Africa Business

[Nyasa Times] Malawi's legislators have passed a bill to legalize cannabis, the plant that produces hemp and marijuana for medical use, as the country looks to reduce its reliance on tobacco.

[263Chat] Government will with effect from March establish the Government Employees Mutual Savings Fund (GEMS) which will see Government deducting 2,5% of total remuneration being deducted from every Government employee.

[This Day] Apart from financial losses by global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies that cannot be ascertained presently due to the cancellation of the Mobile World Congress 2020 as a result of the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19),industry experts have said a lot of knowledge must have been lost as well.

[Addis Standard] In an unexpected turn of events, Ethiopia's Ministry of Water, Irrigation & Electricity said today that Ethiopia will not take part in the upcoming trilateral GERD talks with Egypt and Sudan, which was scheduled to take place in Washington D.C. on February 27-28. The Ministry said it was skipping the next talks because it did not finalize the ongoing discussions with Ethiopia's country team of experts.

[This Day] Nigerian researchers have developed software application solution for cattle rustling, designed to address the frequent deadly clashes between herders and host communities in the country.

[This Day] Abuja -House of Representatives wednesday said it would pass the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) before the end of June.

[RFI] East Africa continues to battle a locust invasion with Uganda scrambling to respond to the latest arrivals. In nearby Ethiopia, one of the frontline countries, swarms of such magnitude have not been seen in more than 60 years. Since then, the country has rolled out a defence system to limit the damage.

[This Day] Abuja -The electricity distribution companies (Discos) in Nigeria's power sector have denied receiving financial subsidies from the federal government since 2013 when the sector was reformed, and privatisation exercise concluded.

[UNEP] Policy makers and stakeholders across Africa are meeting to chart green economy opportunities in the agriculture sector under the lead of the Switch Africa Green programme. The forum - under the theme Advancing Green Business and Circular Economy in Africa - is organized by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Uganda's Ministry of Water and Environment.

[Cameroon Tribune] The contract between the State of Cameroon and the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) was presented on February 26, 2020.

[263Chat] The sale of the iconic Meikles hotel to ASB Hospitality Zimbabwe, a company of Albwardy Investment LLC of Dubai has been completed with the United Arab Emirates-headquartered company set to assume control of the hotel from the first of March.

[263Chat] Zimbabweans across the political divide have raised the red flag against 'cartels' believed to be bleeding the economy and are demanding law enforcement agents to take action and investigate the issues.

[ANGOP] Luena -Ten new public transport buses, with capacity for 62 passengers each, were delivered today, Tuesday, in the city of Luena, province of Moxico, to six operators of this service.

[Capital FM] Nairobi -Safaricom has announced an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which will see the Telco become a reseller of AWS services.

[East African] Ethiopia says it will not send representatives to the final round of negotiations on the use of the Nile waters, in a move likely to delay a binding agreement.

[The Herald] Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi has said Zimbabwe is paying nearly US$1 million towards clearing its debt to South Africa's State power utility, Eskom, and expects improved power supply by April.

[The Herald] Zaka -Communal farmers here are pinning hopes on cotton this farming season after erratic rains affected their plans.

[New Zimbabwe] All uniformed forces will from next month be allowed to buy government subsidised basic commodities within their residential camps or barracks as part of government efforts to cushion them from the harsh effects of the country's worst economic crisis in a decade.

[New Zimbabwe] The government has introduced an additional 2.5% tax for agitated civil servants effective this March in what it calls a new loans-centred initiative that will benefit its struggling employees and protect them from loan sharks.

[East African] Kenyan businesses that rely on imports from China have expressed fears that they may be forced to close shop as the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak affects exports from the country.

[New Zimbabwe] Victoria Falls -Higher Education Minister Amon Murwira has questioned how Zimbabweans, reported to be the most literate population in Africa, were ironically failing to run their 'dead' industry.

[New Zimbabwe] The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has ended its consultative tour of the Matabeleland region where most workers were in agreement with the proposed holding of an industrial action in response to government's continued failure to address the country's worsening economic situation.

[VOA] Kenya this week is celebrating 1,000 days of standard gauge railway (SGR) operation, with 13,000 trains covering 6.3 million kilometers. The Chinese-built railway moves people and goods from the port of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi, and also to a small town in Naivasha.

[Nyasa Times] Scores of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Wednesday late evening protested against party officials in Lilongwe demanding their allowances for participating in the party organised Constitutional Court election case ruling protest march earlier in that day.

[Daily Maverick] Tito Mboweni has gone where previous finance ministers have feared to tread -- slashing the public wage bill. The political landmines are about to explode.

[Daily Maverick] The provision of accessible public land will make or break the expanded social housing programme. Releasing strategically located public land parcels for social housing would send a powerful signal that the government is serious about urban integration.

[News24Wire] Residents of Soweto have offered to pay Eskom a monthly flat rate of R150 to keep their lights on.

[Nation] Twitter was ablaze Wednesday evening after the government announced that 239 passengers, who arrived in Nairobi aboard a China Southern flight, were cleared of coronavirus and advised to self-quarantine.

[The Conversation Africa] The eight Francophone states that form the West African Economic and Monetary Union have agreed to drop the use of the CFA Franc. Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo will soon start using new currency, the 'Eco'. The currency is scheduled for launch in June 2020.

[The Conversation Africa] At the core of this year's budget proposals from South Africa's national treasury is the admission that national debt is no longer expected to stabilise. In previous years, bar one brief exception, budgets and medium-term budgets repeatedly promised that debt would stabilise even as previous years' promises were broken.