Daniel Monehin, Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa, Mastercard, shares insights ﻿on Africa’s digital transformation, and its work in Rwanda, creating a new payment ecosystem. The interview below first appeared in Forbes Africa and is republished with its permission. Subscribe today by contacting Shanna Jacobsen <a href="mailto:Shanna.Jacobsen@abn360.com">Shanna.Jacobsen@abn360.com</a>﻿﻿
Leading Mastercard’s business across sub-Saharan Africa as Division President, Daniel Monehin is primarily focused on establishing Mastercard’s brand presence, deploying innovative payment solutions and partnering with governments and market regulators. Passionate about making the lives of people around him better, his community-focused volunteer efforts are based on leadership development among the youth, entrepreneurs and professionals. Here, he speaks to FORBES AFRICA:
Q: With the growing number of incubators in Africa that are churning out newer and newer propositions on the payments and remittance side, what is Mastercard’s strategy to protect traditional income lines?
It is an exciting time to be working in Africa, with the public sector and other key stakeholders willing to adopt technology to advance the move away from inefficient cash to a digital payment ecosystem. Mastercard does not view our place in the move towards a ‘cashless Africa’ as being solely in the traditional card space, no – we view our role as a technology company to explore and implement cutting-edge solutions that will meet the needs of economies across the continent, better servicing all citizens.
At Mastercard, we don’t limit our thinking to ‘traditional’ vs. ‘new’ – we explore what is going to meet the needs of a market and its citizens as there is not one solution that can meet all needs. Rather our focus is on creating a ‘world beyond cash’, developed through partnerships and driven by advances in technology.
We get excited about start-ups challenging the status quo, and in fact we have developed our very own <a href="https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/about-mastercard/corp-responsibility/social-sustainability/the-mastercard-labs-for-financial-inclusion.html">Mastercard Labs for Financial Inclusion</a> that is based in Nairobi.
The purpose of the Labs is to drive innovation that meets the various needs across the continent, with specific focus right now on East Africa. Great advances are being made in this space, and it is very much a collaboration with NGOs, local financial institutions and anyone able to provide insight that will feed the development of smart and practical solutions.
The remittance space, for example, is an environment we have solid experience in and are extremely excited about – we do a great deal of work in this area with HomeSend. Launched in 2014, HomeSend is a joint venture of Mastercard, eServGlobal and BICS that enables business to business cross-border and cross-network transfers. Consumers can send money to and from mobile money accounts, payment cards, bank accounts and cash outlets, regardless of their location or that of the recipient.
Recently, we announced a partnership with the <a href="https://newsroom.mastercard.com/mea/press-releases/homesend-mastercard-aim-to-transform-the-3bn-remittance-industry-in-ethiopia/">Commercial Bank of Ethiopia</a> (CBE) to introduce the remittance solution to more than 100 million Ethiopians, empowering them with a safe and easy to use solution directly from their mobile device.
With advances in the payment industry, it is also still very important for us to develop partnership to roll-out full suites of digital payment solutions, including prepaid, debit and credit cards. This year alone, we have seen significant partnerships being forged with the likes of United Bank Africa (UBA) that will impact 18 new markets on the continent.
However, we are also working with our partners to drill down deeper into specific markets – recently announcing a collaboration with <a href="https://newsroom.mastercard.com/mea/press-releases/partnership-boosts-development-rwandas-digital-payment-ecosystem/">Guaranty Trust Bank Rwanda Ltd.</a> Besides the Platinum and Classic debit cards being introduced, we are also introducing the first student card (GTCrea8) to the market to educate the youth on the importance of going cashless and also saving. The partnership will also result in SecureCode being introduced to the market – a solution focused on protecting online payments.
Q: How big is the cash economy in Africa, and Rwanda specifically, where you have a tie-up with the government?
According to a recent <a href="file:///C:/Users/rankf/Downloads/MGI-Digital-Finance-For-All-Executive-summary-September-2016%20(2).pdf">McKinsey Report</a>, two billion people remain outside of the formal economy.
Various studies confirm that over 90% of retail transactions in sub-Saharan Africa are in cash. In Rwanda, only 42% of adults own a financial account, whether formal or informal, and a total of 1.6 million people have opened accounts in the country’s <a href="http://www.rca.gov.rw/IMG/pdf/Umurenge_SACCOs_strategy_February09.pdf">national SACCO savings and loan program</a>me.
We know that government cannot achieve financial inclusion alone, and neither can the private sector – we need to work together. Rwanda is one of our key markets and to highlight this, we partnered with the <a href="http://www.rdb.rw/">Rwanda Development Board (RDB)</a> to drive financial inclusion. The <a href="http://newsroom.mastercard.com/press-releases/government-of-rwanda-collaborates-with-mastercard-to-meet-rwandas-2020-vision-of-a-cashless-society/">collaboration with the Rwandan</a> government aims to address common challenges faced by poor and remote populations, such as the lack of financial identification and financial illiteracy.
Q: What are Mastercard’s efforts to convert cash to electronic?
Our work in Rwanda:In May, the Rwandan government announced a partnership with Mastercard which aims to fast-track the country’s move to include 90% of its citizens in the financial mainstream, as set out in its Vision 2020 strategy. <a href="http://newsroom.mastercard.com/press-releases/government-of-rwanda-collaborates-with-mastercard-to-meet-rwandas-2020-vision-of-a-cashless-society/">Read more here</a>. These solutions will include the digitization of school fees and national healthcare claim payments, providing an <a href="http://newsroom.mastercard.com/mea/press-releases/mastercard-bank-of-kigali-and-rwandaonline-help-rwanda-leapfrog-into-the-digital-economy-through-e-commerce/">online payment gateway</a> for RwandaOnline, contributing to the creation of a common mobile banking platform, and contributing to the effective management of spending activities across borders. ﻿
On October 20, Ecobank Group and Mastercard entered an agreement to roll-out MasterpassQR, a mobile payment solution, across 33 African markets with the intention of impacting 100 million new customers by 2020.
Q: At a time when customers have so many choices in payment systems, why should they choose Mastercard?
Mastercard is at the forefront of driving a ‘world beyond cash’, and what this means for all people is a more inclusive, innovative and safe payment ecosystem that will benefit everyone.
The benefits of working with Mastercard include: proven track record for providing safe world class payment systems as a result of our partnerships across the continent; we operate the world’s fastest payment processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. We use technology and expertise to make payments safe, simple and smart for everyone; we know safety and security are the top priorities for customers, cardholders and partners, so we are continuously committed to developing new and better ways to keep payments safe.
But, it is our commitment to meaningful innovation that really sets us apart. We use advances in technology to directly deal with challenges being faced by governments, policy makers, financial institutions, business and merchants as well as consumers. 
Q: How is Mastercard tackling other fintech companies?
Diversity in the financial sector is important to advancing the evolution of economies, and we view partnerships with fintechs as being an important part in meeting the various needs of people in Africa.
An example of our continued commitment to supporting start-ups in this technology sector, is our start-up engagement program <a href="https://www.startpath.com/">Start Path Global</a>, which works with startups to give them a platform to learn and grow – as well as to connect to our global network. We frequently call for submissions throughout the year from start-ups to apply for our program as there is a vibrant and talented community of start-ups in Africa. Additionally, our Lab for Financial Inclusion works with fintechs to develop sound market insight before developing solutions. This methodology is one shared by our entire business.
– Interviewed by Methil Renuka

Towards a cashless Africa

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(Reuters) &#8211; Budget airline Fastjet Plc said South African carrier Solenta would become a 28 percent shareholder in the company and that it would also raise at least $28.8 million through a share placement.
Africa-focused Fastjet said on Thursday it would buy a special purpose vehicle (SPV) held within the Solenta group by issuing nearly 95.6 million shares.
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The SPV has three wet-leased aircraft and the supply of other services over the next five years.
The share issue is priced at 16.3 pence each, representing a nearly 2 percent discount to Fastjet&#8217;s Wednesday close of 16.625 pence, the company said.
Fastjet said it would use the proceeds for working capital purposes, allowing it to implement new revenue generating measures and reach cash flow break-even by the fourth quarter of 2017.
The company said Solenta would have the right to nominate two members to its board.
Fastjet is looking to cut costs amid tough conditions in its home market, Tanzania. In March, it warned that it would no longer be cash flow-positive this year.
In November, Fastjet&#8217;s chairman resigned bowing to the pressure from its second largest investor to sack him for failing to relocate the airline&#8217;s head office quickly and criticised him for a high cost base.
 
(Reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
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Africa's budget airline Fastjet acquires new shareholder

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On Tuesday <a href="http://time.com/4620424/ian-bremmer-risk-report-top-10-risks/">TIME magazine</a> listed South Africa on its <a href="http://time.com/4620424/ian-bremmer-risk-report-top-10-risks/">Top 10 Risks to the World in 2017</a>. It described South Africa as a struggling nation with a deeply unpopular President who is afraid to pass power to someone he doesn’t trust. The ruling party &#8211; the ANC &#8211; will hold its elective conference in December this year ahead of national elections in 2019. The article warned that the resulting infighting over succession prevents momentum toward crucial economic reform and limits the country&#8217;s ability to offer leadership needed to stabilise conflicts inside neighbouring countries.
Also on <a href="http://time.com/4620424/ian-bremmer-risk-report-top-10-risks/">TIME magazine</a>﻿&#8217;s list was China overreacting to provocations from US-elect President Donald Trump, and a Power Vacuum in Europe left from the UK&#8217;s Brexit vote among other political events.Now all three countries stand to be downgraded by Moody’s in 2017.﻿﻿
LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Moody&#8217;s is likely to make key rating calls on Britain, China and South Africa among others this year as rising political risk and debt levels push the number of countries on a downgrade warning back to a record high.
From Europe&#8217;s Brexit strains and looming elections to the battles of China, South Africa and Brazil to re-orientate their economies, not to mention Donald Trump&#8217;s first months as U.S. president, the rating agency faces a daunting list of decisions.
&#8220;A quarter of the sovereigns are on a negative outlook, which is the highest proportion we&#8217;ve had since 2012,&#8221; the peak of the euro crisis, Alastair Wilson, Moody&#8217;s managing director of sovereign risk told Reuters in an interview.
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The immediate pressure may not be quite so &#8220;acute&#8221; but the geographic spread of the negative ratings is now much wider, he said, adding: &#8220;I think in some ways (that) is more concerning.&#8221;
Top names on the watch list include Britain, which Moody&#8217;s still rates at triple-A and euro zone heavyweight Baa2 Italy as well as Aa3 China, Baa2 South Africa, A3 Mexico and Ba2 Brazil.
Moody&#8217;s is due to review the UK on June 2 and then on September 22. By then formal EU divorce proceedings should have started and Wilson said the &#8220;mood music&#8221; of the talks should be enough to decide whether to strip London of its triple-A.
&#8220;Brexit is negative for the UK from a credit perspective, the question is how negative. We will only start to learn that over the next few months or year as the negotiations really pick up steam,&#8221; he said.
For Baa2 negative Italy, steps over the last couple of weeks to tackle its banking problems could be positive, though it may not be if more than the 20 billion euros set aside is needed.
Political uncertainty in Italy, including a constitutional court decision later this month and the potential for fresh elections in which the populist Five Star party could perform well, pose the other main risk.
&#8220;If we conclude that a party (that won elections) are likely to be able to articulate and achieve reforms, or at least not to reverse reforms, that will be credit positive, if not it will be negative,&#8221; Wilson said.
More broadly, any sign that the risk of a euro break-up is growing again would be highly damaging.
French election hopeful Marine Le Pen said on Wednesday France should leave the euro, while Italy&#8217;s Five Star has made similar noises, although such a possibility still appears remote.
&#8220;A country leaving the euro would be profoundly negative for sovereign creditors, therefore if we saw something that said to us this risk is rising&#8230; it would be negative for the rating,&#8221; said Wilson.
 
PRESSURE ON EMERGING ECONOMIES
China is another concern. It has been on a negative outlook since last March as it grapples with over-indebted state firms and over-heated big city property prices and heads towards a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle this year.
&#8220;The negative outlook is something that we will look at over the course of 2017,&#8221; Wilson said.
Beijing is facing a &#8220;trilemma&#8221; of wanting to sustain growth and financial and political stability, while also trying to reform a lop-sided economy, he said.
&#8220;The negative outlook reflects uncertainty. It reflects the concerns that actually the outcome (of Beijing&#8217;s policy actions) may be more supportive of growth and stability than reform, and that would be negative for China because it does need reform.&#8221;
Brazil must also push through reforms while other oil producing countries &#8211; Russia and Mexico are both on negative outlook &#8211; are still at risk despite the rebound in crude.
&#8220;If oil prices go to $70 a barrel I think I would still be saying the same thing, which is that the fundamentals of the industry haven&#8217;t changed,&#8221; he said.
South Africa is a key decision too. Moody&#8217;s rates it one notch higher at Baa2 than S&amp;P and Fitch, which have it on the last rung of &#8216;investment grade&#8217;.
&#8220;Certainly it&#8217;s fair to say (political) noise has risen in recent months, but that isn&#8217;t necessarily significant from a credit perspective.&#8221;
South Africa&#8217;s institutional strength had also been bolstered by a key court throwing out a recent fraud case against the country&#8217;s finance minister, Wilson added.
Possibly the biggest unknown for 2017, though, and one that fits the global political risk theme, is what impact Donald Trump will have when he takes over as U.S. president this month.
&#8220;We will watch and try to understand what will happen with policy. We might learn about that in the next few weeks, it might take us a few months,&#8221; Wilson said.
On the United States&#8217; AA+ stable rating, he added: &#8220;The institutions aren&#8217;t profoundly changed and the challenges are more to do with the government&#8217;s own balance sheet and what steps this administration takes to contain the growth of social security and healthcare liabilities.&#8221;
 
(Editing by Gareth Jones)
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Downgrade looms for this African country that is listed in TIME's Top 10 Risks to the World in 2017

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YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria has resumed payments of cash stipends to former militants agreed under a 2009 amnesty in the country&#8217;s Niger Delta oil hub, an official said on Thursday.
&#8220;Two months of the ex-militants stipends were paid yesterday&#8230;The rest of their stipends will be paid later in batches by (central bank) CBN,&#8221; said Piriye Kiyaramo, an officer in the Amnesty Office.
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He said the paid stipends covered August and September.
(Reporting by Tife Owolabi; writing by Ulf Laessing; editing by Jason Neely)
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Nigeria resumes payments to former Niger Delta militants: official

