🔅 Malawi's Vice-President arrested for corruption
Today’s Issue: Sao Tome & Principe avoids a coup, Namibia and Botswana aim to double coal exports, and Britons now reject Brexit... ☕
Photo of the day: A day at the beach, Togo.
Markets — Year to Date
🔺 Nigerian SE: 47,554.34 (+11.33%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 73,151.38 (-0.76%)
🔺 Ghana SE: 2,463.27 (-11.69%)
🔻 Nairobi SE: 127.28 (-23.54%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 4,026.12 (-16.06%)
🔻 Shanghai Composite: 3,101.69 (-14.61%)
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
Ghana: Ghana's government is working on a new policy to buy oil products with gold rather than U.S. dollar reserves. The move is meant to tackle dwindling foreign currency reserves coupled with demand for dollars by oil importers, which is weakening the local cedi and increasing living costs. Ghana's Gross International Reserves stood at around $6.6 billion at the end of September 2022, equating to less than three months of imports cover.
Global Markets: More than six years after Britons voted to leave the European Union, some have second thoughts. A new poll shows that Britons now reject Brexit by 57% to 43%. The polls come as a heated debate emerged after it was reported that senior figures in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government are seeking a closer “Swiss-style relationship” with the E.U. The topic has become more relevant as the economic forecast darkens.
CORRUPTION
Malawi's Vice-President Saulos Chilima arrested for corruption
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What's happening?
The country's anti-corruption agency says that Malawi's Vice-President Saulos Chilima has been arrested on allegations that he accepted money in exchange for awarding government contracts. He's accused of receiving $280,000 from a British business person.
Who is this British businessman?
The British businessman at the centre of the scandal is Zuneth Sattar. He was arrested in October of last year in the U.K. and is accused of using connections with senior Malawi government officials and politicians to obtain contracts fraudulently. The contracts related to armoured personnel carriers, food rations and water cannons. Sattar has denied all wrongdoing.
What's the background?
Chilima came to power in 2020 as the running mate of President Lazarus Chakwera. He had previously campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, promising to end decades of sleaze in government and end poverty in one of the world's poorest countries. But it seems like he might have been part of the problem, not the solution.
What's next?
Chilima has been released on bail and is back in court next month. In the meantime, he's been stripped of his powers and barred from carrying out his duties. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison. It's going to be an interesting few weeks in Malawi...
ACROSS THE CONTINENT
Other Headlines
🇺🇬 The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) wants to launch proceedings against fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony in his absence. This would be the first time the ICC has done such a thing since it was established in 2002. Kony is the ICC's longest-standing suspect at large, with an arrest warrant issued against him in 2005 for 33 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, cruel treatment, enslavement, rape and attacks against the civilian population. Led by Kony, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) terrorised Ugandans for nearly 20 years as it battled the government of President Yoweri Museveni from bases in northern Uganda and neighbouring countries. It has now largely been wiped out. The prosecutor said he hoped the start of the proceedings would offer a "meaningful milestone" for victims while also giving an opportunity to present the depth of evidence against Kony he said had been gathered. In May 2021, the ICC sentenced a former Ugandan child soldier who became a commander of the rebel LRA to 25 years in prison for crimes including rape, sexual enslavement, child abduction, torture and murder.
🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe authorities put the kibosh on a coup attempt late last week. Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada told a press briefing that the military barracks were attacked shortly after midnight. "We were targeted by an attempted coup, which began around 00:40 and was completed... shortly after 06:00," he said. Four attackers were "neutralised" and detained, and the National Assembly's ex-president Delfin Neves was arrested on Friday morning. The head of West Africa's leading regional bloc ECOWAS, Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, condemned the coup attempt on Friday. The former Portuguese colony, located off the western equatorial coast of central Africa, has been relatively stable since an attempted military coup against the government of President Fradique de Menezes in 2003.
🇲🇱 After more than three months of forced medical leave, Mali's transitional Prime Minister, Choguel Maiga, is back and ready to resume work. Maiga was ordered by his doctor to rest in August after months of intense exertion. Some reports claimed that Maiga had suffered a stroke, but an adviser to Maiga denied this. Maiga had been one of the government's most outspoken voices in repeated public rows with West African neighbours and international allies who criticised its military cooperation with Russian mercenaries and repeated election delays.
🇳🇦 The state-owned railway company TransNamib in Namibia plans to shift coal exports from Botswana off the road and onto rail by early next year. This would potentially double exports via Walvis Bay port. Land-locked Botswana has sought alternative routes to export its coal as disruption to South Africa's railway lines impacts the commodity's route to Richards Bay port, the largest coal terminal in Africa. But those seeking to profit in the region face significant logistical challenges, with many currently trucking the fossil fuel hundreds of kilometres to ports, a costly and inefficient exercise.
IN TECH
Djamo raises $14 million in funding and eyes francophone expansion.
Djamo, a two-year-old fintech company from Ivory Coast, has raised $14 million in funding from Y Combinator, Enza Capital, Oikocredit, Partech Africa, and other investors. The company provides financial services for the underbanked and unbanked population in French-speaking markets, where fewer than 25% of adults have bank accounts. Djamo’s app allows for interoperability between banks and mobile money, meaning that its customers in Ivory Coast can send money from their bank accounts to mobile money wallets, and back. Djamo’s platform currently has over 500,000 customers, a more than 5x increase from the 90,000 customers it had onboarded as of February 2021. The company is experiencing a revenue growth of 20% to 25% month-on-month.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Make some money but don’t let money make you.”
— Tanzanian Proverb.