African press review 14 March 2013

Why did 11 Malawian politicians fail to appear in court? Who will the battle of the court cases that's following Kenya's election? Who's kindapping DRC refugees? And how Botswana had to recognise that Uhuru is innocent until proved guilty.

The front page of today's Malawi Nation is crystal clear.

"No Bail Hearing" reads the main headline but the small print doesn't explain why.

First, the background.

Eleven political figures were arrested on Monday following a commission of inquiry report that exposed attempts to circumvent constitutional order after last year's elections.

According to theNation, they have remained in police custody after they failed to appear in court on Tuesday to be formally charged.

Lawyers representing the 11, who include Democratic Progressive Party interim president Peter Mutharika, Minister of Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe and the chief secretary to the government Bright Msaka, said they were still in the dark on why their clients had not been brought to court.

According to the Commission of Inquiry Report, former foreign minister Peter Mutharika asked the military to take over after his brother, Bingu wa Mutharika's, death.

He is accused of treason for seeking to block Vice-President Joyce Banda taking over, as required by the constitution.

Because treason is a capital offence, the case will be moved to the High Court in Lilongwe, where the accused will be asked to enter pleas later today.

The privately-owned Daily Times says there was no bail hearing because lawyers for the 11 accused failed to secure a court appearance.

The Times quotes government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu as saying that police investigations are continuing and that a court appearance is set for this Thursday at 8.30am local time.

Just to complicare things a little further, there are unconfirmed reports that one of the accused, Economic Planning Minister Goodall Gondwe, has tendered his resignation, but Kunkuyu could offer no additional information.

There are complicated legal problems in Kenya as well.

According to the main headline in The Standard, "Jubilee, Cord line up lawyers for poll battle."

Yesterday at the High Court in Nairobi, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission was ordered to provide Cord, that's Raila Odinga's party, with voting data and other materials the political group wants to use in its petition challenging the commission’s declaration that Jubilee Alliance candidate Uhuru Kenyatta won the 4 March presidential race.

Also yesterday, it emerged that the Jubilee Alliance is planning a countersuit on behalf of president-elect Uhuru.

The stage is now set, says The Standard, for an epic and precedent-setting courtroom battle as Jubilee fights to ensure the Supreme Court does not overrule the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

In a separate story, The Standard warns of another storm brewing for the electoral commission.

Apparently, the National Gender and Equality Commission intends to sue the Electoral and Boundaries Commission for allegedly failing to compel parties to uphold the two-thirds gender rule in their party lists.

Gender Commission chair Winfred Lichuma argues that the IEBC failed to compel the parties to include special seats in their list of nominated members as provided by the Constitution.

Lichuma yesterday said the just-concluded elections were a blow to the principles of equality, especially when the country is striving to achieve gender parity in public institutions.

Sister paper, the Daily Nation, reports that government officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo are sneaking into Kenya disguised as refugees to track down Congolese citizens who have fled the country.

The director of the League of People's Lawyers, a Congolese human rights organisation based in Kenya, on Wednesday said that a number of Congolese asylum seekers who had sought refuge in Kenya had been attacked in Nairobi by unknown people.

Last month, three Congolese nationals were kidnapped and tortured for three days before they were released.

Police say they are investigating that incident but have made no arrests.

Also in The Daily Nation, we learn that Botswana’s Foreign Affairs minister Phandu Skelemani has made a U-turn on his ban on president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta, saying the Kenyan is free to visit as he is innocent until proven guilty.

Skelemani had earlier told the country’s press that Kenyatta must not set foot in his country if he refuses to cooperate with the International Criminal Court.

“This is to retract my earlier statement about the President-elect of Kenya. Mr Uhuru Kenyatta is more than welcome to visit Botswana. Botswana is cognisant of a section of the law that says one is innocent until proven guilty,” the minister said in a statement.

Kenyatta is facing charges of crimes against humanity related to the 2008 post-election violence in which more than 1,000 people died.