🔅 Benin’s Democratic Test
Plus: South Sudan’s President wets himself and the journalists who caught it are detained, African startups had a record-breaking year, and South Africa’s stock market hits an all-time high! ☕
Photo of the day: Waterfalls in Mauritius
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Markets:
🔺 Nigerian SE: 51,693.08 (+0.92%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 78,475.81 (+2.10%)
— Ghana SE: 2,443.91 (0.00%)
🔻 Nairobi SE: 126.69 (-0.13%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 3,936.36 (+1.06%)
🔺 Shanghai Composite: 3,123.52 (+0.22%)
African startups had a record-breaking year: they raised a whopping $5.3 billion in 2022—with 20% more deals than in 2021. Big-name investors like Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global had their fingers in the pie, but that may be the peak for now. With a global recession on the horizon, it looks like the days of money raining from the sky may be coming to an end.
China: The “zero Covid” strategy that had kept China shut off from the rest of the world for the past three years is no more. Starting before yesterday, travelers were allowed to enter the country without having to endure weeks of isolation—all one needs now is a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours.
Good news for South African investors: The Johannesburg Stock Exchange hit an all-time high. Stocks in tech and mining companies were particularly on the rise, thanks to a Chinese government announcement that it was reopening its borders, plus hopes that the US Federal Reserve will be cutting interest rates soon.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
POLITICS
Benin’s Democratic Test
Voters in Benin have gone to the polls in a parliamentary election seen as a much-needed test of democracy there. This is the first time opposition parties have been allowed to participate in elections since President Patrice Talon took office in 2016.
Seven parties are competing for 109 parliamentary seats in Sunday’s vote, including the Democrates party linked to Talon’s predecessor and rival, Thomas Boni Yayi.
What are people voting for?
The vote will decide who controls the country’s parliament, with Talon’s supporters from the two ruling parties expected to win the majority of seats.
Turnout is expected to rise significantly from the 27% seen in the 2019 election, when Yayi’s supporters led protests after the opposition was blocked from voting after failing to meet strict eligibility criteria. There were protests again in 2021 when Talon decided to go back on his word not to seek re-election.
Talon has overseen a crackdown on opposition groups ever since coming to power, sometimes violently.
What else is on voters’ minds?
Benin’s economy has been relatively resilient against the coronavirus pandemic, growing over 7% in 2021. But the country remains one of the poorest in the world.
The International Monetary Fund has warned of threats to economic gains due to higher living costs and insecurity caused by Al-Qaeda and Islamic State groups inching their way down from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Expect preliminary results to be released on Jan 11.
OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🛬 China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang is making his debut with a weeklong trip to five African countries: Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin and Egypt. Qin is taking a page from his predecessors’ playbook and kicking off 2021 with a visit to the continent. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the move shows how much China values Africa. Qin is the latest diplomat to join the African love-fest: the US, France, and Russia are all looking to strengthen ties with African nations. It’s almost like there is a new Cold War, with the African continent being the winning prize.
🇸🇸 Six South Sudanese journalists have been detained by authorities after footage of President Salva Kiir, 71, wetting himself at an official event, went viral. The video spread like wildfire on social media, prompting the government to take action. They’ve detained the camera operators, video editor, and control room staff of the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, accusing them of having “knowledge on how the video of the president urinating himself came out.” The government has repeatedly denied rumours the president is ill. The law says that authorities can detain suspects for only 24 hours, but the journalists have been locked up since last week.
🇬🇲 Eight soldiers have been charged with treason in Gambia for their role in a foiled coup last month. The West African nation, surrounded by Senegal, was still recovering from over two decades of authoritarian rule under former president Yahya Jammeh when the coup attempt happened. The region’s leaders condemned the attempt, and two civilians and a police officer were also charged earlier this week with conspiracy. West Africa has had six successful military coups since 2020, and only on Thursday last week, Chad’s government said that its security forces had foiled an attempt by a group of army officers to destabilise the country.
🇳🇬 32 people were abducted from a train station in Edo State in southern Nigeria, adding to the list of kidnappings happening with increasing frequency in the country. The culprits—armed with AK-47s—showed up at the station, shot up the place, and then took off with passengers and station staff. Some people managed to escape and alert the authorities, who are now working with local hunters to rescue the victims. This comes right before the presidential election, when security is already a major campaign issue.
🇸🇳 🇰🇪 🇺🇬 At least 40 people were killed in a bus crash in central Senegal, while another 20 people died in a crash near the border of Uganda and Kenya. The Senegal crash happened when a public bus punctured a tire and veered across the road, colliding with another bus. In the Uganda/Kenya crash, the bus also lost control. Senegal’s president has declared three days of mourning and promised to look into road safety measures.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“A bird that flies off the earth and lands on an anthill is still on the ground.”
— Igbo Proverb.
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