“Investments in gender equality are critical to realizing demographic dividend, but we need to ensure that women have the tools to overcome the barriers they face,”  First Lady of Rwanda, Jeannette Kagame told participants at a panel at the Global Gender Summit in Kigali on Monday.

The panel, made up of First Ladies Kagame, Margaret Kenyatta, ministers and development experts, observed that too many women and girls still face barriers to basic rights, particularly access to labour market opportunities.

Rwanda’s First Lady recalled the role women played following the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, where a number of families were wiped out, with women in many cases being the ones catering for families.

“What a man can do, a woman can do just as well,” she added.

She described the Summit as an important platform to highlight issues of women equality.

Rwanda has implemented gender several inclusive programs, which has enhanced economic equality in a country where women political participation has grown to 61% percent.

First Lady Kenyatta called for the removal of institutional barriers to accelerate women’s economic empowerment, “It has become urgent for Africa to translate its demographic dividend into viable potential.”

“This is the spirit of Africa’s vision to accelerate its path to sustainable socio-economic development. Our collective commitment to ‘leave no one behind’ is a new chapter in our struggle towards achieving gender equality.”

The panel heard that impediments to gender equality include lack of access to credit, low representation in decision making positions, lack of control over productive land and lack of financial control to make spending decisions on education and health.

Minister of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality and Family Jamila El Moussali of Morocco shared experiences from Morocco where policies have been introduced to increase women's political and economic participation.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, called on stakeholders to come together to leverage each other’s strengths “translate women dreams into reality. History will judge us if we don’t work together to take action now.”

The African Development Bank and the government of Rwanda are hosting the Global Gender Summit from 25 to 27 November in Kigali.

The Summit is being organised by the Multilateral Development Banks’ (MDBs) Working Group on gender for the first time in Africa.

Meanwhile the African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed to explore new avenues of directly supporting efforts aimed at empowering Kenyan women and girls.

It is now clear that the power and influence of African music can no longer be avoided.

African music and musicians are currently on the up taking over even the western market this has made some of the A- listers around the world  sample African music and also work with African artists a good example is Wizkid from Nigeria who has collaborated with multiple international artists including Drake and Beyonce. 

Some international record companies have now also found a market in Africa due to this emerging trend, a good example is the UK-based record company Beggars Group with reports that 20% of its revenue comes from emerging markets, licensing music for the first time in Nigeria,Uganda and Angola according to the IFPI report.

American news based pay television channel CNN has also come up with a list of  Africa biggest music stars, in the list Tanzanian super star Diamond Platnumz is the only one from East Africa with most of the artists from Nigeria.

Among those in the list is Burna Boy who was recently nominated for the Best World Music Grammy, also in the list is three times  Grammy Awards winner Angelique Kidjo,. Yemi Alade, Mr Eazi, Tiwa Savage and Wizkid are also on the list. South African singer, Sho Madjozi who won the 2019 BET New International Act is also in the list together with Busiswa Gqulu .Mwila Musonda aka Slapdee from  Zambia also made it to the list.

The second edition of African Crossroads kicked off in Mombasa yesterday with a panel discussion led by Dr. Njoki Ngumi.

Themed “Sense The City”, the gathering brings together 170 participants from 30 different countries for the first three days and will be open to the general public on the final day (Saturday November 23rd). 

The events of the Open Day will be held in 2 locations, Swahili Pot and Little Theatre.

The first event which starts at 2pm at the Little Theatre Club is titled: “The Future of Work in African Cities”.

The panelists include angel investors, Hon. Munyoki Kyalo (former CEC Mombasa County) and other movers and shakers.

At the same location, from 2PM, the public are invited to enjoy the following incredible features:

• The Listening Room, a music installation from Lagos, Nigeria 
• The Food Carousel - This explores food sustainability, availability and security, including Kenya’s Greenobi solar cooker, Makueni County‘s Mango Festival, fish product distribution in Namibia, and more. 
• Product Innovation - This will explore cutting edge thinking and products in animal conservation, gaming, education and more! 

At the second location, Swahilipot Hub, the audience are warmly invited to visit the art installations “A.Polis Forum | Part 1”, “Mujejeje”, “To Revolutionary Type Love”, and “Kitenga Series” will be open for viewing.

Swahili Pot is also hosting a virtual reality showcase of 4 VR films set in and about Africa!

After this family event, adults over 18 who have tickets (200 KES) are invited to the closing party, which will be held between 6 and 10 PM at the Little Theatre auditorium. There will be snacks on sale, a cash bar, live music and DJ performances! 

