The new countries to be covered in the expansion are: South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This was announced on Thursday October 27, during an event to launch a Vodacom M-Pesa campaign dubbed ‘Dunia Kijiji, Afrika ni M-Pesa’ which aims at promoting M-Pesa as the currency of transactions for Africa with all African countries able to send money to Vodacom M-Pesa.
Gracing the event in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Stargomena Tax, exuded her delight on the fact that mobile money has become Africa’s leading digital payment platform connecting millions across the continent and facilitating international trade and remittances.
Through its IMT portfolio, Vodacom M-Pesa facilitates international remittances by connecting over 200 countries worldwide allowing Tanzanians to transact across borders.
“The entrant of mobile money in international remittance has not only improved ease of access but also reduced the cost of transfers bringing us closer to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 10). We applaud this growth in this space and commend Vodacom M-Pesa for paving the way,” said Dr Tax.
She applauded the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) for effectively regulating mobile money by working with telecom operators to ensure that international payments and remittances are done safely and securely. Sending to Sadc countries, she said, further testifies the enabling environment that the BoT was putting on top of enabling Tanzanians to receive remittances from across the World directly into their mobile wallets.
“This is financially connecting the diaspora to their families back home while international and inter-regional trade is made even easier with mobile money,” she said.
Speaking during the event, the M-Pesa director Epimack Mbeteni said the platform has leveraged on partnerships and innovation to grow its international money transfer portfolio.
It started in 2014 by connecting with Kenya, in 2019, it had expanded allowing M-Pesa customers to send money across East Africa and receive money from over 200 countries thus making a significant contribution on incoming money into the ecosystem and growth of M-Pesa. In September 2021, telecom added a new feature which enables Tanzanian customers to send remittances from M-Pesa to all bank accounts in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.
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Africa: Rwanda Gets a Grip Of Marburg, But Mpox ‘Not Yet Under Control’
Monrovia — The Rwanda Minister of State responsible for Health, Dr. Yvan Butera, cautioned that while the country is beginning to see positive signals in its fight against the Marburg virus, the outbreak is “not yet over”. He, however, expressed hope that “we are headed in that direction”. The minister said the epidemiology trend, since the disease was first discovered in the country more than a month ago, is moving towards fewer cases.
Dr. Butera, who was giving updates during an online briefing yesterday, said in the past two weeks, only two deaths were recorded while 14 people recovered from the disease. He said Rwanda was expanding its testing capacity with 16,000 people already inoculated against the disease.
The priority right now, Butera said, is “rapid testing and detection”.
Marburg is a highly virulent disease transmitted through human-to-human contact or contact with an infected animal. The fatality rate of cases, which has varied over the period, is more than 50%, according to the World Health Organization. WHO said the highest number of new confirmed cases in Rwanda were reported in the first two weeks of the outbreak. There’s been a “sharp decline” in the last few weeks, with the country now tackling over 60 cases.
At Thursday’s briefing, a senior official of the Africa Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Ngashi Ngongo, said mpox – the other infectious disease outbreak that countries in the region are fighting – was been reported in 19 countries, with Mauritius being the latest country to confirm a case. He said although no new cases have been recorded in recent weeks in several countries where outbreaks occurred previously – including Cameroon, South Africa, Guinea, and Gabon – Uganda confirmed its first Mpox death. This, he said, is one of two fatalities reported outside Central Africa.
Dr. Ngashi revealed that there was an increase in cases in Liberia and Uganda. He said mpox cases were still on an upward trend.
“The situation is not yet under control.”
Source: allafrica.com
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