Why has Africa had so few women leaders? T<a href="http://www.theglobalcommunique.com/author/teresa-chirwa-ndanga/">eresa Chirwa-Ndanga</a>﻿ examines a new study by a lecturer in Public Administration at the University of Malawi <a href="https://www.cmi.no/publications/5794-the-joyce-banda-effect">Tiyesere Mercy Chikapa</a> and comes to some startling conclusions.﻿ Below is her article &#8211; it first appeared on <a href="http://www.theglobalcommunique.com/2016/12/africas-indecision-on-female-presidents/">The Global Communiqué</a>﻿ and is republished with its permission﻿.
The world had its first elected female leader in 1960 – Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike. Africa’s chance of an elected female president only came in 2006 when Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf contested in the presidential election and won. In 2015, Mauritius had its first elected female president, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, who was elected through a parliamentary vote.
Out of nine female heads of state and government that Africa has had, only these two secured an actual vote to lead their countries. The rest assumed their positions in acting capacities – which is probably why the fact that Africa has had up to nine female heads of state and government may be a surprise to any reader.
Malawi’s first female president Joyce Banda assumed office in 2012 after the death in office of an elected president, Bingu wa Mutharika. By virtue of having been the vice president at the time, the Constitution of Malawi granted her the mandate to govern for the rest of the presidential term. As a result of the constitutional directive, she served for two years – thereby being the longest time-period a female president has had to serve in an acting capacity in Africa. However, in 2014 during the election period in Malawi, Joyce Banda failed to garner sufficient votes to legitimize her mandate at the ballot box. She ranked third having secured only 18 percent of the total votes.
Female Heads of State around the World
Europe had its first democratically elected president in 1980 through Iceland’s Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who served until 1996. She remains the world’s longest serving female head of state.
Europe has produced the highest number of female heads of state and government. This is evidenced by the <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2016/rankings/">2016 Global Gender Gap</a> Index ranking, which reveals that six of the top ten stellar country performers are in Europe.
Other female leaders in the region have included <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/ireland">Ireland</a>’s Presidents Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, Finland’s President Tarja Kaarina Halonen, the <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/united-kingdom">United Kingdom</a>’s Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and currently Theresa May.
Europe’s comparatively exceptional performance with regards to gender parity, emanates from domesticating gender equality in its culture. Many European countries incorporate either party or legislative gender quotas in politics. Although parliamentary representation still remains relatively low, the rate has steadily improved. Over the years, the quota system has allowed female politicians a platform to showcase their capabilities, such that it is no longer uncommon for women to rise to the positions of heads of state and government.
Latin America has also produced a number of female heads of state and government, partly due to the gender quota system which has been a stepping stone for women’s political careers.
In Asia, there are cases where women have led their nations by virtue of family succession. In 1960, the world’s first female head of state, Sri Lanka’s Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was the widow of former Prime Minister, Solomon Bandaranaike who was assassinated in 1959. Her daughter Chandrika Kumaranatunga later served as president between 1994 – 2005. India’s Indira Gandhi was the daughter of the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Corazon Aquino of the Phillipines, was the wife of assassinated senator Benigno Ninoy Aquino, Jr. Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan’s 11th prime minister) was the daughter of former president and prime minister of the country.
Malawi does not have the gender quota system. The country has also not seen a considerable number of women rise from family traditions to take up leadership positions such as that of the presidency. Therefore, a female candidate wishing to run for the presidency in Malawi would need to seek her party’s approval through a party convention to be its presidential candidate and then only later contest in a presidential election.
But the situation was different for Joyce Banda, the country’s first female president. In 2012, then Vice President Banda suddenly found herself becoming a head of state following the death in office of President Bingu wa Mutharika. She assumed office at the height of economic turmoil in the country.
Within the two years of her tenure, Joyce Banda was able to ensure that fuel and foreign currency were available in the country – prior to her tenure, foreign currency was scarce and there was no stable supply of fuel. However, within the same two years, Joyce Banda also witnessed the worst financial scandal to ever hit Malawi. Many analysts have argued that this financial scandal cost her the presidency in the ensuing elections of 2014. Many have played down the fact that gender may have played a role, rightly so perhaps as opinion polls of women representation in Malawi indicate strong support for women’s political rights and for equal female representation in politics. <a href="http://afrobarometer.org/sites/default/files/publications/Dispatch/ab_r6_dispatchno14.pdf">A 2013 Afrobarometer</a> study indicated that 52 percent of respondents were in support of equal female representation.
But a new study by a lecturer in Public Administration at the University of Malawi <a href="https://www.cmi.no/publications/5794-the-joyce-banda-effect">Tiyesere Mercy Chikapa</a> suggests the opinion polls on equal female representation may not be accurate reflections of voters’ inner beliefs, which is why in Joyce Banda’s case, the voter could not give her another mandate to govern through the ballot.
“People are often unwilling or unable to report accurately on sensitive topics for ego defensive or impression management reasons, thus providing answers that the respondent believes are politically correct or socially acceptable,” writes Chikapa in a brief about her study conducted in 2014.
Chikapa’s study and conclusion makes a lot of sense and accurately reflects the dynamics that took place in Malawi in the case of Joyce Banda – where the standard to which she was subjected were higher as compared to those her male counterparts were subjected. For example, Joyce Banda was harshly judged and criticized for what is considered to be theft that took place (arising from the financial scandal) which occurred even under the Bingu wa Mutharika regime.
Instead, the Democratic Progressive Party which had put Malawians under a lot of suffering prior to Joyce Banda’s ascendancy to the presidency, just two years prior, was entrusted with the task of correcting Malawi’s problems once again in 2014.
The financial scandal under the first female president of Malawi made voters doubt a woman’s capabilities of being a leader. “This has made voters to believe that a woman cannot be a political leader,” stated a female respondent in Chiakapa’s study. Another male respondent said the following concerning Joyce Banda:
“What happened under the leadership of Joyce Banda made voters to doubt women’s capabilities. Broad day-light stealing to millions of kwacha (Malawi currency) made voters doubt women’s capabilities in leadership positions like that of members of parliament.”
Theft of public resources was not uncommon in Malawi under all the country’s presidents. While the magnitude of the theft may be a question for debate, the corruption and theft of these resources in the previous regimes under male presidents did not turn out to be a blanket conclusion of failure by men to govern. Furthermore, other male candidates who vied for political office such as that of a member of parliament were not branded as failures for the underperformance of a previous male presidents.
Following from what has been dubbed the ‘underperformance’ of Joyce Banda, the number of female candidates who made it during the parliamentary race tumbled. It dropped from 22.3 percent to the current 16.7 percent, in what Chikapa’s study terms as the ‘Joyce Banda effect’.
Certainly in Malawi’s scenario, a female leader’s failures were tied to her sex and furthermore, fellow female candidates received a backlash, simply for being female candidates at the same time a female president had not performed to expectation, a scenario only unique to female.
Any future for female presidential candidates in Africa?
I admire the courage and zeal of my former schoolmate at Harvard Kennedy School Fadumo Dayib who is running for presidency in Somalia, a country largely built on Islamic beliefs. In this year’s election which was supposed to be the first democratic poll, only about 14, 000 people, representing the country’s clans, are to cast their votes to choose representatives for both the lower house, which together with the upper house will choose a president.
Dayib confessed to Foreign Policy’s online publication that in the current scenario her chances of winning were very slim. I agree.
Somalia’s first female presidential candidate would have a chance in two scenarios; either in a parliamentary system that does not use the clan system or where the gender quotas have been effectively implemented over a long period of time.
The first option may work best for female presidential aspirants in Africa. Just as it has worked in Mauritius for Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, that country’s first female president who took office on June 5, 2015. In such a parliamentary system, women vying for presidential office would mostly struggle at getting their party’s nod to lead their respective political parties. Past that stage, it may be much easier to win the parliamentary vote as long as their political party has a strong representation in the house.
Conversely, the presidential system will remain the toughest for female candidates in Africa to make a breakthrough. Here they would be dealing with multitudes whose attitudes and opinions about women and women leaders may be shaped by societal stereotypes of this gender. Such attitudes, in patriarchal societies in Africa, are difficult to change.
It is true of course that gender quotas, both legislative and party quotas, have largely helped to boost the female representation in elected offices. Rwanda has been a leading example, not only in Africa but across the world. Women constitute 63 percent of the lower house’s representation in Rwanda’s parliament – the highest in the world. The gender quota system is also practiced in a number of Southern African countries including Burundi, Eritrea, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Angola. This generally has helped women’s visibility and as a result has the propensity to change societal perceptions on female leaders, particularly as it relates to African countries’ patriarchal nature. The gender quota system, notwithstanding its positives, it is yet to position women in becoming competitive presidential candidates to reckon with.
In the meantime, the parliamentary system presents best chances for women in Africa to take up heads of state positions.﻿

Where are Africa's women leaders?

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KAMPALA (Reuters) &#8211; A group of Ugandan lawmakers have sent a petition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ask for an investigation into possible atrocities by security forces when they clashed with a tribal militia late last year.
According to an official toll, 62 people were killed in November when a combined force of soldiers and police officers clashed with a tribal leader&#8217;s guards in the Rwenzori region near Uganda&#8217;s western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
William Nzoghu, a legislator from the area and one of six members of parliament who sent the petition, said the number of people killed exceeded 200 and that police and the army &#8220;jointly committed a genocide and crimes against humanity&#8221;.
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&#8220;We are saying let the ICC come and investigate,&#8221; he told Reuters late on Wednesday.
The area, which has been beset by unrest in recent years, often votes for the opposition in general elections.
Critics of the 72-year-old, long-standing president, Yoweri Museveni, accuse his government of deliberately stoking violence in the region as retribution for its residents&#8217; rejection of his ruling party candidates.
In an emailed response, the ICC&#8217;s Office of the Prosecutor told Reuters it had received the petition and that it would announce a decision in &#8220;due course&#8221;.
Rights group Amnesty International said that during the clashes several people appeared to have been &#8220;summarily shot dead and their bodies dumped&#8221;. It described the killings as extrajudicial.
The tribal leader, Charles Wesley Mumbere, was arrested at the time and subsequently charged with treason, murder and other crimes. Scores of his guards were also detained.
At a court appearance, some of them &#8211; bearing open wounds on visible parts of their bodies &#8211; alleged torture by security forces and said they had been denied medical attention.
Security officials reject claims that the Rwenzori area is being deliberately destabilised, and instead accuse Mumbere and others in the area of seeking to secede from Uganda.
In the last general election in February 2015, the Rwenzori region heavily favoured Kiiza Besigye, Museveni&#8217;s main opponent.
Electoral officials declared Museveni, in power since 1986, the winner but Besigye rejected the results and says he won.
The east African country has many tribal leaders who largely hold ceremonial roles, though they also wield considerable social influence in their respective areas.
 
(Additional reporting by Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam; Editing by Aaron Maasho and Louise Ireland)
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Ugandan lawmakers petition International Criminal Court

