors 19 African science fellows, along with an Africa Science Week at schools in 30 countries. At the conference the forum launched Scientific African, a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal to publicize new research.

The forum is an offshoot of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, which provides full scholarships for students to earn masters’ degrees in mathematics at centers in Cameroon, Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. More than 1,500 students from 43 African countries have graduated from the program since 2003, with 32 percent of them being women.

The program to encourage Africans to study mathematics is the brainchild of South African-born physicist Neil Turok, who grew up as his parents fought apartheid, the country’s former system of racial oppression.

“My parents took pride in combatting injustice and they were thrown in jail. It was difficult for me personally but it was good for my studies because I threw myself into my work,” he told the conference.

Turok attained international success in physics and mathematics, collaborating with Stephen Hawking, teaching at Princeton and becoming the director of the Perimeter Institute, an independent research center for theoretical physics in Canada.

Challenged by his father to do something for Africa, Turok founded the mathematical institute in 2003. A decade later, the Next Einstein Forum was launched.

“We can draw strength from hardship,” said Turok, who said he believes the world’s next Einstein can be an African. “When Africans enter science in large numbers, with their diversity, backgrounds and motivation, they will make massive, transformative discoveries. Those discoveries are just waiting there to be made.”

Source: ANDREW MELDRUM, ASSOCIATED PRES

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Former Nigerian Central Banker Brings 'Audacious' Campaign to DC April 2018

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the discipline to be one or both is a gift, and one of the problems with leadership in Nigeria has been a potent anti-intellectualism which embraces intellectuals only for the objective of neutralizing or compromising them.

That would change: Moghalu is not afraid of ideas, or of people who have ideas that may be better than his own, partly because he is himself an idea, and has led a life of the better, brighter idea. His presidency would introduce for Nigeria not only a politics of idea and strategy and organization, but of rigour in public sector management.

Moghalu's presidential candidature is also something else: definition. He is defined by the consciousness that Nigeria, as a key part of the African demographic, has a lot of catching up to do, with the confidence it can be accomplished through dogged policy and institution-building and implementation, and the use of the best minds and hands.

Moghalu arrives at a time when the military/pseudo-civilian political bloc, which began with Buhari 1, in 1983 closes ironically with Buhari II, having run a limp course of ineptitude, incompetence and lack of patriotic drive and left Nigeria flailing on the under-developing concourse.

By Sonala Olumhense Three years ago, I reviewed Kingsley Moghalu's new book, "Emerging Africa, How the Global Economy's 'Last Frontier' Can Prosper and Matter."

Emerging Africa is an engaging and profound review of Africa's development challenge from the perspective of a man who could and had observed it from different dimensions.

I thought the book was particularly fundamental to the Nigerian situation. By coincidence, it was introduced in the closing stages of the presidency of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, who had claimed to be implementing a 'Transformation Agenda,' and the dawn of the arrival of Muhammadu Buhari, which was hawking a 'Change' Agenda.

As a development treatise, I described 'Emerging Africa' as a "full-frontal analysis of the African condition and a persuasive description of what can be done... a rebuttal to cynical questions as to why Africa is as Africa is, and a decisive proposal about what can come next."

For Africa to thrive and benefit from globalization, 'Emerging Africa' advocates a coherent worldview: "a way of thinking or seeing the world that creates an incentive for real change and progress, and not so much about what the actual solutions might be."

"If African countries take the first, essential step of upgrading their psychological and mental infrastructure with an appropriate worldview, this potential trajectory can unfold in the next fifty years by 2060," Moghalu argues, providing clear and detailed suggestions about how the appropriate African worldview may be established.

I have yet to read Moghalu's follow-up work, "Build, Innovate and Grow (BIG)," subtitled "My Vision For [Nigeria]," which was launched in February. Coincidentally, that was the month in which Nigeria overtook India as the extreme poverty capital of the world, and the month the International Monetary Fund warned that Nigerians are becoming poorer. Two weeks ago, in Abuja, Microsoft's Bill Gates stared down the government, describing its economic prescription as being incapable of moving Nigeria forward, and urging investment in Nigerians.

