XYZ AFRICA NEWS BULLETIN@8
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19 September, 2016
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FOCUS: IMF Co-Hosts Regional Conference to Promote Access to Financial Services in West Africa
EAST AFRICA: Kenya urged to allow African Court receive cases from NGOs
CENTRAL AFRICA: Regional threats require a global response says INTERPOL Chief in Central Africa
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FOCUS:
- Only an average of 34 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s adult population has access to financial services – less than 18 percent in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WEAMU).
- The Dakar conference will explore avenues to improve financial inclusion in West Africa.
The Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will co-host a conference on September 20, 2016 in Dakar, Senegal, to examine the prospects and policy options for promoting financial inclusion in West Africa.
While access to financial services is crucial for pro-poor growth, capital accumulation, and productivity growth, only an average of 34 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s adult population has access to those services – less than 18 percent in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region, whose countries will be represented at the conference. Access to financial services has increased in most WAEMU countries but remains lower than in some other regions.
The Dakar conference will aim at discussing the impact of financial inclusion on growth and poverty reduction. It will bring together policy makers; international experts; bankers and central bankers; and representatives from the civil society and the private sector. The conference will specifically explore avenues to improve financial inclusion in West Africa. Participants will focus on the policy challenges facing the countries of the WAEMU as they seek to increasing access to financial services for all while also managing related policy challenges and supervisory risks.
IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa will attend the conference and give a keynote address. He also will meet with Senegalese authorities. Ahead of his visit to Senegal, Mr. Furusawa will travel to Conakry, Guinea for meetings with the authorities.
“We are very much looking forward to listening to all our partners in the WAEMU and other experts as we discuss the challenges and opportunities of regional financial inclusion,” said Mr. Furusawa. “The IMF has had a constructive dialogue with the BCEAO on the topic, and the Dakar conference allows us to broaden this dialogue with government officials and other stakeholders. This is a concrete way for the Fund to help improve the quality of life of West African citizens.”
Discussions are expected to focus on identifying barriers to financial services for households and small and medium size enterprises; the challenge of retail banking; the role of microfinance institutions and mobile banking; and the management of supervisory risks stemming from non-traditional financial actors. The conference also will feature speakers from East Africa, where efforts to spur financial inclusion have shown considerable results.
While access to financial services is crucial for pro-poor growth, capital accumulation, and productivity growth, only an average of 34 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s adult population has access to those services – less than 18 percent in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region, whose countries will be represented at the conference. Access to financial services has increased in most WAEMU countries but remains lower than in some other regions.
The Dakar conference will aim at discussing the impact of financial inclusion on growth and poverty reduction. It will bring together policy makers; international experts; bankers and central bankers; and representatives from the civil society and the private sector. The conference will specifically explore avenues to improve financial inclusion in West Africa. Participants will focus on the policy challenges facing the countries of the WAEMU as they seek to increasing access to financial services for all while also managing related policy challenges and supervisory risks.
IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa will attend the conference and give a keynote address. He also will meet with Senegalese authorities. Ahead of his visit to Senegal, Mr. Furusawa will travel to Conakry, Guinea for meetings with the authorities.
“We are very much looking forward to listening to all our partners in the WAEMU and other experts as we discuss the challenges and opportunities of regional financial inclusion,” said Mr. Furusawa. “The IMF has had a constructive dialogue with the BCEAO on the topic, and the Dakar conference allows us to broaden this dialogue with government officials and other stakeholders. This is a concrete way for the Fund to help improve the quality of life of West African citizens.”
Discussions are expected to focus on identifying barriers to financial services for households and small and medium size enterprises; the challenge of retail banking; the role of microfinance institutions and mobile banking; and the management of supervisory risks stemming from non-traditional financial actors. The conference also will feature speakers from East Africa, where efforts to spur financial inclusion have shown considerable results.
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EAST AFRICA
Kenya has been urged to allow the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to receive cases from NGOs and individuals.
The Arusha-based court is currently handling a case where the Ogiek community has sued the Kenyan government for evicting them from their ancestral land under the auspices of a notice to conserve the forest as a ’reserved water catchment zone’.
The Ogiek argue that their eviction will have far reaching consequences on their political, social and economic survival.
The case was referred to the ACHPR by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2012 as Kenya has not made the declaration to allow individuals and NGOs access it.
Only eight countries have made the declaration recognizing the competence of the Court to receive cases from NGOs and individuals. However Rwanda has asked to withdraw its declaration, a process that would take a year.
Kenya is among 30 countries that have ratified the protocol establishing ACHPR.
ACHPR Vice-President Ben Kioko says the fears by countries that allowing NGOs and individuals access the court would lead to plethora of cases were unfounded.
