Showing posts with label African News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African News. Show all posts

Ruto denies rift in Jubilee


URP leaders have denied that there is a rift in the Jubilee Coalition and termed such reports as propaganda.
Speaking on Sunday at the Africa Inland Church Pioneer in Eldoret at an event attended by Deputy President William Ruto, they said that the aim of the coalition was to unite all Kenyans and not divide them.
Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen criticised leaders attacking the Jubilee Coalition, saying they do not understand how the government works.
Mr Murkomen called upon the Deputy President to ignore such utterances saying that such leaders were not present when the Jubilee coalition was being formed.
“It is so sad to see some leaders criticise the Deputy President yet they were not there when they were signing the agreement binding the Jubilee Coalition,” Murkomen said.

Mr Ruto advised the leaders to emulate how President Kenyatta and him were leading the nation.
“We believe God will always be there to ensure that we lead the country well. Those leaders who want to cause mayhem in the Jubilee coalition should stop,” said the deputy president.

Ex-spy agency boss launches political party


Renegade UPDF General David Sejusa aka Tinyefuza over the weekend launched an opposition political party in London and cautioned President Museveni that his 28-year reign could come to an end soon.
The former spy chief who launched his party on Saturday, named his party the ‘Freedom and Unity Front’. “He’s had enough time,” Gen Sejusa said on the sidelines of a meeting to launch his party. “He can leave and go, and we start a new process of national healing. And we are organising ourselves, we are establishing a constitutional rule which he destroyed,” Sejusa told Reuters at the launch.
When contacted, Defence and Military spokesperson Paddy Ankunda laughed off before saying that he does not want to waste time on such news. “He (Sejusa) very well knows that he is breaking the law since he has not officially retired from the army,” Lt Col Ankunda said yesterday. Adding: “That is justkajoogo (literally meaning familiarity).”
When Gen Sejusa was asked at the launch of his party if he would use force to bring change, he said: “It’s not so much that we want to do so. But if he (Museveni) continues to unleash terror on the population ours will be self-defence.”
The fall out
Early this year, the five-star general fled the country to the UK after he wrote a dossier to the internal security boss asking him to investigate assassination claims on top government and military officials opposed to the First Son Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba being groomed to take over from his father.

Ex-spy agency boss launches political party


Renegade UPDF General David Sejusa aka Tinyefuza over the weekend launched an opposition political party in London and cautioned President Museveni that his 28-year reign could come to an end soon.
The former spy chief who launched his party on Saturday, named his party the ‘Freedom and Unity Front’. “He’s had enough time,” Gen Sejusa said on the sidelines of a meeting to launch his party. “He can leave and go, and we start a new process of national healing. And we are organising ourselves, we are establishing a constitutional rule which he destroyed,” Sejusa told Reuters at the launch.
When contacted, Defence and Military spokesperson Paddy Ankunda laughed off before saying that he does not want to waste time on such news. “He (Sejusa) very well knows that he is breaking the law since he has not officially retired from the army,” Lt Col Ankunda said yesterday. Adding: “That is justkajoogo (literally meaning familiarity).”
When Gen Sejusa was asked at the launch of his party if he would use force to bring change, he said: “It’s not so much that we want to do so. But if he (Museveni) continues to unleash terror on the population ours will be self-defence.”
The fall out
Early this year, the five-star general fled the country to the UK after he wrote a dossier to the internal security boss asking him to investigate assassination claims on top government and military officials opposed to the First Son Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba being groomed to take over from his father.

MEET NIGERIA'S MOST PAID ACTRESS


Mercy Johnson Okojie is the highest paid actress in Nollywood right now. Besides being one of the most sought after actresses, the dark skinned actress has placed herself on a pedestal where she now charges up to N2million fee for a movie.

In the last few years, films with Mercy Johnson’s name and face in it, have some what become an indication that the film will turn-out a best-seller. Recognising this fact, it is no wonder the actress has pushed up her fees high up for marketers and producers who request her to feature in their flicks.
A few months ago, the Film and Video Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (FVPMAN) threatened to ban the actress for allegedly becoming exorbitant with her fees, which have shot up as high up as N2m for a movie role, while the rest of her peers are paid between N700,000 and N1.2million. In her response, Johnson answered her critics to go for less payable actresses, if they are unable to pay her by saying, ‘Wats wrong when u keep quiet till u no wats up? no petition, no complain just fees those who can’t afford Heineken should stick with ‘Kai kai’.

The 28year old actress made her acting debut in the movie ‘The Maid‘ in which she played the role of a possessed house help. Her performance in the movie shot her into the limelight and has acted in other major movies ever since. With all her talents and assets, it is no wonder some media pundits have agreed that she is the most exceptional actress for the year 2013.
When Nollywood filmmaker, Charles Novia drew up his list of the ‘Best 5 Nollywood Actresses for 2013′, it was not surprising to find Mercy Johnson’s name on the top of the list. ‘There’s something ultra-natural and organic about Mercy Johnson which confounds even her critics’, Novia said. ‘In four movies I watched in 2013, which she starred in, she was the epitome of delightful characterisation. Watch her in the ‘Dumebi’ spawn of movies and you would appreciate how her talent has evolved since she came back from her maternity break’.