When I reviewed 'Emerging Africa,' I had no way of knowing Moghalu would be running for President of Nigeria within three years. His ideas would have remained relevant had he opted to stay out of politics, but by throwing his hat in the ring-and given the philosophical and administrative deterioration-they are and must become front and centre.

In a recent article, he said, "As president of Nigeria, I will provide inclusive leadership that is anchored on a Big Hairy Audacious Goal that unites us all to face the future... I am not and will never be an ethnic candidate for the presidency of our country. I am unapologetically a Nigerian candidate for the Nigerian presidency. We must create a rising tide that lifts all boats, not just those of relatives and tribesmen and women."

Moghalu's candidature thus returns us to the early years of African independence, when such men as Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo stamped their identity on political thought with clear-headedness and patriotic zeal.

You do not have to be a highly-educated man or an author to run for high office, but

If Nigerians recognize the opportunity now to bury that mistake with determination and capacity, Moghalu is a welcome offer.

Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo Memorial Fund [Update]

It is now a little over one year that a wonderful Nigerian, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, died in tragic circumstances on a Nigerian highway.

In a story on March 12, I announced I was collaborating in Lagos on a trust fund, the FBNQ/Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo Memorial Trust Fund (TF), to help his young family. The effort was coordinated by Taiwo Obe.

It further turned out that a similar idea, for an Endowment Fund (EF), had been initiated in Abuja by Onukaba's erstwhile boss, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. That announcement was made at the Eighth Day Islamic prayers, at which Mr. Abubakar sent a timely assistance package of N1m to the family. Following the formal launch of the Fund, Tunde Olusunle was entrusted with its administration.

In mid-2017, in recognition of the fact that the objective of both Abuja and Lagos were the same, I helped to unite both efforts.

Only last week, however, we learnt of the existence of yet another account, at FBNQ Abuja. We lack details of the said account; ours currently being only at FBNQ Lagos and UBA Abuja.

I would have loved to report that hefty sums of money have been received from the vast network of people Onukaba touched in his 57 years, or that all those who pledged publicly have contributed. I would also have loved to report that each account has been nice and tidy, but both claims would be false. A family's needs do not often wait, and in this case some funds were disbursed either as they came in, or to settle one or two loans.

For interested contributors, I am pleased to say there are bank records, as well as reports by Messrs.

Olusunle and Obe, two energetic friends to whom this effort owes a debt of gratitude.

In June 2017, the TF held N1.6m, while the EF stood at N3.8m in January 2018. The former now stands at about half a million-naira following two school payments for one child in September 2017 and March 2018.

I want to mention one name, for obvious reasons: Hans d'Orville, an old friend of Onukaba's from his New York days. Last July, Mr. d'Orville, who now lives in Paris, was kind enough to offer financial assistance towards the education of one of the children. He has been as good as his word: in September, upon receiving a N1.5m school invoice for the 2017/2018 academic year, he graciously sent â‚Ź1,730.00, which exchanged for 707,250,00 and was paid to the school. It is my hope that, depending on how many years or levels of education he has in mind, the trust executors would focusat least for academic purposes-on the other children.

Finally, I appeal to those friends who haven't contributed, and those with an outstanding pledge, to honour Onukaba, today.

- sonala.olumhense@gmail.com

- Twitter: @SonalaOlumhense

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Trivia

35. GPRSGeneral PacketRadio Service.

36. EDGEEnhanced Data Ratesfor Globa Evolution.

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40. O.SOperating System.

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9. TFTThin Film Transistor.

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62. IVRSInteractiveVoice Response System.

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28. USBUniversal Serial Bus.

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63. HPHewlett Packard.Do we know actual full formof some words???

30. PPIPixels Per Inch.

64. NEWS PAPER =North East West SouthPast and PresentEvents Report.

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12. AMOLEDActive-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting diode.

