African press review 23 May 2014

Jonathan claims he's not slow to bring back our girls. Mombasa violence hits tourism. SA's Democratic Alliance seeks new whip. And the ANC forgets about geneder parity.

The UN has designated the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram a terrorist group. This of course has not escaped the notice of the Nigerian press. But given greater prominence is the story that Goodluck Jonathan yesterday condemned speculation on the part of some Nigerians that he is slow in bringing back the kidnapped schoolgirls who were taken by Boko Haram a month ago.

The Lagos-basedVanguard headlines Jonathan's quote "I am not slow", taken from the president's address to protesters from the Bring Back Our Girls campaign group in Abuja. According to the daily, he explained that he is in constant discussion with security chiefs on the matter.

The Punch also leads with this story but carries the headline " Direct your protest to terrorists", also quoting Jonathan but taking a slightly less critical view of the president's efforts so far.

The Daily Nation reports on the grenade attack in Kenya's second city Mombasa last night. Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa told local reporters that the incident occurred when police officers were arresting a young man suspected of planning an attack on the coastal town.

Three other men then intervened demanding the release of their friend and the situation escalated with all four men fleeing the scene, leaving police officers to tend to the wounded.The Daily Nation notes that this has already begun to affect tourism - an important source of income in the area - with some of the major tour operators suspending holiday packages to Mombasa until well into the autumn.

The South African press is focused on internal politics. The Mail and Guardian reports on Mmusi Maimane's announcement that he will stand to become the Democratic Alliance's partiamentary leader. He is currently the national spokesperson of the DA, South Africa's most prominent opposition group.

The daily remarks that if he gains the support of his colleagues to become party whip, his rise within the party will be more meteoric than his predecessor Lindiwe Mazibuko. Mazibuko recently announced abruptly that she was taking a sabbatical to study in the US university Harvard, leading the Mail and Guardian to speculate that DA leader Helen Zillle has been grooming Maimane to take over from Mazibuko after she fell out with Zille.

Leading business paper Business Day looks at the ruling South African party, the African National Congress. In an editorial, the paper says that in the recent elections party unity trumped gender parity. Prior to the elections the party chose to abandon its gender-parity policy when nominating candidates for the eight provinces it governs.

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte decried as "unaccaptable" the fact that there was only one female candidate. And Business Day agrees, noting that in Gauteng province David Makhura was nominated as party candidate with next to no experience, whereas two female candidates missed out despite decades of experince. Party unity and not the government's responsibility for the people was considered more important, the paper judges, but this could cost the ANC dearly in 2016 if its governance record does not improve.