African press review 15 February 2012

Freedom of assembly doesn't apply to gays in Uganda. Obama cuts aid to fight Aids in his father's homeland.  SA police paid rent for offices it wasn't using but not for some it was using. And junk piles up in west Africa.

Under the headline "Ethics Minister shuts down gay rights conference", this morning's Ugandan Daily Monitor reports that there was drama at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe yesterday when State Minister for Ethics and Integrity Simon Lokodo broke up a conference of gay rights activists.

The two-week conference organised by Freedom and Roam Uganda, an association that lobbies for the recognition of same-sex relationships in Uganda, ended prematurely when the minister ordered those present to disperse.

"I have closed this conference because it's illegal. We do not accept homosexuality in Uganda. So go back home,"  Lokodo told the participants.

The ministerial action comes on the heels of a private members bill recently tabled in parliament by David Bahati that proposes the death sentence for some homosexuals. Although homosexuality is illegal under the Ugandan penal code, public assembly of gay persons is not a crime.

The Daily Nation reports that US President Barack Obama has proposed a cut in the amount of money Kenya receives to fight Aids.

Budget proposals released on Monday show a projected 44 per cent drop in the US State Department’s global health account for Kenya.

Ambassador Eric Goosby, the US global Aids coordinator, defended the cuts, saying that the programme in Kenya is well established and can absorb funding changes.

He further explained that purchases of cheaper generic drugs and greater reliance on local medical personnel have dramatically decreased the per-patient cost of providing treatment and other services.

According to BusinessDay, South African Airways warned yesterday it would post a loss this financial year. The airline said it was in talks with the government for a recapitalisation of about 50 million euros to fund operational costs and fleet renewal.

The injection of state funds would be in addition to the 13-million-euro loan South African Airways already has from the government.

South African police are also under fire, according to BusinessDay. Top officers took a drubbing in parliament’s police committee yesterday for the way the force leases properties.

Last year Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that national police commissioner Bheki Cele (who has since been suspended) and former public works minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde were guilty of maladministration in awarding contracts for police accommodation in Pretoria and Durban.

MPs heard yesterday that in 2010 the South African Police Service was paying hundreds of millions of rands in rent but did not know how many properties it leased. They also heard that the SAPS had paid rent on properties it did not occupy.

The deputy national commissioner admitted that police had been locked out of properties or evicted for failing to pay rent.

The Guardian in Lagos reports that a study conducted by the United Nations Environmental Programme has exposed Nigeria as one of the major sources of electronic waste in Africa.

In the study covering Nigeria, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Liberia and, based on the findings of national e-waste assessments carried out in the five countries from 2009 to 2011, it was discovered that the five nations generate “between 650,000 and 1,000,000 tonnes of domestic electronic waste” annually.

The UN report added that hazardous substances are released during various dismantling and disposal operations.

The electronic waste problem in Nigeria and the other west African nations, the report says, is further exacerbated by an ongoing stream of used equipment from industrialised countries, significant volumes of which prove unsuitable for reuse and contribute further to the local build-up of dangerous junk.

The sports pages of Zimbabwe's NewsDay report that fairytale Africa Cup of Nations champions Zambia will return to competitive action in June with 2014 World Cup qualifiers against recent rivals Sudan and Ghana.

The Chipolopolo defeated the Sudanese Jediane Falcons and the Ghanaian Black Stars in the knockout stages of the African tournament before Sunday's shootout triumph over favourites Côte d'Ivoire in the final.

Zambia, Sudan and Ghana are in Group D along with Lesotho and only the winners of the six-round mini-league advance to the final qualifying phase for the global football showcase to be played in Brazil in two years' time.