Some of the South Sudanese graduates who completed studies at the National University of Science and Technology and are stranded in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Photo: Ezra Tshisa Sibanda/VOA

MARYLAND — Fourteen South Sudanese nationals, who graduated Friday at the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo, say they are stranded following their government’s failure to provide them air tickets to return home. Their representative, Makuei Maker Chuny, said they have no food and accommodation due to lack of funds.

He told VOA Zimbabwe Service that they have tried in vain to get help from the Sudanese Embassy in Harare with indications that they won’t get help anytime soon.

“We have been here for six years and government was supposed to provide us two-way tickets, coming and going. Already we have only used one ticket, that is, coming from South Sudan to Zimbabwe … This is a very desperate situation. The school now is going to be closed, there would be no water supply on campus, no electricity. How can you survive? Moreover, we used to have a warden here but now there is no warden. We will be left in the building alone and it’s not good for our health.

“We are asking the government of South Sudan to provide us with air tickets as soon as possible. This should be done before the end of this week. We want to go home. If they don’t do that, we are going to occupy the embassy (South Sudan) as we have been doing because we are compelled by the situation. At the embassy it’s also not convenient for us. This should be a good ending. It should not be a bad ending. We have been struggling, we have been suffering here. They have not been consistent in sending money and sometimes we were evicted … We are urging our government to help us.”

Chuny said it was unimaginable that his nation is failing to pay air tickets for few students.

“We are very few. We are 14 only. How can the whole nation fail to transport for 14 people? We thought this was not going to take even a week. I have written to many offices for two months asking them to provide tickets to my student colleagues but nothing has been done.

Our government hasn’t told us when they are going to provide us with tickets. I have been trying to communicate but nothing has come out clearly. So, I’m using this happening (graduation ceremony) in the presence of South Sudanese students in Zimbabwe to urge the government of South Sudan to provide our (air) tickets as soon as possible.”
He said they are ready to help their nation with skills they have acquired in Zimbabwe.

“We don’t want to be still here next week when we are already done with school. We have a lot of things. We have a lot of things that we can provide the country. The country does not have water supplies and here I’m with the skills which I’m able to provide. I was working with Bulawayo City Council and the (water) stations where I was are already operational. So, it is wise for the government of South Sudan to give us air tickets so we can go home quickly and then we settle and work on how we can deliver these services based on the skills that we have acquired in Zimbabwe.”

Chuny said the South Sudanese president should intervene as education officials are not helping them.

“… We are asking our president Salva Kiir (Mayardit) who is the one who provided us with these scholarships and he still has the powers to take us back home. It’s not good for someone who has graduated to remain in the same place.”

HE claimed that the country’s representatives in Zimbabwe have not been able to pay the air tickets for the students, who are desperate to go home.

“We have spoken to him (ambassador) but he dosen’t have the powers. He has been trying to go around asking people to assist but no one has responded as of now. I have also sent a delegation of those that graduated last year who are in Juba to pursue this issue of tickets but they have been thrown out of some offices, which is not good.

“We are not begging, we are citizens of South Sudan, we were brought here legally with the approval of the parliament of South Sudan and that whenever we finish here we will have our return tickets. Why are there no return tickets when we are done with the graduation.

You have been here for six years.”

South Sudanese officials in Harare did not respond to calls and messages sent on their mobile phones about the students’ plight. - Ezra Sibanda, Voice of America

A publication by Research ICT Africa (RIA) within the framework of its BIO-ID project, which monitors the digital ID systems in 10 African countries, has examined the shortcomings of the Huduma Namba system in Kenya and suggested ways in which it can be improved.

According to the RIA’s findings, there is the need for Kenya to focus registration for the digital identity among poor and marginalized people who are said to constitute the largest percentage of those who lack legal identification documents.

Kenya, the report adds, must not focus only on numbers but adopt a more holistic and inclusive approach which also factors in issues around human rights such as being able to protect people from the dangers that may arise from the use of their identity data.

In an interview that is part of a series of the RIA project, an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and research fellow with the Center for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) at Strathmore University, Grace Mutungu’u, states that too much of the politics surrounding ID spells danger for vulnerable and marginalized groups.

“Any new identity system should first resolve longstanding problems for those who have difficulties accessing the document and prioritize those without any identification…Since we have experience with security agencies using national ID to deny people freedom of movement, arrest them and threaten them, the new ID system ought to be conceptualized from a different paradigm,” said Mutungu’u in the interview.

Kenya’s Huduma Namba project has been rocked by controversy since its launch. In the past, groups, such as the Nubian Rights Forum, have called for certain reforms in order that millions of citizens are not marginalized by or excluded from the system. - Ayang Macdonald, BiometricUpdate.com

In a follow-up to Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s call for cryptocurrency action, a government minister has now announced plans to set up a crypto advisory team. This team, according to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) minister Faustine Ndugulile, will consist of not more than 10 experts.

Advisory Team to Be Set Up in 14 Days

In addition, as one media outlet reported on July 9, the Tanzanian ICT Commission has been given 14 days to set up this team. This team is expected to “advise the government on policy, legislation and guidelines to enable the technology to be used effectively.” This announcement by the minister is the latest response by Tanzanian authorities to President Hassan’s call for forward-thinking steps regarding crypto.

As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Hassan asked the country’s central banks to prepare for cryptocurrencies. Already, the country’s central bank has confirmed it is “working on the directive given.”

However, Ndugulile, who says he is cognizant of the technology’s benefits, argues that this needs to be well understood before its adoption. Therefore, on top of its advisory role, the task force will be responsible for “providing awareness to government institutions that will be involved in the system, ministers and permanent secretaries.” Ndugulile added that while he agrees with the idea of “making Kigamboni a smart city for testing the use of the technology,” he still favors prioritizing public awareness.

Support for Tanzania’s Pivot to Blockchain and Crypto

Meanwhile, the same media report also quotes Sandra Chogo, an expert in trade and blockchain, explaining the importance of raising awareness about this technology among young people in college. She said, "The fourth industrial revolution is gaining momentum and every day, new technologies are emerging".

Another expert, Joseph Matiko, suggested that “it was good for the government to allocate funds for model projects.” Matiko also makes reference to another important use case of blockchain technology, the storage of documents. He noted:

“The blockchain can be a great tool for storing government information and even the preparation of important documents such as citizenship IDs, birth certificates, passports and even Taxpayers’ Identification Numbers.” - Terence Zimwara, Bitcoin.com