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Africa press review 21 April 2017

Kenya's ruling Jubille coalition deploys thousands of security operatives as chaos and rigging claims mar hotly-contested primaries. And a lucky South African man pockets over one million euros after winning the lotto.

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We begin, Kenya, where the government has beefed up security in the Rift Valley region ahead of the ruling Jubilee Party's hotly contested primaries scheduled this Friday.

Daily Nation quotes a top official of the multi-party coalition backing the re-election bid of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto that the region was on high alert, with more than 1,000 security officers deployed to tighten the security of aspirants and voters.

The paper says all eyes will be on a battle of titans in Uasin Gishu, where billionaire Zedekiah Bundotich, popularly known as Buzeki, will face off with incumbent Governor Jackson Mandago.

Standard says chaos and rigging claims have marred the process in several Jubilee strongholds forcing the coalition to reschedule some of the primaries.

In Nigeria, Vanguard takes up a fresh crisis looming between the Presidency and the Senate after lawmakers called on President Muhammadu Buhari to dissolve the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption.

The paper reports that the call from the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly came after the head of the Presidential anti-graft task force Itse Sagay, ignored an order to appear before lawmakers.

Vanguard says Sagay, had accused the Senate of working assiduously to whittle down the anti-corruption war of the government. According to the publication, the Senate has branded Professor Sagay as a man without honour who supported the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, suspended by Buhari for suspected corruption.

In South Africa, Mail and Guardian takes up a landmark case filed at the country's Constitutional Court the influential amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, challenging the so-called "silent spying of citizens and journalists by the Scorpions intelligence agency.

The newspaper claims that the move comes amid concerns that the Scorpions may be exploiting serious flaws in the RICA act regulating the monitoring of communication-related Information.

According to Mail and Guardian, amaBhungane is seeking legal safeguards for the protection of news sources, "the life-blood of accountability journalism" which they claim is under threat.

The respected publication says rumours of the so-called “spy tapes” first surfaced in South Africa in 2009, when the midst of the campaign to have corruption charges against Zuma dropped.

Mail and Guardian quotes a Bhungane official as saying that some of President Zuma's "acolytes" boasted in front of him how he featured on various recordings they had access to.

And Times Live counts the good fortunes of a lucky Gauteng man who pocketed over R15 million (about one million euros), after buying two winning Powerball lotto tickets.

According to the newspaper, the man who asked not to be named, bought two of the four winning tickets from two different stores in the east of Johannesburg. Times says he paid for the first ticket last Friday morning while on his way to work and then forgot that he had played‚ and made another bet later on the same day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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