<h1>South Africans are poring over the latest set of <a href="http://www.enca.com/south-africa/2016-matric-results-by-numbers">matric results</a> which show how the country’s school leavers performed in their final exams after 12 years of formal schooling. Nearly 718 000 people wrote the exams and 72.5% of them passed – a small increase on last year.</h1>
The results always generate a great deal of debate – and often anger. The Conversation Africa’s education editor Natasha Joseph asked Associate Professor Elizabeth Walton to explain the results and why it’s crucial to remember the young people behind the numbers.
There’s a huge focus on matric results every year, particularly on the national pass rate. Is this a useful obsession?
I am not convinced that this annual obsession with matric results is productive. The national pass rate is a very blunt instrument with which to dissect South Africa’s very complex educational problems. The national pass rate obscures important differences in provincial achievements, the urban/rural divide and the unequal outcomes for learners in poorer schools.
It also does not tell us much about the quality of the passes, nor about the subjects taken. The national pass rate also reflects only the learners who sat the exam. It does not take into account the <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Publications/General%20Household%20Survey%202013.pdf?ver=2015-07-07-111309-287">numbers of early school leavers</a> who did not make it to matric.
This year the <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Newsroom/Speeches/tabid/950/ctl/Details/mid/3816/ItemID/4238/Default.aspx">announcement</a> by Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, showed 828 020 candidates registered for the examinations. But only 717 971 – full time and part time – actually wrote the exams. This means that more than 100 000 learners made it to grade 12, but fell before the final hurdle.
Is a final set of exams at the end of 12 years of schooling the best way for South Africa to judge pupils’ readiness for entering the world of work or continuing on to tertiary education? What other options exist?
Many education systems around the world combine a school-based assessment component with some external standardised assessment as a school leaving qualification. But it seems to me that we should not be looking at a major change at this stage. The system needs to settle and mature. I do think, though, it would be good to revisit South African academic Professor Stephanie Allais’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-should-scrap-simple-pass-or-fail-exam-results-for-school-leavers-34928">proposal</a> that the current pass or fail system be scrapped.
She suggests that learners should instead be allowed to complete grade 12 with a basket of subjects and results which could then be presented to an employer or institution of higher learning. This would shift the focus from the national pass rate to the enrolment and results of individual subjects. It might also mean that schools could be less concerned with an overall school pass rate and rather focus on subject-level improvement over time.
It is possible to improve a school’s pass rate without actually improving teaching and learning; for example by finding ways to exclude learners who may compromise a school’s results, or by not offering subjects that are perceived to be difficult, like maths and physical science.
I also think we need to be realistic in terms of what we expect a matric qualification to signal. The minister of basic education has <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Newsroom/Speeches/tabid/950/ctl/Details/mid/3816/ItemID/4238/Default.aspx">noted</a> that it is an exit qualification and not primarily a tool for evaluating the progress of the system.
For those who are not looking to pursue further education, a matric certificate is expected to provide proof of preparation for the world of work. Others expect it provide evidence of the foundations of academic literacy and subject competence that will enable success in higher learning. These expectations are not always compatible with what South Africans regard as “basic education”.
To address this “one-size-fits-all” matric, the Department of Basic Education has <a href="http://www.gov.za/speeches/basic-education-department-briefs-portfolio-committee-skills-revolution-15-mar-2016-0000">proposed</a> a three stream education system with an Academic Stream, a Technical Vocational Stream and a Technical Occupational Stream. This is expected to address the problem of early school leaving and prepare learners for the world of work.
Maths and science results often get the most attention. They are obviously important “canaries in the coal mine” that point to the system’s overall health. But are there subjects that deserve more attention and whose results can paint a picture of what’s going wrong – or right?
I think it is vital that maths and science retain our attention, for several reasons. These are gateway subjects for the science, technology, engineering and maths occupations South Africa <a href="http://www.dhet.gov.za/Gazette/Government%20Gazette%20No%2039604,%2019%20January%202016.%20List%20of%20Occupations%20in%20High%20Demand%202015.pdf">urgently needs</a> to develop. They’re also subjects that bear huge scars of apartheid’s legacy.
They also build sequentially: poor foundations are not easily addressed by late interventions. Having said that I do think that languages, particularly indigenous African languages, also need our focus to secure their growth and development. The introduction of <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=RMnJX-XwQYE%3d&amp;tabid=420&amp;portalid=0&amp;mid=2373">South African Sign Language</a> as a home language examined at matric level is a definite success story.
What if you’re a young person who’s failed matric? What’s your best option?
This is an important question, because any analysis of the matric results must hold in tension the system and the individual. We cannot ignore the fact that there are real young people with hopes and dreams behind all the numbers. Failure is devastating – particularly in the face of a trend that sees South Africans celebrating individual “top achievers” in newspapers and at prestigious events.
I think we should be wary of this. It assumes that success at school is purely the result of individual effort and ability. Those who don’t succeed are <a href="http://randburgsun.co.za/311238/update-public-shocked-by-lowered-maths-pass-rate/">presumed to be lazy</a> and disinterested in education. These celebrations convey the message that everyone is equally positioned to succeed in a meritocratic process.
In fact, educational success in South Africa has much to do with <a href="http://ci.org.za/depts/ci/pubs/pdf/general/gauge2015/Child_Gauge_2015-Schooling.pdf">household income</a>, the <a href="/www.ekon.sun.ac.za/wpapers/2007/wp162007/wp-16-2007.pdf">location of the school </a> and good early childhood and foundation phase <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&amp;pid=S2223-76822015000200003">education opportunities</a>.
Some learners will be upset because they expected to do well; this sometimes happens when the demands of school-based assessment have not been as rigorous as the <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Curriculum/NationalSeniorCertificate(NSC)Examinations.aspx">National Senior Certificate</a> exams set by the Department of Basic Education.
There are opportunities to rewrite through the department’s <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Curriculum/NationalSeniorCertificate(NSC)Examinations/SecondChanceProgramme/tabid/956/Default.aspx">Second Chance Programme </a>. Learners should also seek <a href="http://lifelinesa.co.za/">counselling support</a> for persistent feelings of hopelessness.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/70853/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" height="1" alt="The Conversation"/>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-walton-163782">Elizabeth Walton</a>, Associate professor, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-witwatersrand-894">University of the Witwatersrand</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-caution-is-called-for-when-analysing-south-africas-matric-results-70853">original article</a>.

Why SA's annual obsession with matric results is not productive

Abebe Aemro Selassie was appointed as the African Department Director of the International Monetary Fund﻿ (IMF) in 2016. He reflects on his vision for the IMF in Africa, the challenges of the continent, why Sub-Saharan Africa has immense economical potential and finally gives advice to those who may want to emulate such a public career.
Q: Upon your appointment, [the Managing Director of the IMF Christine] Lagarde said the “IMF remains deeply committed to serving our members in Africa”. Tell me [about] the role of the IMF in Africa.
Aemro Selassie: Sub-Saharan Africa remains a region of great importance for the IMF. We work closely with the authorities in the region as they address their development challenges and promote strong, durable and inclusive growth. Our support takes the form of policy advice, financial support (where needed), and capacity development.
As elsewhere, the IMF maintains a close policy dialogue with all its members in Sub-Saharan Africa on broad macroeconomic issues, such fiscal and monetary policies, inflation, or balance-of-payments developments. Of course, we adapt our advice to each country’s specific circumstances, including for countries in the region on ways to foster sustainable growth that benefits the entire population and gradually improves standards of living.
The Fund also provides financial assistance, mostly on concessional terms, when financing needs arise. This is typically in the context of an economic programme geared at achieving macroeconomic stability and fostering economic resilience. At present, 18 countries in the region have such programmes, with access to a total amount of over US$4.5 billion in balance of payments support from the IMF. Fund programmes also play a catalytic role in mobilizing financial assistance from other international financial institutions or bilateral donors.
One aspect of our work with the authorities in the region that is not well known—but is nonetheless of critical importance—is technical assistance and training. There, our experts provide recommendations in very specific areas to improve the impact and implementation of economic decisions. This covers a wide range of topics, from, for example, helping draft new tax laws, to training civil servants, or reforming policy frameworks.
Last year [2015], Sub-Saharan Africa received the largest share, about 40 percent, of all technical assistance provided by the IMF across the globe. Increasingly, it is being provided through the five technical assistance centres located in the region. Through these efforts, the IMF is helping African countries build administrative and governance capacity in areas such as public expenditure management, revenue mobilisation, and monetary and exchange rate policy
Q: You are described as someone that can bring a “unique blend of extensive knowledge and experiences” to your new role. You are known to have a wide array of experience in the private and public sector. Tell me about yourself?
Aemro Selassie: Early in my career, I did a stint in the private sector working on sovereign credit risk issues for the Economist Intelligence Unit. Following this, in 1992 I moved back to Addis Ababa to work as an adviser in the Office of the President for a few years, an experience I found greatly enriching and gratifying.
In late 1994, I joined the IMF where, over the years, I have had the opportunity to work on a wide-range of countries and assignments. To give you a flavour, the countries I have worked on directly include Kenya, Mauritius, Estonia, Iran, Poland, Romania, Thailand, and Turkey. Later, I was mission chief for South Africa and, most recently, Portugal during the Eurozone crisis. I also was the Fund’s Senior Resident Representative in Uganda between 2006 and 2009, an assignment that I enjoyed immensely.
In addition to country work, I have also always been attracted by policy and programme design issues and worked on those quite a bit. And I always enjoyed research, in particular when it is geared towards informing policy advice, for example during my time as the Head of the African Department’s Regional Studies Division.
Q: What do you think are some of the challenges of the continent and how is the IMF helping to tackle them?
Aemro Selassie: Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are facing very difficult challenges at the moment. In fact, after a decade and a half of very robust growth, economic momentum in the region has weakened markedly, and growth this [2016] year looks set to slow to its lowest level in more than 20 years, at 1½ percent, well below population growth.
Two broad factors help explain this deceleration. First, the external environment facing many of the region’s countries has deteriorated, notably with commodity prices at multi-year lows and financing conditions markedly tighter. But, as importantly, the policy response in many of the countries most affected by these shocks has been much delayed and incomplete, raising uncertainty, deterring private investment and stifling new sources of growth.
This aggregate picture, however, masks considerable heterogeneity, and the full picture is more one of multi-speed growth. Commodity exporters, in particular oil exporters are under a severe economic strain, including the region’s three largest countries, Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa. But it is also important to keep in mind that most of the countries that do not rely substantially on commodities for their export earnings—about half of the countries in the region—perform well, as low oil prices, an improved business environment, and strong infrastructure investment continue to support their strong growth momentum. This group includes the likes of Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Tanzania where economic output is set to expand by six percent or more this year [2016].
Q: What are some of the policy reforms needed to address these challenges?
Aemro Selassie: The hardest-hit countries, especially oil exporters, need to act promptly as the adverse external environment is set to endure and their buffers have been exhausted. In these countries, a growth rebound will require strong economic reforms to re-establish macroeconomic stability. This implies fully allowing the exchange rate to absorb external pressures in countries outside monetary unions (such as Angola and Nigeria), coupled with strong and orderly fiscal consolidation, and a tighter monetary policy stance focused on containing inflation. For countries within monetary unions (such as oil exporters in the Central African Economic and monetary Community (CEMAC)), the fiscal reforms required to deal with the shock are likely to be considerably greater still and central bank financing of excessive fiscal deficits should be sharply curtailed to safeguard the credibility of their currency arrangements.
A few words are also in order about the countries in the region that are continuing to sustain strong growth. In many cases, despite the strong growth outcomes of recent years, fiscal deficits have been widening and debt levels have started to increase. To a large extent, this reflects stepped-up development spending. While policy action is not as urgent as for the hardest-hit countries, here too, with few exceptions, there is a need to strike a better balance between increased investment spending needs and debt sustainability considerations. In this respect, reforms to increase revenue mobilization would be particularly helpful.
Meanwhile, the IMF stands ready to provide financial support to countries in the region that request it. Indeed, if accompanying reforms are anchored in a credible medium-term framework and supported by that type of concessional financing, the pace of adjustment can be made more gradual attenuating the near-term growth impact significantly.
Let me end by saying that Sub-Saharan Africa remains a region of immense economic potential. But in some cases, this potential is being stymied by elevated macroeconomic imbalances and rising policy uncertainty. Addressing this challenge promptly and forcefully will be very important in the coming months.
Q: You were the head of the effort of the IMF during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. What were some of the highlights?
Aemro Selassie: Time was of the essence in responding to the Ebola outbreak. As the severity of the Ebola outbreak became apparent in July/August 2015, we worked with the governments of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to quickly assess the macroeconomic implications and the required policy response. It made sense for countries to expand their budget deficits to fight the outbreak.
And given these countries’ limited access to market financing, we also needed to help address the large financing gaps that they faced. Under expedited procedures, the Fund moved quickly to provide US$130 million zero-interest financing as early as September 2014 to the three affected countries. This was followed with a further US$160 million zero interest financing in early 2015. In addition, we granted the three countries a further US$100 million in debt relief.
The IMF is generally only associated with austerity policies. I think the work we did in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone showed us moving very rapidly to support our member countries in their hour of need.
Q: To a young African who is intent on a career in public service such as yours, what advise do you have for them?
Aemro Selassie: I am not sure how well-suited I am to answer this question. In many ways, I have had the good fortune of being given the opportunity to work with great people, from whom I learned much.
The one thing that I did do, and which possibly helped at the margin, is to read a lot. I have always loved reading, a habit that I am very grateful to my mother for helping me sustain when I was very young. Growing up in Ethiopia in the late 1970s and early 1980s, books were very expensive and difficult to get hold off. She would buy me as many books as were available and I also did whatever I could to find some on my own—sometimes stuff that was way too complex for a 12-13 year-old (a battered copy of Das Kapital, for example). This love of reading has luckily stayed with me and allows me to broaden my thinking and cultural perspectives.﻿
*<a style="font-family: 'Noto Serif', serif; font-size: 2em; font-weight: bold;" href="https://twitter.com/GetachewS" class="ProfileHeaderCard-nameLink u-textInheritColor js-nav">Samuel Getachew</a> is an Ethiopian &#8211; Canadian. Based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and is currently with Addis Fortune newspaper.

