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Kenya reopened for international tourism on August 1st after months of closure due to covid-19 pandemic. To understand how the sector is faring, CNBC Africa spoke to Mohammed Hersi, Chairman of Kenya Tourism Federation.

COVID-19 lock-down: How Kenya tourism is faring following reopening of international travel

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Dozens of doctors in at least two of Kenya’s 47 counties have gone on strike over delayed salaries, inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for handling COVID-19 patients and lack of medical insurance, a union official told Reuters.



Kenya has a total 30,636 confirmed infections, with 487 deaths, according to health ministry data.



Healthcare workers say they have not been given adequate PPE, but the government has said it has distributed enough to go round.



Doctors in western Homa Bay and central Embu had gone on strike over delayed or missing salary payments, lack of promotion, missing medical insurance and no hazard bonus, Allan Ochanji, vice chairman of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, told Reuters.



Doctors who contracted COVID-19 had been forced to pay out of pocket for their own treatment, he told Reuters in an interview.



“We have colleagues who have contracted COVID, they have been in isolation, they have had to foot the bills, despite the fact that they contracted COVID while on duty,” Ochanji said.



Doctors in Nairobi, the nation’s capital, warned on Friday they would go on strike within a week if their demands were not met. Nairobi has by far the largest number of coronavirus cases.



Richard Muga, Homa Bay County health executive, confirmed that health workers’ July pay had been delayed due to a dispute on how to allocate revenues to counties. He said the strike was illegal.



“We have tried to engage the health workers,” he said. “They have not heeded our pleas.”



A nurse in one Homa Bay hospital who did not want to be identified said patients were no longer visiting public health facilities due to the strike.



“Many patients are now going to private hospitals, or doing over-the-counter medication,” he said.



Health officials from Nairobi and Embu counties did not return calls seeking to comment. The health ministry said on Friday that Nairobi County officials were in talks with the doctors.



The ministry of health said eight healthcare workers had died from COVID-19. Ochanji said 558 healthcare workers had tested positive.



Nairobi-based Doreen Lugaliki became the first doctor to die of COVID-19 in July. This month nurse Marian Awuor, from Homa Bay, died from COVID-19 days after giving birth.

Op Ed: East African finance ministers to present budgets for new fiscal year

Dozens of Kenyan doctors strike over lack of PPE, delayed pay

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) &#8211; Pope Francis called for dialogue between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on Saturday, urging them not to let a dispute over a dam on the Nile lead to conflict.



The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is being built some 15 km (9 miles) from Ethiopia’s border with Sudan, has become a major source of discord between the three countries.



“I invite all parties involved to continue on the path of dialogue so that the eternal river will continue to be a source of life, which unites and does not divide, which nurtures friendship, prosperity and fraternity and not enmity, misunderstanding and conflict,” the pontiff said.



He was giving his Angelus message for Assumption Day, the most important Catholic feast dedicated to the Virgin Mary.



Egypt, which fears the dam project could lead to water shortages upstream, has threatened to withdraw from the latest round of discussions. Sudan is concerned about the dam’s safety.

River Nile

Pope calls for dialogue between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over Nile dam

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Smartphone brand Realme announced its official entry into the Kenyan market as part of the brand’s global growth and expansion strategy. CNBC Africa spoke with Josef Wang, General Manager of Middle East and Africa East operations on how they plan to navigate Kenya&#8217;s market whips already saturated with other players.

New entrant in Kenya’s smartphone market

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When COVID-19 struck, different countries around the world put forward measures to mitigate its spread.

Dropped emissions during COVID-19 lock-down: How will this impact climate change?

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This week the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority announced measures being taken and laws being reviewed in efforts of protecting the markets and ending IPO droughts; as the region begins slowly opening up, will we see more East African countries following suit? Tanzania Securities LTD CEO, Maro Kohi joins CNBC Africa for more.

CMA announces measures to encourage investment on the securities exchange

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The launch of a regional electronic cargo and driver tracking system which was scheduled to start today (13th August) as one of the measures aimed at preventing further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has been postponed. Moreover, on June 30th, the East African Legislative Assembly passed a motion to censure South Sudan and Burundi for defaulting on their annual payments and it also recommended that the Council of Ministers take further action against the two countries. Economic Analyst, Odhiambo Ramogi joins CNBC Africa for more.

