Africa Business News

Kenya’s High Court has declared a government-sponsored bill to amend Kenya’s constitution irregular, illegal and unconstitutional.It has also ruled that President Uhuru Kenyatta violated the constitution by initiating a process that ought to be driven by the ordinary citizen.Kenya appeared headed for a referendum before next year’s general election, backed by state resources, the president and powerful opposition leader Raila Odinga.The judges say that by initiating the constitutional changes, President Kenyatta had usurped the powers of ordinary citizens.

Zambia's parliament has been dissolved exactly 90 days before the upcoming general election.The house held its last sitting on Wednesday and the clerk announced that it would formally dissolve on Friday.The Zambian constitution requires that parliament is dissolved 90 days before the next election. Zambians will head to the polls on 21 August.Zambian President Edgar Lungu is seeking re-election and has in the past assured international partners of a free and fair election.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami says that the federal government will soon resuscitate a special court for the trial of terrorism suspects.He reiterated the commitment of the federal government to end insurgency and other forms of insecurity ravaging the country.Malami says the Buhari administration is planning to resuscitate the special court for the trial of terrorism suspects in order to checkmate the menace.

President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, took on the 17 Southern governors, in Asaba, canvassing, among others, restructuring the country.The duo, during an interaction with reporters in Abuja, challenged governors to start the restructuring from their states.Lawan and Gbajabiamila both expressed reservations about the Southern governors’ advocacy, saying their charity should begin from home.Lawan says the governors should not be the ones agitating for restructuring.He urged them to first, do in their states what they are requesting the federal government to do.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, has faulted the declaration of the ban on open grazing in the South by governors in the region.He believes making a public proscription of the movement of cattle by foot in the southern part of the country by the governors cannot be as effective as meeting with the President to address the issues of concern.He noted that the governors should develop an immediate solution, a mid-term solution, and a long-term solution to open grazing.

Health Minister Chen Shih-Chung says Taiwan may raise its COVID-19 alert level in the coming days if cases rise, which would mean shops selling non-essential items would have to close.Taiwan announced plans to restrict public gatherings as a result of a cluster of six new cases with no clear source of infection, an unusual outbreak for the island that had kept the pandemic well under control.Chen told parliament the level could be lifted a notch to 3, limiting gatherings to five people indoors and 10 outdoors, as well as the closure of non-essential businesses.

The World Health Organization is reviewing coronavirus data from Seychelles after the country’s health ministry said more than a third of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week had been fully vaccinated.The ministry and the WHO stressed on Tuesday that the majority of those who tested positive had not been vaccinated or had only received one dose, that no one who had died had been fully vaccinated and that nearly all of those needing treatment for severe or critical cases were unvaccinated.The WHO however says it was closely following the situation in the Indian Ocean nation, which has a population of less than 100,000 and has been reporting daily cases numbers in the low hundreds.

Fears the shutdown of a major fuel pipeline would cause a gasoline shortage led to some panic buying and prompted US regulators on Tuesday to temporarily suspend clean fuel requirements in three eastern states and the nation’s capital.A ransomware attack on Friday on Colonial Pipeline forced the company to shut down its entire network, though industry experts say any shortages will be temporary.The Environmental Protection Agency announced a one-week suspension of clean air rules in an effort to ease supply issues.

Kenya has suspended flights to Somalia just days after its neighbour said diplomatic ties between the two countries had been normalised following months of tension.The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority says that commercial flights to and from Somalia would be paused for three months.The regulators say all flights between Kenya and Somalia are suspended except medevac flights and United Nations flights on humanitarian missions only.KCAA director-general Gilbert Kibe told AFP news agency the suspension was a decision by the government.The directive appeared to catch some Somali aviation officials and travel agents by surprise.

The World Food Program has announced that some 500 trucks of food aid have reached Ethiopia's Tigray region.The WFP says 500 more trucks are on their way to the troubled region to assist the more than two million affected people.The trucks came into the country from neighbouring Sudan and It has been difficult for humanitarian aid to reach the Tigray region.The international community has been calling for the Ethiopian government to allow humanitarian aid workers to access the region.