IMF's African Department Director Abebe Aemro Selassie's vision for Africa

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KIAMAIKO, Kenya, Jan 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Dressed in a white apron and black gum boots, 24-year-old Osman Idris waits patiently outside a Nairobi slaughterhouse as scores of customers stream past in search of fresh meat.
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A delivery man, Idris is just one of many residents of Kiamaiko, a slum 12 kms northeast of the Kenyan capital, who is making a decent living from its thriving trade in goat meat.
Unlike the majority of Kenyan slums where unemployment, insecurity and crime are rife, Kiamaiko has seen more jobs and small businesses flourish as a result of the goat market.
&#8220;Most of us here depend on these slaughterhouses for a living, it&#8217;s our daily hustle,&#8221; said Idris, his eyes searching for clients who might need his services.
Nearly 1 billion people live in slums where their survival often depends on the informal economy &#8211; activities such as hawking clothes, food and other goods on the street that do not fully comply with tax or labour market regulations.
The United Nations says improving transport, sanitation, hospitals and schools is imperative in slums, but authorities must also work to integrate shanty towns and their informal economies into their cities.
Success will require policies to address the problems faced by slum dwellers and their businesses including a lack of documents to prove land or property ownership which allows re-sale or loans, according to a senior official at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
&#8220;Given its size and importance, the informal economy is a fundamental element of accelerating Africa&#8217;s long term vision for development,&#8221; said Edlam Abera Yemeru, a UNECA specialist on urbanisation policies.
 
RISING COST OF RENT
UNECA estimates that overall nearly 70 percent of workers in sub-Saharan Africa are engaged in the informal economy.
Increasingly, African governments are exploring new ways to slash red tape and help legalise micro-businesses to give slum dwellers a legitimate income to invest and improve their lives &#8211; while creating a new taxation stream for city administrations, experts say.
Africa&#8217;s population of slum dwellers is expected to rapidly increase in the coming years with United Nations projecting that around 187 million more Africans will live in cities in the next decade, boosting both formal and informal urban economies.
In Kiamaiko residents say the goat market has transformed the sprawling slum &#8211; once notorious for guns and young, violent thugs &#8211; and even attracted investment.
&#8220;The slum used to be very risky,&#8221; Idris told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve witnessed countless muggings here before, but since the slaughterhouses started expanding they have opened up job opportunities for youths thus helping reduce cases of crime and violence.&#8221;
The growth of the goat market has led to other businesses opening their doors from car wash points to barber shops, fruit and vegetable stores to money transfer services and even recreation centres, locals say.
But not all residents are happy.
In some areas, the cost of rent has soared placing pressure on poorer families to leave their neighbourhoods in search of cheaper housing further away from Nairobi&#8217;s peripheral settlements and potential jobs.
&#8220;We can no longer afford to pay rent here. The rent has surged ten-fold and only those that can afford a year&#8217;s rent in advance are favoured by the landlords,&#8221; said Macharia Karanja, a mechanic who has lived in the slum for the last 10 years.
 
JOBS MEAN SERVICES
Karanja says he and many other young men have become trapped in a vicious cycle of low incomes and family responsibilities at a young age.
&#8220;Most of the traders in the slaughterhouse business have bought ghetto houses and converted them into two to three storey buildings which have become unaffordable,&#8221; he said.
While some residents have been forced out of Kiamaiko, others like Abdul Hassan are happy wealthier new tenants can afford services such as garbage collection and security.
&#8220;At least tenants from these high-end houses don&#8217;t give us headaches like those in ghettos. They are very co-operative when it comes to paying our services,&#8221; said Hassan, a member of a self-help group that collects garbage in the area.
Kiamaiko&#8217;s fast-growing slum economy has also started to attract investors, residents say.
&#8220;The slum has become safer, less risky and more attractive to outside investors,&#8221; said John Kibichu, a beer distributor.
&#8220;The local environment has made it possible for businesses to operate 24 hours a day and traders are all keen to grab a share of the revenue generated in this slum&#8221;. (Reporting by Shadrack Kavilu, Editing by Paola Totaro and Katie Nguyen.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
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© Thomson Reuters 2017 All rights reserved﻿

