COMESA Sends Pre-Election Assessment Mission to Zimbabwe
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Issue #: 554_24th May 2018
COMESA Sends Pre- Election Assessment
Mission to Zimbabwe
COMESA has deployed a pre- election mission to
Zimbabwe to assess the level of preparedness
for the forthcoming general elections in July
2018. The team of nine is led by two members of
the COMESA Committee of Elders; Ambassador
Ashraf Rashed of Egypt and Ms Hope Kivengere
from Uganda.
The team began meeting key stakeholders on
Wednesday 23, May 2018, in Harare. Among the
stakeholders met were, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade, the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC), the Judiciary and
the Police. Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon. Sibusiso
Moyo welcomed the team to Zimbabwe.
During a series of meetings, Amb. Rashed and
Ms Kivengere informed the stakeholders that the COMESA Pre-Election Mission Team to Zimbabwe with Commissioner General of Police and Senior Security officers
deployment of the COMESA pre-election mission Justice Mrs. Priscilla Chigumba, about 5.4 million may arise after the elections.
was intended to help Zimbabwe strengthen its voters have been registered using the Biometric “Special courts have also been set up at the district
democratic practices, especially in the conduct Voter Registration (BVR) out of a projected seven level to deal with elections-related violence is and
of elections. They said the Mission will anchor its million. She was briefing the COMESA team in these will start operating as soon as proclamation
assessment on the legal framework governing her office. She said her Commission was mainly of the actual date of the general elections is made,”
elections in Zimbabwe and the regional, relying on the government to finance the elections Justice Malaba said.
continental and international standards on the budget of $148 million.
conduct of democratic elections. With regard to security, Commissioner General
“The Treasury has committed to provide $95.8 of Police Tandabantu Godwin Matanga told the
In his brief, Minister Moyo outlined the measures million towards the conduct of elections in the COMESA team that preparations for securing the
the government has taken to ensure a free, fair and 2018 National Budget,” she said. “The bulk of the elections were progress well. So far, police officers
credible process which he said would consolidate funds are coming from the government while the to be deployed in the general elections have been
the current optimism of the Zimbabwean Commission has also received assistance from trained and a special handbook that provides
population. cooperating partners (United Nations Development guidelines on their duties and responsibilities
Programme, the Electoral Institute for Sustainable published. Mapping of election hotspots was going
He said: “As a result, over 120 political parties Democracy in Africa (EISA), the International on that will guide deployment of security officers.
have emerged to participate in political activities Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the
provided by an even playfield which the UN Women).” The COMESA pre-elections assessment mission
government has made possible.” He added that will take six days during, which it will also consult
voter registration was still going to allow as many In a separate meeting, the Chief Justice of with political parties, ministries in charge of home
voters as possible to register. Zimbabwe, Hon. Luke Malaba informed the affairs, information and broadcasting and civil
COMESA team that the Judiciary was setting up societies. It will also conduct limited visits to the
According to the Chair of the ZEC, Honourable Electoral Courts to deal with possible petitions that countrywide to interact with the populace.
This bulletin is published by the COMESA Secretariat Corporate Communications Unit but does not necessarily represent views of the Secretariat. For Feedback: pr@comesa.int
Contact Address : COMESA SECRETARIAT, COMESA Center , Ben Bella Road
P.O. Box 30051, +260 211 229 725, +260 211 225 107
www.comesa.int; email: e-COMESA@comesa.int COMESA weekly newsletter
50 Million African Women Project COMESA-EAC-
2
Implementation commences in Member States SADC Immigration
COMESA has begun to engage member business continue to face gender-specific Chiefs discuss free
States on the implementation of the 50 Million
African Women Speak (50MWS) project, a
barriers such as: lower levels of education
and business training; legal barriers that
movement
women empowerment project funded by the impede their economic activities and cultural Nairobi, Tuesday May 22, 2018: Chiefs of
African Development Bank. COMESA signed barriers that discourage women from thriving Immigration departments from the COMESA,
a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with as entrepreneurs as well as limited access to EAC and SADC regions held a two-day meeting in
EAC and ECOWAS to jointly implement the financial and non-financial. With the help of Nairobi this week to discuss ways of introducing
project in September 2016. Information Communication Technology, some free movement of business persons within the
of these challenges can be alleviated hence context of the Tripartite Free Trade Area.
From 7-16 May 2018, COMESA conducted the establishment of 50 Million African Women
two successful engagements in Ethiopia Speak Project. The Team also emphasized The business community has long complained
and Sudan. The meetings were attended that Country Teams need to work closely about the restrictive immigration processes that
and applauded by representatives from with COMESA during the process of content make it impossible and expensive for them to
the public sector, private sector including gathering to ensure the platform has relevant travel across the region.
women entrepreneurs, non-governmental and up-to-date information.
organizations working with women as well Some of these include extensive visa procedures,
as representatives from the chamber of Participants from Ethiopia and Sudan lack of uniformity of procedures and multiple
commerce. expressed optimism on the potential success physical checks. Visa fees and other taxes on
of the project and how it could modernize business persons are varied between member
The 50 Million Women Speak is a digital their way of doing business as entrepreneurs. States with some charging as high as $250.
