President William Ruto has asked leaders from various political affiliations to support ongoing efforts to unite Kenyans for the sake of the unity and transformation.

The President appealed to leaders who do not support the broad-based government to do so in the spirit of patriotism.

He said the unity and transformation of the country are more important than the selfish, personal and political interests of leaders.

“I want to tell fellow leaders that this is not the time for us to be disunited, to think about selfish interests or our political formations. This is the time to think about Kenya,” he said.

“Let us all work together towards transformation, progress and unity so that we can overcome poverty,” he added.

Speaking during his second day of a three-day development tour of Kisii and Nyamira counties, President Ruto said tribal and sectoral politics was outdated.

Present were Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Kisii Governor Simba Arati, MPs and MCAs.

In Nyaribari Chache Constituency, President Ruto broke ground for the construction of the KSh3 billion Kisii County Cancer Treatment Centre that will serve the region.

The 76-bed facility will help in cancer awareness, prevention, screening, early detection and diagnosis and provide the latest treatment options, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.

The President said the government is keen on ensuring that serious ailments like cancer do not impoverish Kenyans.

“Under our Universal Health Coverage programme, the government has established the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund that will cater for the treatment of illnesses like cancer,” he said.

The President also commissioned the Outpatient, Surgical and Mother and Child units at Keroka Level IV Hospital in Nyamira County.

He also launched Nyaribari Masaba Affordable Housing Project at Ekerubo, Kisii County.

On the Last Mile Electricity Connectivity Programme, the President said KSh650 million will be used to connect 10,000 households in Nyamira County.

At Ekerubo, Nyaribari Masaba Constituency, President Ruto launched the construction of 350 units under the Affordable Housing Programme.

This is part of 10,000 units to be built in Kisii County. He said the Affordable Housing Programme is the most ideal for Gusii region since it would help stem severe land fragmentation that has seen agricultural land sub-divided into tiny unproductive pieces.

Further, President Ruto said the government has set aside KSh2 billion to connect power to 30,000 households in the county.

Later, the President launched the tarmacking of Metembe-Ngenyi/Bobaracho-Ititi/Rioma-Nyaore/Marani-Nyakoe roads at Marani, Kisii County.

President Ruto said the government will spend KSh4.5 billion to build roads in the county to improve the region’s transport infrastructure and spur economic growth.

Mr Gachagua said he fully supported the recently appointed Cabinet Secretaries, including those from ODM.

“Kenya belongs to all of us. We will therefore support the President in his quest to unite the country,” he said.

Mr Arati commended President Ruto for bringing Kenyans together, noting that had the country disintegrated during the recent chaos, ordinary Kenyans would suffer the most, while leaders had the means to migrate elsewhere.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of President of the Republic of Kenya.

Atlanta Phambili – “forward” in Zulu and Xhosa – is a subnational diplomacy initiative which seeks to deepen bilateral ties between the United States and South Africa through City of Atlanta’s educational and research institutions, Diaspora connections, creatives industry, and economic dynamism.  The initiative is a joint effort by the U.S. Mission in South Africa and the government of South Africa. 

In March 2024, the U.S. Mission launched Atlanta Phambili with a four-day trade and investment-focused roadshow in Atlanta co-hosted by Prosper Africa.  The roadshow included events hosted in partnership with Spelman College, Georgia Tech, the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others.  The delegation had the opportunity to meet with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and civil rights icon Ambassador Andrew Young.  The South African delegation included senior business executives and government officials.  The U.S. government delegation included U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben E. Brigety, Prosper Africa Coordinator British Robinson, USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman, United States Export-Import Bank Chair Reta Jo Lewis, and United States Trade and Development Agency Director Enoh Ebong.  During the Georgia Tech Hosted Atlanta Phambili Trade&Innovation Forum on March 27, USAID Deputy Administrator Coleman announced the launch of the Africa Trade Desk, an exciting new program to connect African products with large U.S. retailer buyers.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy&Consulates in South Africa.

In an update, the WHO said that an outbreak of mpox was declared in Burundi on 25 July, at around the same time that Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda also confirmed their own cases. 

The UN health agency noted that all of these infections – where patients’ symptoms included fever, joint pain and a widespread rash – were linked to the “expanding outbreak” in East and Central Africa.

Later in the day, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) officially declared the situation a public health emergency voicing concern over the speed of its spread in the past few weeks.

Every infection was identified after genetic sequencing as clade Ib – one of three recognized variants of the virus, explained WHO, which added that 934 new laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox and four deaths had been reported to the UN health agency from 26 countries in June.

This indicated “continuing transmission of mpox across the world”, it noted.

Endemic problem
Mpox been circulating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for years, according to the UN health agency, which said that there has been an “unprecedented increase” in the number of countries in Africa reporting mpox, which is mainly spread through sexual contact.

Within the African Region, the WHO said that the DRC reported 96 per cent of the confirmed mpox cases in June. But with limited access to testing in rural areas, less than one quarter of suspected cases there have been tested, so it is very likely that the disease burden is higher than initial estimates.

Data indicates that the DRC has been experiencing “a severe outbreak” of mpox since the beginning of the year, with more than 14,000 cases and 511 deaths reported, the UN health agency said. 

Transmission focus
In a related development, WHO said that Côte d’Ivoire is also experiencing an outbreak of mpox, clade II; this was the variant that was responsible for the global mpox outbreak in 2022, the UN health agency said, adding that South Africa has reported two more confirmed cases.

Mpox – formerly monkeypox – is endemic in Central and West Africa.  It can be transmitted through physical contact with an infected person, animal or contaminated materials. Symptoms include skin rash or lesions, accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.

World trends
Globally, the most affected region in June was Africa with 567 cases of infection, followed by the Americas (175 cases), Europe – excluding the Eastern Mediterranean region – (100 cases), Western Pacific (81 cases) and South-East Asia (11 cases). 

From 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2024, a total of 99,176 laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox – including 208 deaths – have been reported to the UN health agency from 116 countries in all WHO regions. Apart from Africa, “the outbreak continues at a low level of transmission” globally, WHO said.

Data for June showed that 16 out of 26 reporting countries showed an increase in cases compared to May. DR Congo reported the highest increase in Africa – with 543 cases in June compared to 459 a month earlier (up 62 per cent) while Spain saw the highest increase in Europe (54 cases, up from 38 in May), Colombia reported the highest increase in the Americas with 11 cases in June and none in May, Australia had the highest increase in the Western Pacific (from 33 cases in May to 64 in June). No country reported an increase in South-East Asia. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN News.

On August 12, Chinese Ambassador to Uganda Zhang Lizhong attendedthe opening ceremony of International Seminaron “China-Africa Cultural Exchange and Mutual Learning” co-organized by Uganda’s Makerere University and China’s Xiangtan University. Academicians from Ugandan and Chinese Universities gathered here for a two-day seminar aimed at boosting understanding of the cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Ambassador Zhang introduced the fruitful results of China-Uganda cooperations in variety areas, such as education, culture, health, vocational training, tourism and etc., explained in detailson the core content and world significance of the Global Civilization Initiative, and appreciated Uganda’s contribution to the successful adoption of the Resolution by UNGA on the establishment of International Day of Dialogue among Civilizations.

Ambassador Zhang said 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is to be held in the September.We hope, through the Forum, China and Uganda will continuously enhance the synergy of development strategies, strengthen pragmatic cooperation and mutual support in international area, deepen cultural exchanges and mutual learning. We hope China and Uganda relations will be further elevated and will be the forerunner in China’s co-operation with African countries.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Uganda.