The goat slaughterhouse that's driving a Kenyan slum's economy

A recently <a style="font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 400;" href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6317/1288.full">published study</a> on the long-run effects of mobile money on economic outcomes in Kenya provides some valuable insights that will benefit economic development and financial inclusion policies across Africa.
The study found that increased access to mobile money has reduced poverty in Kenya, particularly among female-headed households. Rapid expansion of mobile money has lifted an estimated 2% of Kenyan households (some 194,000) out of extreme poverty. It has also enabled 185,000 women to move out of subsistence farming and into business or sales occupations.
Mobile money is a form of electronic money that allows you to conduct financial transactions using <a href="http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/research-projects/mobile-money/mobile-survey-leapfrogging-3.pdf">your mobile phone</a>. It allows financial services to be extended to unbanked people at a significantly lower cost because physical infrastructure isn’t needed.
Mobile phone penetration is rising across sub-Saharan Africa, with <a href="http://databank.worldbank.org/data/">almost 76%</a> of the population having a mobile phone subscription. The growth in mobile phone ownership raises the potential for mobile money to reach unbanked people, providing them with a more affordable payments system.
M-PESA, Africa’s first mobile money platform, was launched by Safaricom in Kenya in 2007. The service was designed to enable remittances to be sent home, and has enjoyed widespread adoption. Today <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6317/1288.full">96% of households</a> outside Nairobi have at least one M-PESA account.
<h2>Poverty reduction</h2>
The impact on poverty reduction appears to be the result of improved financial behaviour – by facilitating easier and safer savings – and changes in the occupational choice of users.
Mobile wallets offer a secure place to save as funds are stored virtually. And both the mobile money facility and the mobile phone can be password-protected. Savings can be used during hard times or for productive investments, like establishing or expanding a small business.
Before mobile money the transaction costs of sending money over large distances were high. This was true both in terms of time as well as the financial resources needed to effect transactions.
High transaction costs meant that households were limited to forming risk sharing networks with others in close proximity. This reduced the effectiveness of informal risk sharing as all households in the network were vulnerable to experiencing the same shocks at the same time. Examples of shocks that could affect an entire community include droughts, fires, crop or livestock diseases and floods.
Mobile money enables quicker, cheaper and more reliable money transfers over greater distances. In turn, this has allowed mobile money users to diversify their informal risk-sharing networks and draw on a wider network of social support.
<h2>Impact of M-PESA</h2>
M-PESA has significantly reduced transaction costs in Kenya. When it was launched the average distance to the nearest bank was 9.2 kilometres. Eight years later in 2015 the average distance to the nearest M-PESA agent <a href="https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/1.-Sarah-Logan.pdf">was a mere 1.4km</a>.
When M-PESA started it created a network of agents that were geographically dispersed which meant that more people in rural and sparsely populated areas were within reach of one. This resulted in significant and widespread adoption.
Now that mobile money users are able to form more diverse risk-sharing networks, it’s not surprising that users, compared with non-users, tend to receive more remittances from more people. This is particularly marked when users are responding to negative shocks.
Mobile money users are therefore more financially resilient and can protect themselves better against economic and other shocks. It also allows them to increase their consumption in bad times. This is key to enabling households to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
The recent findings also show that in areas that have experienced large increases in access to mobile money people were more likely to be working in business or sales rather than in subsistence farming. Additionally, fewer people in these areas reported having secondary occupations.
Both these findings were seen to be particularly true for women. This was found to be true in female-headed households as well as male-headed households. An estimated 185,000 women have been induced to switch from subsistence farming to business or sales as their primary occupation as a result of mobile money access.
That mobile money has a positive impact on economic outcomes for women is particularly notable when seen against some historical studies on related subjects. For example, studies on the impact of micro-finance on female clients, and on the economic returns to capital grants for female-operated small businesses, <a href="http://qje.oxfordjournals.org/content/123/4/1329.full.pdf+html">have tended to show limited results</a>.
This may reveal something crucial. For women, the route out of poverty may be financial inclusion that allows them to better manage their existing financial resources, rather than increasing their financial resources from credit or grants.
This finding has significant implications for policy and poverty-reduction efforts.
<h2>More to come</h2>
As other products built on mobile money platforms are developed, financial inclusion is deepened and users are empowered to improve the management of their financial resources.
Other products allow users to, for example, earn interest on savings, <a>access micro-loans and affordable insurance</a>, and <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/business/M-Akiba-bond-set-to-trade-next-month/996-3373352-r96f7b/">invest in government securities</a>.
Mobile money has been transformational in Kenya, and has the potential to similarly benefit the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/70432/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" height="1" alt="The Conversation"/>
*<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sarah-logan-235944">Sarah Logan</a>, Economist, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/international-growth-centre-2530">International Growth Centre</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/study-provides-fresh-insights-into-the-benefits-of-mobile-money-in-kenya-70432">original article</a>.

M-pesa has completely transformed Kenya's economy, this is how…

On Tuesday, December 20, the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) published official results of the legislative election held on Sunday, December 18.
President Alassane Ouattara’s coalition, the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), obtained an outright majority: 167 seats out of 254 elected (the National Assembly has 255 seats, but one constituency is to run a by-election early in January).
Official turnout was 34.1% compared to 36.6% in 2011.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/media/19293630/ivory_coast_legislative_election_results.png" width="248" height="162" alt="Ivory Coast Legislative Election Results"/>﻿ 
This is a relief for Ouattara who now has a clear legislative majority to work with until his current term in office ends in 2020.
The RHDP is a coalition between Ouattara’s Rally of the Republicans (RDR) and the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) of ex-President Henri Konan Bédié.
The formation of this coalition, as we wrote ahead of the election, left many unlucky contenders dissatisfied, and many of these – the largest number ever in an Ivoirian election – ran as independents. And many were successful: 75 independents were elected on Sunday, making them the second-largest bloc in Parliament.
It is to be expected, however, that some of the independents will ultimately join the RHDP’s majority caucus for the benefits in terms of committee jobs that that would bring.
Two smaller parties, the Union for Democracy and Peace in the Ivory Coast (UDPCI) and the Union for the Ivory Coast (UPCI) got six and three seats, respectively: below the threshold of eight seats required to form a parliamentary group.
We think they, too, will look favourably on offers from the RHDP.
The opposition Ivoirian Popular Front (FPI) suffered a nasty disappointment: the former ruling party of ex-President Laurent Gbagbo won only three seats in the National Assembly, for 187 candidates. Pascal Affi N’Guessan, the party leader who urged participation, won his constituency.
The poor showing will weaken Mr Affi in relation to his rival party leader, Aboudramane Sangaré, who urged a boycott (which seems to have been fairly successful judging from the low turnout). 
The RHDP did better than we were expecting, and the FPI worse; although it should be noted that the RHDP’s total of 167 is smaller than the total of 204 achieved separately by its constituent parties, the RDR and PDCI, in 2011 when the FPI was boycotting.
The process of forming the RHDP has made the structure weaker, and, while Mr Ouattara has an advantage right now, we think rivalries and resentments will become more important as the 2020 presidential election comes closer and ambitious rivals start planning their runs in earnest.
Over the medium-term, the president’s legislative clout is reason to expect further streamlining of the business and investment environment, which is positive for the economy.
﻿

Op-Ed: How to read Côte d'Ivoire's legislative election results

It’s difficult to comprehend the pain and heartache that Rwandans have endured. Their courage and commitment led to a nomination for FORBES AFRICA’s Person of the Year. The article below tells their story, it first appeared in Forbes Africa and is republished with its permission. Subscribe today by contacting Shanna Jacobsen <a href="mailto:Shanna.Jacobsen@abn360.com">Shanna.Jacobsen@abn360.com</a>﻿﻿
Rwanda’s pursuit for social and economic development has often seen it swimming against the tide.
The country’s progress, and ambition, comes despite the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi – which claimed over a million lives and divided a nation.
The small country isn’t blessed with a plethora of natural resources, but with a population of more than 11 million it is one of the most densely populated nations in Africa.
Despite facing unenviable odds, there is not much that can unravel the country’s resolve to achieve middle income status by 2020, become a regional hub for East Africa and improve the living conditions of its citizens.
Rwanda’s to-do list for the last 22 years has included tasks such as reconciling the country, inviting back the hundreds of thousands who fled as refugees, and building investor confidence.
To do this, the people of Rwanda developed home grown solutions that were tailored to the country’s needs and challenges.
Dispensing justice was the first course of action and it was no small task. With millions of victims and just as many perpetrators, it would have taken an eternity for conventional courts to solve.
The people of Rwanda addressed this challenge through gacaca, a community court system with cultural origins. Despite having not been tried elsewhere in the world before, the gacaca system was able to try about two million cases in less than 10 years. It consequently resulted in a more harmonious society.
Social cohesion, unity and partnership was also fostered through Umuganda, the monthly community work which brings together people of all walks of life together to help solve problems.
READ: <a href="/news/east-africa/2017/01/03/tanzanias-president-john-magufuli-the-bulldozer/">Tanzania’s President John Magufuli: The bulldozer crushing corruption</a>﻿
The genocide also left a section of the population poor. More tailored solutions were rolled out to alleviate that, ranging from Girinka, the one cow per family project, to Ubudehe, which offers support for rural communities.
For transparency, and to keep leaders accountable to citizens, the people of Rwanda developed Imihigo. This requires leaders to sign annual performance contracts.
By tackling tough challenges in the last 22 years, Rwandans have gained the courage and self-belief to work towards and achieve goals which seemed impossible before.
This pursuit of what has at times been perceived as impossible has seen the country have the world’s largest female representation in parliament, which has driven inclusiveness and empowered previously marginalized groups.
The country that was seen as a failed state has become a hub for international business. In 2016, Rwanda hosted the World Economic Forum on Africa, the African Union Summit, the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN), the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, The Global African Investment Summit, among others.
All of these international events have opened Kigali to the world, while the warmth and hospitality of Rwandans has seen visitors returning for business and leisure. Major investments have followed to keep the momentum of the country’s growth and are likely to eventually see the country rid itself off any donor dependence.
READ: <a href="/news/east-africa/2017/01/03/rwanda-roads-expansion-project/">Rwanda&#8217;s $76 million road expansion project to commence</a>﻿
On the eve of the African Union Summit, the Kigali Convention Centre opened its doors after years of construction. The structure, which is East Africa’s largest conference facility, is a sign of resilience, ambition and innovation.
And the convention centre is just one of many infrastructure goals. In September, the government announced the commencement of construction of Bugesera International Airport, which will allow it to handle about 1.7 million passengers a year.
READ: <a href="/news/east-africa/2016/12/22/volkswagen-takes-to-the-east/">Volkswagen to open plants in Kenya, Rwanda &#8211; CNBC Africa﻿</a>
The country’s national carrier, RwandAir, is also expanding, having already acquired its first A330-200 Airbus and awaiting delivery of another A330-300 Airbus. This will see the airline serve African destinations as well as the United States and Britain in 2017.
There are many things to admire about Rwanda, but the resilience and innovation of its people surely tops the list.  ﻿