platform, built for Africa, which will primarily Ms. Rahel Moges, Managing Director for
be accessed through mobile devices to enable EthioGreen Production & Industry PLC, an In addition, there are high additional taxes that are
African women to start, grow, and scale their entrepreneur in Ethiopia, could not hide her joy not directly linked to Visas such as airport tax and
business. It is a unique proposition to build a and optimism upon learning the functionalities some more taxes not linked to any administrative
community of women entrepreneurs who will of the platform. costs or service provided.
act as peers, mentors, advisors and financier
to each other. This social network will allow “I am truly excited about this project because Speaking during the opening ceremony of the
women to learn from each other and be able it is coming at the right time, it has been my meeting, Chairperson of the COMESA-EAC-
to share lessons, as well as conduct business. wish to connect with potential buyers of my SADC Tripartite Mr. Sindiso Ngwenya described
It will also enable them to access financial Agro-processing produce in other countries the restrictions as archaic and connected to
services and create business opportunities on- such as Zambia, Rwanda, Ghana and Sudan. colonialism. He said these processes are also
line. The ultimate outcome is to directly impact I am optimistic that that this platform will preventing Africa from embracing the digital age.
50 Million women and create fair waged jobs indeed fulfil my dream. I cannot wait for the
for young people from the increased business portal to be completed”, said Rahel Moges. He added that it is a paradox that whereas under
activities, and capital flow. the free trade area goods originating within the
In Sudan, Engineer Widad Yagoub Ibrahim, member/partner States that qualify under the
The platform presents major innovation CEO of Bee Group since 1985 commended Tripartite Rules of Origin can move freely, that is
opportunities which contributes to women COMESA and the African Development bank not the case with business people.
empowerment with special focus on African for coming up with a responsive project which
Women start-ups, new and established she said will go a long way in transforming the “I wish to submit that there can be no Union
business operators to develop new business business of entrepreneurs through providing without the free movement of people including
models, products and services. But to achieve easy access to information and capacity business persons,” Mr. Ngwenya said who is also
this, efforts must be directed at addressing building in different areas including preparing the Secretary General of COMESA.
some of the challenges on the ground. Often bankable business plans.
most women owned businesses are too small This meeting held from 22-23 May 2018 was
to qualify for financial assistance from the Meanwhile, COMESA continues to engage necessitated by failure of immigration technical
government or loans from bank or they are member States to introduce the project and officers to find consensus, after several rounds
unaware that these resources exist. targets to have covered all member States by of negotiations, on a number of important issues
end of September. that are critical to the free movement of business
COMESA Team highlighted that women in persons, goods, services and investment across
the Tripartite region.
COMESA weekly newsletter
COMESA to launch the Malawi Leather Design Studio 3
productivity and marketability of African products
at the global level. This project will enhance the
production and competitiveness of SMEs through
the Cooperatives in the Leather and Leather
Products.
The leather value chain globally is estimated at
more than US$ 100 billion and this figure does
not include the finished leather which is used
in upholstery for automobiles and household
furniture as it cannot be easily ascertained in
trade figures and the value it adds to the prices of
vehicles and furniture.
The Malawi Enterprise Productivity Enhancement The installation and testing of the equipment is
Africa holds great potential in developing the
(MEPE) project supported under the COMESA underway as the project simultaneously works to
sector, on both the supply and demand side of
RISM programme has procured equipment worth renovate the SMEDI complex, which will house the
the leather value chain with approximately 26%
EURO 320,710 (about 273 million Malawi Kwacha) soon to be launched state of the art design studio.
of the global livestock population and footwear
for the setting up of a leather design studio to be
consumption estimated at between 878 million to
based in the city of Blantyre. The Regional Design Studio project will Influence
1.1 billion pairs per annum.
Manual on Analysis of Monetary transmission Mechanism Adopted
mechanisms. It demonstrates all steps from data
organization to results interpretation using EVIES
software.
The key questions which the analysis in the
manual tries to address are: which transmission
channels, or combination of channels (interest
rate, bank lending, exchange rate, asset prices)
are likely to be the most effective in transmitting
monetary policy; and what is the timing and
magnitude of the effects of policy changes on
macroeconomic variables.
CMI Director Mr. Ibrahim Zeidy said the Manual will
enable users to have a firm understanding of the
process involved in the analysis of transmission
Central Banks in the COMESA region have adopted policy framework.
mechanism of monetary policy.
the use of the manual on analysis of monetary
transmission mechanism using the time series Bank Governors decided during the 23rd Meeting
Following the feedback from the workshop, Mr.
data. in Djibouti in March this year that the workshop
Zeidy said the manual will now be published by
to validate the manual was needed soon. The
CMI as a knowledge product that will provide
The COMESA Monetary Institute (CMI) recently manual also tackles issues on “Application
member central banks with analytical guide on
held a workshop in Nairobi Kenya from 7th – of Vector Autoregresstive (VAR), Structural
application of VAR, SVAR and VECM for analysis of
11th May 2018, for Central Banks to discuss and Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) and Vector error
transmission mechanism of monetary policy.
validate the Manual which seeks to equip users Correction Model (VECM) for analysis of monetary
The workshop was attended by participants
with skills on modelling and analyzing monetary transmission mechanism”.
from eleven COMESA Member states namely
policy transmission mechanism. This skill is
Burundi, Djibouti, Congo(D.R.), Kenya, Malawi,
crucial since member Central Banks are currently The manual utilizes strictly time series data, for
Mauritius, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and
moving gradually to inflation targeting monetary the analysis of monetary policy transmission
Zimbabwe.
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