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April 2018

65. CHESS =Chariot,Horse,Elephant,Soldiers.

Bole to Kumasi is 35 Ghana Cedis and Kumasi to Bole is 50cedis.I asked the mate why?He answers... "why is Monday to Friday 5 days while Friday to Monday is 3 days?".Then I kept quiet

Up to now am still mute and searching seriously for the answers for him. Any one who can assist will be highly appreciated.

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Meet First Sudanese Woman to Coach a Men's Football Team

April 2018

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Actress, Patience Ozokwo Welcomes Her 16th Grandchild

Photo: Arab News/Youtube

El Gedaref — Salma El Majidi is the first Arab and Sudanese woman to coach a men's football team in the Arab world.

"I became a coach because there is still no scope for women's football in Sudan," El Majidi told an AFP reporter in eastern Sudan's El Gedaref where she trains players of the El Ahly El Gedaref club.

Daughter of a retired policeman, Majidi was 16 when she fell in love with football. It came about as she watched her younger brother's school team being coached. She was captivated by the coach's instructions, his moves, and how he placed the marker cones at practice sessions, the AFP report reads.

"At the end of every training session, I discussed with him the techniques he used to coach the boys," El Majidi said. "He saw I had a knack for coaching... and gave me a chance to work with him."

Soon she was coaching the under-13 and under-16 teams of El Hilal club in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum. Later she coached the Sudanese second league men's clubs of El Nasir, El Nahda, Nile Halfa and El Morada.

She is acknowledged by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) as the first Arab and Sudanese woman to coach a men's football team in the Arab world.

"There are restrictions on women's football, but I'm determined to succeed," El Majidi said.

She had to convince her family first before she could proceed with her dreams. She now dreams of coaching an international team.

Women football Nowadays, Sudan has only one women's football team, the Women's Challenge Team. It was established by a group of young Sudanese women at the Comboni playground in downtown Khartoum in 2001.

The team played its first competitive match in 2006. Eight years later, in 2014, the members, divided into two teams, played a match in Khartoum. They women players were cheered by large numbers of fans, representatives of civil society organisations, and some foreign diplomats.

The team continues to lack recognition of FIFA. In 2012, in response to a question from FIFA regarding the feasibility of creating a women team, the Islamic Fiqh Council in Sudan issued a fatwa (a religious order) deeming a women's football team "an immoral act".

The coach of the Women's Challenge Team, Ahmed Babikir, told Al Jazeera in 2015 that Sudan used to have many women's teams in the past. "We need to go back to that," he said.

"FIFA should not provide the Sudanese Football Association with any funding until they form more women's teams and support existing ones."

http://allafrica.com

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Actress Patience Ozokwo shared the good news on her IG page. Congrats to her!

''Come and join me sing halleluyah Jehovah Jireh has done me well o! My 16th grandchild came in style. Thank you God for adding more sparkle to my life. I am truly blessed of the Lord.

Welcome grandson, welcome to the Ozokwo clan. You are loved unconditional ??? #MamaG #G4General #PatienceOzokwo' she wrote

13 African athletes go missing at Commonwealth Games

Afrikan

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Africa: Breast Ironing, the Silent Archaic African Practice Conducted for the "Good of Girls" April 2 0 1 8

Photo: ICIR

Five more African athletes may have vanished from the Commonwealth Games, organisers said Thursday, after eight competitors from Cameroon were suspected of fleeing a day earlier.

Gold Coast organisers confirmed reports that athletes from Rwanda and Uganda were thought to have gone missing, while they were also looking to verify the whereabouts of two squash players from Sierra Leone.

“We’re obviously looking at it very carefully,” Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive David Grevemberg told reporters.

“We have a service to people who have legitimate visas to be in this country,” he added.

“Until it becomes a true issue and somebody has outstayed their visa, or have formally applied for asylum, we just need to continue to monitor the situations.

