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Tanzania is set to establish its first wind powered electricity.

The project, facilitated by the WindLab Devlopment Tanzania, would be located in Makambako, Njombe region of the country.

The project would be in three phases of 100MW for each phase, while the first phase would serve over one million residents of Makambako township.

The Managing Director of WindLab Developments Tanzania, Ms. Katherine Persson who made this known, also disclosed that the project on completion, would have a lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.

''We work to ensure that local communities from the villages of Igomba, Isimike and Itengelo benefit from this project, Ms. Persson stated.

The first phase would cost $250 million and implementation would be  between 12 and 18 months.

The four political parties that formed an alliance in Oyo state have attributed their decision to the urgent need to liberate the state from overbearing external influence.

The position of the political parties is contained in a statement titled ''An Alliance for the Freedom of Oyo state'', signed by Chief Senator Oulfemi Lanlehin of the African Democratic Congress(ADC), Engr. Oluseyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Barr. Sharafadeen Alli of the Zenith Labour Party(ZLP) and Chief Bolaji Ayorinde of the Social Democratic Party(SDP).

''We must reverse the situation where all our resources are filtered away to external forces. We have therefore decided that in order to present  an effective and workable solution to the unpalatable situation where Oyo state has been remotely controlled for the past 8 years by outside forces and all manner of constituted authority, there is the need to form this alliance of political parties in the state''.

'' We have firmly resolved to present one candidate in the person of Engineer Oluseyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party for the office of the Governor at the elections holding on 9th March 2019. He shall be heading by the special grace of God and the power of the people of Oyo state, a Government of Unity which will cater for the interest of all our people irrespective of Political Association''.

''In the interest of our thriving Democracy, we have also resolved that the House of Assembly elections will be contested on party basis and all candidates in all the parties are encouraged to go to the polls and contest for the seats available in the Oyo state House of Assembly as scheduled''.''We urge and encourage our people to reject the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the state and its candidates in the state at the election and vote for our Freedom and Emancipation'', the statement concluded.

A Kenyan Police Officer has been identified as one of the four suspects who killed a Lawyer in Machakos.

Robert Chesang was murdered in his Lukenya home two weeks ago by gunmen.

Consequent upon the killing, police recovered an AK-47 rifle and seven spent cartridges alleged to have been used by gunmen who stormed Chesang’s Moke Gardens home on February 17  and shot hi severally.

 The Law Society of Kenya in a statement condemned the killing of their member, while calling for speedy investigations into the murder.

The Law Society also called in the Inspector General,  Joseph Boinnet to ensure the arrest  and prosecution of those behind the murder.

The Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing in Zimbaabwe, Hon. July Moyo  has disclosed that government would soon address the water challenges pledged in the Matabeleland South Province  of the country.

Hon. Moyo made this disclosure recently, one of at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic in Gwanda town,as part of the  government's nationwide series of the Devolution Conferences.

“We have three urban centers in Matabeleland South Province and they have one thing in common which is poor water and it will be a prerequisite to uplift the state of water,”

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has declared that the  leadership that  has  emerged from the 23 February Presidential and National Assembly elections in Nigeria would not popular when reference is made to the flawed electoral process. 

This declaration was  made by the AWC through it National coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze in a chat with Poverty Line.

''And if government has risen to power through crooked means via manipulating the electoral process that government will never  serve the public interest. The cloud doesn't seem to be clear as the political atmosphere has brewed so much violence thereby making the elections not to be credible, not to be popular and not also to be legitimate. Therefore any leadership that would emerge from such an election shall not be credible, shall not be popular and shall not be legitimate''.

''By implication workers' fate shall be hanging in the balance and nothing extraordinary, new and spectacular will happen to the Nigerian workers through a government that came to  power through an election that is not credible, Comrade Emelieze stated.

About  246 schools in Namibia are without toilets.

This disclosure was made by the  Education Management Information System Report.

The report stated that in Kavango West, 70 schools have no toilets, while  106 have same

. In Kavango East, 63 schools have no toilets, and 101 have the facilities.

Nationwide, 63,2% of schools have flush toilets.

However, the report   stated that there has, been a remarkable improvement in the provision of sanitary facilities to schools in the country.

Indeed,  the Kavango East and Kavango West regions are still poorly serviced, with 61,6% and 60,2% of schools, respectively, having toilets for pupils. These are also the only regions where such facilities are at less than 65% of schools.