A team from the court, he said in an interview with the Nation in Arusha, met top government officials in Nairobi in 2013 to push for Kenya to file the declaration.
“We are urging Kenya to consider filing the declaration to improve Kenyans access and jurisprudence of the court. Ghana has filed the declaration but there’s no case from Ghana,” Justice Kioko said.
Seventy of the 126 cases filed at the ACHPR are from Tanzania as it hosts the court.
Judge Kioko who took over as VP last week and Mr Justice Sylvain Ore from Ivory Coast (President) said they had identified things that could be done in next 90 days to improve the institution.
Their website is to have regular updates; the court opened up for more transparency and communication with stakeholders heightened.
“I was among a team of three together with the President (judge Ore) who went to Singapore for benchmarking. Another team went to Turkey. We want to see how to improve the court so that the cases could be filed online and take less time to conclude,” he said.
It currently takes about 24 months for a case to end.
Judge Kioko who attributed his election to working well with other judges, having clear understanding of his responsibility and the vision and energy to improve the court said 38 cases had been disposed while 88 are pending.
The court which is supposed to protect and promote human rights is celebrating 10 years of existence.
Judge Kioko said the court has mandate to handle unconstitutional change of government, piracy, high level corruption, illegal exploitation of resources and crimes that threaten stability of a country.
He decried lack of cooperation by some states.
The move by the court judges to work on part-time, plethora of cases against Tanzania, inadequate funding, lack of political will, lack of awareness, bureaucracy and complex ratification procedures by some of AU member states are other challenges facing ACHPR. The court complements and reinforces the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
The protocol establishing the court was adopted by Member States of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in June 1998.
It came into force on January 25, 2004 after it was ratified by more than 15 countries and is composed of 11 judges, nationals of AU member states.
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CENTRAL AFRICA
INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock has said that regional law enforcement cooperation in Central Africa is interconnected with security efforts across Africa and beyond.
Speaking at a meeting of security ministers from countries of the Central African Police Chiefs Committee (CAPCCO) which was officially opened by Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea, Francisco Pascual Obama Asue, the Head of INTERPOL said crimes in one region can affect other parts of Africa and outside the continent, and vice versa.
“In the face of global threats, Central Africa is impacted like other regions on the continent or around the world. INTERPOL’s unique global presence and reach are crucial to help link investigations outside the region and continent. For policing to be effective, we must look to provide a global response to regional threats,” said Secretary General Stock.
INTERPOL’s recently opened Special Representative Office to the African Union in Addis Ababa marks a further step in its engagement with Africa and its security needs.
Established in 2009, its Regional Bureau in Yaoundé, Cameroon, also acts as a focal point for international police cooperation across Central Africa and with each of the Organization’s 190 member countries, further underlining INTERPOL’s long-term commitment to the region.
“No country or region can deal with the challenges of transnational crime alone. We must work closely together. Africa is committed to fighting terrorism and organized crime, and it is for this very reason that collaboration with INTERPOL is crucial for the national security of African countries,” said Equatorial Guinea’s General Director of National Security, and incoming CAPCCO Chair, José Ondo Ondo Nchama.
Underpinned by INTERPOL’s global programmes on terrorism, organized and emerging crime, and cybercrime, INTERPOL’s global policing capabilities further bolster the global policing architecture – whether in sharing and accessing vital information, or meeting the training and operational needs of frontline officers – to address serious threats.
In 2015 alone, terror attacks by Boko Haram claimed the lives of some 5,700 people in Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon. INTERPOL’s efforts to counter terrorism include the collection and analysis of intelligence on suspected terrorists and groups, and facilitating the exchange of data amongst member countries and other international organizations.
With acts of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea representing some 20 per cent of all global piracy attacks in 2015, INTERPOL is currently implementing Project Agwe in Central and West Africa to enhance the capacity of police to investigate maritime crimes.
Other challenges in Central Africa include the exploitation of natural resources and the illicit trafficking of cannabis, minerals, timber and wildlife.
Elsewhere in Africa, earlier this year drugs, criminals, guns and gold were intercepted in Operation Adwenpa, an INTERPOL border operation in West Africa, with security checks conducted against its databases.
While African countries have also experienced rapid cyber transition, criminal networks in the region have exploited this evolution to commit a range of crimes.
In this respect, enhancing the ability of law enforcement to investigate cyber-enabled human trafficking was the focus of a recent regional training exercise in Kigali organized by the Rwanda National Police and INTERPOL.
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Ends
Produced by Emmanuel.K.Bensah Jr (@ekbensah);
presented by Joshua Quodjo-Mensah
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