How Rwanda changed its destiny

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Beauty giant <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/OR-FR" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="27675" data-inline-quote-symbol="OR-FR">L&#8217;Oreal</a> has launched a &#8220;smart&#8221; internet-connected hairbrush that analyses users&#8217; hair type and recommends products accordingly.
Sensors on the hairbrush count strokes, determine whether the hair is dry or wet and analyze the force used when brushing. It even includes a microphone that listens to the sound of hair brushing, to provide &#8220;insights into manageability, frizziness, dryness, split ends and breakage,&#8221; L&#8217;Oreal said in a statement on its website.
The brush will send information via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to a mobile app, and will also take into account humidity, temperature and wind, and will produce a quality score, ranking hair for damage, breakage, tangling and dryness. It will then provide hair tips and recommend L&#8217;Oreal&#8217;s Kérastase products.
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<div class="embed-container image" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/media/19293261/loreal.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="Loreal"/>﻿</div>
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The French cosmetics group claims the device – known as the Kérastase Hair Coach Powered by Withings &#8211; is &#8220;the world&#8217;s first-ever smart hairbrush.&#8221; It was launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week and will be available in salons and online for under $200 from mid-2017. Technology company Withings makes health products including activity and sleep trackers, air quality monitors and wireless blood pressure monitors. <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/26/nokia-buys-wearable-health-firm-withings-for-191-million.html" target="_blank">It was bought by Nokia in May 2016 for $191 million</a>.
&#8220;Technology is transforming consumers&#8217; daily beauty routines, and smart devices have huge potential to impact how we care for our hair and skin,&#8221; said Guive Balooch, global vice president of L&#8217;Oréal&#8217;s Research and Innovation Technology Incubator.
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&#8220;By using connected technologies to upgrade the hairbrush — something the average consumer uses every day — Withings and Kérastase have reinvented what a person&#8217;s relationship with their hair can look like and are showing how connected devices can revolutionize the beauty industry.&#8221;
The connected brush is part of the &#8220;Internet of Things&#8221; trend, where products are able to communicate with each other, with companies and with consumers via their smartphones. IoT products and services attracted nearly<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/01/an-internet-of-things-that-will-number-ten-billions.html" target="_blank">$7.5 billion in investment between 2010 and 2015 according to analysis by CB Insights</a>.
Kérastase is one of L&#8217;Oreal&#8217;s premium hair care brands, where a &#8220;bain volumifique&#8221; shampoo costs $41 and an &#8220;elixir ultime&#8221; hair mask retails for $65 via its website.﻿
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L'Oreal just created a smart brush that 'listens' to hair, recommends treatments

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<a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/AMZN" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="9399" data-inline-quote-symbol="AMZN">Amazon</a> is making a big play for your TV set.
The U.S. e-commerce giant currently sells the Fire TV stick, which plugs into a TV and allows users to access a variety of streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. But now Amazon has integrated its Fire TV software directly into TV sets made by Chinese electronics giant Tongfang.
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That means people purchasing Seiki, Westinghouse and Element Electronics 4K smart TVs will be able to access loads of streaming services, channels, apps and live broadcasts directly from the set.
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<div class="attribution">And the TVs will come with a voice-control remote that features Alexa – Amazon&#8217;s artificial intelligence personal assistant, similar to Apple&#8217;s Siri or Google Assistant. Users, for example, will be able to ask Alexa via the TV set to control lights in their home.</div>
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For consumers, the Fire TV software will allow them to access all of their streaming services and many apps, including Amazon&#8217;s own, from their TVs in their living room and bedrooms. Also, Amazon hosts 4K content, which will allow consumers to consume this high-resolution programming on their new TVs.
And for Amazon, this is a further push into consumers&#8217; lives and homes. By integrating its Fire TV software on sets, it gives another way for Prime users to access the services that they pay for as part of the $99 per year subscription.
Amazon has also integrated Alexa as part of this as it looks to increase the uptake of its voice assistant and make it a key part of the home. Amazon currently sells the Echo – a speaker with Alexa built in – and expanded it into the U.K. and Germany last year. The U.S. technology firm has looked to put Alexa on a number of devices, even ones it doesn&#8217;t make. It wants to make the use of Alexa wide-spread to drive consumers to its services.
The deal with Tongfang could also lay the groundwork for Amazon to seek partnerships with other TV manufacturers. And the move also poses a challenge to rivals such as <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/AAPL" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="8016" data-inline-quote-symbol="AAPL">Apple</a> which has its own box that can plugged into TV sets.
Amazon and Tongfang did not reveal the financial terms of the deal or the price of the TVs, but said they would be available &#8220;later this year&#8221; on Amazon.com and authorized retailers across the U.S.﻿
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Amazon is selling TVs that you can talk to

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LAGOS/LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has awarded its 2017 crude oil term contracts to 39 companies, the company said on Tuesday.
The contracts covering about 1.31 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil were awarded to 18 Nigerian companies, 11 international trading houses, five foreign refineries, three national oil companies and two &#8220;NNPC Group trading arms,&#8221; the firm said in a statement.
NNPC said the contracts, worth a total of more than $72 million per day at Tuesday&#8217;s crude prices of around $55.60 per barrel, were each for 32,000 barrels per day (bpd), apart from Duke Oil Ltd, an NNPC Group subsidiary, which was for 90,000 bpd.
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The list compared with 27 companies that won contracts of varying sizes for 2016. OPEC member Nigeria typically produces just over 2 million bpd of crude oil, although its 2016 output was hobbled by militant attacks.
China&#8217;s Sinopec and India&#8217;s Indian Oil Corp were among the winners, as were international firms including the trading arms of BP and Total and trading houses Litasco and Glencore.
Absent from this year&#8217;s list were the trading arms of oil majors ExxonMobil, Shell and Eni, trading houses Mercuria and Taleveras and refiner Saras, all of whom were on the 2016 contract list. Vitol&#8217;s trading arm was also not on the list, although, Varo Energy, a joint venture between Vitol and private equity firm Carlyle Group, was.
NNPC head Maikanti Baru said the group had received bids from 224 companies. He said the decision to announce the winners reflected NNPC&#8217;s commitment to transparency.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll ensure transparency and fairness in the process,&#8221; Baru said in a statement.
 
Contract holder Volume (&#8216;000 bpd)
Refiners
Hindustan Refinery 32
Varo Energy 32
Sonara Refinery 32
Bharat Petroleum 32
Cepsa 32
International Trading Companies
Trafigura 32
ENOC 32
BP Trading 32
Total Trading 32
UCL Petro Energy 32
Mocoh Trading 32
Trevier Petroleum 32
Heritage Oil 32
Levene Energy 32
Glencore 32
Litasco Supply and 32
Trading
Government to Government
Indian Oil Corp. (India &#8211; 32
IOC)
Sinopec (China) 32
SacOil (South Africa) 32
Nigerian Companies
Oando 32
Sahara Energy Resouce LTD 32
MRS Oil and Gas 32
A.A. Rano Nigeria Limited 32
Bono 32
Masters Energy 32
Hyde Energy 32
Britania-U 32
North West Petroleum 32
Optima Energy 32
AMG Petroenergy 32
Arkleen Oil &amp; Gas Ltd 32
Shoreline Limited 32
Emo Oil 32
Setana Oil 32
Prudent Energy 32
NNPC Trading Companies
Calson/Hyson 32
Duke Oil Incorporated 90
Total: 39 1.31 million
 
 
(Reporting By Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos and Libby George in London; editing by Grant McCool)
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© Thomson Reuters 2017 All rights reserved﻿

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation awards 2017 crude oil contracts

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LUANDA (Reuters) &#8211; Angolan lawyers, who argue that President Jose Eduardo dos Santos&#8217; billionaire daughter was illegally appointed as the chief executive of the state oil company, have applied for their case to be heard in the Constitutional Court.
Angola&#8217;s Supreme Court on Dec. 27 rejected an application by 12 human rights lawyers to have Isabel dos Santos removed as the head of Sonangol, which handles the oil and gas reserves of Africa&#8217;s largest oil exporter.
The lawyers, who accuse the president of nepotism and violating Angolan probity law, asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow the Constitutional Court to hear an appeal against its ruling.
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<div class="teads-player">READ: <a href="/news/southern-africa/2016/06/03/angolan-president-daughter-state-oil-firm/">Angolan president appoints daughter as head of state oil firm﻿</a>
&#8220;We have filed an extraordinary appeal at the Supreme Court, who transit the process to the Constitutional Court,&#8221; said David Mendes, one of the attorneys.
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&#8220;Nobody should get advantage based on their origin.&#8221;
Mendes and the 11 other lawyers also argue that the seven months taken by the Supreme Court to come to a decision break guidelines on prompt rulings.
However, Jose Carlos, a lawyer not among the 12, thinks it will be difficult to prove any illegality by the president.
READ: <a href="/news/southern-africa/2016/11/10/angolan-presidents-daughter-defends-her-appointment/">Angola&#8217;s Isabel Dos Santos defends her appointment to run state oil firm﻿</a>
&#8220;The authors of the appeal would have to be clear and deep to prove the unconstitutionality of the appointment, which would be a surprise and very unlikely to be found,&#8221; Carlos said.
Ranked as Africa&#8217;s richest woman by Forbes magazine, Isabel Dos Santos, 43, was given the job in June, prompting critics to accuse the president of trying to control state resources.
Dos Santos, 74, has been in power since 1979 and is one of Africa&#8217;s longest serving leaders. He says he will step down in 2018.
Watchdog group Transparency International ranked Angola 163 out of 168 countries in its index of perceived corruption in the public sector, and said it had &#8220;minimal&#8221; budget openness.
Isabel dos Santos says she was given the job because of her business acumen, and she has pledged to root out waste and corruption at a company that was struggling to stay afloat even before oil prices plunged.
She holds controlling stakes in several companies in Angola and former colonial ruler Portugal, including energy, mobile telecoms and banking sector investments.
(Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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© Thomson Reuters 2017 All rights reserved﻿

