Somalia rejects AU mediator in row with Kenya
Thursday May 13 2021
By AGGREY MUTAMBO
Summary
Somalia has rejected the appointment of former Ghanaian President John Mahama as African Union’s (AU) special envoy to help mediate its political impasse with Kenya.
Somalia argues that the former Head of State has “extensive links” with Kenya, and has written to AU Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat notifying him that Somalia will no longer support Mr Mahama in his new role.
Somalia has rejected the appointment of former Ghanaian President John Mahama as African Union’s (AU) special envoy to help mediate its political impasse with Kenya.
Photographer: Cristina Aldehuela/Bloomberg
Former Ghanaian President John Mahama said he’ll spend $10 billion on infrastructure over the next five years if he defeats the incumbent in elections next week.
Mahama plans to build roads, dams and schools, and extend an airport and hospital, should he defeat President Nana Akufo-Addo in the Dec. 7 vote, he said in an interview Wednesday. The West African nation is the world’s second-biggest producer of cocoa after Ivory Coast, and Mahama will work to ensure half its output is processed domestically, compared with 38% now.
“We’ll be able to take care of social and economic infrastructure without necessarily escalating debt,” Mahama, 62, said in an interview Wednesday. A fund will be created using proceeds from oil, value-added tax and annual budget funding, and many of the projects will pay for themselves over time, said the candidate who led Ghana from 2012 to 2017.