Elections and Travel Ban
Gambia’s ongoing elections; countries putting in place travel restrictions to slow down the spread of omicron variant.
Issue #18
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Today, we’ll be looking at:
President of Gambia, Adama Barrow in early lead.
Travel ban again; the Omicron effect.
Gambia’s Incumbent President in Early Lead
The incumbent President of Gambia, Adama Barrow, is coasting home to a victory in his re-election bid.
The results from Saturday's poll announced so far clearly indicates that President Adama is winning with a wide margin.
The president, who only needs to win more votes than the second-placed candidate, is already doing so in style.
According to Aljazeera's report, the incumbent has won 36 of the first 41 constituencies announced, taking 315,547 votes, while his closest rival, a political veteran, Ousainou Darboe, has polled 133,177 votes, with four other candidates far behind, with only 12 constituencies remained to be announced.
The poll is being keenly monitored by the world leaders as a test of the democratic transition in the country where Jammeh ruled for 22 years after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1994. Jammeh was equally forced into exile in Equatorial Guinea in 2017 after Barrow defeated him at the polls.
The incumbent President runs against his other five challengers on the strength of his deliverables in the areas of infrastructure projects completed under his watch and increased civil liberties in the nation, a manifesto that seems to have convinced the over one million voters of the two million Gambian population to renew his mandate for the next five years.
More Travel Ban: The Omicron Effect.
Following the discovery of Omicron, the new Covid-19 variant in South Africa, many countries have restricted movements into their borders. Red listing South Africa and other African countries as Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
In Canada, Nigeria was added to the red list soon after the country recorded its first cases 7 days ago in Ottawa from individuals that travelled from Nigeria. Although the restrictions were put in place days prior to the first discovered case.
Starting today, Nigerian travellers would not be allowed into the United Kingdom. However, residents of the UK and Ireland would be allowed entry into the country from Nigeria but will be required to quarantine.
The UK Health Secretary explained that,
“So today, the government has decided to add Nigeria to the travel red list and that will be effective from 4am on Monday. This will mean that only UK residents or citizens of the UK can enter the UK from Nigeria from that point onwards, and they would have to quarantine in one of the relevant hotels.
“We’ve also decided to require pre-departure tests for all inward travellers that will be effective from 4am on Tuesday, and they’ll be required maximum of 48 hours before the departure time”.
More than 30 other countries have partially or completely closed its borders to international visitors. See here.
Monday Motivation
WORTH READING 📚
How to Find Yourself Again – 6 Powerful Beliefs for Starting Over - Roostervane.
Blackouts, social media bans, and digital surveillance continue to rise across Africa - Yinka Adegoke via RestofWorld.
WORTH WATCHING 🎥
Google that shit: 4 investments we can make to close the wealth gap - Constance.
3 Reasons You Should Never Chase Women - Jessica Os.
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