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African press review 22 December 2014

Tunisia's presidential election, senatorial elections in Liberia, MPs opposed to a new law in Kenya, floods in Mozambic... Here's an overview of today's African newspapers.

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In Tunis, the state-owned daily La Presse is reporting a voter turn-out of slightly more than 59 per cent in yesterday's second round of the presidential election.

Beji Caid Essebsi has already claimed victory on the basis of exit poll estimations but supporters of caretaker president Moncef Marzouki say the results are too close to call.

Official results are due later today or on Tuesday.

They're counting votes in Liberia too in the wake of Saturday's special senatorial elections. The voter turn-out was very disappointing there, according to this morning's independent New Dawn daily. One polling station official interviewed by the paper said some Liberians had lost interest in the election because of a lack of trust and confidence in their leaders. He also attributed the poor turn-out to fear of the spread of the Ebola virus.

According to the main story on the front page of this morning's Standard, Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto has advised opposition leaders against the planned mass action to protest the Security Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014.

Ruto urged opposition leaders to use democratic means to air their views instead of resorting to mass action.

The Deputy President said the confusion being witnessed in some political parties should not be extended to the public since such a move would encourage terrorists and other criminals to take advantage of the situation to cause havoc in the country.

MPs opposed to the new law have warned that Kenya is becoming a "police state".

The government has justified the security changes, saying it needs tougher powers to fight militant Islamists of the Somali-based Al-Shebab group.

Over at The Daily Nation, a report that Cord leader Raila Odinga yesterday said he believed the ruling Jubilee coalition’s real intention is to abolish opposition parties and re-establish a one-party state.

He also claimed that the government might seek to outlaw devolution and centralise power in an effort to bring back the old constitution through the back door.

In a statement to the Nation, Odinga said Cord will this week move to court to block the controversial Security Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014, as a warning to the government not to pass laws that risk returning Kenya to a one-party state.

If Cord makes good its threat and goes to court, the law will be suspended until the case is heard.

Two other controversial laws   the Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Act and the Media Council Act 2013   which President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law last December are yet to be implemented because of legal challenges.

BusinessDay in South-Africa reports that at least five people have died in floods in the Mozambican capital Maputo after days of torrential rain.

People living in flood-prone areas of the coastal city are being moved to safe zones, according to the city’s health and social welfare councillor.

BusinessDay also reports from Namibia where the authorities are soon to start tapping markets and investors to finance a five-year, 23-billion-Namibian-dollar (15 billion euro) development plan as early as next year as the country seeks to become a regional transport hub.

The southwest African nation’s government has said it will finance part of the budget and use a variety of methods to raise the rest of the money for ports, railways, roads and airport upgrades.

At the same time, more than a thousand people illegally occupied land in Namibia’s coastal town of Swakopmund last week, saying they had grown tired of waiting for the government to give them plots to live on.

The land grab comes weeks after the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo) won national elections with 80 per cent of the vote.

A politician leading the group occupying the land said the people were demanding Swapo make good on campaign promises.

The rapid expansion of South-African banks into the rest of Africa may increase risk to the financial sector, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Some other African countries tend to have weak rules for money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, raising the risk to South-Africa, the IMF said after the completion of an extensive assessment of the country’s financial system.

The IMF warns South-African banks against acquiring or entering into partnerships with banks in Africa with poor credit quality or weak risk practices, saying this could result in capital losses. According to the IMF report, SA’s four largest banks have 46 foreign subsidiaries, of which 39 are in Africa.

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