African press review 18 August 2015

Modern-day Moses figures in Uganda and high priests in Kenya, biblical references dominate the African press. While in Gabon, the president opens the state coffers to the younger generation.

The Daily Monitor headlines with this spectacular claim from opposition leader Kizza Besigye, professing to be the biblical prophet Moses, who delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt.

Besigye says he wants to deliver Ugandans from the "bondage" of President Yoweri Museveni, who he says "is using state power and resources" to enrich himself at people's expense.

The metaphor, though, wasn't his creation, it was coined by his rival Mugisha Muntu who used the allusion to imply that Besigye’s role in politics is over. Both men are competing to be the opposition's presidential candidate in next year's elections.

Staying in Uganda, you have more wild outbursts, this time from the country's Health Minister Elioda Tumwesigye, who claims that health officials are born thieves.

The minister claims that the poor state of services and lack of funds is pushing officials to steal drugs and anything else they can lay their hands on. He implies that stealing is a natural trait. Children who steal neighbours' goats will grow up to ransack whole medical cabinets, especially if there are free drugs.

His claims might put pressure on President Yoweri Museveni to perhaps invest more money into the health sector, if only to avoid his doctors being high on drugs.

If Besigye is the deliverer of the Ugandan people, in Kenya Deputy President William Ruto is compared to the High Priest. But like Muntu before, this comparison is not intended to be taken kindly.

It's used by opposition leader Raila Odinga to insinuate that Ruto is in fact superior in his level of corruption. The backdrop to this story is the Kenyan-Ugandan sugar deal, explains the Daily Nation.

Odinga accuses Ruto of being the architect of the problems facing the sugar industry. Ruto allegedly issued import licences to sugar barons in Kampala when he was minister for agriculture. Kenyans feel they're now being forced to accept Ugandan sugar imports and this because of Ruto.

In Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari is pursuing his "messianic mission" to save the country. The federal government has announced plans to recruit 10,000 policemen to better protect Nigerians, the Punch tabloid reports.

It's been two years since the last recruitment by the Nigeria Police Force, due to a lack of funds. But as Punch reported yesterday, the government's crackdown on corruption is designed to recover billions of stolen money, allegedly looted during Goodluck Jonathan's presidency.

Barely three months after he handed over power, the ex-president has continued to keep silent about public matters, the Vanguard reports.

This weekend Jonathan visited Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve to witness the spectacular crossing of wildebeast across the crocodile-infested Mara River. There, at least, he was able to avoid questions from journalists.

While Gabon's president has stunned the public by announcing he will share his multi-million inheritance with the country's youth. This story tops The New Vision, which writes that Ali Bongo Ondimba, decided to share the money he inherited from his long-ruling father Omar Bongo. Why? To boost education.

He added that he and his siblings would also give two properties in Paris that belonged to their late father to the state for "a symbolic franc".

Either he's very generous or very cunning, as it could be be a ploy to get rid of a throbbing headache...Don't forget that Ali Bongo is implicated in a scandal known as "biens mal acquis", for buying luxurious mansions in France with looted state funds.