EAC: South Sudan & Burundi sanctioned for defaulting on their annual payments

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Egypt decided to withdraw from the latest round of tripartite negotiations with Ethiopia over its multi-billion-dollar dam on the Blue Nile for internal consultations. Mikael Arage, Political and Economic Analyst joins CNBC Africa for more.

Egypt withdraws from latest dam talks for internal consultations

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After review from the country’s monetary policy meeting, Rwanda’s Central Bank has maintained the repo rate at 4.5 per cent as the country’s economy starts to bounce back from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, CNBC Africa’s Arnold Kwizera spoke to the Central Bank Governor, John Rwangombwa for more.

BNR Governor Rwangombwa: Why Rwanda’s Central Bank kept repo rate unchanged

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Peter Njeru used to live in central Nairobi’s rundown Michuki Memorial Park because he had nowhere else to go. Now the 28-year-old is restoring and guarding the green space, one of about 200 jobless former park residents hired to help with the work.



“This park was my home with other street families, though people were dumping here illegally,” he said, noting that he used to collect and sell plastic bottles and metal scraps to buy food.



But after being evicted in 2017, he was hired for a few months to help clear trash in the park &#8211; and began guarding it in his spare time.



Now he has a full-time job keeping clean the once trash-choked Nairobi River that runs through the green space, earning enough to rent a house for himself and his family.



Kenya’s capital city is one of the fastest-growing in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations, and more people, trash and homelessness have taken a toll, along with new challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.



But a government effort to better protect and restore parks in the city &#8211; particularly along the Nairobi River &#8211; is now having a significant payoff, not just in jobs but in green spaces to beat the heat and cope with virus restrictions, backers say.



The effort is part of a broader push to expand green infrastructure in Kenya’s capital, including ensuring widened road corridors have good sidewalks and drainage to prevent flooding, as well as more trees.



Maurice Kavai, an environmental compliance officer with Nairobi City County government, said such changes, including better water service and waste management, will help residents cope not just with the coronavirus crisis but with worsening climate change impacts and future pandemics.



Already it’s improving air quality and making the city a more pleasant place to work, said Loyd Ngere, a carpenter who sells wood furniture near expanded sidewalks along the road to Ngong.



The roadside is much less dusty, he said, and “my wares are visible to customers who often pass by because many people prefer walking due to good and safe pedestrian sidewalks”.



The effort to improve Michuki Memorial Park began in March, when the government allocated 30 million Kenyan shillings ($278,000) to rapidly rehabilitate the park to create more green space for social distancing, said Julius Wanjau, who runs Nairobi’s central business district.



“Early this year, the place was a criminal hideout, a (space for) illegal charcoal dealing, a dumping site, a home to many street families in Nairobi,” he said, with evicted families continuing to move back into the park.



But since the park was again cleared, 1,200 tons of garbage removed, and other improvements made, “now the place is clean with cool air and you can even find fish in the Nairobi River, which were never there before”, Wanjau said.



By asking former residents of the park what they wanted to see change, and giving them priority doing casual work to improve it, the project has also created what Wanjau calls “ambassadors” for the green space, committed to protecting it.



“They understand this place,” he said.



The timing of the work also has, coincidentally, helped cushion many of the city’s most vulnerable families economically through the city’s pandemic lockdown, providing work as other jobs dried up.



Phillip Dinga, who works for the C40 alliance of cities pushing for climate action and advises Nairobi officials, said the kind of changes Nairobi is making are crucial across Africa, both to cater for swelling urban populations and cut disaster risks.



Carrying out such work is a good way to use government spending to spur economies trying to recover from the COVID-19 economic slowdown as well, he said.



“We want to transition Nairobi to a world-class resilient city,” he said, including with air quality that meets World Health Organization standards.



Nairobi is moving towards that both by installing air quality monitors and working to make non-motorised transport &#8211; such as walking and cycling &#8211; easier and more pleasant, Dinga said.



Clement Ngoriareng, of the Kenya Forest Service, said his agency and others also are trying to identify more open spaces in the city that could be managed as urban forests to provide cooling, fresh air and recreation spaces.



Chris Kiptoo, principal secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forest, said green, environmentally smart policy was key to both making cities more liveable and recovering effectively from the virus slowdown.



“The solutions lie with us,” he said during an online event, particularly in terms of finding “a deal that balances nature and people”.

