African press review 29 May 2013

Kenya's teachers threaten strike action. MPs reverse a pay cut and take the rest of the week off after their exertions. Police chiefs feud. Is the ICC racist?  

In Kenya it's not just the members of the National Assembly who are worried about pay levels.

Teachers on Tuesday pressed their case for a budget allocation of 220 million euros to cover pay and additional allowances during a meeting with the new education secretary.

According to the top story in this morning's Standard, the teachers want the government to allocate about 400 million euros to cover commuter, house and medical allowances in the next financial year.

They have asked that a total of 220 million be allocated to pay the three allowances covered by a 1997 agreement but never paid.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers has previously gone on a nationwide strike over that failure to pay and now promises to down tools again if the 1997 agreements is not finally honoured.

It's hard to see how parliament will be able to refuse their demands. Further down its front page, The Standard tells us that members of the National Assembly yesterday evening unanimously approved a motion to rescind a decision by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to reduce their salaries.

The MPs attacked the commission, accusing it of ranking them lower than some state officials further down the hierarchy.

MPs are insisting on their right to a monthly salary of 7,600 euros rather than the 4,700 euros stipulated by the salaries commission.

The average salary in Kenya is 1,300 euros per year.

The National Assembly has taken a break for the rest of the week.

The main story in sister paper The Daily Nation is headlined "Security risk as police bosses fight for power."

The article claims that police chiefs are embroiled in deepening wrangles and turf wars, as security deteriorates across the country.

A cold war between Inspector General David Kimaiyo and the chairman of the National Police Service Commission, Johnstone Kavuludi, heated up Tuesday as the two battled over the recruitment of county commanders.

They are also fighting over proposals to amend the law to give the inspector general more authority in the appointment, transfer and disciplining of officers.

On Tuesday Kavuludi sensationally claimed that there was a plot to derail the recruitment of 47 county police commanders by anti-reformers.

He did not directly accuse Kimaiyo of attempting to scuttle the recruitment but The Nation suggests he may have been reacting to a memo sent on Monday night by the inspector general advising senior officers not to apply for the positions. The application deadline was Tuesday.

Back to The Standard and a story headlined "International Criminal Court may yield to AU demands".

Law Society of Kenya chairperson Eric Mutua says the weekend resolution by the African Union calling for the Kenyatta/Ruto trials to be held in Kenya, accompanied by the threat from African states to withdraw support for the court may help to turn the tide in favour of the Kenyan suspects.

Mutua explains that since African states have significant leverage over the ICC because 34 of them are signatories of the Rome Statutes which established the ICC, their request cannot fail to make an impact on Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

He goes on to say that if African states walk away from the court, the institution would lose at least 80 per cent of its work. It would be considerably weakened.

"The AU decision is a political strategy to influence a judicial process. The ICC is a creature of politics and its work may often be influenced by political decisions outside the court,” he said.

He explained that the AU move has no legal impact on the crimes against humanity cases facing Uhuru and Ruto but it is a tactic to influence the judicial process at The Hague to suit political interests.

Meanwhile, in The Daily Nation, we read that the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor hit back at critics on Tuesday, a day after the African Union accused the tribunal of racism.

Fatou Bensouda said the critics were defending "perpetrators" of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The prosecutor did not mention any particular group. But her comments came only a day after an African Union summit said the ICC was targeting the continent on the basis of race.

The ICC is currently facing mounting diplomatic pressure over charges of crimes against humanity filed against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice-President William Ruto linked to political unrest in 2008 when neither was in office.

The African Union summit on Monday called for the ICC charges to be halted. Kenya has asked the UN Security Council to "terminate" the case.