Angolan lawyers want Constitutional Court to rule on president's appointment of daughter as head of state oil firm

On November 8th, to everyone’s surprise, American voters &#8211; and perhaps to a lesser extent, Vladimir Putin &#8211; gave Donald Trump the keys to the Kingdom. As Trump prepares to assume the throne on January 20th, he’ll have a full plate of foreign policy challenges awaiting him on day one. Friends and foes alike &#8211; of which there seems to be little discernable difference most of the time &#8211; have got to be more than a little concerned as Trump will be like no other US president before him. And they know it.  
Iran, Syria, North Korea and ISIS now comprise the 2017 iteration of the “Axis of Evil”, as George W. Bush so aptly coined it back in 2002.  Then add in our “frenemies” like China and Russia (friends who are really enemies as my teenage daughter calls it) and the group resembles a school of piranhas waiting to strike a gravely injured fish swimming by. Each one poses multidimensional foreign policy nightmares for Trump &#8211; everything from armed conflicts at hot spots around the world to trade disagreements, nuclear threats, terrorism, cyber security and state-sponsored hacking, climate change, currency manipulation and energy.
READ: <a href="/news/financial/2016/11/17/trump-effect-on-africa/">Trump effect on Africa &#8211; CNBC Africa﻿</a>
Given these ever-amplifying foreign policy challenges that Trump will inherit from Barack Obama, one has to wonder what the US’s policy will be towards Africa &#8211; and other emerging markets. If I was the president of an African country right now, Trump’s election would be, shall we say, more than a little disconcerting.
Here’s why. The US’s view of the world is changing – as is the world’s view. Simply stated, much of Africa will not be a core strategic interest to the US under Trump. Historically, Africa as a whole has never been a policy priority for the US but did command differing levels of attention and assistance depending on who occupied the White House. Former President Bill Clinton signed AGOA (The African Growth and Opportunity Act) into law in 2000 but that was his primary contribution. Conversely, by far the worst atrocity during his time in office was that close to 1,000,000 Rwandans, mainly Tutsi, were killed in a brutal ethnic cleansing. Although the Clinton Administration and the international community, including the UN, was aware of the genocide taking place, no action was taken. President George W. Bush’s Africa policy was probably the most robust of any modern-day president. He provided US assistance in helping to end civil wars in Sudan, Congo, Angola, Liberia and Sierra Leone even though direct American interests were not at risk. In his second term, he launched development programmes in several of these countries to help them recover on an economic and humanitarian level. President Obama, despite his Kenyan roots, has fallen short by most measures. But he continued to fund Aids programmes there increasing the number of people receiving treatment from 1.7 million to 6.7 million which is a notable achievement. And he introduced the much-touted Power Africa to try to address the critical power shortages across the continent although it has not lived up to the hype.
READ: <a href="/news/financial/2016/06/28/is-america-ready-for-africa/">Africa has huge potential, it&#8217;s a pity too few Americans know this</a>﻿
But Donald Trump will be markedly different than his predecessors. While it is obvious that any country’s foreign policy is ultimately for their benefit, Trump will take it to the extreme. His foreign policy will be formulated directly around his campaign slogan: “America First”. And he means it literally. Just like a new management team coming into a recently acquired company, Trump and his cabinet of supply-side business leaders and retired Generals will take a wrecking ball to those policies not considered strategically vital – and solidly in America’s interest. Nothing will be off the table.
Therein lies the problem for much of Africa. Is it essential to America &#8211; in the eyes of Donald Trump &#8211; to provide Africa with deep economic, humanitarian and military support that is funded by US taxpayer money?  
There is little doubt in Washington’s diplomatic circles that Trump’s Africa policies will be a far cry from Barack Obama’s and George W. Bush’s. The first hint at how Africa would be viewed by the incoming Trump administration was gleaned during the presidential campaign. As a candidate, he paid little attention to Africa in his speeches and referred to the continent only in relation to al-Qaeda’s 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and he came under fire for comments related to the large numbers of Somali refugees in Minnesota, a state Hillary Clinton later won. For the record, she never mentioned Africa either.
However, to comprehend how he will approach Africa and other geopolitical interests, one needs to understand what makes Donald Trump who he is. First and foremost, he’s a businessman. A negotiator. A dealmaker. A salesman. A closer. A showman. And second, he’s a New Yorker. Brash, in your face and no-holds barred. And he will become indignant if you cross him.
As a businessman, Trump sees everything through a single lens &#8211; return on investment (ROI). This is what he has based every business decision on for over 40 years. It’s the tape measure in his toolkit. It quantifies what he gets back on his investments. And now, as president, he will apply that same ratio to foreign policy to measure what America gets back from its allies. Simply stated, what is their ROI to the US? It is clear that Trump will run his administration more as a businessman and CEO, and less as a politician. On his desk in the Oval Office should be a nameplate that reads;
“Donald J. Trump: President and Dealmaker in Chief.”
The difficulty for Africa is that its geopolitical and economic value &#8211; as it relates to Trump’s vision for the US &#8211; simply won’t land it anywhere near the top of his list of foreign policy priorities. To Trump the businessman, much of Africa has a low ROI &#8211; certainly as compared to countries like the UK, France, Israel, Japan, South Korea and Germany not to mention “frenemies” like Russia and China.
There will, of course, continue to be trade between Africa and the US as commodities are always an economic driver irrespective of their current prices. But there is every reason to expect that under a Trump administration the US will be less engaged in Africa especially where it concerns the expenditure of taxpayer money on economic and humanitarian development initiatives. The reality is that the US is a net exporter of financial aid and humanitarian assistance to Africa &#8211; net of the commodities and resources that the US imports from it. And because of this, much of the continent will be caught in Trump’s crosshairs ultimately putting many of these important aid programmes at risk.
So what will be the defining theme with regards to the broader US policy on Africa under Trump? Simple. Combating terrorism.
Outside of oil and other extractive commodities, positioning the US for the fight against terror is Africa’s primary value to Trump. Stated more bluntly: kill ISIS and all its offspring. This is Africa’s ROI. The US faces serious and sustained security challenges across Africa. Terrorism, which not only has the capacity to destabilise key African countries is also a breeding ground for exporting violence to the US and Europe. Hot spots like <a href="http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/saving-libya-to-defend-nato-s-southern-flank" target="_blank">Libya</a> must build and maintain its government while fighting to eradicate ISIS. And the ISIS-aligned Nigerian militant group Boko Haram <a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/isis-affiliate-claims-40-troops-killed-nigeria-500969">continues to wreak havoc</a> as does al-Qaeda-linked Somali terror group Al-Shabab. As a result, the US will be forced to engage these terror threats emanating from across Africa.
But there is a real opportunity to broaden Trump’s limited policy view if African leaders choose to act upon it. The door remains very much open to them to reach out and appeal to Trump the businessman. Trump the dealmaker. Trump the negotiator. Trump the salesman. His ego would welcome it. African countries have the opportunity to change their relationship with the US &#8211; and take ownership of that process &#8211; instead of just waiting to see what Trump does. By acting proactively, it enables Africa to potentially increase its ROI &#8211; and change its link to the US from that of “donor-recipient” to one based on mutual benefit.
And that’s a deal that Donald Trump the businessman will make every time.
But so far, of the 54 nations that comprise Africa, only a handful of African presidents have reached out to congratulate Trump. Like him or not, he is the president of the world’s lone superpower and is reassessing everything. Therein lies the opportunity. The opening is there now.
So once Trump &#8211; the businessman &#8211; assumes the Presidency this month, it would probably be a good idea if the leaders of some of Africa’s other countries reached out to the new president with this message:
“We’re open for business. Let’s make a deal”.
That’s a message he’ll definitely understand.
*David S. Levin is a Managing Partner at Nexus Capital Markets, LLC﻿, micro-Blogging on all things Africa. A New York investor’s view of Africa and other emerging economies. Nexus Capital Markets is a leading Pan-African/U.S. investment bank located in NY and JHB.﻿﻿

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