Op-Ed: Jubilee, Kanu formalise coalition as internal battles rage in Kenya

Facing COVID-19 and climate threats, Nairobi ramps up green efforts

Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work

AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK, Kenya (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya’s elephant numbers more than doubled between 1989 and 2018, thanks to increased anti-poaching efforts, the tourism minister said on Wednesday.



Kenya had just 16,000 elephants in 1989, and this rose to more than 34,000 in 2018, Minister Najib Balala said.



“In the last couple of years, we have managed to tame poaching in this country,” he told reporters during a visit to the Amboseli National Park.



The number of elephants poached so far this year stood at seven, down from 34 in all of 2019, and 80 in 2018.



While at the park, Balala participated in attaching a tracking collar to a bull elephant and naming of a pair of twin calves, as part of a naming campaign for elephants to be done next August.



Poaching had surged in past years in Kenya and other sub-Saharan African countries, where gangs killed elephants and rhinos to feed Asian demand for ivory and horns for use in folk medicines.



In 2016, President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to thousands of elephant tusks and rhino horns, destroying a stockpile that would have been worth a fortune to smugglers and sending a message that trade in the animal parts must be stopped.



The government has put in place stiffer penalties &#8211; longer jail terms and bigger fines&nbsp;&#8211; on anyone convicted of poaching or trafficking in wildlife trophies, saying poaching was harming tourism, a major foreign exchange earner.



Balala said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of foreign tourists visiting Kenya was expected to drop by 80% to 90% in 2020 and 2021.

COVID-19: Liven up your lockdown routine with SA’s ‘virtual safaris’

Kenya elephant numbers more than double in 1980-2018: tourism minister

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; In the last three months, teacher Faith Njeri has been a regular customer at a courier service office in Nairobi, collecting parcels sent from her village three hours drive north of the capital.



When the coronavirus pandemic closed the private school where she taught, “I was left jobless,” she said. Efforts to feed her family by washing clothes failed “as people avoided any intrusions in their homes for fear of getting infected with the virus.”



With three hungry children and no alternatives, she called her parents in her home village, asking them to send food to keep the family afloat.



“We did not have any money, and we needed to survive,” she said. “When it became apparent that hunger would kill us instead of the virus, we turned to our people back in the village.”



As coronavirus-related restrictions and economic downturns make bringing in an income harder, many urban families in Kenya &#8211; and in other countries around the world &#8211; are looking to their rural families for help.



In some cases, the calls for help represent an abrupt turnaround in relations, as city dwellers with jobs, who once sent regular cash to support their families at home, now find themselves the ones in need of help.



The added burden on rural families &#8211; some of them struggling to feed themselves as more extreme weather linked to climate change hurts harvests &#8211; has been substantial, they and farm experts say.



“Most (rural) families have been constrained as the little they had was sent to Nairobi to sustain their relatives,” said Phillip Oketch, a dairy expert with the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project.



Njeri’s mother, who farms in Gathuthi, in Nyeri County, said 30% or more of her earnings have gone to sustain her jobless children and grandchildren in Nairobi through the pandemic.



Previously, her four children sent home about $500 each year, she said &#8211; but this year they have instead sent four of her grandchildren to live with her in the village, to try to ease costs in the city.



Joseph Kimathi, another farmer from the village of Katheri in Meru County who has sent food to his children in Nairobi, said the pandemic had created a substantial financial burden for farmers.



“I had to forego profits and ensure the survival of my three children in the city, whose forms of livelihoods were suddenly cut by the pandemic,” he said.



Kenya’s lockdown eased in early July but an economic downturn linked to the COVID-19 pandemic means many urban residents are still receiving a reduced paycheck or struggling to find work, Oketch said.



Doreen Akinyi, who lost her job as a hotel waitress, said she continues to rely on a weekly pack of fish and maize flour sent by her aging mother in Mambo Leo, a village in Kisumu County.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">PRESSURE ON HARVESTS</h3>



Zaverio Chabari, executive director of the non-profit Strategies for Agro-Pastoralists’ Development Kenya, said the need for rural families to send food to city relatives has been particularly difficult as the country grapples with harvest losses to flooding and locust swarms this year.



“By the time the COVID pandemic struck, much of the food at the farms was already ruined,” Chabari said.