“The focus now is to support teams in trying to track down the athletes who are missing.”

More than 100 athletes overstayed their visas at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Athlete visas for the Commonwealth Games expire on May 15, Grevemberg said.

Eight athletes from conflict-hit Cameroon — one third of the central African country’s 24-strong team — were said to be missing from the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday, sparking an Australian Border Force manhunt.

As the search continues for Cameroon’s five boxers and three weightlifters, Grevemberg insisted the welfare of the athletes came first.

“We obviously have been in close contact with Cameroon officials,” he said.

“We share their concern regarding obviously the safety, welfare, whereabouts of these athletes.”

Cameroon team manager Victor Agbor Nso told local media he had reported the matter to police on Wednesday.

Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton warned that athletes would be forcibly removed from the country if they attempted to overstay their visas.

“They aren’t going to game the system,” he told local radio. “Australian Border Force officers will find these people (and) they’ll be held in immigration detention until they can be deported.”

AFP

By Kylie Kiunguyu Breast ironing, a traditional practice commonly done in Cameroon, is the use of hard or heated objects like a wooden pestle or scalding grinding stones to stop or slow the development of breasts in young girls, supposedly to "protect them from sexual harassment, rape and early pregnancy".

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) stands as one of the most horrific forms of injustice done to young girls on the continent. Its effects and consequences are well known and activists are hopeful that the world will see the end of the practice within a generation. But there are other harmful forms of mutilation that African girls face under the guise of protection and the preservation of virtue. Unlike the highly publicised FGM, which claims to ensure cleanliness and better marriage prospects, prevent promiscuity and preserve virginity, breast ironing is a silent practice done to combat the scourge of gender-based violence.

However, like FGM, breast-ironing has been identified by the UN as one of five under-reported crimes relating to gender-based violence.

According to Wikipedia, breast ironing is typically carried out by the girl's mother to 'protect' the girl from sexual harassment and rape, prevent early pregnancy that would tarnish the family name and allow the girl to pursue education rather than be forced into early marriage.

Breast ironing is mostly practiced in parts of Cameroon, where the perception by boys and men is that if a girls breasts have begun to grow', she is ready for sex. The most widely used implement for breast ironing is a wooden pestle normally used for pounding tubers. This is followed by leaves, bananas, coconut shells, grinding stones, ladles, spatulas, and hammers heated over coals.

The practice has also been reported across West and Central Africa, in Benin, Chad, Ivory Coast, GuineaBissau, Guinea-Conakry, Kenya, Togo and lower down in Zimbabwe.

Modern Reasons

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of puberty, caused by dietary improvements in Cameroon over the last 50 years. The mutilation is designed to make teenage girls look less "womanly" to deter unwanted male attention, which could lead to all the aforementioned consequences.

Statistics show that half of Cameroonian girls who develop under the age of nine have their breasts ironed, and 38% of those who develop under the age of 11. According to a 2011 German development agency GIZ report, one out of every 10 Cameroonian girls has been subjected to breast ironing.

Magdalena Randall-Schab, from the UK National Committee for UN Women, said to Express in 2015: "These violent acts are not only perpetrated by men on women, but by older generations of women on young girls.

The issues therefore are quite complex as we are dealing with deep-seated cultural beliefs, but there is a need to help people to see that however well-intentioned they may believe their acts to be, they are acts of violence."

The practice cuts across socio-economic barriers, but rather than use barbaric tools such as stones and hammers, the rich opt to use an elastic belt to compress the developing breasts, thus preventing them from growing.

The website of London-based charity Women's and Girl's Development Organisation (Cawogido) states: "Breast ironing is a well-kept secret between the young girl and her mother. Often the father remains completely unaware. The girl believes that what her mother is doing is for her own good and she keeps silent. This silence perpetuates the phenomenon and all of its consequences."

