over the world or in a race against time. they are peers and rivals with one daring goal to outsmart nature. more life starts may 28th on d, w. this is deed of the news africa coming up on the program. is it a cool, casual, tentative, or just a clever contract? the central african republic becomes the 1st african country to adopt a bit coin, assets, official currency. so who will be the witness and who the lose us? did we thought when i'm handling and a customer gives me a note, i paid them back with colleen, but look at my phone, but then it can't connect to the internet. how could i use crypto card? same gas lapse that tax on electronic cache. so what's wrong with that gun eons are

crying out. as the levy rolls out, the government says it's needed to ensure development, but people see it's just the pension, the pennies from their pockets. i'm at work, they're just not from lot. well, we work hard and they want to just steal from us on what? well, they're not satisfied with what they have. no, we can't bear this any longer any. ah, i am eddie micah junior and you are welcome to the program. first off, a financial 1st for the continent, the central african republic has adopted bitcoin as legal, tender lawmakers unanimously approved a law legalizing the crypt currency alongside the c. f. a frank. but on the streets of bungie best bitcoin buffalo meant a steed abuse. total chai reports,

he's all monet, crypto currency. i don't know what it means and i not been sylvia is one of millions of central africans who hasn't got a clue what the crypto currency burskey is. all about. bitcoin needs foster intellect. but in the central african republic, only 11 percent of the population have internet access. many do not even have the smartphones required for the electronic transactions. lego guides and we thought when i'm handling and a customer gives me a note that i pay them back with coin, this is what is this crypto currency thing? again, i learned that you need an internet connection to work with crypto currency. but look at my phone, but it can't connect to the internet. how could i use crypto currency? i do, i did the one, i mean, most parts of the country where rebel control to february and very few have any internet coverage at all. even here in copied all the bit rate is slow. it is hard

to imagine how big point is going to work on these conditions. but 7 percent of the population do have better internet access jungle. bernice is one of the lawmakers who voted for the bill. he sees change is coming accent and ab, believe it's a right not a privilege anymore. in today's economy, the government has invested with the help offer african development back and many other partners to bring her optics. we are in the process of implementing fiber optic within the next 12 month of fiber optic will be operational in our country. so everyone who has in me can get access to the internet, but the opposition rejects the new lo and plums to challenge it in the constitutional court. the central african republic, how's the currency it is? one of seeks the central african countries that share the see if

a friend backed by friends and picked to the euro deal. so members of parliament. edu, that the move is simply intended to got his common currency of us off speculative that bitcoin might be used to follow money from the central african republic to russia. by passing international sanctions. we friends a bogo. if financial analyst rejects claims of rush and influence on getting the roku lady thea, why people always saying russia was influencing decisions taken by the central african authorities with no external influence has nothing to do with car adopting the crypto currency law that won't have the advantage of the crypt currency here is that it is a currency that is virtual given w major powers of long be news encrypt currency before it surfaced here in car tempe. so it will mean financial transactions can be secured by central african financial institutions. thinking by looking shocking affair to hold off again, the government is presenting the adoption of the bi coin in the central african

republic as a decisive step, opening up new opportunities. but bringing in be coin has 3 got white spread doubts about the motifs behind the move. i'm joined now by joy, beer, and business correspondence from nairobi, kenya, hello, joy. now we had sylvie, are the start of the report? she hasn't got a clue what crypto currency like bitcoin s. can you briefly explain how it works? range any thanks for having me when in digital currency or in this case crypto currency. a digital payment system that unlike usual banks that have to go through verification systems, do not do that. so they do not rely on banks to verify their transactions. instead they use encryptions and to verify their transactions. one has a public and private key that they use digitally. and this means you need to have

access to internet for you to be able to trade in crypt currencies or in this case bitcoin. so you touch on so many different aspects of it, but it's not controlled by a central bank. so if you have money in your pocket, its value is guaranteed by the central bank, but who guarantees but coins? well, the thing about crypto currencies, bitcoin being one of them or the most treat and one of the crypto currencies is that there is no regulation. and it's only between you as the buyer of the bitcoin, or transact of bitcoin that has a publican private key. it makes it risky because it's internet based and relies heavily on block chain technology. so should there be any kind of risk involved? is a possibility that one could lose all of the investment or all of the money? that's that sounds scary. i mean, there's a lot of people talking about why i'll wandering,