Transportation also for a period was a challenge thanks to coronavirus-linked movement restrictions and road flooding &#8211; though Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture quickly classified food transport as an essential service.



Gladys Miriti, head of the Grassroots Development Initiative Foundation-Kenya and one of those receiving food from her home village during the pandemic, said the situation had provoked substantial psychological stress for many urban families.



At the height of the lockdown, “they did not have money as most of them lost their jobs, they had children to feed, movements were restricted, the virus cases kept on surging and so a mix of fear, hopelessness, and uncertainty engulfed the people,” she said.

shutterstock_227423392

As coronavirus steals jobs, urban Kenyans look to their rural families

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; Somalia expects to announce the winners of its first oil and gas licensing round early next year, as the country seeks petro dollars to help rebuild its struggling economy, a senior government oil official said on Wednesday.



Battered by violence and an Islamist insurgency since clan warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991, Somalia is offering seven deep water offshore blocks in its maiden licensing round in one of the world’s last frontier markets.



The oil and gas auction officially opened on Tuesday.



“We are expecting that in the first quarter of next year to finalise and award the block contracts,” Ibrahim Ali Hussein



told Reuters in his first interview with international media since his appointment last week as the CEO of the Somali Petroleum Authority (SPA).



The government had previously mooted offering 15 blocks in this licensing round but cut this down to seven due to capacity constraints, Hussein, a former advisor to Somalia’s energy minister, said. Seismic data previously indicated the 15 blocks could contain around 30 billion barrels of oil.



He said the coronavirus pandemic had delayed talks between the government and a joint venture of legacy rights holders Shell and Exxon Mobil to convert their existing concession into a production sharing agreement (PSA).



“If there was not coronavirus, the roadmap that we agreed &#8230; was to get the contract back before the end of this year, December,” he said.



Converting the concession into a PSA would also help end a force majeure by the oil majors that has been in place since 1990, Hussein said. Shell and Exxon hold exclusive petroleum exploration and production rights over five shallow water offshore blocks.



“We have an ongoing and constructive dialogue with the Somali authorities about a roadmap potentially to convert the existing concession to a production sharing agreement,” a Shell spokesman said.



No-one at Exxon was immediately available to comment.

rig-drilling-drilling-rig-oil

Somalia expects to announce winners of first petroleum auction early 2021

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s Shoprite Holdings will lay off 115 staff and close another Kenyan store, less than a year after its opening as part of the supermarket’s expansion into the east African country, a letter seen by Reuters shows and the company confirmed.



In the letter, addressed to the Kenyan Union of Commercial Food and Allied workers (KUCFAW), Shoprite said it will close its City Mall store in Nyali, Mombasa.



“It is contemplated that the intended date of termination on account of redundancy will be August 31, 2020,” Shoprite said in the letter dated July 30 and seen by Reuters on Wednesday. It added trading would cease before the end of August.



In an emailed response, Shoprite confirmed the closure and said it was evaluating all of its operations across Africa “based on current and future performance”.



“It is unfortunate that we have no alternative but to terminate the employment of the valued employees that have helped to establish this store. The decision was not taken lightly,” it said.



In April, Shoprite closed one of its four stores in Kenya, citing a few months of “trading in a difficult economic climate”, after the store was opened last September.



The closure of the Nyali store, which opened on Aug. 29 last year, will leave two in Kenya.



Shoprite, owner of supermarket chain Checkers, has been reviewing its long-term options in Africa as currency devaluations, supply issues and low consumer spending in Angola, Nigeria and Zambia have reduced earnings.



On Monday it said it was considering reducing or selling all of its stake in its Nigerian subsidiary.



It opened its first supermarket in Kenya at Westgate Mall, Nairobi, in December 2018.



The retailer, with stores in 14 African countries, had hoped to take advantage of disarray in Kenya’s grocery sector after the collapse of Uchumi Supermarkets and Nakumatt, two of Kenya’s top three retailers, potentially made way for international chains such as Shoprite and Carrefour.

Shoprite,_Zeerust

South Africa’s Shoprite to close another store in Kenya, 115 jobs to go

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Activity in Kenya’s private sector rose at its fastest pace in a year last month on the back of a gradual easing of coronavirus lockdown measures, a survey showed on Wednesday.



The Markit Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) jumped to 54.2 in July, from 46.6 in the previous month, well above the 50.0 mark that separates growth from contraction. July’s level was the highest since June last year.



