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African press review 26 February 2014

European countries are angry about Uganda’s anti-gay law. SA growth slows for third year in a row as an election looms. Kenyan MPs demand more money. Mobile banking means more fraud. Uganda is rumoured to be preparing troops to go to CAR.

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Uganda first and news that the Norwegian government has withdrawn six million euros in budget support to Kampala over the anti-homosexuality law which President Yoweri Museveni signed into law on Monday.

The new law violates fundamental human rights and the Ugandan constitution, according to Norway's Foreign Affairs Minister Børge Brende. Oslo has promised to increase support for human rights and democracy groups in Uganda.

The Netherlands and Denmark are reported to be considering slashing their aid package to Uganda.

The developments follow announcement by the US and Sweden that they are reviewing their assistance to Uganda, too.

Museveni has castigated Western governments for attempting what he called "social imperialism” by imposing their values on Africans under the guise of promoting human rights, warning that homosexuality has no place in Uganda.

The main story in the Johannesburg-based financial paper BusinessDay reports that South Africa’s economic growth slowed for the third year in a row in 2013, indicating that structural changes and regulatory environment reforms are needed to boost growth.

Growth slowed to 1.9 per cent last year following a 2.5 per cent increase in 2012 and 3.6 per cent in 2011, according to figures released by Statistics South Africa yesterday.

South Africa’s 30-year growth and development strategy, the National Development Plan, is based on growth rates of more than 5.0 per cent per year.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will make his 2014 budget speech later today, with little scope for relief for taxpayers since government tax income has been reduced by the effects of the recession.

BusinessDay points out that the minister has to walk an election year tightrope, needing to bring in revenue without offending too many potential voters.

One economist says the government needs to balance its books and, since increasing taxes would prove unpopular, the contingency reserve fund could be dipped into. If that money was used, say, to pay public service salaries, the books would look a lot better, says BusinessDay. But the reserve fund was set up by former finance minister Trevor Manuel to help deal with real national emergencies, not as a budget supplement.

According to the front page of the Nairobi-based Standard newspaper, MPs in Kenya have threatened to paralyse government operations for the next three months unless the National Treasury consents to their demand for an additional 40 million euros to finance mortgage and car loan facilities.

Parliament’s Budget and Appropriation Committee yesterday issued a stern warning to the Treasury, saying the legislators would not pass the 2013/2014 supplementary estimates until their demands are met.

The Standard also reports that millions of Kenyans are at risk of fraud through mobile banking.

More than 20 million Kenyans use mobile phones and a majority sign up for at least one service where they share vital personal details. Fraudsters are now exploiting information illegally obtained from mobile phone companies or even banks to steal money, according to a report from audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The same report paints a grim picture of Kenya’s soaring corruption and theft of assets in the private sector by directors and employees.

Slideshow Mandela

The report says one in every two Kenyans surveyed had fallen victim to an economic crime in the last two years.

According to regional paper the East African, Uganda, which recently agreed to withdraw a section of its army from South Sudan under pressure from the United States and Igad, is lining up troops for dispatch to the troubled Central African Republic.

A security official said President Yoweri Museveni’s government is awaiting the go-ahead from at least two Western powers to deploy troops to join efforts to stop the war.

Separately, Uganda’s Foreign Affairs State Minister Henry Okello Oryem told the paper that the African Union is looking to Uganda to intervene in CAR under the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises mechanism.

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