African press review 30 April 2014

Who's expelled whom in Zimbabwe's MDC? Kenya encourages polygamy. Nigeria's Senate wants all-out war against Boko Haram.

In Zimbabwe the government-alligned daily Herald gives pride of place to the row in the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The main story reports that MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti has been expelled from the party after the national executive unanimously agreed to dump him following a meeting at Harvest House yesterday.

In case you came in late or didn't exactly follow the previous rounds in this heavyweight clash, last Saturday Biti staged a palace coup and “suspended” party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and six key officials. Biti accused them of breaching the party’s constitution and of using violence to silence dissenting voices.

Suspended members and some supporters met at the party headquarters in Harare yesterday and resolved to ignore their so-called “suspensions”. They proposed to expel those who had tried to suspend them.

But the rebels say that meeting was illegal, since it included suspended members. What is clear is that the opposition is in tatters, with the MDC now broken into three distinct groups.

The parliamentary status of Tendai Biti and the 10 other legislators sacked yesterday remains unclear. Biti has written to the National Assembly saying he is the only person in the MDC with the authority to recall legislators.

But is he still in the MDC?

Former energy minister and MDC national executive member Elias Mudzuri described the opposition leadership struggle as saddening.

He said Zimbabwe was burning with problems like corruption, poverty, hunger and despondency and there was no time for politicians to waste energy on internal strife while showing a hopeless inability to resolve conflicts.

In Kenya there's no doubt about the main headline in Nairobi-based paper, the Standard. "Go ye and marry many wives, says new law signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta," is, of course, a reference to the presidential signature of the Marriage Bill on Tuesday. This, says the Standard, lifted all legal encumbrances standing in the way of Kenyan men and the number of wives they desire.

The paper says the male-dominated National Assembly has got its way and that monogamous and polygamous marriages now have equal legal status.

The new law for the first time brings civil law, in which a man is allowed only one wife, into line with customary law by providing for the same legal status in the case of polygamy as that of a monogamous marriage. This seems like an important change in favour of wives in customary marriages, who now have the full protection of the law.

But we should not forget that women MPs stormed out of the National Assembly during the debate on the controversial law last month.

In Nigeria the Guardian reports that the Senate yesterday called for a declaration of total war by the federal government against Boko Haram insurgents.

The Senate, resuming after the Easter break on Tuesday, opened public debate on the violence and killing of innocent citizens.

A legislator representing Chibok in Borno State in the House of Representatives, Peter Biyo, has urged the government to embark on the total destruction of the Sambisa Forest, saying this will ultimately put an end to the insurgency and other terrorist acts in the North-East zone.

Also yesterday the House of Representatives summoned the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh, to explain why it is taking the security forces so long to ensure release of the schoolgirls abducted by members of Boko Haram in Borno State two weeks ago.