One wonders what place such an unnatural practice would have in a modern, enlightened African society. Breast iron- Source:allafrica.com ing in recent times has been accredited to the earlier onset

April 2 0 1 8

2018 Embassy Chef Challenge-Media Preview Dinner

Ambassador Carlos Pareja of Peru Hosted the Embassy Chef Challenge media Preview Dinner at his Washington DC residence on April 3rd, 2018. Present at the event were Representatives of Event DC, Ambassador Dr. Baffour Adjei Bawuah of Ghana, Jose Manuel “Babe” del Gallego Romualdez Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to the United States of America, Paul Getty Altidor Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Haiti to the United States. Representatives from Embassy of Liechtenstein in Washington, DC. Also present are Chef Francis Otoo and some Embassy of Ghana officials in Washington DC. Events DC officials included Mr. Max Brown Events DC Board Chairman, Mr. Gregory A O’ Dell Events DC President and CEO, Mr. Erik A . Moses Events DC SVP and Managing Director.

Cocktails were served provided by the Embassy of Haiti. They served Rhum Barbancourt, Fruit Punch with Haitian Rum. Chef Otoo from the Ghana Embassy served Chicken peanut butter soup for Dinner followed by a dish from the Philippines which had “Heart of palm in herbed crepe pouch sautéed heart of palm with shrimp and peanut sauce, Chicken and pork adobo profiteroles braised chicken and pork, marinated in soy sauce and vinegar. The guests transitioned to a taste of Peruvian dish with a serving of flounder with lima beans in cilantro sauce The Chef from the Embassy of Leichtenstein made available Imperial Rickey 300, Laird’s Applejack, Elderflower Liqueur, lemon juice, sparkling wine from the Court Vineyard of the Prince of Leichtenstein for Dessert.

Sweet potato pudding from Haiti (Pain patate) was served as another course for dessert.

Embassy chefs prepare authentic small plates from their countries in a friendly, delicious, culinary competition, featuring a sips and sweets pavilion with wine, cocktails and desserts!

Embassy Chef Challenge is a yearly event in Washington DC where Embassy chefs prepare authentic small plates from their countries in a friendly, delicious, culinary competition, featuring a sips and sweets pavilion with wine, cocktails and desserts.

It is held in Washington DC which is home to 177 embassies, and provides a setting for culinary diplomacy to thrive as a diverse group of highly regarded chefs from around the world prepare an authentic sip and bite from their homeland for attendees to taste.

The main event comes off on Thursday May 17, 2018 at the Ronald Reagan Building and international trade Center in Washington DC

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Ivory Coast Profile - Timeline

A chronology of key events 1842 - France imposes protectorate over coastal zone.

1893 - Ivory Coast made into a colony.

1904 - Ivory Coast becomes part of the French Federation of West Africa.

1944 - Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who later to become Ivory Coast's first president, founds a union of African farmers, which develops into the inter-territorial African Democratic Rally and its Ivorian section, the Ivory Coast Democratic Party.

1958 - Ivory Coast becomes a republic within the French Community.

Independence 1960 - France grants independence under President Felix Houphouet-Boigny. He holds power until he dies in 1993.

1990 - Opposition parties legalised; Houphouet-Boigny wins Ivory Coast's first multiparty presidential election, beating Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivorian Popular Front.

1993 - Henri Konan Bedie becomes president following the death of Houphouet-Boigny.

1995 October - Mr Bedie re-elected in a ballot that is boycotted by opposition parties in protest at restrictions imposed on their candidates.

President Gbagbo says more than 100 people were killed, but contradicts widely-held view that ethnic rifts lay behind violence.

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2005 October - Planned elections are shelved as President Gbagbo invokes a law which he says allows him to stay in power. The UN extends his mandate for a further year.

Opposition leader for 20 years 2006 September - Government resigns over a scandal involving the dumping of toxic waste in Abidjan. Fumes from the waste kill three people and make many more ill.

Power-sharing deal 2007 March - Government and New Forces rebels sign a power-sharing peace deal, mediated by Burkina Faso. Under the deal, New Forces leader Guillaume Soro is named as prime minister.