why the central african republic will even at that terrifica bitcoin us as it says, legal tender and figuring out why we've also seen increase in russian influence in the central african republic, which some commentators have linked with this move, what might bitcoin have to do with russia and sanctions? well, they say they say these 2 ways to look at it. and one is with the ongoing functions that are being slapped on russia as a result of its war in ukraine. and that in itself has led to many african countries that are heavily reliant on funding from the west. and in particular, the united states of america to now also that to take action on them of russians relations with many african countries. and so this means that any transactions are going to be affected and trade in the u. s. dollar is also going to be affected. so

that could explain why russia is being linked to the bitcoin adoption in the central african republic. because russia has tried as much as it could to increase its influence in central african countries, the central african republic being one of the countries where russia has invested quite a bit. and the other way to look at it is that russia is also trying to get at its quote unquote enemies in the west. one of the country is being friends and dead them using the influence of bitcoin could explain why they are having much to say in terms or at least a suspicion that russia is having influence on this here. it's involvement in adopting bitcoin as legal tender. so briefly talking about a central african republic, it's a country that is origin resources, diamonds, golden, iranian, but also one of the poorest countries on the planets will benefit from this change

and how so it's safe to say any that decenter african republic being a country we've about $5000000.00 people and up a capita of about $525.00. that really doesn't guarantee the decision that has been made by the country in itself to adopt this over the c. if a frank. but then again, if you look at the number of uses in, of internet, in the central african republic, it doesn't exceed 600000 saw. that could mean that these same 600000 people are the people who drive the economy for lack of a better way to put it. but where does that leave the rest of the full 1000000 center african republicans? this means the inequality gaps are quite wide and could even widen. ringback more with the adoption of bitcoin as best as we see it. so many more questions, rocks factor, due to time will leave it here. joy bureau,

there's no correspondence in i will be kenya. thank you. how. how would you feel if the government puts its hand in your pocket and for every $100.00 you had it took a $1.50 south a bit unfair to your hard, warren cash, doesn't it? well that's how many ghanaians see the new electronic transaction levy. that's a 1.5 per cent tax on all psalms in ghana, cities above the equivalent of about $14.00. for many it's an extra economic burden when cost of living is rising. our correspondent isaac elijah report to my cry, gonna on how it is impact and lives i read these has been in is lee armis daily routine for the past 16 years serving customers out of his shop in ganeth capital, a cra, he and his in please provide mobile money services, people can save money or make cautionary throughout or school at home. he no fears,

customers will stop using his services. if i'd reduce luca, how about 2 or 3 to 4 war coming in and out foreclosure handles coming from wanted to are on her almost her know and i return people to cover the transaction. it da sudak. one got $32000.00 got we didn't approve of one month if he's not picking this order. right, i'm sure. oh, come chris, are the business kills and barrels broke out in parliament for the food critic. see, the new tax will hit low income people and small businesses. they had asked janice public finances. he's in a bad state and lawmakers who voted for the new taxi. it's a gently needed part of this money is going to support road infrastructure and therefore we can't see and come follow through what these terms and

policies will be useful and recall to hold the government accountable by to many years and not happy i meant to i told you i'm into there just a lot. well we work hard and they want to just steal from us. know what? well, they're not satisfied with what they have right now. we can't bear this any longer any to atlanta? georgia. i've yeah, no one. yeah. i'm convinced it might be a, i just don't get it. we get charged for mo, by a money transfer is already to be charged extra. then i wouldn't use the service any more, no more yet. and i mean under that, and this is hoping to convince his customer base not to ditch his services completely. if they do all his bill, the source of livelihood won't be gone. let's talk more about the lobby wet salon bronte who joins me now for my craft garner. he is the vice president of the money africa, a think tank for policy and education hello seldom so people are clearly not happy

with paying taxes on electronic transactions. what is the major consent people have? so the purchasing power, little fibral hasn't been the same over the past 24 months. and or because the walk this a poor performance of the local stores reach the city is a dollar and a major treating carries it means that the president possible has diminished significantly. and because they believe that this is not the best plan to impose additional $1.00. libby on all of your talk on his actions, we shall be coming. matter of he is foremost and started today. understood. on the other hand, people wanted develop man to they want to be employed in a government says it will use that money generated by the e levy for development projects and to reduce unemployment. so why are people not in support? the issue here is that the track record of the government in implementing a similar policy of this nature,

