African press review 18 August 2011

Germany helps drought victims. Hundreds of Kenyan traffic cops are found to be on the take. Does Uganda need sugar more than a healthy environment? And what would you do if you found nearly 14,000 euros in a carpark?

Kenya’s The Standard headlines “From Germany with love”. According to the article, German airline Lufthansa delivered 90 tons of food, medicines and blankets to Kenya, destined for the millions suffering from the ongoing drought.

German organisation Wings of Help appealed to ordinary Germans to step up aid. The paper says that it is the biggest German humanitarian mission to the region yet. Lufthansa picked up most of the bill for delivering the humanitarian aid.

Staying in Kenya, the Daily Nation reports that the country is cracking down on corruption. Close to 600 traffic officers haven given "other duties” after their bases were linked to bribery and their commanding officers have been sacked. The traffic sector is considered the most corrupt of all police services, often accused of taking money in exchange for looking away and not handing out tickets.

It’s a never-ending tale in Uganda and the Daily Monitor has followed the story every step of the way. The government wants to turn part of the Mariba forest into sugarcane plantations to cope with the country’s sugar shortage.

Now environmentalists are saying Uganda is “acting against international environmental treaties”. Already, they say, the government does not respect the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and, by trying to convert it into something else, they are also going against the Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992.

Politicians say that, if you want to move ahead economically, you have to exploit natural resources.

What would you do if you found nearly 14,000 euros in a parking lot? Would you return it? According to the New Times in Rwanda, police officer Willy Bizimana did. The rightful owner was a Tanzanian traveller hoping to open a bank account in Rwanda, which explains why he had so much cash on him.

This is the second time a Rwandan police officer has handed back big sums of cash. At the beginning of August, a British traveller was returned his 28,000 euros. The article does not say why the UK national was carrying such a large sum.