2007 April - President Gbagbo declares "the war is over" between his government and northern rebels, as the two sides move to dismantle the military buffer zone. Within days aid workers report an increase in violence.

2009 May - Former rebels hand over 10 northern zones to civilian administrators, as part of the process of returning the northern part of the country to state control.

President Ouattara 2010 December - Election commission declares Mr Ouattara the winner of presidential election 1999 July - Alassane Ouattara, a Muslim, leaves job at run-off. Mr Gbagbo refuses to accept result and International Monetary Fund and returns to run for pres- dispute between the two camps soon escalates into ident in 2000; his plan to challenge Bedie splits country violence. along ethnic and religious lines.

2011 April - Alassane Ouattara's forces capture Coup Laurent Gbagbo, Mr Ouattara inaugurated presi1999 December - President Bedie overthrown in milident the following month, Mr Gbagbo handed over tary coup, replaced by General Robert Guei. to the International Criminal Court in The Hague in November to face charges of crimes against 2000 October - General Guei proclaims himself presihumanity. dent after announcing he has won presidential elections, but is forced to flee in the wake of a popular uprising 2011 September - Truth, Reconciliation and and is replaced by his challenger Laurent Gbagbo.

Dialogue Commission - aimed at forging unity after post-election violence that left about 3,000 Fighting erupts between President Gbagbo's mainly people dead and 500,000 displaced - is launched. southern Christian supporters and followers of his main opponent Alessandre Ouattara, who are mostly Muslims 2011 December - Parliamentary elections. from the north.

President Ouattara and his allies secure a majority.

Followers of Laurent Gbagbo boycott the vote.

2001 March - President Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara meet and agree to work towards reconciliation.

2016 March - Islamist militants attack the beach resort of Grand Bassam, near Abidjan, killing 18 Rebellion people. The attack follows similar Islamist assaults 2002 19 September - Mutiny in Abidjan by soldiers on hotels in the capitals of Mali and Burkina Faso unhappy at being demobilised grows into full-scale in recent months. rebellion, with Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement rebels seizing control of the north.

2017 January - President Ouattara sacks army, policy and gendarmes chiefs over two-day army 2003 March - Political parties, rebels agree on new gov- mutiny in various cities, which ended when government to include nine members from rebel ranks. ernment paid bonuses and pledged to improve "Consensus" prime minister, Seydou Diarra, is tasked working conditions. with forming cabinet.

2017 December - Government announces plan to 2003 July - At a ceremony in the presidential palace, pay hundreds of soldiers to quit the army which military chiefs and rebels declare that the war is over. has seen a number of mutinies.

2005 June - Massacres in western town of Duekoue:

Why Ashantis and Ivorians Have Common Ancestry April 2018

Otumfuo Opoku Ware and Former President of Ivory Coast Konan Bedie His Excellency HENRI KONAN BEDIE, former Ivorian President, visited Otumfuo on Thursday, and then his ancestral home of Nsuta on Friday. He joined Otumfuo earlier today for the Akwasidae celebrations.I gathered some interesting historical perspective as recounted on another platform. '300 years ago....Between 1717-1720, the nascent Asante Kingdom was embroiled in a civil war of succession following the death of the main architect of the Asante Union, the incomparable Otumfuo Osei Tutu Opemsuo I.The supporters of Opoku Ware won, he became the very successful Asantehene Opoku Ware Katakyie I.The losing side of the Oyoko Abusua branch .... members of the Oyoko Adako lineage, fled Kumase.They were led by the matriarch Nana Abena Pokuaa. After years of traveling through Sahwi, Aowin, and Nzema territories, they crossed the Comoe River (present day Western Ivory Coast) into sparsely populated land.The Comoe River was nearly impassable because it was flooded. Nana Abena Pokua sacrificed her own son, as propitiation. The group was then able to cross the river.Happy, but distraught over the death of her son, Nana Abena Pokua wailed "ba wule" (me ba awu) in the mixed Nzema/Aowin/Sahwi language.

They had learned the languages to completely blend in, so as to confuse their Asante pursuers. Asantehene Opoku Ware sought their immediate return.Nana Abena Pokua and her disenchanted Asante group became known as the BAOULE from ...... "ba wule."The Asante Kingdom of BAOULE, with it's capital of YAMOUSSOUKRO (Yaa Mansa Kro) has played pivotal role in Ivory Coast.

Much of the country's natural resources are located on Baoule land, which comprises a huge swath of southern Cote d’lvoire. It is also the centre of the Cocoa industry.'First Ivorian President Houphoet BOIGNY was a Baoule royal. The Baoule royal Monsieur Bedie's trip to Asanteman is in essence a trip back home.

Christ Pentecostal Church USA Easter Convention and 20th Anniversary

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The Christ Pentecostal Churches Worldwide gathered at the Christ pentecostal Internation Church headQuarters in the Bonx, New York for a three day easter convention under the theme : “Celebrating God’s faithfulness”. On the first day of the convention members from each branch treated the gathering to a welcome song to which all joined in singing praises and dancing to the Glory of God. Rev. Ebenezer Adarkwah the General Overseer used the occassion to appreciate the ministers and leaders of the ministry for their support and welcomed the gathering to New York.

The guest speaker was Bishop Peter Morgan the Founder and President of Vision International Ministries, an Evangelistic, Teaching, Prophetic, Healing and Deliverance Ministry with headquarters in California. The Christ Pentecostal Church was initially begun by Rev. Ebenezer Adarkwah in 1996 in New York and now has branches in New Jersey, Virginia, Rhode Island, Chicago and several branches in Ghana. CPIC Worldwide has it's Headquarters in Bronx, New York. The three day convertion started from Friday March 30th and ended on Sunday, April 1st with over 400 hundred members from the varius branches in attendance.

Rev. Ebenezer Adarkwah , General Overseer

Rev. Adarkwah being assisted by other ministers to cut the Anniversary Cake

Rev. Kwabena Amoah -Virginia Branch delivering the word

Packed Convention Service

The Ministerial Team of CPIC

US Lifts Travel Restrictions for Chad

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Changing Presidents Without Elections: Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana

Washington, DC April 10, 2018

President Donald J. Trump announced today the lifting of travel restrictions for Chadian nationals following a period of review in which the Government of Chad improved their identity-management and information sharing practices.

On September 24, following an extensive review and engagement period with countries around the world, the President signed Proclamation 9645 that directed the Departments of State and Homeland Security to restrict the entry of certain nationals of countries identified as deficient in their identity-management and information sharing practices, subject to limited exceptions and waivers on a case-by-case basis, in order to protect the security and welfare of the United States. The September 24 Presidential Proclamation has been fully implemented since December 8, 2017.

Chad is a critical and vital partner to the U.S. counterterrorism mission.

Chad has made significant strides and now meets the baseline criteria established in the Presidential Proclamation. For this reason, the travel restrictions placed on Chad are terminated effective April 13. Its citizens will again be able to receive visas for travel to the United States.

We welcome the improved practices by the Chadian authorities, which demonstrate a clear off ramp for countries placed on the travel restriction list. These improvements will improve security for the people of Chad and the United States.

The United States looks forward to further cooperation with Chad on security, good governance, health, and economic development.

The convention across most of Africa is that a new president is usually sworn in after elections.

Some countries allow vice presidents to complete the terms of their bosses in case of death or resignation. Elsewhere, there is the need for a by-election for the next president to be chosen.

The southern Africa region has in less than six months sworn-in three leaders without substantive elections – Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana.

Zimbabwe in November last year, South Africa in February 2018 and Botswana on April 1, 2018. This article looks at the three instances exploring the specific dynamics that underline each of them.

National Congress (ANC) of then President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki had earlier fired Zuma as his vice over corruption scandals.

