🔅 Africa's first heat officer
Plus: Uganda is ebola-free, Malawi’s deadly cholera outbreak, China's Foreign Minister Sidesteps Africa's UN Representation question, and much more… ☕
Photo of the day: Namibia
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Markets:
🔺 Nigerian SE: 51,729.87 (+0.55%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 78,704.54 (+0.90%)
🔻 Ghana SE: 2,438.63 (-0.12%)
🔻 Nairobi SE: 125.05 (-0.39%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 3,945.65 (+0.67%)
🔻 Shanghai Composite: 3,161.84 (-0.24%)
China: China is making a series of policy U-turns, and it looks like the market is happy about it. After strict Covid restrictions were scrapped in December, revenues for tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent are ticking back up. The MSCI China Index is also up 50% since hitting an 11-year low in October. If the data is anything to go by, China's economy will be booming this year.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
CLIMATE CHANGE
Africa's first heat officer
Eugenia Kargbo is on a mission to make Sierra Leone's capital of Freetown liveable again — she is the city's (and Africa's) first Chief Heat Officer.
In 2017, a deadly landslide spurred her to pursue a role in government and help her city. Her which suffers from hot days and other weather-related disasters.
What are the challenges?
Eugenia's mission is to make Freetown a greener and cooler city, where children can sleep more comfortably and adults can be more productive.
But the challenges are enormous. Freetown's equatorial climate brings slight variation in temperature throughout the year, with peaks often reaching the high-30s and mid-40s in Celcius.
Up to 60% of people in the city live in makeshift housing made of corrugated iron roofs and walls, which make their homes hot open-air ovens most of the year.
And then there's the cost issue - people cannot afford air conditioning or even cost-saving home fixes.
Can she do it?
Eugenia's plans are ambitious, but practical too.
Her office has set up 40 canopies in outdoor markets to protect vendors from the sun. It also wants to provide buildings with white roofs to reflect heat, install public fountains, and has planted over half a million trees.
But Freetown is also a city of 1.2 million people, and money is tight. Critics argue that the problem is too big for any one official to tackle alone, and that the root causes – deforestation and uncontrolled urban development – have yet to be addressed.
Whether she can accomplish her ambitious mission against all odds remains an open question. You can follow her progress on Twitter:
OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇺🇳 🇨🇳 China's Foreign Minister Sidesteps Africa's UN Representation | You may recall that this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is on his first official visit to Africa. But at a press conference in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, Qin sidestepped a request for permanent African representation on the United Nations Security Council. China is one of the council's five permanent members. The AU Commission Chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said it's unfair that the African continent doesn't have a say in the council's decisions. But Qin's response was to emphasize cooperation between China and Africa. He also rejected the idea that China and the US are competing for influence in Africa, saying that "Africa needs solidarity and cooperation, not block competition." Qin's trip to Africa is part of a long tradition of Chinese foreign ministers starting their terms with a visit to the continent, which has seen a surge of investment from China in infrastructure and economic development.
🇺🇬 Uganda's Critics Get Some Good News | After decades of trying to silence critics, the Ugandan government has finally backed down on one of its controversial laws. The Constitutional Court quashed a section of the Computer Misuse Act that was often used to prosecute writers, journalists, and government opponents. It is a ruling that will make Stella Nyanzi and Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who both fled to Germany after facing jail time for their criticism of the government, very happy. The Court said that the law "curtails the freedom of speech in a free and democratic society" and declared it "null and void."
🇺🇬 Uganda Ebola-Free | The World Health Organization declared the East African nation free of the deadly virus after passing the 42-day, twice-the-maximum-incubation-period test. The outbreak had killed 55 of the 143 people infected since September, but thanks to a concerted effort from the country's health authorities, the spread of the virus was swiftly contained. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni lifted all Ebola-related movement restrictions in December.
🇲🇼 Malawi's Worst Cholera Outbreak in Two Decades | The southeast African country is currently in the middle of its worst cholera outbreak in two decades, and the situation isn't getting any better. The rainy season has only made things worse, as floods have displaced people who don't have access to safe water or sanitation. Unfortunately, 643 people have already lost their lives to the water-borne diarrheal disease.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“How easy it is to defeat people who do not kindle fire for themselves!”
— Kenya Proverb.
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