African press review 15 June 2012

The Egyptian Supreme Court's decision to dissolve the lower house of parliament and the preparations for the funeral of Kenya's internal security minister and his assistant grab the headlines in Africa's press.

We take our cue from Egypt where the country’s Supreme Constitutional Court has dissolved parliament, returned legislative powers to the military and affirmed the legality of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq’s bid for presidency.

The country’s highest court deemed the Parliamentary Elections Law, under which an Islamist-dominated Parliament was elected earlier this year, was unconstitutional.
The court based its ruling on the law’s failure to ensure independent and party candidates equal opportunities, according to Al Masry al Youn.

A prominent Egyptian law professor told the newspaper the verdict means that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces shall assume legislative powers until parliament is reelected.

“Court lets Mubarak’s ex-PM stay in the presidential race”, reports The Egyptian Gazette. The paper explains that Ahmed Shafiq had been due to face Muslim brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy in a runoff vote on the 16 -17 June.

Both Shafiq and Morsy have announced their decision to respect the ruling.

Mohamed El Baradei, founder of the Constitution Party, has called upon the military council to postpone the vote in order to address the repercussions of the rulings. The former head of the UN Atomic agency gave his position in an interview with Egypt Independent.

His proposal, according to the paper, is based on provisions of the constitutional declaration, which states that parliamentary elections must precede presidential elections.

For its part the Egypt Daily News believes the ruling will escalate the power struggle between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood which controls parliament. A lawmaker for the movement told the paper that Egypt is heading into a dark tunnel.

In Kenya, “Landlords are roped into a tax bracket” headlines Daily Nation, following the government’s bid to raise additional funds to finance new governance structures.

The paper reports that the landlords are being brought on-board while Finance Minister Njeru Githae and the Kenya Revenue Authority, KRA, map out all residential and commercial areas so that they are taxed. The KRA is expected to collect 7 billion euros of the 132 billion budget, according to the Daily Nation.

The Standard says burial plans for Kenya’s Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and his Assistant Minister Joshua Orwa Ojode - both killed in Sunday’s chopper crash have been completed.

Government sources reveal to the paper that the charred remains of the two officials were identified during a post-mortem on Monday. The Standard says it is unlikely there would be any viewing of the bodies, given that they are burnt beyond recognition.

In Nigeria, the All Progressive Grand Alliance has announced plans to join the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Progressive Change of former military leader Mohamadou Buhari. This, according to Punch newspaper.

The party explains the decision is part of ongoing merger talks to “wrest political power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the 2015 presidential election.

And in South Africa, the Johannesburg Star reports that a prisoner, who benefited from President Jacob Zuma’s special remission of sentences, was rearrested after he broke into a house and raped a woman.

He later told police investigators that he committed the shameful crime because he was “bored”. The paper says the man had been free for only two weeks when he “re-offended”.