Newscast - Africa

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has sued several companies for ordering employees to receive Covid-19 vaccines or risk the sack.
ZCTU says the actions of the companies violated workers’ constitutional rights.
They argued that there is no law in Zimbabwe making vaccination compulsory. Each person, having fully considered the implications and effects of vaccination, is expected to make a personal decision on whether or not to get vaccinated.
The Zimbabwe government, which has ordered all civil servants to get vaccinated, is targeting to inoculate at least 10 million of its approximately 15 million citizens by the end of this year.

Morocco is preparing to launch a Covid-19 vaccination campaign for those aged 12-17.
Said Afif, a member of the health ministry's scientific committee, told Morocco World News that various government ministries were working on the vaccine scheme for students.
The country has succeeded in a rapid roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine and has administered the highest number of vaccines of any African country by a significant margin.
The health minister says currently almost half the population of 36.5 million people have received one dose of the vaccine, while 12 million have been fully jabbed.

Tunisian President Kais Saied has extended the suspension of parliament and parliamentary immunity until further notice.
He says he would address the nation in the coming days, without giving more details.
The president assumed executive authority last month in a surprise move his opponents labelled as a coup,
Mr Saied has defended his actions, saying the measures which also included the sacking of the prime minister were necessary to save the country from collapse.
The president was elected in a landslide in 2019 promising to stand up against corruption.

Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki has declared that only those with the vaccination cards or proofs of having taken, at least, their first jabs of the Covid-19 vaccines, would be granted access to public places, including banks, worship places and other large gatherings.
Obaseki handed down the new rules while flagging off the second phase of the coronavirus vaccination exercise.
Obaseki says large gatherings, as well as high traffic public and private places, will only be accessed by persons, who have proof of taking at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination. People who have not yet been vaccinated at all will depend on remote access to these gatherings.

President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to reduce borrowing from external lending houses to fund the country’s annual budgets.
Lawan says the administration should, instead, focus on blocking financial leakages and avoiding wastage in all tiers of government.
The senate president says his discussion with Buhari centred on the need to take steps to increase revenue generation by government agencies and reduce dependence on external loans to fund the budget.

President of the Senate Ahmed Lawan has debunked reports suggesting that members of the National Assembly were bribed to the tune of $10 million to pass the three per cent allocation to host communities as stipulated in the Petroleum Industry Act.
Lawan told State House correspondents that he took exception to the spread of falsehood propagated to mislead the public.
He says he wants to take this opportunity to accept those kinds of unwarranted, unprovable, false and fake information being fed to the Nigerian public.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, and Nigeria’s gas initiatives, will transform the nation into a gas-based industrialized country.
He explained that they will create a better-managed petroleum industry with more value addition for both investors and Nigerians alike.
Prof. Osinbajo says the main goal of the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill and the gas initiatives aforementioned are to transform Nigeria not only into a gas-based industrialized nation through enhanced accelerated gas revolution.
He says locally, they launch into the brave new world for the oil and gas industry with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.

Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo has denied any interest in the 2023 election.
A statement by his media aide, Laolu Akande says his principal is rather focused on working in his capacity as the Vice President to address the various challenges facing the country, including finding effective and lasting solutions to the security challenges and working to further boost the economy.
The statement says the Office of the Vice President is not in any way connected with the distribution and deployment of any 2023 political posters whether on the streets or in online videos, banners and the like on social media.

The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment says the Abuja Division of the National Industrial Court has ordered the National Association of Resident Doctors to suspend its ongoing nationwide strike.
This followed an ex-parte motion filed on Friday last week by the Federal Ministry of Health, seeking an order of interlocutory injunction restraining members of NARD from further continuing the industrial action pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The health ministry stated that the strike which began on August 2 was contrary to Section 41 of the Trade Dispute Act.

US President Joe Biden has pledged his unwavering commitment to getting US citizens and at-risk Afghans out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan but warned of hurdles ahead, including the threat of an attack from the ISIL-affiliated Islamic State in the Khorasan Province.
He says he has directed the US Department of State to contact Americans stranded in Afghanistan by phone, email and other means and that Washington had a plan to move them to the airport.
Biden says the evacuation of thousands from Kabul is going to be hard and painful and would have been no matter when it began.