African press review 22 May 2014

South African President Jacob Zuma survived an opposition objection in Parliament, efforts to salvage the tourism industry from total collapse in Kenya and Nigerian army worries that without adequate funding, it will not be able to halt the current activities of Boko Haram, are all topics in today's African papers.

South African President Jacob Zuma survived an objection from the Democratic Alliance in Parliament yesterday. According to the main story in this morning's Johannesburg-based financial paper, BusinessDay, the main opposition party said Zuma was not a fit and proper person to be head of state. Zuma was, nonetheless, elected to run the country for another five years.

The ruling African National Congress used its majority to elect him to the top job after Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng rejected the opposition objection and ruled Zuma fit and proper.

After ruling ANC MPs on Wednesday nominated Zuma for president, DA parliamentarian James Selfe claimed that the nomination was "irrational" because in his previous term of office Zuma had ignored reports by the public protector and had appointed a National Director of Public Prosecutions who was unfit for office.

Chief Justice Mogoeng said the constitution provided that when a person was fit to vote and to be a member of the National Assembly, he or she could serve as president. People could only be disqualified from being members of the assembly if they were un-rehabilitated insolvents, had been convicted of a crime and sentenced to a two-year jail term without the option of a fine, or had been declared by a court to be of unsound mind.

Chief Justice Mogoeng ruled that none of these criteria applied to Jacob Zuma. As there were no further nominations for the position, he declared Zuma elected to office.

Triumphant ANC MPs rose and sang as Zuma left the chamber.

Despite the singing, South Africa's inflation continued unabated last month, breaching the 3%-6% target band for the first time since August last year.

Rising inflation increases the possibility of more interest rate hikes, says BusinessDay, although an increase is not expected when the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee announces its rates decision later today.

Fourteen economists polled by BusinessDay forecast no change to South African interest rates. Which suggests that costs to consumers are going to go on increasing.

According to the Kenyan Standard, the country’s battered hoteliers yesterday met President Uhuru Kenyatta, as the Government makes frantic, but late efforts to salvage the tourism industry from total collapse.

The parties agreed on the need to embark on a recovery strategy immediately.

Hoteliers say they have lost the shilling equivalent of over five million euros in the past few days following the issuing of travel advisories by governments in key tourist source markets. It is feared that the losses could go as high as forty million euros in the coming weeks if the situation does not improve.

In a separate story in the same Standard, the British High Commissioner denies claims that the United Kingdom government is evacuating its citizens from Kenya over terror threats.

He pointed out that London has advised UK citizens not to visit the coastal city of Mombasa but has nothing to say about the rest of the country. Mombasa is, of course, central to Kenya's tourism industry.

Punch in Nigeria reports that the United Nations Security Council al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee will today vote on the status of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

Nigeria had on Tuesday formally asked the UN body to blacklist Boko Haram for the kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls in Borno State last month.

The main effect of blacklisting would be an immediate arms embargo, an empty measure against a group known to have obtained its weapons from the arsenal of former Libyan dictator, Muammar Khadaffi.

According to the same paper, the official death toll from yesterday's twin bombings in the Plateau State capital, Jos, is now 75.

The Nigerian army has meanwhile made it clear that without adequate funding, the national defence forces will not be able to halt the current activities of Boko Haram.

Major-General Abdullahi Muraina said yesterday that the Nigerian Army could not march the force of the Boko Haram insurgents.

Muraina also said that, apart from inadequate funding, the army was enmeshed in bureaucratic bottlenecks which were slowing funding for military operations. He urged the Federal Government to evolve other means of funding and supporting the military wing.