Browsing: Benin

The opposition was excluded, the army shot protesters in the post-electoral uprise, and according to Amnesty, at least 5 people were killed during the last election, and several hundred were arrested or exiled.  Since then, nothing has changed.  Repressive laws and regulations that excluded opposition from the past elections are still in place, and opposition leaders are still in prison; a crackdown on dissenting voices is still occurring, except now Talon has blackmailed, corrupted and coerced local politicians into participating in the 2023 election to legitimize his electoral holdup.

Therefore, his August 30th declaration before the Business community in France in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron, is not an accident but by design and should be taken seriously because back home, Talon had already started the process of changing the country’s constitution after January 2023.

The January 2023 legislative elections represent another major challenge for the country but …

The main goal of ECOWAS is to promote economic cooperation among member states in order to raise living standards and promote economic development. ECOWAS has also worked to address some security issues by developing a peacekeeping force for conflicts in the region.

Thus Members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Joint Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Telecommunications and Information Technology are meeting in Ghana to brainstorm the role of telecommunication in achieving regional development.

The meeting which is underway in Winneba Ghana kicked off on 27^th this month and will climax on the 31^st of July under the theme “The role of telecommunications and information technology (TIT) in achieving regional development.”

Delegates at the Meeting are discussing several issues ranging from the influence of TIT on elections in member states, regional roaming issues:…

African Ministers and Heads of Delegation of Ministries in charge of Housing and Urban Development, African Finance Ministers, the Directors and Management of Shelter Afrique, and representatives of international, regional and national institutions, the private sector and civil society, have agreed to enhance mechanisms for the mass production of decent and affordable housing in the continent to achieve social and economic development.

During a three-day summit at the 40^th Annual General Assembly of shelter-Afrique that was held in Yaunde Cameroon, the participants resolved to address the challenges that have hindered the efforts to provide decent and affordable housing in Africa.

In a research concluded by the Shelter-Afrique, a pan African housing finance and development institution, shows that the overall shortage of housing in Africa is estimated at 56 million housing units with out of this, more than 90 per cent are in affordable housing bracket.

The Managing Director …

Africa has some of the most expensive mobile data services in Africa. With the increase in connectivity via smartphones, people in emerging markets can use their portable devices for more things each passing day. Most of us have a smartphone with mobile data that we can carry anywhere and as soon as we step home we switch to our Wi-Fi not to overuse our mobile data; which is most of the time unfairly overcharged.

However some people do not have the privilege to afford both mobile data and internet at home, so they opt for the more expensive but more portable mobile data. Everyday, people in emerging African countries are forced to take this decision and are sometimes charged the most expensive prices in the world for mobile data. What is important to know also is the dependency and impact of smartphones in lower income communities.

With a difficulty in …

Benin has transitioned its business registration processes to 100% digital, setting up an efficient new online single window housing all regulatory processes needed to open a business in record time.

With this new step, Benin joins an elite group of six countries including Denmark, Kenya, New Zealand, Oman and Switzerland which offer their entrepreneurs 100% online business registration.

Also, with this new single window, Benin gets a top score on the Global Enterprise Registration, an index of countries’ business registrations systems.

Benin’s critical move comes ahead of the spike in global infections from the new coronavirus, covid-19, means that businesspeople – in Benin or abroad – can now start a business in two hours and from the comfort and safety of the office or home.

Coronavirus: African leaders stuck with neglected, outdated healthcare systems

The Government of Benin’s new online platform, MonEntreprise.bj, will help businesses launch efficiently and …