He co-founded Africa Uncensored, an investigative journalism collective that works to hold the government accountable and cover stories often unreported by the media.

They are working on a massive story: The government is believed to have misappropriated millions of dollars after Kenya’s health minister signed a multimillion-dollar deal in 2015 for what he said was much-needed hospital equipment. The government also promised to invest in the improvement of Kenya’s medical services, which were seen to be especially failing the poor.

Namu had received a tip-off from a source, leading him onto the case.

“The data set that we received showed us that there are corrupt networks in many, many places. But the place we chose to focus our attention on was on the ministry of health because this is one of the president’s key pillars for delivery to the public,” he says.

“And it seems as if it’s either has been hijacked or it was formulated to steal from this country.”

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They carry out their investigation, using hidden cameras to confront an official, despite fears of reprisal.

Meanwhile, they feel the urgency to publish as they speak to those most affected by failures in the health system, including a mother who could not afford her cancer treatment.

Still, the team maintains their faith in the power of journalism.

“I think that the key role of journalism is that we publish the things that some people don’t want published, even if that means that we are scared. Because at the moment that citizens have the information that they require to live their lives, that’s when positive change happens,” Namu says.

Source – https://www.aljazeera.com/

The post Africa: The Journalists Exposing Corruption in Kenya appeared first on Daily Concord.

The World Health Organisation, WHO has since declared it a public health emergency of international dimensions. WHO chief Tedros Ghebereyesus said whiles China had a robust health system to detect and control, his outfit remained concerned about the virus entering country’s with weak systems.

Almost all African governments have publicly put in place strict screening at points of entry, especially airports. Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ethiopia and Botswana have recorded suspected cases. All except Botswana have reported that the tests were negative. African airlines have cancelled scheduled flights to China except for Ethiopian Airlines.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that range from the common cold to MERS coronavirus, which is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus and SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus.

In this article, we will share the latest developments as authorities implement measures to contain the spread of the virus, especially on the African continent.

• Africa Basketball League postponed
• Tanzania bans shaking hands
• Kenyans sharing fake news to be charged
• Senegal records second case
• Zimbabwe to deport foreigners without ‘medical clearance’
• Morocco records first case, sixth case in Africa
• Senegal, Tunisia confirm first cases
• Egypt confirms second coronavirus case
• Algeria confirms two more coronavirus cases
• Kenya suspends all flights from China
• Nigeria records first case

Interview: Ethiopian student in Wuhan shares lockdown experience

Africa Basketball League postponed

The Basketball Africa League, which was supposed to start next week in Senegal, has been postponed over the coronavirus outbreak.

The cancellation was done after advice from the Senegalese government, which on Monday confirmed that a second person had tested positive for the coronavirus.

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12 teams including Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia were scheduled to compete. The league is being organised in partnership of America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Senegal, which is hosting the competition, has confirmed two cases of coronavirus, bringing the total confirmed cases in Africa to 12.

The other countries affected are Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia.

Source – https://www.africanews.com/

The post Coronavirus: Africa Basketball League suspended appeared first on Daily Concord.

Some names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees.

“In those few years I was doing my A-levels it was tough. Just seeing people being dropped every other day, being stabbed,” Yusuf tells the Victoria Derbyshire programme from his new home in Kenya.

“London’s not the place to be for a teenager.”

Yusuf was born and raised in London but moved to Nairobi after a close friend in his neighbourhood was stabbed to death.

It is a decision an increasing number of parents are taking, for their children’s safety.

Of the 100 people stabbed to death in the UK so far this year, 8% were of Somali heritage, according to the Rise Projects which works with young British Somalis in north London.

Jamal Hassan mentors young men in London, many from Somali families. He explains parents “want to protect that child by all means necessary”.

“If it means that child doesn’t finish school, college, university or he will not have a good job by the time you come for them the future is not really important.

“What’s important is that child’s life.”

One mother who had sent her child to Africa told him she could now sleep at night, because she knew any police sirens she heard were not for her son.

Jamal went to Kenya as a teenager, when he says problems for him in London “were at their peak”.

He says there are parallels with the present day.

“One of the things I’ll never forget, is the fact that when you walk in the streets in Kenya you don’t have to look over your shoulder.

“Here I could travel in and out of the city, go and visit whoever I wanted, and it was good. I felt a sense of freedom.

“But for these kids [in London that can be] life and death.”

‘Permanent damage’

Others, such as Abdul, who is in his early 20s, left London because they had started to get into trouble with the police.

“When I came here it was like a clean sheet,” Abdul said.

“No-one knew me, no-one knows my history. There [in London], you have people that look like you going after you.

“My mum feels I’m much safer here than anywhere else in the world.”

Parents say they do not view the move as a long-term solution – some children stay in Africa while others return.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against all travel to Somalia, including Somaliland, and highlights a heightened threat of terrorism and kidnappings, across Kenya.

But Amina sent her 15-year-old son to Somaliland, when she was worried about the new friends with whom he was mixing.

In his year there, she says he became a studious child again.

He had even wanted to stay in East Africa.

But within 17 days of being brought back to the UK in November 2018, he was stabbed four times.

“He’s been completely traumatised by the experience,” she says.

“They damaged his bladder, his kidneys, his liver. He’s got permanent damage.

“He was safer there [in Somaliland] than he was here… 100% more safe than in London.”

Source: BBC.CO.UK

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