KENYA

Ruto Signs New Law Giving MCAs Fiscal Autonomy

County assemblies in Kenya have gained financial autonomy under the recently enacted County Public Finance Management Laws (Amendment) Bill, signed by President William Ruto. Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) will now independently manage their budgets, separate from those of the county governors. This reform empowers assemblies to allocate funds directly for staffing, administrative functions, oversight, and other operational needs, thereby curtailing executive control over assembly finances by governors. The shift marks a step in the devolution agenda, recognising the assembly’s constitutional role in checks and balances. Senators had previously supported a companion bill to ensure fiscal independence for assemblies. 

(Source: Daily Nation)

TANZANIA

DP Announces Priorities in the General Election Campaigns

The Presidential candidate from the Democratic Party (DP), Abdul Mluya, has named improvement in the health sector as his party’s top priority during the general election campaign. Mluya made the statement shortly after collecting his presidential nomination forms in Dodoma today. The contestant was accompanied by his running mate, Abrahaman Khatib, at the premises of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) offices, along with some members of their party. Elaborating, the candidate stated that he will ensure the health sector is strengthened so that pregnant women receive free services during childbirth and after delivery, and that both mother and child will receive free, nutritious food for three months.

(Source: Daily News)

 

UGANDA

International Lawyers Challenge ICC’s Choice of Kony’s Counsel

An association of international legal professionals, operating under the name the Association of Counsel of International Criminal Courts and Tribunals (ACICCAT), has formally petitioned Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, to intervene in what they argue was a flawed appointment by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The group contends that Peter Haynes, the British lawyer appointed as defence counsel for Joseph Kony, fails to meet a critical requirement, as they say he does not speak Acholi, the local language essential for engaging meaningfully with the case. ACICCAT highlights that Haynes himself has described his selection as “faulty” and questions the integrity of the vetting process. They urge Uganda to support efforts by the African Bar Association and the International Justice Group to annul his appointment and postpone the upcoming in-absentia ICC confirmation hearing, scheduled for September 9–11, to allow for the appointment of a more suitable candidate.

(Source: Monitor)

RWANDA

Govt Agrees to Take Up to 250 Migrants From the U.S.

Rwanda has announced that it will accept up to 250 migrants from the US as part of a deal reached with the Trump administration. Under the scheme, the deportees would be given “workforce training, health care, and accommodation to jump start their lives in Rwanda”, government spokesperson Yolande Makolo confirmed to the BBC. A condition of the agreement was that Rwanda would have “the ability to approve each proposed resettlement”, she added. The White House has not commented on the deal directly but told the BBC it was constantly talking to countries “willing to assist us in removing the illegal aliens that [ex-President] Joe Biden” had allowed to “infiltrate” the US.

(Source: BBC)

ETHIOPIA

Opposition Party Calls for Global Action against Egypt’s Obstruction to Equitable Utilisation of Nile

Ethiopia’s opposition party, the National Movement of Amhara (NaMA), has called on the international community to reject Egypt’s obstructionism to equitable utilisation of the Nile and to uphold Ethiopia’s sovereign right to develop its resources lawfully. In a statement sent to ENA today, the Movement criticised the current Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s remarks, as reported in “Ahram Online” on August 13, 2025, during a joint press conference with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. “Such hypocrisy is evident in recent improper statements from the Egyptian government, including President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s remarks reported in Ahram Online on August 13, 2025, during a joint press conference with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.”

(Source: ENA)

 

SOMALIA

Opposition Leaders Hold High-Stakes Meeting at Rooble’s Residence After Election Talks Collapse

Senior leaders of Somalia’s opposition coalition held an urgent closed-door meeting on Monday evening at the private residence of former Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Rooble, following the breakdown of high-level negotiations with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud over the country’s electoral process. According to multiple political sources who spoke to Radio Dalsan on condition of anonymity, the meeting, described as “highly sensitive”, was convened to chart the opposition’s next steps after Sunday’s talks at Villa Somalia ended without agreement. The discussions centred on how to respond if the dialogue process formally collapses, amid growing fears of deepening political instability in the Horn of Africa nation. The meeting took place less than 24 hours after President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and opposition leaders met inside the presidential palace in Mogadishu. That session, which many observers had hoped would break a political deadlock, concluded without consensus on key provisions of Somalia’s contested electoral framework.

(Source: Radio Dalsan)