which where the flagship parties over time when the competing has been one where they have and up her own towards the tail end. and because that's a lot of them do believe that this policy might not be or their policies for the 11th might not be disbursed as well as the house intended or as they have announced it to be 10 dollars due to that track record. okay, a trust issue here in and that's what i you saying that 1.5 percent tax on electronic payments is unfair and insensitive to low income people. yeah, absolutely. and the main reason here is because a lot of people who are the lower income spectrum are the ones who actually need a lot of these things very particularly, as well as the fact that they are the ones who, when they move from a cash basis for them to actually sit on the we tend to benefit the most as they get some kind of surety or some kind of reduce risk on the transactions that the make. and with the parcel of this lot of uncertainty as well as he just any initial

implementation means that a lot of people are now going to go back to the cash. bailey, follow me, which is something that the government has been working to eliminate the school by the past 7 years or so. all that good stuff we meet in terms of digitizing payments would not have been routed by this. i mean, as you rightly see, many people are now turned into the banks instead. so what impact called this e levy have on a digital economy? so this is a very unpleasant news, especially as a lot of them have spent a lot of man hours and dollars to innovate and implementing this piece. and due to the fact that the local, the profits here all the proceeds are marginal, it means that this was the abilene white because some of the service charge is usually below a $115.00. a lot of the service charges are actually fall is on the beach

because a lot of the service charges are kept. you know, the tax on any amount and this is really a big go to those who are in the fintech and digital payments sector sound. so now i quickly on this one, is that a need likelihood that government might scrap this? is it too late? you think it is too late? because a approach which asking both steam roll in what you see through parliament . much the chagrin a much disappointment, a lot of. ready people they have also born down a position to work with the force of power and for a lot of people while they have to swallow this up here as time goes on, there's no way that government is looking to remain on this anytime soon. okay, salam brown, vice president of the money africa. thank you for the insights. thank you,

sir. ah, now the latest, well press feed of index has just been published and it pains a mixed picture of countries across the continent. reporters, what are bought. it says the situation in 2 countries, egypt and every tre, yeah, is extremely bad. egypt is described as one of the world's biggest presence for journalists on eritrea has the 2nd lowest rank in the world. only north korea is worse. some african countries enjoy a guaranteed press freedoms. a report highlights the media on south africa and africa, most populous nation. nigeria has a rich and diverse media landscape, but report us what our board assess. it is one of the one of west africa is most dangerous and difficult countries for journalists who are often watched, attacked be truly arrested, and even killed 19 to 20 feet of use conflict zone, spoke to nigeria,

mr. information line mohammed on the topic of press freedom, take a listen to what he said. i think when it comes to the level of the press, we do an extremely, very well if papers wrong fall of the law the most physical requests. but when you have that could be a 100 newspapers in the country. second example, one is b, but i will scroll down with me, i think should be fair to us, that we have a very robust, free press. my next test is a man who is well pleased to tell us about the state of nigerian press freedoms is one of nigeria, as most talked about investigative journalists, david owned in welcome to d. w. news africa. now, we just had the nigerian information minister telling d w that a country was doing extremely well when it comes to press freedom. that was 2 years ago. what's your experience today as an award winning investigative journalist?

my experience is that i've had to leave the country for the sake of my own personal safety. if i want to maintain my freedom and possibly my life, i simply cannot be nigeria. i currently live on the asylum protection in exile in the country that i'm probably not allowed to name here. so my experience has been completely at odds with whatever it is a lie me does have to say. and when i will also mention is that even though you can be no longer have a puzzle, bombs been delivered to journalists or, you know, journalists getting bullied in the newsrooms by. so just, you know, building a 47 rifles in your thesis. it doesn't mean that injury has a free press in any way. can you tell us exactly what happened that made you flee? right, so on the 9th of october $22020.00. the major military carried out a massacre of civilian anom, civil, ample justice at nike told plaza in legal state. now i was able to get access

to information from the mobile network provider, which was at the center of the brouhaha, which essentially implicated the nigerian government in terms of who, who was responsible for sabotaging it's fiber optic cable infrastructure. because i think at the moment that the mascot's with people software mass internet outages. so for basically for putting this story out there, i knew that i was going to potentially risk losing my freedom and all my life. so i fled the country before putting the story out there on the face of its things. look good in nigeria, right? it has one of the most diverse media landscapes on the continent. the constitution also protects freedom of expression and opinion. is that nothing to celebrate? you say so nigeria has this thing called them isomorphic memory care in developmental economics. so which means that on paper it has all the