Last week, MJ as the actress is fondly called became the subject of discussion on twitter when Rubbin’ Minds host and Ebony Life TV presenter, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu tweeted his admiration for the actress’ work. ‘Mercy Johnson makes a lot of ‘leading ladies’ in Nollywood look like amateurs. Yes, I’m talking about all your favorite divas and A listers’ Uchendu tweeted.
‘I’ve seen her do everything VERY WELL. Diva, runs girl, villager, corporate chick, mother, grandmother, villain, hero. All!’, Uchendu continued.
Early this year when she returned back from the US where she went to deliver her baby girl, MJ had several scripts waiting for her. NET sources had confirmed that between March and July, MJ had no less than 20 scripts waiting for her being sent by marketers and producers in Nigeria and Ghana.
Already, since her return to Nollywood, she’s featured in about six productions, including the Tchidi Chikere produced comedy, ‘Dumebi Goes to School‘, a sequel to the hilarious ‘Dumebi The Dirty Girl’ which won her the award for the Best Actress in Comedy Role’ at the 2013 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA).
Besides her acting skills, everybody just loves Mercy Johnson. She’s pretty much the ultimate girl crush right now. One thing for sure is that she isn’t planning to relinquish her position anytime soon as she tweeted, ‘Na God do am and only he can take it back. Not yet time gurls stay back‘

After Being Caugt with someones Husband, she was Strippd nakd


Those who know her say she specializes in "doing it" with married men but this time she was caught with a man whose wife doesn't take shit. The woman pounced on her with punches and slaps, and others joined her to help strip her in public. She was thoroughly disgraced.

Snow in Cairo, Egypt for the first time in over 100 years


For the first time in over 100 years, a winter storm has brought snow to a city known for its heat and sand, Cairo in Egypt.

According to local reports, it happened over night and unexpectedly on Wednesday Dec. 11th. An official of Egypt's Meteorological centre said it was first time in decades since the last snowfalls and it took residents of Cairo suburbs by surprise. But most are delighted because they have never seen snow before.They took to Twitter to post their amazement in words and shared pictures



The snowfall has forced the closure of the country's ports and several other businesses for a days now.

South Africa unveils giant Nelson Mandela unity statue in Pretoria


A day after the anti-apartheid revolutionary was buried, South Africa unveiled a giant 30-foot bronze statue of the former president. The unity statue was unveiled today December 16th on the lawns of the Union Buildings, which is the seat of government in Pretoria.

Fake South African sign language interpreter helped burn men to death in 2003


Details have emerged about the violent crime charges that Thamsanqa Jantjie, the fake sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's funeral sevice faced a decade ago. 

From NYPost.com
The bogus sign language interpreter at last week’s Nelson Mandela memorial service was among a group of people who accosted two men found with a stolen television and burned them to death by setting fire to tires placed around their necks, one of the interpreter’s cousins and three of his friends told The Associated Press Monday.
But Thamsanqa Jantjie never went to trial for the 2003 killings when other suspects did in 2006 because authorities determined he was not mentally fit to stand trial, said the four. They insisted on speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the fake signing fiasco, which has deeply embarrassed South Africa’s government and prompted a high-level investigation into how it happened.
Their account of the killings matched a description of the crime and the outcome for Jantjie that he himself described in an interview published on Sunday by the Sunday Times newspaper of Johannesburg.

“It was a community thing, what you call mob justice, and I was also there,” Jantjie told the newspaper.
Jantjie was not at his house Monday, and the cousin told AP Jantjie had been picked up by someone in a car Sunday and had not returned. His cellphone rang through to an automatic message saying Jantjie was not reachable.

Instead of standing trial, Jantjie was institutionalized for a period of longer than a year, the four said, and then returned to live in his poor township neighborhood on the outskirts of Soweto. At some point after that, they said, he started getting jobs doing sign language interpretation at events for the governing African National Congress Party.

Jantjie told the AP last week he has schizophrenia and hallucinated, seeing angels while gesturing incoherently just 3 feet away from President Barack Obama and other world leaders during the Tuesday ceremony at a Soweto stadium. Signing experts said his arm and hand movements were mere gibberish.

In the interview last Thursday, Jantjie said he had been violent in the past “a lot” but declined to provide more details and blamed his violence on his schizophrenia, for which he said he was institutionalized for 19 months in a period that included time during 2006. The cousin and the three friends said the “necklacing” killing of the suspected thieves occurred within a few hundred meters (yards) from Jantjie’s tidy concrete home near ramshackle dwellings.

The four spoke to the AP on Monday in Jantjie’s neighborhood, and one of the friends described himself as Jantjie’s best friend.

Necklacing was a method of killing that was fairly common during the struggle against apartheid by blacks on blacks suspected of aiding the white government or belonging to opposing factions. The method was also used in tribal disputes in the 1980s and 1990s. While people who encounter suspect thieves in South Africa have been known to beat or kill them to mete out punishment, necklacing them has been rare.

An investigation is under way by South African officials to determine who hired Jantjie as the onstage interpreter at the Mandela memorial service and if and how he received security clearance. The officials have not said how long their investigation will take place, and reaching them for updates was difficult Monday, a public holiday in South Africa.

Four government departments involved in organizing the historic memorial service have distanced themselves from the hiring of Jantjie, telling the AP they had no contact with him. A fifth government agency, the Department of Public Works, declined to comment and referred all inquiries about Jantjie to the office of South Africa’s top government spokeswoman, who has only said a “comprehensive report” will eventually be released.

Jantjie told the AP he was hired for the event by an interpretation company that has used him on a freelance basis for years, but government officials have said the owners of the company have disappeared. The address that Jantjie provided for the company was occupied by a different company that is not involved in interpreting for the deaf.

The AP was unable to verify the existence of the school where Jantjie said he studied signing for a year. An online search for the school, which Jantjie said was called Komani and located in Eastern Cape Province, turned up nothing. Advocates for the deaf said they have never heard of the school and said there are no known sign language institutes in the province.

The Star newspaper of Johannesburg reported Friday that Jantjie said he studied sign language interpretation in Britain at the “University of Tecturers.” A British charity that awards qualifications for deaf and deaf-blind communications techniques said it had never heard of the university.