The public are invited to visit the African Crossroads Facebook page for details on how to register for their free ticket which will allow them to access to all exciting events throughout the afternoon into the evening! 400 tickets are available, so register soon. 

The African Crossroads, hosted and organized by Hivos, is a retreat where African creatives and the tech community convene annually to exchange ideas and debate on subjects that enrich Africa’s development agenda.

The 2019 edition is a partnership with Mombasa’s Swahili Pot Hub, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Kenyan music producer Magix Enga has made good his threat of ensuring that the 'UNO' video by Harmonize is removed from you tube.

Magix Enga had earlier complained that Harmonize has stolen his beat, the beat he created for  ‘Dundaing’ .

You tube has today removed the video from its platform as one of its policy of dealing with copyright claims.

Taking to instagram, Magix Enda warned anyone sampling his beats.

“1 week imeisha and the song Uno is no longer on YouTube. Don’t sample Magix Enga beats. I repeat don’t! Like I said I’m not going to allow this to happen, not in 254,” he posted.

Harmonize's management responded to the move stating that their legal team is working on the issue.

“We have received a statement from Youtube that someone from Kenya, has e-mailed to claim ownership of our favorite song Uno. We take this opportunity to ask our fans to be patient, while this matter is handled, we have already engaged our legal team on this. In addition, we believe our song will be back soon," reads a statement fro the management.

It remains to be seen how the issue will unfold, the video had already attracted over 1 million views on you tube since it was released.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has challenged Kenyan women to take the lead in nation building saying women, just like their male counterparts, have the potential to steer the country’s development agenda. 

The President, who spoke today at State House Nairobi while donating a bus to Hafsa Bint Siirin Centre from Garissa County, encouraged women to play a more active role in Kenya's push to attain prosperity, peace and stability.

“Actually you have even a greater role because in formative years of any child be they male or female, you are at the centre of developing, of growing and of instructing that child. Before you hand them over to the world, their formative years are in your hands,” the President said.

Hafsa Bint Siirin Centre is an Islamic women educational and empowerment institution based in Garissa town. The centre provides education and empowerment to women, orphans, vulnerable girls, persons with disability and senior citizens.

While handing over the bus donation to the women who were led by the centre’s founder Ms Hawa Kalba Gure, the Head of State encouraged them to continue working for the empowerment of women and the girl child.

“So ours is to support this kind of initiative. Ours is to encourage you. Ours is to say we are proud of what you are doing to empower your fellow citizens,” the Head of State said.

He underscored the importance of women empowerment saying mothers give their children a firm foundation from which they become meaningful contributors to the development and economic growth of the country.

The President, who also donated indigenous tree seedlings to the group, pointed out that shutting out women from the core of national development means shutting out half of the country’s human capital.

“We cannot allow that to happen. We want women to be at the centre of development and nation building like their male counterparts,” he said.

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale who accompanied the women to State House thanked the President for the donation saying the bus will enhance the operations of the group. Mr Duale is also the Garissa Township MP. 

Nameless has partnered with prolific Tanzanian rapper Darassa to bring you 'PAH'.

'PAH' is an easy mid-tempo love song with a strong East African vibe.

In this video, Nameless also takes the opportunity to introduce us to his newly unveiled brand Icon.

The Nameless icon has been designed by Arnold Lakhita

The song has been produced by Bern Music and video directed by Hans Scana

Watch the video below..

There has been alot of speculation especially on social media on why Tanzanian artist AliKiba had to send his Kenyan wife Amina Khalef back to her home in Mombasa.

In an interview with a local radio stations back in Daresalaam, AliKiba revealed that the reason why Amina came back to Mombasa was work related.

"Amina nilimpeleka Mombasa kwa sababu. Kwa sababu kulikuwa kuna kazi fulani alikuwa ameitwa na government afanye. (I sent her to Mombasa for a reason, she was required to carry out some task by the county government" said Kiba.

Amina is an employee of the Mombasa county government,  department of water and sanitation.

Lat month, Amina was part of the delegation from the county government that attended the International dessalination conference in Dubai where Mombasa won the bid to host the 2021 conference. Mombasa county assembly speaker Aharub Khatri and former county water and sanitation executive member Fatma Awale were also part of the delegation.

The national government was represented by water cabinet secretary Simon Chelagui.

Kenyan controversial artist Willy Paul has just released his latest collabo with Rwanda's finest Meddy.

Willy Paul seems to be expanding his base to Rwanda after successful collabos with Tanzanian artists Ali Kiba, Ommy Dimpoz, Nandy and Rayvanny he hasla also worked with Jamaica's Alaine.

The new song is titled 'Uuh mama'.