paraphernalia and appearance is of a function in democratic society. so as he said, he has constituent a guarantee freedoms as a freedom of information act is operational powers. all that good stuff in practice, the measure and government is by far and away the largest median at spending a jury, which means that even if they're not pointing a gun in your face, just the simple fact that the will, the purse strings makes is such that people self cents on a lot in the major media space. so yeah, they don't need to send. so you directly use answer yourself. if you want to be able to be, you know, to make payroll next month. now your west africa weekly goes out on a subscription platform such stock. how much of a game changer are online outlets like this? what they have done is that they have completely democratized the flow of information because the hyper independence of platforms like west africa, we as place them completely outside of the zone of influenza control of any nigeria

and public or private sector entity. so essentially, that makes in the jungle men's eyes that me so it's very dangerous because i was going, for example, has, it's probably just about $21000.00 as that last week and a total, a global distribution list of in the region of a $100000.00 plus so there is a large audience for it, and this is essentially media that is not controlled in any way. i imagine government is not funded even with money that comes from nigeria in any way. so that's from the point of view of, of objective on by asked press is good news, but from the point of view of and a drink government is probably very bad news indeed. so you, on the 2020 people is journalism prize for informed commentary. and you've been a trailblazer for independent media, but you have more enemies than you've worn awards. clearly do you still have hope that things can change for the better in your home country? yeah, i do. and i think when things will change for the better is when more nigerians

develop a sort of political consciousness about what exactly the interaction is between things like freedoms and economics and the elections that the participates in very rambunctious the every 4 years. because currently there's a sort of disconnect, people don't really seem to be able to link the electro choices they make with the outcomes like the like you massacre or willing of journalists or, you know, flat lining economy. so i feel as if, as people become more informed of again that the internet is still pretty much in new space in nigeria, most measures didn't have basically internet access to maybe around 20102011. so the countries just maybe like a decade old in terms of access to information. so i think over as time goes on, as people mature as more and more as they just say to becomes more information saturated. i think naturally, people's political consciousness will start to revolve,

and the country will start to make progress kicking and screaming. yes. ok. david, her name investigative journalist in nigeria. thank you. thanks for having me. a. and finally, the venice vienna ali has just opened feature in top notch artist from around the world. and uganda has opened its 1st pavilion in last summer. nice earning a special mention from the festival. that's the 1st time a newcomer country has received the saturn accolade. making it a double fast for the east african country and the future. you got an artist called in sick as you go on a k korean n. i echo and ends up process puts a focus on the work of local and regional, ugandan crafts women, collaborators on gatekeepers of your local wetlands, drawing on the knowledge of ecological stewardship, the alley,

pre her choice of sculptural materials like back cloth. raphael illustrates in sustainability as a practice, colon secretary goes work as an african stands for irreverence. here's the thing i static draws on pop culture and influence of the global mainstream. his manipulation of stock images becomes pure theater hacking identity to review the bias of entitlement and privilege. and that's how we wrap it up from all of our stories. go to d, w dot com, forward slash africa, or visit our facebook and twitter pages. we leave you with these images of the where go goes to artists, congratulations to them and uganda, and see you next time, bye for now with

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who he go. indiana. a woman in the body shop driver law liter buying her electric taxi is making a drastic cut to carbon emissions. and see is breaking down gender stereotypes while helping other women at the same time, he goes in 30 minutes on d w. o.

it's christian of whether the next crisis will come, but only when and how the media will deal with it. how can we stay focused on what is important? shaping to morrow now. exploring opportunities for media professionals in times of crisis. the global media for june 2020 to your ticket. now sometimes a seed is all you need to allow big ideas to grow. we're bringing environmental conservation to life with learning packs like global ideas. we will show you how climate change and environmental conservation is taking shape around the world

and how we can all make a difference. knowledge grows through sharing and download it now for free. mm. some people don't care about me because they don't see my beauty. some people don't care about me because they think i have nothing to give me but 2000000000 people due to them. i am every day home their food, their livelihood, but day by day i do so. and so does everything i care. 2000000000 people care about me. need me. and now

i need you. who i. this is dina, be news, and these are our top stories. at least 50 civilians have been evacuated from ukraine's besieged, feel planned, and mario paul. the survivors have been handed over to representatives of the united nations and the red cross b u. n says so far more than 500 civilians have been rescued from the as of style plant where you cranium. troops are holding out against a heavy russian assault.