GERMANY PLANS TO SUSPEND FAMILY REUNIFICATION "Before I came to Germany, I didn't know it would be so difficult. I just didn't know. You know, we're men, and we men are not used to raising children," says Mohammed. He fled the civil war in Syria in 2014 with his wife, two daughters and two sons to Iraqi Kurdistan. Life was so difficult for the family there that his wife, two daughters and one son returned to Syria. Mohammed made the decision to make the dangerous journey to Germany through Libya and across the Mediterranean to Italy together with his son, who suffers from cerebral atrophy, in the hope of getting medical treatment and one day being reunited with the rest of the family in Germany. But two and a half years after arriving in the country, Mohammed still lives alone with his 9-year-old severely disabled son and has no idea when or if his wife and two daughters will be able to join him. His second son died after returning to Syria, a loss made all the more painful by the separation. Housed in shared accommodation at refugee centers, a friend eventually offered Mohammed a place to stay in what he describes as a broken-down house. He says they struggle to make ends meet on social welfare. Mohammed was granted subsidiary protection status by the German authorities. It is granted to people who do not meet the specific criteria for refugee status under the Geneva Convention, but who face a risk of serious harm in their country of origin, including the death penalty, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, or indiscriminate violence in the context of an armed conflict. There are currently around 351,400 people with subsidiary protection status living in Germany, the majority from Syria. They receive a residence permit, typically for an initial one year, and have the right to live and work in Germany and access social benefits. But while asylum-seekers and recognized refugees have the right to reunification with spouses and children under the age of 18 under German and EU law, those with subsidiary protection status do not. Now the new coalition government of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) plan to suspend family reunification for those with subsidiary protection status for at least the next two years. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) told the Bundestag on May 16 that citizens "expected a change of policy" on immigration and that included an end to family reunification in certain cases. "The country's ability to integrate had simply reached a breaking point," Dobrindt said, adding that cities and municipalities across the country were at their limit. 16th May,2025

MALI'S DEMOCRACY AT RISK UNDER MILITARY RULE Mali's military junta has banned all political parties, silenced dissent, and delayed elections. As repression deepens, analysts warn that the country's democratic future hangs in the balance. https://p.dw.com/p/4uR0O Pro-democracy youth leader Cheick Oumar Diarra leads a group of supporters who are protesting against the shutdown of political parties Mali's military government has dissolved all political parties in the West African state, it announced on TuesdayImage: AFP ADVERTISEMENT Mali's military government shut down all political parties and political organizations on Tuesday — a move that followed an increasing number of pro-democracy activists being kidnapped from the streets of the capital, Bamako. It also came days after a pro-democracy rally was held, with protesters demanding multi-party elections. The decree dissolving political parties, signed by Mali's transitional president Assimi Goita, cited "reasons of public order" and covered all "associations of a political character," according to Malian state media. "It is forbidden for members of dissolved political parties and political organizations to hold any meetings," the decree stated. Historic setback for democracy "The events in Mali in the last few days are a dramatic setback for democracy," said Paul Melly, an analyst and consulting fellow at the London-based international affairs think tank, Chatham House. Mali is a country "that has gigantic significance" because of the protest and the democracy coup of the early 1990s, Melly told DW, adding that it "has a long, proud history of an elected government although interrupted sometimes by military coups." "But for the moment, clearly, normal democracy, elected politics and free expression of opinion have been shut down," the analyst said. 16th May,2025

IRREGULAR MIGRATION DROPS SHARPLY Police figures reveal that irregular migration to Germany has dropped significantly in the last two years. The new German government has called for increased border checks. https://p.dw.com/p/4uTKB The German federal police controls vehicles coming into Germany from Austria at the border control station Kiefersfelden Police figures reveal that irregular migration to Germany has dropped significantly in the last two years.Image: Michaela Stache/AFP ADVERTISEMENT The number of migrants "illegally" entering Germany has dropped by over 100,000 in the past two years, according to German police figures. According to the figures, seen by German broadsheet newspaper Die Welt, 22,170 "illegal entries" into Germany have been recorded so far in 2025, down from 83,572 in the same period in 2024 and 127,549 in 2023. The figures come as Germany's new interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, has pushed for increased border checks in his first week in office, instructing police last week to turn back asylum-seekers with the exception of particularly vulnerable people such as pregnant women and children. German police conduct expanded border checks 02:10 Interior Ministry says border checks are 'working' On Thursday, Dobrindt, of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), visited a border crossing in the town of Kiefersfelden on the Austrian border alongside Bavarian Premier Markus Söder of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU's Bavarian sister party. Speaking to reporters, the pair said that some 729 attempts to illegally enter Germany had been thwarted in the last seven days, with Dobrindt insisting: "The new border checks are working." Speaking in parliament to introduce his ministry's plans to lawmakers on Friday, Dobrindt said that "the integration capabilities of a country have their limits when it comes to illegal migration. Citizens expect a political change from us and this change has begun on Germany's borders." Addressing the CDU's junior coalition partners, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), he said: "I know that this is a bigger leap for you than it is for us. But let's complete this task together." He insisted that Germany remains a "tolerant country" which is "open to legal migration into our job market and society." German Chancellor Merz rejects criticism of border controls 16th May,2025

META LAWSUITS SHAPE AFRICA'S DATA PRIVACY LAWS US tech giant Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — vowed earlier this month to fight huge fines issued by authorities in Nigeria for regulatory breaches. It comes after a Nigerian tribunal in April rejected Meta's appeal against a $220 million (€202 million) fine imposed last year by the country's consumer protection agency, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC). FCCPC chief executive officer Adamu Abdullahi said investigations carried out in conjunction with the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) between May 2021 and December 2023 revealed "invasive practices against data subjects/consumers in Nigeria." The FCCPC accused Meta of discriminatory practices, abuse of market dominance, sharing Nigerians' personal data without authorization and denying Nigerians the right to determine how their data is used. A Meta spokesperson told the AFP news agency that they "disagree with the NDPC's decision, which fails to take into account the wide range of settings and tools that allow everyone using Facebook and Instagram in Nigeria to control how their information is used." "We're committed to protecting user privacy and have appealed the decision." Content moderation sparks legal action Meanwhile, according to British daily The Guardian, lawyers are preparing for a lawsuit against Majorel, a company owned by tech contractor Teleperformance, which is paid by Meta for content moderation. Content moderators working for Majorel in Ghana's capital, Accra, told The Guardian that they have suffered from depression, anxiety, insomnia, and substance abuse. They believe this is a direct result of their work as content moderators. They also claim that the psychological support offered to help process disturbing social media content was inadequate. Explainer: Why Meta's monopoly is dangerous for you 16th May,2025

GOLDBOD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SML The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has categorically denied any association between the Board and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Ltd. (SML), asserting that GoldBod has no contract, partnership, or working relationship with the company. In a statement issued on Thursday, May 15, GoldBod described such claims as “completely false” and urged the public to disregard them with the utmost contempt. The Board reaffirmed its commitment to transparency and the responsible governance of Ghana’s gold sector, warning against deliberate misinformation aimed at misleading the public. The denial comes amid growing confusion over SML’s involvement in Ghana’s extractive industries. In a related development, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has also issued a strong rebuttal to reports suggesting that SML has been authorized to resume or expand its revenue assurance role in the upstream petroleum and solid minerals sectors. According to a press release from the GRA’s Communication and Public Affairs Department, several media outlets, including the Business and Financial Times and Graphic Online, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, inaccurately reported that SML had been granted an expanded oversight mandate. The GRA clarified that no such directive has been issued and emphasized that SML’s operations in both the petroleum and solid minerals sectors remain suspended. This suspension, enacted in April 2024, remains in force pending further review. “GRA has not instructed SML to activate or resume operations under the 2023 Consolidation of Revenue Assurance Services Contract covering these sectors,” the statement noted. Both GoldBod and the GRA urged the media and public to seek accurate information from official sources to avoid the spread of misinformation. 16th May,2025

MINORITY IN PARLIAMENT SLAMS GOVERNMENT The Minority Caucus in Parliament has strongly condemned what it describes as a blatant violation of the 1992 Constitution, following the simultaneous absence of Ghana’s President, Vice President, and Speaker of Parliament from the country, without the swearing-in of an Acting President. In a statement released on Monday, May 12, 2025, the Minority labeled the development as “alarming and unconstitutional,” warning that it effectively leaves Ghana without a constitutionally mandated Head of State. According to the statement, all three top officials President John Dramani Mahama, Vice President, and Speaker Alban Bagbin, were out of the country at the same time, a scenario that, the Minority argues, violates Article 60 of the 1992 Constitution. That constitutional provision stipulates that when both the President and Vice President are unavailable, the Speaker of Parliament must be sworn in as Acting President. In this case, however, the Speaker himself was also abroad. The statement further emphasized that, under such exceptional circumstances, the Chief Justice is constitutionally mandated to step in and perform presidential duties something the Minority claims did not happen. Calling the situation a “deliberate and calculated disregard for the Constitution,” the Minority accused the government of treating Ghana’s supreme law as “an inconvenience rather than a binding framework.” “We will hold the President and his Vice accountable to their oath of office, which demands fidelity to the Constitution. Where necessary, we shall invoke the relevant provisions of law to ensure that constitutional breaches do not go unpunished,” the statement concluded. 16th May,2025

