270 ELECTION STAFF DIE OF OVERWORK.

Jakarta, INDONESIA:

Ten days after Indonesia held the world’s biggest single-day elections, officials say more than 270 election staff have died, mostly of fatigue-related illneses caused by long hours of work counting millions of ballot papers by hand.

The 17 April elections were the first time the country of 260 million people combined the presidential vote with national and regional parliamentary ones, with an aim to cut costs.

It was dubbed the world's biggest single day elections as 80% of 264 million Indonesians cast their ballots on April 17.
Image: Mashable.

Voting was largely peaceful and was estimated to have drawn 80% of the total 193 million voters, who each had to punch up to five ballot papers in more than 800,000 polling stations.

But conducting the eight-hour vote in a country that stretches more than 5,000km (3,000 miles) from its western to eastern tips has been a huge logistical feat and deadly for officials, who had to count ballot papers by hand.

Indonesian workers transport ballot boxes for the general elections at the Bonto Matinggi village, Maros, South Sulawesi, April 16, 2019.
Image:AFP.

As of Saturday night, 272 election officials had died, mostly from overwork-related illnesses, while 1,878 others had fallen ill, said Arief Priyo Susanto, spokesman of the country’s election commission (KPU) on Sunday.

The health ministry issued a circular letter on 23 April urging health facilities to give utmost care for sick election staff, while the finance ministry was working on compensation for families of the deceased, Susanto added.

Workers lie down during a break as they prepared election materials in a warehouse in Jakarta on 15 April. Photograph: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters

The KPU has come under fire due to the rising death toll.

“The KPU is not prudent in managing the workload of staff,” said Ahmad Muzani, deputy chairman of the campaign of opposition presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, reported by news website Kumparan.com.

Prabowo, who independent pollsters said was the loser of the 2019 polls based on quick counts, had alleged widespread cheating and his campaign claimed some officials punched ballots in favour of incumbent president Joko Widodo. Widodo’s security minister said the allegations were baseless.

Both candidates have declared victory, though quick counts suggested Widodo won the election by around 9-10 percentage points.

The KPU will conclude vote counting and announce winners of the presidential and parliamentary elections on 22 May.

SOURCE:Guardian.

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

BITTER LIFE AFTER POWER FOR EX-ANGOLAN PRESIDENT, DOS SANTOS.

Luanda, ANGOLA: Attacked from all sides by his successor, the former Angolan head of state José Eduardo dos Santos has had a hard time living through the fall of his family empire. But his heirs did not admit defeat so readily. José Eduardo dos Santos born on 28 August 1942 ,is an Angolan politician who served as President of Angola from 1979 to 2017. José Eduardo dos Santos was also the commander in chief of the Angolan Armed Forces(FAA) and President of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the party that has ruled Angola since it gained independence in 1975. He was the second-longest-serving president in Africa, surpassed only by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, who took power less than two months before dos Santos. Image: Reuters. It’s mid-June in Barcelona. On the sofa in the living room, José Eduardo dos Santos plays cards with his grandchildren. Published on Instagram by his daughter, Isabel, the photo give...

8 CAMEROONIAN ATHLETES GO MISSING AT AUSTRALIA'S COMMONWEALTH GAMES.

Gold Coast, AUSTRALIA: A third of Cameroon's athletes attending the Commonwealth Games in Australia have gone missing, the team said in a statement Wednesday. Out of the total team of 24 members, five boxers and three weightlifters have disappeared over the space of three days, the statement said. They left in waves, with three going missing on the night of April 8, another two vanishing on April 9 before the remaining group left at night on April 10. Two of the eight left without competing The Cameroon delegation during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games at the Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast on April 4. Team attache Simon Molombe said he did not expect them to return. "I don't think they will be back," Cameroon's Molombe told CNN Sport, confirming their disappearance had been reported to Australian police. According to the team statement, the missing athletes are: Weight lifter Arcangeline Fouod...

NIGERIAN POLICE ARRESTS SENATOR OVER MACE THEFT.

Lagos, NIGERIA: Nigerian Police on Wednesday arrested Senator Ovie Omo-Agege over mace theft at the National Assembly. Mr Omo Agege was picked immediately after plenary by policemen who ushered the Senator into a waiting pickup van. The lawmaker had been suspended by the Senate for 90 days last week. He, however, attended the plenary today along with about 10 thugs. The Senate accused him of leading the armed men who stormed the chamber and snatched the mace while plenary was on. READ ALSO: THUGS INVADE NIGERIAN SENATE AND STEAL MACE.

THUGS INVADE NIGERIAN SENATE AND STEAL MACE.

