They are the president’s better half, ‘mothers of the nation’ – they are called. Rightly so, because they complete the ‘father of the nation’ – the man chosen by a majority of the voter population to steer the affairs of state.

Some are visible and powerful, others are controversial. Some you hardly ever see but on campaign platforms, popping up and fading out as quickly as they arrived.

One in the recent past has openly disagreed with her husband on his governance style – not even his response that she belongs to the kitchen and another room has deterred her from firing a recent salvo.

Aisha Buhari, whose husband Muhammadu has said she is not a ‘First Lady’ but rather ‘Wife of the President,’ has warned that he’ll be back from sick leave to fire the hyenas and jackals enjoying his continued absence.

But what is the role of the African first lady?

Across the continent, they are simply “accidental civil servants” of sorts. Those that get the limelight because of their marital association with the president.

The Organization of African First Ladies (OAFLA) is one of the main meeting grounds of these eminent ladies who more often than not accompany their husbands to African Union summits.

SUGGESTED READING [Photos] African first ladies meet at A.U. summit

This article looks at types of first ladies and how they play out in national politics. With a second part that looks at their social engagements as their husbands actively politick.

The politically active ones are among the loudest, most visible if you want. Grace Mugabe, Aisha Buhari  and  Janet Museveni. Before Aisha was Patience Dame Jonathan, Nigeria’s most enigmatic and controversial first lady – in and out of office.

Aisha has yet to confirm if she will vote for her husband come 2019 should he seek another term in office. But she appears to want to safeguard his tenure with warnings to his appointees. Her social media presence seems to help matters.

Then there is Janet Museveni, whose husband says he has a lot of experience from his long stay in power. So much experience as to spot a good politician in his home. Janet is currently the Education Minister of Uganda.

Whiles, her husband shows no signs of stepping down, his experience – militarily maybe – has also helped spot the quality in their son whom Museveni appointed a major-general last year.

Enter Grace Mugabe, the 54-year-old who is as present as is her husband, the world’s oldest president. At 93, Robert Mugabe has shown no signs of slowing down. He is as much in the media spotlight as is Grace.

Grace, who happens to be his second wife, has risen to be a power player within the ruling Zanu-PF with reports suggesting that she is in the queue to take over from her husband. One of her famous comments was that she did not need to be president because she was already president.

Margaret Kenyatta is another visible political presence in the activities of her husband, Uhuru, who is seeking a second and final term as leader of East African giant, Kenya.

With the political temperature heating ahead of August polls, she is the ‘veiled’ campaigner if you like for her husband meeting predominantly women groups and touting the good works of the Jubilee government and emphasizing why Kenyans must continue to retain her as ‘The First Lady of Kenya.

Shaban Abdur Rahman Alfa
Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo

The newly re-elected Rwandan President Paul Kagame yesterday laid the foundation of what is to become the country’s main airport worth 818 million USD.

“I am pleased to join you today to break ground on this important national project. We are as determined as you are to see this airport completed and operational,” the president-elect said after laying a foundation stone.

The Mega Bugesera Airport located in Bugesera District, Eastern Province of Rwanda –a 30 minutes drive from the capital Kigali- is expected to have ultra-modern facilities.

“This is the best time to officially launch the construction works of the facility that was conceptualized back in 2009,” said Rwanda’s Minister for Infrastructure, James Musoni.

The construction of the airport will be in two-phase, with the first phase expected to cost 414 million USD and be completed by December 2018.

Rwanda expects over 1.7 million passengers to use the airport annually before the second is finished, the second phase will allow the airport to handle up to 4.5 million passengers.

“The proposed airport will increase global connectivity as well as support the country’s ambition of becoming a hub for ICT-based services as well as a finance and transportation hub,” said Musoni.

Mota-Engil Africa, a Portuguese-based firm, will develop the project under a public-private partnership on a 25-year concession and an optional 15-year extension.

After the opposition leader, Odinga says elections database was hacked

Polls have officially closed in Kenya and vote tallying is underway.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga says the elections database was hacked and the results breached using the murdered EC official’s identity.

According to him, he is in the lead per the tally of his party’s agents.

Police have fired teargas in Kisumu to disperse about a 100 chanting supporters of Odinga who are agitating against the results.

Out of the over 80% of votes counted Wednesday morning, Uhuru Kenyatta leads with 7,618,943 votes and Raila Odinga trails with 6241496 votes from 37,514 out of 40,883 polling stations, according to IEBC.

Two protesters are reported dead in Mathare but the cause of their death is unknown.

Kigali, 11^th August 2017 – Delegation of Sri Lanka’s defense services command and staff college are in Rwanda for 12 days from 09^th -23^rd August 2017 on a Geo strategic international study in Rwanda.