Alos there has  been an increase in water supply to schools in general. Kavango East and Kavango West are the most poorly serviced as far as water supply is concerned, with 67,1% and 73,3%, respectively.

  Lawmakers in Uganda have been called upon not to criminalize prostitution .

This call was made by  Human and women rights activists  during an interaction with at the Uganda Museum in Kampala

At about 3.00 Am on Saturday morning, 16 February, 2019, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu  announced the postponement of the general elections scheduled for the same day by one week while that of the governorship and state Houses of Assembly were shifted from March 2 to March 9, 2019. 

Prof. Yakubu also stated that the postponement was due to logistic challenges the Commission was contending with. Prof. Yakubu  refused to entertain any questions from journalists after the announcement.

 Interestingly, President Muhammadu Buhari had made a national broadcast some days, before the INEC Chairman's announcement. 

Indeed, the utterances and body language of President Buhari indicates that he is not ready to relinquish power.

Sadly, most hit by the election postponement, are Nigerians  who traveled long distances to the places they registered for the elections for the sole purpose of voting for the candidates of their choice.

What becomes of the huge financial resources that have gone into the postponed elections for law enforcement and security agencies ?

Indeed, there is more to the postponement than meets the eyes.

In this interview with Poverty Line, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabiut Olagoke says  that INEC, is to blame for its inability to  plan ahead for  problems the postponement has brought about. Excerpts :

What is your reaction to the postponement of the general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) ?

Nigerians ought to have expected  that the postponement was imminent, if the happenings and some events bothering on safety and security were to be considered ab initio for almost six months, the allegations of the influx of illegal weapons into the country had been reported, not into the hands of security agencies, but into the hands of invisible Nigerians.Intelligence gathering ought to have exposed the sponsors of the illegal arms and the purpose they imported it. But this is not so.

One should not be surprised at the report of various killings in political campaigns, most especially the ones involving the ruling party and the main opposition party.

INEC's claim that the postponement was due to  logistic challenges, should be taken in two ways, partly, Nigerians ought to accept it, if one considers the recent burning of INEC offices in some states of the Federation. 

The allegations that foreign observers intend to interfere with the electoral process, must not be ignored, even though the statement credited to the Kaduna state Governor was overzealous. 

The allegation made against former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), are equally significant, if one considers the various interventions of the United States of America in countries, such as Egypt, Libya and Iraq, to be a voyage of disastrous consequences for the affected nations.

The question now is that when are Nigerians going to be truly independent ?

The issue of the postponement of the general elections could therefore be regarded  as the usual economic waste, when one considers the logistic issue of security and economic importance, regarding the observers, party agents and INEC officials, that had left their places of origin to travel to such a far distance, with the accompanying risks. They now have to return home due to the sudden postponement.

Who is to be responsible for their remuneration and compensation ?                            

On the other hand, the postponement will certainly be to the advantage of the major political parties to consolidate their strategies and gains, most especially in the area of decampment for sale and possible onslaught to prey on  91-2 political parties which would be more of surrogates or buffer solution, to boost the chances of  each of the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress(APC) and the PDP at the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The blame on the part of INEC, is on its inability to proactively plan for exigency of this nature to the extent that any form of disequilibrium in the Chemistry of our political activities ought to have been addressed at the preventive levels  of solution, not to nosedive into a very costly postponement, which upon final analysis , must have resulted into a huge economic waste, pockets of waste of lives and property and the general state of frustration for all Nigerians, most especially those who are eligible to vote, into another state of apathy.

INEC and the National Orientation Agency must rise into action to disabuse the minds of Nigerians, so that they would be able to turn out en mass to perform their civic responsibilities, in electing our new leaders for the next four years for us.

Above all, we should count ourselves lucky, that we have the retired military Generals as determinant factors of the country's political destiny. They are to blame for not giving Nigerians the necessary legacy for political stability and sustainable development, making us to grope in the darkness of life, looking for a messiah.

Apart from this, we need to appreciate the fact that the ruling party and the main opposition party are not green horns when it comes to the conduct of elections, which in the annals of our history has always been fraught with  rigging.

What Nigerians should expect is not their rhetoric of politics, which we are already used to with dashed hopes, but that this election should be conclusive, free, fair and credible. The eventual winners should be people and development focused and must have zero tolerance for institutional indiscipline and corruption.

The appeal is that votes must count for the people to wholeheartedly support the cause of the government that shall eventually emerge.