“The removal of county travel restrictions supported output and business sentiment in July,” said Jibran Qureishi, head of Africa Research at Stanbic Bank, referring to the opening up of the capital Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa.



He said the outlook was uncertain, however.



Firms continued to shed jobs in July, the survey found, but a slower pace than in the previous months.



The government cut its GDP growth forecast for this year to about 2.5% due to the pandemic, from an initial 6%.

Stanbic_Bank_Bill_Board

Kenya private sector expands at strongest level in a year – PMI

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya Airways (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/KQNA.NR">KQNA.NR</a>) resumed international flights on Saturday, heading to about 30 destinations for the first time since the routes were suspended in March due to the coronavirus.



The carrier, in which Air France KLM (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/AIRF.PA">AIRF.PA</a>) holds a small stake, resumed domestic flights in mid-July after the government cleared local air travel.



“We announced we are starting with 27 destinations, we increased it to 30 just following demand,” Allan Kilavuka, the airline’s chief executive officer, said during a ceremony ahead of seeing off a flight to London.



He said for the rest of the year the airline expected demand to remain below 50% of capacity, but it would increase flight frequencies depending on demand.



“In fact 2020, we call it a lost year. Because at some point we even see demand of 25% in some months, in some months we see 38%,” he later told Reuters.



The COVID-19 pandemic has depressed the global aviation industry, with African carriers alone expected to lose $6 billion this year in revenue.



In July, Kenya Airways said it would lay off an unspecified number of number of workers, reduce its network and offload some assets due to the coronavirus crisis.



Kilavuka said so far the company had laid off some 650 people, mostly trainee pilots, trainee cabin crew, technician trainees and newly hired staff on probation.



“What I have to emphasise though is it’s not because we want to. Those employees have done nothing wrong. They are very good employees. It’s just that we cannot afford to keep them,” he said.



The airline was struggling long before the coronavirus outbreak, posting 2019 losses of almost 13 billion shillings ($120 million).



Last month the Nairobi Securities Exchange suspended trading of Kenya Airways shares for three months, citing the government’s plan to restructure the carrier, after it submitted to parliament a draft law on nationalising the airline.

East Africa

COVID-19 lock-down: How Kenya tourism is faring following reopening of international travel

Dozens of Kenyan doctors strike over lack of PPE, delayed pay

Pope calls for dialogue between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over Nile dam

New entrant in Kenya’s smartphone market

Dropped emissions during COVID-19 lock-down: How will this impact climate change?

CMA announces measures to encourage investment on the securities exchange

EAC: South Sudan & Burundi sanctioned for defaulting on their annual payments

Egypt withdraws from latest dam talks for internal consultations

BNR Governor Rwangombwa: Why Rwanda’s Central Bank kept repo rate unchanged

Facing COVID-19 and climate threats, Nairobi ramps up green efforts

Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work

Kenya elephant numbers more than double in 1980-2018: tourism minister

As coronavirus steals jobs, urban Kenyans look to their rural families

Somalia expects to announce winners of first petroleum auction early 2021

South Africa’s Shoprite to close another store in Kenya, 115 jobs to go

Kenya private sector expands at strongest level in a year – PMI

Kenya Airways resumes international flights after virus curbs lifted

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East Africa

COVID-19 lock-down: How Kenya tourism is faring following reopening of international travel

Dozens of Kenyan doctors strike over lack of PPE, delayed pay

Pope calls for dialogue between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over Nile dam

New entrant in Kenya’s smartphone market

Dropped emissions during COVID-19 lock-down: How will this impact climate change?

CMA announces measures to encourage investment on the securities exchange

EAC: South Sudan & Burundi sanctioned for defaulting on their annual payments

Egypt withdraws from latest dam talks for internal consultations

BNR Governor Rwangombwa: Why Rwanda’s Central Bank kept repo rate unchanged

Facing COVID-19 and climate threats, Nairobi ramps up green efforts

Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work

Kenya elephant numbers more than double in 1980-2018: tourism minister

As coronavirus steals jobs, urban Kenyans look to their rural families

Somalia expects to announce winners of first petroleum auction early 2021

South Africa’s Shoprite to close another store in Kenya, 115 jobs to go

Kenya private sector expands at strongest level in a year – PMI

Kenya Airways resumes international flights after virus curbs lifted

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