🔅Ghanaians to their President: Step Down
Today’s Issue: A plane crash in Tanzania, the Congolese army mobilises the youth, and the US goes to the polls… ☕
Markets
— Nigerian SE: 44,269.43 (0.00%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 69,613.56 (+0.44%)
🔺 Ghana SE: 2,460.65 (+0.23%)
🔻 Nairobi SE: 127.53 (-0.02%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 3,773.58 (+0.08%)
🔺 Shanghai Composite: 3,077.82 (+0.23%)
*Data accurate as of close of markets across the continent
Kenyan and Ugandan inflation reached about 10% for the month of October, a decade high. In contrast, Ghana’s currency surged on the back of President Nana Akufo-Addo's update to the nation last week, where he said that IMF talks wouldn't result in losses for bondholders.
Global Markets: Late last week, Twitter sent out a company-wide email informing about half of its employees (over 3,500 people) they would be laid off via email. The move has scared big-time advertisers that use the platform, with some pausing their advertising programme.
ECONOMY
Ghanaian protesters want president to step down
What is happening?
Ghanaian protesters took to the streets of Accra on Saturday to call for the resignation of President Nana Akufo-Addo amid an economic crisis that has seen the country's currency, the cedi, plummet by more than 40% against the dollar this year.
The president has sought to reassure Ghanaians that the authorities will get the country's finances back on track, but the protesters say that Akufo-Addo has failed and are calling on him to resign. The economic crisis in Ghana has been exacerbated by the global economic slowdown. Inflation reached 37% in September, a 21-year high.
The IMF is currently in talks with the Ghanaian government to provide billions of dollars in loans to prop up the economy.
The bigger picture:
The entire continent has been hit hard by the global economic slowdown, and many countries are struggling to keep their economies afloat.
But Ghana is a stable democracy with vast natural resources, including gold, oil, and cocoa. This has led protesters to argue that what the country really needs is better leadership.
ACROSS THE CONTINENT
Other Headlines
🇹🇿 Tanzania's Prime Minister will lead mourners in paying their respects at a funeral service on Monday for the 19 victims of a plane crash in Lake Victoria. The accident happened Sunday morning when the plane overshot Bukoba's airport runway and crashed into the water. According to the operator Precision Air, the aircraft was carrying 43 people, of which 24 survived. The funeral service will be held at the Bukoba football stadium. Precision Air is a publicly-listed company, partly owned by Kenya Airways and Tanzania's largest private carrier. The plane crash in Lake Victoria is the latest in a string of aviation accidents in Africa. In March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi plunged into a field southeast of the Ethiopian capital, killing all 157 people on board.
🇨🇩 The Congolese army announced a general mobilisation of youth to join the military and fight the M23 rebels. The M23 advances have displaced an estimated 183,000 people and destabilised relations in the country's east. Foreign ministers of the DRC and Rwanda agreed on Saturday to boost efforts to de-escalate tensions and resolve their political crisis, with the DRC accusing its neighbour of backing the rebel militia.
🇸🇴 At least ten soldiers were killed when Somalia's al Shabaab militants assaulted a military base in the central Galgaduud region on Monday. The army eventually pushed the militants out of the base, but al-Shabaab fighters torched the town's telecommunication station. The attack comes on the heels of recent government gains. Late last month, al Shabaab killed at least 120 people in twin car bombs at the education ministry in the capital Mogadishu.
AROUND THE WORLD
Biden likely to lose control of Congress
What is happening?
President Joe Biden is fighting an uphill battle in this week's midterm elections. The midterms carry significant weight, but are especially important this year, as it is the first major election since Trump's supporters staged a deadly insurrection at the Capitol.
Why it matters:
The midterm elections are typically seen as a referendum on the president, and Biden's approval rating has remained below 50% for more than a year.
High inflation, high gas prices, and fears of a recession are some of the reasons for the low approval ratings.
In any case, history is not on the Democrats' side — the party in power typically loses House seats halfway through a president's four-year term.
And so with Republicans expected to make significant gains, Biden's legislative agenda will be hampered in his last remaining years in power.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Knowledge without wisdom is just like water in the sand."
— Guinean Proverb.