by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Rabat : The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) will organize a national training workshop on cottage industry for rural women in Kampala, Uganda, on 25-27 September, as part of Kampala’s celebration as the African Region’s Islamic Culture Capital for 2017.
The workshop aims at increasing rural women’s chances in finding an income-generating work to contribute to social development, enhancing economic capacities, fighting poverty and empowering rural women.
The workshop will benefit 40 women from various rural regions of Uganda. Dr Aicha Bammoun, Program Specialist at the Directorate of Science and Technology, will supervise the workshop on behalf of ISESCO.
—AG/IINA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
New York : US President Donald Trump has emphasized in a meeting with African leaders the “business potential” of their continent, noting that he knows that because “so many” of his friends go there “to get rich”.
“Africa has tremendous business potential,” Trump said in his address on Wednesday during a working luncheon in New York with the leaders of Uganda, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana and Ethiopia, Efe news reported.
“I have so many friends going to your countries trying to get rich, I congratulate you. They are spending a lot of money. But it does, it has tremendous business potential,” he added.
Trump also created controversy on Twitter when he mistakenly pronounced Namibia as “Nambia” during his speech as he was emphasizing that country’s healthcare system, which he said is becoming more self-sufficient.
The President also announced that soon the US United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, will travel to Africa to discuss conflict resolution and prevention and, in particular, the violence in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Trump also emphasized Washington’s collaboration with African nations to fight terrorism, saying that he was “proud to work with you to eradicate terrorist safe havens, to cut off their finances and to discredit their depraved ideology, and a number of you have told me.”
After the luncheon, Trump also met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Egyptian leader Abdel Fatah el-Sisi.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
South Africa still remains the most attractive destination to do business in Sub-Saharan Africa despite its recent economic slowdown.
A new Africa report by auditing firm Ernst and Young has shown that two-thirds of Sub-Saharan African economies are still growing at rates above the global average.
The continent also remains the second fastest-growing region in the world for the foreseeable future. While global Foreign Direct Investments (FDI’s) fell by 5% in 2015.
The report shows that Africa was one of only two regions in the world in which there was growth in the number of FDI projects over the past year.
North African countries remain under some pressure economically, but have the advantage of a relatively business-friendly environment.
Other high-growth economies like Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia are were ranked in the top 10 in terms of macro-economic resilience.
(reference:http://www.sabc.co.za)
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Kampala, Uganda, (IINA) – Uganda’s Muslim leaders have condemned the “ignorance” of church leaders trying to block Islamic banking legislation in the majority-Christian nation, FultonCounty news reported.
Earlier this year, parliament amended a finance bill to introduce Islamic insurance. However, church leaders led by Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, head of the country’s Anglican Church, has urged President Yoweri Museveni to reject the legislation.
In their petition made public late Thursday, they claimed the introduction of Islamic banking “opens the door to the ultimate operationalization of full-fledged Shariah law” and raised the specter of Islamic finance being used to fund terrorism.
Islamic banking avoids paying interest, which is forbidden in Islam, and instead offers returns to the lender.
“What criteria shows it’s a way for funding terrorism, this is a misconception of the Holy Qur’an,” Huda Oleru, a Muslim lawmaker for the National Resistance Movement, told Anadolu Agency.
She added: “Muslims in Uganda have been using secular banks because they had no option and this bill is a welcome move for those who do not want to pay interest levied by secular banks.”
Referring to the church petition, Oleru said the Qur’an “urges Muslims to help orphans, widows and the marginalized members of the society, that is the role of a responsible Muslim, they need to be educated more.”
Nsereko Mutumba, spokesman for the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC), said the church leaders were “just ignorant of the Qur’an, it has nothing to do with ISIS, Boko Haram or any other group claiming to kill non-Muslims. Even countries in the Western world are embracing Islamic banking.”
The Bank of Uganda is currently establishing a sharia advisory board to regulate and supervise Islamic banking.
“This doesn’t mean having an automatic Muslim president,” Mutumba said. “We are the minority. Islam was the first religion to be introduced in Uganda and we have never forced anyone to convert to Islam.”
Commenting on the church leaders’ request for the president to send the bill back to parliament so passages relating to Islamic banking can be removed, Oleru said: “I will not support this amendment if it is returned to parliament.”
Muslims make up 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians accounting for around 84 percent.
