The United States has plummeted to
28th place on an annual ranking of the world's most equal countries for
men and women, falling behind Rwanda, an East African country ravaged by genocide in 1994.
Rwandan
women beat American women in both labor force participation and
government representation, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. Eighty-eight
percent of women in Rwanda have jobs, compared to 66 percent of women
in the U.S. A whopping 64 percent of the African nation’s politicians
are women, compared to our 19 percent.
It's important to note
that Rwanda, which placed sixth on the list, also boasts more gender
equality than France (15th), Spain (25th), Germany (11th), Switzerland
(8th) and Denmark (14th). Each country was graded on
labor participation, health, political empowerment and educational
attainment.
Vice-President Danny Faure and Mrs. Jeannine Faure have announced their
divorce, which has been pronounced by the Supreme Court earlier today.
They have asked that their privacy and that of their children be
respected.
The government says that France's decision to re-open the investigation
into the death of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana that
sparked the 1994 genocide is part of a strategy to avoid culpability.
Remains and belongings of Genocide victims who were killed at Ntarama
Catholic Church during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi (file photo).
Education minister
Joyce Ndalichako announced the dismissal of the 'mafia' teachers. In 24
hours, the Mbeya video, lasting only 30 seconds, had triggered emotional
condemnation far and wide and jolted cabinet ministers, the police and
Mbeya Regional authorities into swift action.
In her statement,
Prof Ndalichako noted that "...the trainee teachers lost the legitimacy
to continue pursuing a career in education."
That was not all.
Before nightfall, two other steps had been taken - the school's head
teacher, Ms Magreth Haule, had been demoted through a direct order from
the Minister in the President's Office (Regional Adminsitration and
Local Authorities, Mr George Simbachawene.
Police in Mbeya
Region are holding five teachers from Mbeya Day Secondary School in
connection with the much-documented brutal beating of a student at the
learning institution - both in print and video.
A video clip
purporting to show more than three teachers brutally beating the
student, including on the head and at one point kicking him and throwing
him on the floor, went viral on various social networks within and
outside the country.
Speaking to the
'Daily News' in a telephone interview, Mbeya Regional Police Commander
(RPC), Mr Dhahiri Kidavashari, said the five teachers were being held as
part of the ongoing investigations into the brutal beating of the
student, Sebastian Chinguku from Form 3A.
"We cannot at the
moment categorically say these teachers are the ones appearing in the
video clip making rounds in the social media; but we believe
interrogations will shed light on the matter," Mr Kidavashari explained.
The video clip
shows more than three heavily set men allegedly brutally beating up the
frail male student who was wearing a dark green cardigan, blue trousers
and white shirt - at one point throwing him down on the concrete floor,
heating his head in the process. One of the men, dressed in khaki
trousers, held the boy's face down with one hand and raining heavy blows
or slaps on the student's face.
The clip shows the
teachers throwing the boy down several times, heating his head on the
floor as they continued beating him, while in the background a female
voice could be heard pleading with the men to stop beating the boy as
they could badly hurt him.
The atrocity, done
by the three men described as trainee teachers from different
universities attached to the school, has prompted the Minister for Home
Affairs, Mr Mwigulu Nchemba and the Mbeya Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr
Amos Makalla, at different times yesterday to issue statement
condemning the act and directing state organs to arrest the culprits
involved.
Mr Nchemba said
police were interrogating the teachers and also recording a statement
from Sebastian in addition to ensuring that the student gets proper
medical treatment.
"I have directed
state organs in Dar es Salaam to find and arrest the culprits who
apparently have gone back to their respective universities," he
explained.
The three teachers, who beat up the Form 3 student according to the
minister, are Frank Msigwa and John Deo, both from DUCE the constituent college of the University of Dar
es Salaam (UDSM) and Sanke Gwamaka from Nyerere Memorial University
(NMU) at Kivukoni, also in Dar es Salaam.
Mr Makalla said
police in Mbeya Region are holding several teachers, including the
school's headmaster, for interrogation and getting a statement from the
student. "I want to assure the public that the police will find the
trainee teachers involved in the matter so that they face the full wrath
of the law," Mr Makalla vowed.
The Minister for
Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy
Mwalimu, condemned the corporal punishment, explaining that her ministry
did not condone such violent acts against defenceless children.
"We are not saying
that children shouldn't be punished. But what those teachers did
amounted to an act of violence against a child and not punishment as
such.
There are
regulations on caning students and on particular parts of the body," she
explained, adding that she could not herself bear to watch the entire
clip because of the cruelty involved in it.
She added that her
ministry will continue to promote and advocate safe environment in both
primary and secondary schools where pupils/ students will feel safe,
stressing that such cruelty will scare children from going to school.
Preliminary
investigations show that the altercation stemmed from unfinished
homework in English subject that had been issued by one of the trainee
teachers, Frank Msigwa.
The trainee teacher
decided to punish the students who did not complete their homework,
making them do pushups and kneeling, to which Sebastian said he could
not do because he had a bad knee.
This angered the
trainee teacher, who took the student to the staff room and with the
help of his colleagues, proceeded to brutally beat up the student.
The student has not
been seen in school since the incident, which took place on September
28. The trainee teachers also left at the same time and have also not
been seen at the school since then.
American music star
Chris Brown has been accused of smashing one of his fan's mobile phone
on the ground as she tried to take a selfie with him on arrival in the
coastal town of Mombasa.
The musician was
walking to his car at the Moi International Airport, when the incident
occurred, sparking harsh comments on social media where Kenyans called
for his deportation coming less than three months after Koffi Olomide
was deported for slapping a member of his band at the JKIA, Kenya's main
airport in the capital Nairobi.
"I was with my
sister and we had gone to receive a guest at the airport and that is
when we saw Chris Brown and I got excited and asked him if I could take a
selfie with him," Brenda Sugut told journalists in Mombasa, "he did not
answer me but I went ahead and followed him while trying to get the
selfie and that is when he grabbed my phone and smashed it down."
Brenda said "My phone cost me Sh81,999, it's an Iphone 6."
She said the screen
protector and cover were damaged during the incident that was witnessed
by several onlookers as well as journalists who later interviewed her.
"I am not happy of
what he did to me, he should always think twice before doing anything
because what he did was not right at all," she said, "If I knew he would
do that I could not have even moved closer to him."
The fan said she had planned to attend Chris Brown's show but "now I will not go, because of what he has done to me."
"We take selfies all the time with celebrities here, I don't understand why he acted that way."
There was no
immediate comment from the musician's promoters or himself and it was
immediately clear if the incident had been reported to police.
