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African press review 31 August 2016

Ghana's parliament to begin impeachment trial of President Mahama over posh car gift from foreign contractor; South Africa's ANC party condemns Hollywood-style humiliation of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan by the Hawks, and Mark Zuckerberg in Nigeria on maiden African visit.

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We begin in Ghana where the press is buzzing with news that the country’s parliament has initiated moves to impeach President John Mahama for allegedly accepting an expensive car as a gift from a foreign contractor.

Ghana Chronicle

The paper reports that the Ford Expedition 4x4 vehicle was given to Mahama by a Burkinabe tycoon who was awarded two "juicy contracts worth 120 million euros to construct part of Ghana's Eastern corridor road network."

The Guardian

The Nigerian Guardian publication says it is able to report that the car was registered in the President’s name, despite the fact that Ghana's constitution bars a sitting President or political office holder from collecting a gift, either in cash or kind.

According to the newspaper, while parliament is currently on recess, the Speaker of Ghana's parliament, Joe Adjaho, has convened an extraordinary session of the house on September 1, to begin debate on the issue.

In South Africa, there has been a new twist in the standoff between the country's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) over his alleged creation of a rogue spy unit at the country's revenue service, SARS during his time as Director of the agency.

The Star

The Johannesburg newspaper holds that the ANC has broken its silence on the Hawks’ "Hollywood-style humiliation" of Gordhan by throwing its weight behind him.

According to The Star the ruling party on Tuesday, lashed out at the "unnatural" manner in which the Hawks handled the issue, warning that members "entering the fray and taking sides", legitimized the narrative that the investigation was a political conspiracy.

Mail and Guardian

The paper reports that ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe on Tuesday reaffirmed the party's full confidence in Gordhan and called on the Hawks to follow due process in their investigation, while warning that the public nature of the dispute is hurting the country and the economy.

That was after supporters of President Jacob Zuma in the ruling ANC party accused Gordhan of strategically attempting to gain public sympathy and undermining the Hawks by refusing to respond to their summons.

BusinessDay

Meanwhile the economic publication relays a warning by the CEO of Pan-African Holdings Iraj Abedian that South Africa was "marching headlong towards a recession thanks to poor political leadership and political in-fighting".

As he allegedly put it "if government’s "nonsensical behavior" did not stop‚ rest assured that we will end up the year in negative growth‚ which will be the sure outcome of this path of inconsistency and total destabilization of confidence … in the country."

Vanguard and The Guardian: Mark Zuckerberg in Nigeria

In Nigeria, the Vanguard leads with the surprise visit to the country of Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

According to the newspaper, the 32-year-old tech entrepreneur touched down in Lagos on Tuesday, where he is due to inspect the activities of the Co-Creation Hub, Yaba Lagos before attending a ‘Facebook for developers’ workshop’ in the economic capital.

Vanguard says the event is expected to help Nigerian engineers build better applications and monetize the,  adding that Facebook is due to unveil a ten-year roadmap that can help improve Nigeria’s economy at the end of the workshop.

Daily Nation

And in Kenya, Daily Nation leads with the happy story of "love brewed in an ethnic Maasai calabash".

It's about the traditional marriage of former US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger to his Kenyan Queen Ruth Konchella. The paper reports that Ranneberger who worked in Nairobi when Kenya was at its lowest point after the 2007/2008 election violence often rubbed the Kenyan government the wrong way in his frequent statements against corruption and poor leadership.

Now according to the paper he's returned in a capacity few are likely to be uneasy about: to pay the bride price of his wife of 10 years. Daily Nation reports that the couple spent Monday in a cow market in Kilgoris the hometown of the bride where cattle traders immediately doubled the prices of heifers as soon as they spotted the white man in the market.

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