As is the case in South Africa, the president is deployed by the party that holds a parliamentary majority. So when the ANC went to Congress in December 2017 and elected Zuma’s deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, as leader, talk of two centers of power came up.

After a series of negotiations within the ANC as a party and in parliament, backed by a massive opposition push for Zuma to be impeached, he resigned his post giving way for Ramaphosa to be sworn in as president of the republic.

Botswana’s Khama steps down for Masisi Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), the country’s Mugabe’s decades reign ends with resignation In Zimbabwe, the unlikliest of political situations ruling party, has a rule of substantive presidents stepping down eighteen months to the end of their played out when long serving leader, Robert second and final terms in office. The measure is to Gabriel Mugabe, was forced to resign his post allow the vice to become president and govern till after over 30 years in charge. the next elections.

Mugabe fired his vice-president Emmerson So, Seretse Ian Khama’s stepping down as fourth Mnangagwa leading to the intervention of the army. In the end, street protests, regional media- president of the country was known long before April 1 when Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi was sworn tion led by South Africa, pressure from ruling into office as the fifth president of the diamond-rich Zanu-PF and threat of parliamentary impeachcountry. ment forced Mugabe to step down.

His exiled vice-president returned from South Africa to assume leadership of the ruling party and to ascend to the presidency. Mnangagwa will see out Mugabe’s mandate ahead of elections scheduled for later this year.

Khama, a former soldier had also benefitted from a similar arrangement when Festus Mogae stepped down in 2008. However, when a president steps down, his vice is sworn in as substantive president.

Masisi’s vice will be sworn in today.

Jacob Zuma’s roller coaster presidency ends with http://www.africanews.com resignation In South Africa, embattled president Jacob Zuma went out through the same door he came in.

Zuma backed a recall by the ruling Africa

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The Evangelical Presbyterian Church USA Inducted New Ministers into Office at a ceremony in Takoma Park, Maryland. The Ministers were Rev. Mrs. Vanessa Mensah Adu, Rev. Edem Sapati, Rev. Philip Elike, Rev. Kwasi Adessu, Rev. Henry Darko, Rev. Benjamin Donya. Rev. Peter Afflu was also accepted into the EP Church. The officiating Ministers were Rt. Rev. Paul Mensa Avinou-Moderator E.E P , Togo, Rev. Frank Anku-Vice Principal of the E P Seminary, Peki , and Rev. Dr. E.A K Amey, Clerk of the General Assembly, The event was held on March 18, 2018

Mrs. Stella Ansah representing the Ghana Embassy in DC

The New Ministers, Their Spouses And Officiating Clergy From Africa

Newly Commissioned Ministers

New Life International Church United Methodist Church Launched In Fairfax, Virginia

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New Life International United Methodist Church is a campus of Ghana Wesley United Methodist Church. The Church was set up to cater for the growing Ghanaian and African population in Fairfax. Alexandria and Springfield areas. The church offers a great worship space for Ghanaian / African immigrants who are not being reached due to language, distance and other cultural barriers. In addition, the congregation seeks to attract young Ghanaian / Africans who want to identify with the vibrant Ghanaian/ African worship style but are limited by the local language which dominates in most of the immigrant churches.

After going through all the approval processes from the Conference, District and Local levels Pastor John Obeng and a seven-member launch team (most of whom were from Ghana Wesley) started mobilizing people for the start of the church.

The Church had its maiden meeting on Sunday July 9th, 2017. In all a total of 24 adults and 10 youths/ Children attended the service. Attendance has since been growing.

Rev. David Bonney Lead Pastor Fairfax United Methodist Church

Special Presentation to the New Church from Ghana Wesley United Methodist Church

Rev. Nkrumah Praying for the Children’s Ministry

Rev. John Obeng-Resident Pastor

New Life International UMC Singing Group

Prayer for the New Church

Guest Preacher -Rev. Jim Chandler

Joint Chuir of Ghana Wesley United Methodist Church and New Life United Methodist Church