Skip to main content

African press review 29 July 2017

Will the main opposition alliance in Kenya boycott next month's elections? Can South Africa bridge the infrastructure gap? And what's happening in Sudan's Darfur?

Advertising

The main opposition alliance in Kenya is threatening to boycott next month's elections.

This is the top story in regional paper the East African. It's also making front pages in Nairobi.

The reports say the National Super Alliance (Nasa) has threatened to boycott the 8 August general election claiming it has evidence of a plot by the ruling Jubilee Party to use the military and extra ballots to rig the poll.

Nasa's presidential contender Raila Odinga claimed military officials held a meeting on the plan at State House Nairobi yesterday.

Odinga gave journalists a sheet of paper dated 17 July and marked “secret”, saying it was proof of the alleged scheme.

Local paper the Daily Nation could not immediately establish the authenticity or the source of the document. Nor could they read it, since it was written in "code and jargon".

The opposition has on several occasions accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of plotting to rig the poll using the army.

Kenyatta has dismissed the claims, accusing Odinga of looking for scapegoats because he is not ready for elections.

Can South Africa bridge the infrastructure gap?

South Africa needs to spend more money on infrastructure.

According to the Johannesburg-based financial paper BusinessDay, the country will have to invest the rand equivalent of nearly 450 billion euros by the year 2040 in the water and electricity sectors to bridge the infrastructure investment gap.

This is revealed in a report covering infrastructure investment needs globally and individually for 50 countries and seven sectors.

Between now and 2040 South Africa’s gross domestic product is predicted to increase by 40 percent as its population increases by only 16 percent.

The infrastructure report says that, if current spending trends continue, South Africa's efforts to provide electricity and clean water will be massively underfunded.

What's happening in Darfur?

Are people starving in Sudan's Darfur, or are they not?

That question is posed by the main story in this morning's Sudan Tribune where we read that a recent survey conducted by the UN children’s fund (Unicef) found critical levels of acute malnutrition in Jebel Marra, in Central Darfur.

But the state health authorities say the Unicef report is “inaccurate”, claiming that the UN body issued its findings without consulting local officials on the authenticity of the information.

The semi-official Sudan Media Center yesterday quoted Central Darfur’s humanitarian commissioner Ismail Adam as saying the UN claims about malnutrition in Central Darfur are incorrect.

He stressed that the area is stable following the end of the rebellion, saying the government has had full control over Jebel Marra since last year and most of the rebels have joined the peace process.

However, the US embassy in Khartoum has expressed concern about the alarming malnutrition rates and deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Jebel Marra region, saying the lives of thousands of children and vulnerable adults are at stake.

Tanzanian opposition figure jailed for calling the president a dictator

An opposition MP in Tanzania has been charged with "hate speech" and sent to jail after calling President John Magufuli a dictator.

According to a story in the Ugandan Daily Monitor, Tundu Lissu, chief whip of the opposition in parliament and president of Tanzania's bar association, was arrested last week after holding a press conference where he criticised Magufuli and complained of a "climate of fear which reigns everywhere".

In his speech Lissu accused Magufuli of building "a system based on favouritism, nepotism, tribalism and regionalism."

Magufuli, whose Swahili nickname is "the bulldozer", came to power in 2015 as a corruption-fighting "man of the people". Critics say there has been a recent rise in repression with opposition meetings banned, newspapers shut down and journalists and artists threatened for criticising his administration.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.