On Thursday 10^th August 2017, the delegation led by Colonel Ekanafaka (www, RCSP, RSP, PSC) paid a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation where they were told an overview of Rwandan History, and they were briefed about Rwandan Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Ministry vision and mission.

AG. Director of Europe and America Unit Benjamin Sebahizi has briefly told the delegation about before and post Rwandan history.

Speaking to the delegation, Director of Europe and America Unit, Benjamin Sebahizi has deeply explained them the role of the Ministry in promoting Cooperation of Rwanda and other foreign Countries as it is very clear in its vision and missions.

“Our mission is to build a peaceful, prosperous and self-defined Rwanda that is politically and economically integrated into the region, the continent, and the world,” Benjamin Sebahizi said

He added: “Rwanda’s Foreign policy is a part of a holistic transformational strategy of the new Rwanda, which one of the major pillars of the socioeconomic and transformation of the country.”

The visiting delegation had the opportunity to interact with officials in order to satisfy their curiosity mostly based on knowing the secret behind, how Rwanda rebuild quickly after the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.

On their arrival, Sri Lanka Lanka’s defense services command and staff college visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where they laid a wreath and paid tribute to the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Their study tour goes on where they have to visit different Ministries of Rwanda and some different economic activities of Rwanda located in each corner of the country.

Kenya’s main opposition coalition party National Super Alliance (NASA) has called on the electoral commission to declare its candidate Raila Odinga as president.

In a press conference on Thursday afternoon, in the presence of Raila Odinga, NASA campaign chief Musalia Mudavadi said they had received data from unnamed IEBC sources that indicate that their candidate is in the lead.

“The data which confirms the authentic and legitimate results of the presidential elections show the two leading candidates obtained the following votes. Raila Odinga 8,041,726 votes and Uhuru Kenyatta 7,755,428 votes … But on the IEBC website, the results displayed show Uhuru in the lead with 8,056,885 votes and Raila with 6,659,493 votes,” he said.

“Evidently, the accurate and lawful results in the presidential election is the transmission received from the polling stations and contained in the IEBC servers and not the unverified displayed,” he said.

We demand the IEBC chairperson announce the results forthwith and declare Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka as duly elected president and deputy president of the Republic of Kenya.

“We demand the IEBC chairperson announce the results forthwith and declare Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka as duly elected president and deputy president of the Republic of Kenya,” he added.

He demanded that the IEBC immediately remove the results displayed on the website and make the forms 34A and 34B accessible to all political parties to download for verification.

Musalia Mudavadi said a a letter has been sent to the IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati to express their disappointment and for him to look into irregularities immediately.

“The least we expected from the commission was to undertake an investigation of our claims … Given the importance and urgency of the matter, the IEBC should have released information from their investigation,” he said.

When asked by journalists if they had compiled all the results from the polling stations which the IEBC is still waiting for, Mudavadi said what they have “is more likely the final results”.

When asked if they will proceed to court, he said: “when we are told at the appropriate time whether it is within the court of law, then we will present our evidence”

Meet the eight candidates for Kenya’s 2017 presidential elections
A look at Kenya’s elections history since independence in 1964
Kenya Votes 2017: Have a look at the electoral system

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Thursday the country’s Supreme Court staged a “coup” against the will of the people when it annulled last month’s presidential election that he won.

“A coup in Kenya has just been done by the four people in the Supreme Court,” Kenyatta said in a live, televised speech delivered mostly in Kiswahili. “(The court is saying) ‘numbers don’t matter, it is processes that matter.‘”

The court’s decision on Sept. 1 was the first time a judicial body has canceled the election of an African president and the ruling sent shockwaves through the country and beyond.

The court ordered a re-run within 60 days between Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who had rejected the result of the Aug. 8 vote and challenged it in court. The election board had declared Kenyatta the winner by 1.4 million votes.

The re-run is tentatively set for Oct. 17 in a vote being watched for any sign of instability. Kenya, a Western ally, has East Africa’s richest economy and is a hub for diplomacy, security, and trade in a region often battered by conflict.

The date for the re-run now looks unlikely since election officials lack time to prepare.

The court’s detailed judgment given on Wednesday hinged on the failure of the election board to check electronic tallies, which are vulnerable to typos, against paper forms intended as a fail-safe backup before announcing results. Judges did not say they found evidence of rigging.

Kenyatta said he would respect the court’s decision but said it subverted the will of the people.

“We have reversed everything in this country by the decision of a few people. I don’t know how history will judge these gentlemen,” he said. “The citizen has been told he does not have a voice … If that is not a dictatorship, then I don’t know what to say.”