GHANA’S ‘GOLD PURCHASE PROGRAMME’ Namibia has become the latest African country to emulate Ghana's gold purchase programme by the Bank of Ghana which was launched three years ago in the midst of the global economic crisis. Former Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia proposed the innovative gold purchasing programme to the Bank of Ghana to increase the country's gold reserves and use the reserves to strengthen the country's foreign exchange reserves as well as hedge it against global economic shocks. The policy succeeded in stabilising the depreciation of the cedi and the fuel prices. Following the positive impact on Ghana's currency in the midst of falling global currencies against the US Dollar and high inflation due to the global economic crisis, a number of African countries with gold visited Ghana to study the policy and subsequently announced their own gold purchasing programmes. Namibia has now joined the league following announcement by its Central Bank that it is also starting its own gold purchasing programme. The Bank of Namibia (BoN) noted in a statement that it was buying gold to strengthen the country's foreign exchange reserves. The move, the Central Bank of Namibia noted, will see gold making up 3 percent of Namibia's net foreign exchange reserves, aligning the country with new trends in Africa which was started by Ghana. BoN Governor, Johannes Gawaxab said the decision is part of the country's broader strategic reforms discussed with the Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. Launch Of Ghana’s Gold Purchasing Programme In 2022, during the height of the global economic crisis, Ghana's economy was on the brink with depleted foreign exchange reserves, a depreciated cedis and rising inflation, resulting in increasing cost of fuel prices. Then Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia proposed the “Gold Purchasing Programme” which would allow the Bank of Ghana to buy gold with cedis to increase Ghana's gold reserves and use it as foreign exchange instead of the US Dollar. Following the launch of the programme which successfully increased the Bank of Ghana's gold reserves, the Central Bank launched the “Gold for Oil” programme which allowed the Central Bank to use gold to pay for oil imports. This took pressure off Ghana’s currency and significantly stabilised fuel prices from the staggering 22 cedis per liter to around 15 cedis per liter. Further following Ghana's successful implementation of this programme, the Bank of Ghana became a reference point in Africa with the central banks of Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Eswatini, Namibia among others sending delegations to Ghana to understudy the concept. All the countries have implemented same with Namibia becoming the latest country. Ghana now boasts of a remarkable 31 tonnes of gold reserves, three years after Dr Bawumia launched the “Gold Purchasing Programme” through the Bank of Ghana. At the time of launching it, Ghana had a paltry 8 tonnes of gold reserves and as at January 2025 when the former government was handing over, the Bank of Ghana had secured 30 tonnes of the gold reserves. 16th May,2025

SAM GEORGE ENCOURAGES SAMMY GYAMFI Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, has offered public support to embattled NDC National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, urging him to remain strong amid the backlash from a controversial dollar video that has sparked internal party outrage. In a Facebook post on Monday, George described Sammy Gyamfi as a dedicated comrade who has consistently supported others, particularly party grassroots. While acknowledging the criticism over the incident — in which Sammy was seen giving what appeared to be a cash gift — the minister called for a balanced perspective. “We fall, we learn, we rise! A comrade who has stood with many and continues to do so. You may have issues with who he gave to and what he gave but let’s be fair to the young man,” he wrote. George, who has recently taken up a ministerial role, revealed that Sammy Gyamfi has been one of the most persistent advocates for employment opportunities for party members. “Since I have been appointed, Sammy is the most troublesome person on my phone looking for jobs for party people. It is who he is,” he noted, defending Gyamfi’s commitment to the party’s grassroots. The minister acknowledged the ongoing criticism but encouraged Gyamfi to respond respectfully to any official concerns while maintaining his confidence. “I can relate with all the attacks but Sammy Gyamfi, keep your head up, respond to the query but always know you have the respect and affection of many,” he concluded. 16th May,2025