Some protesters on Wednesday invaded the Senate Chambers, disrupted the ongoing proceedings and made away with the mace. The men are reportedly supporters of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who was suspended last week. They came to the venue with the senator. The mace is the symbol of authority of the parliament. Below is Senate spokesperson Sabi Abdullahi’s statement in reaction to the incident on Wednesday: ------------------------------------------------------------------- *RESPONSE TO TODAY’S INCIDENT IN THE SENATE CHAMBER* Today, some armed hoodlums led by suspended Senator, Ovie Omo-Agege, walked into the Senate plenary and seized the symbol of authority of the Upper Legislative Chamber, the mace. This action is an act of treason, as it is an attempt to overthrow a branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria by force, and it must be treated as such. All security agencies must stand on the side of due process and immediately mobilise their personnel to retrieve the ...

GAMBIA ACCUSES EX-PRESIDENT SUPPORTERS OF SHELTERING REBELS.

Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (born 25 May 1965) is a Gambian politician and former military officer who was the leader of the Gambia from 1994 to 2017, firstly as chair of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) (1994–96) and then as President of the Gambia (1996-2017). The Gambia’s new government has accused supporters of the former president, Yahya Jammeh, of welcoming foreign rebels into their homes in an attempt to destabilise the country. Residents of Foni, the Gambian region where Jammeh had a vast farm and allegedly“bunkers and treasure”, have been hosting members of a rebel group that for three decades have been fighting for the secession of their region from Senegal. Giving them a safe haven in the Gambia threatens to upset relations with Senegal, which surrounds the tiny west African country on three sides, and was instrumental in ejecting a recalcitrant Jammeh after he lost the presidential election for the first time in his 22 years in ...

THE UN MAY NOT HAVE MONEY FOR STAFF SALARIES NEXT MONTH.

New York, U.S: The United Nations may not have enough money for staff salaries next month if member states don’t pay what they owe, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday. He told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly’s budget committee that if he had not worked since January to cut spending then “we would not have had the liquidity to support” the annual gathering of world leaders last month. “This month, we will reach the deepest deficit of the decade. We risk ... entering November without enough cash to cover payrolls,” said Guterres. “Our work and our reforms are at risk.” The United States is the largest contributor - responsible for 22 percent of the more than $3.3 billion regular budget for 2019, which pays for work including political, humanitarian, disarmament, economic and social affairs and communications. Washington owes some $381 million for prior regular budgets and $674 million for the 2019 regular budget. The U.S. ...

MALARIA VACCINE PROVES HIGHLY EFFECTIVE IN BURKINA FASO.

A vaccine against malaria has been shown to be highly effective in trials in Africa, holding out the real possibility of slashing the death toll of a disease that kills 400,000 mostly small children every year. The vaccine, developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, showed up to 77% efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months. The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. One, the Mosquirix vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has been through lengthy clinical trials but is only partially effective, preventing 39% of malaria cases and 29% of severe malaria cases among small children in Africa over four years. It is being piloted by the World Health Organization in parts of Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. The Oxford vaccine is the first to meet the WHO goal of 75% efficacy against the mosquito-borne parasite disease. Larger trials are now beginning, involving 4,800 children in four countries. Prof ...

SOUTH AFRICA BANS 'REVERSE COLONIALISM' TV ADVERT.

Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA: South African regulators on Tuesday banned a television advert that showed a black man discovering a foreign land and naming it 'Europe', ruling that colonisation was 'not open for humorous exploitation'. The advert, for a chicken restaurant chain, tells a spoof story how the man leaves South Africain 1650, sails overseas and, after many adventures, comes ashore and meets white local people wearing three-pointed hats and waistcoats. 'Hola MaNgamla (Hello white folk). I like this place, I think I will call it... Europe,' the man says, sticking his spear into the ground. The Advertising Regulatory Board ruled that the commercial 'trivialises an issue that is... upsetting for many South African people.' 'Turning the usual colonisation story around might be perceived as having a certain element of humour,' it said. 'The reality though is that colonisation of Africa and her people was traumatic. ...

ZAMBIAN MINISTER SACKED OVER ALLEGEDLY BREACHING CABINET COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY.

THE SACKED ZAMBIA'S MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING. MR. LUCKY MULUSA. President Edgar Lungu has fired Minister of National Development Planning Lucky Mulusa. President Lungu has also revoked the nomination of Mr. Mulusa as a nominated member of Parliament. This is according to a brief statement released to the media by President Lungu’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda. “His Excellency Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, President of the Republic of Zambia has terminated the services of Hon Lucky Mulusa as National Planning Minister and also revoked his nomination as Member of Parliament with immediate effect, ” read the brief statement. No reasons were given for Mr Mulusa’s dismisal. In October , National Planning and Development Minister Lucky Mulusa’s statement in which he likened the 42 fire tenders to wheelbarrows has gotten him into trouble with the PF leadership. Four PF members have wrote to President Lungu to press for Mr Mulus...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog