African press review 17 June 2013

It's hard to get away from Robert Mugabe this morning...

According to the Standard in Kenya, the president of Zimbabwe has accused political rivals of seeking to delay elections simply because they fear defeat. This, after regional leaders of the Southern African Development Community urged Mugabe's ruling coalition to ask the courts to extend a 31 July deadline for holding the vote.

Mugabe rivals said reforms to restrictive media and security laws were essential for any fair election to be held.

Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader at 89, last week used a presidential decree to bypass parliament and fast-track changes to election laws and declare the voting date, drawing a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

In a clear sign that Mugabe's ZANU-PF party would not give ground on reforms, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa denied any need for either media or security reforms demanded by the MDC party of Tsvangirai, the president's arch-rival.

According to the front page of this morning's South African BusinessDay, the 15-country Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) at the weekend called on Mugabe to delay the elections.

The president’s decision is seen as a stern test for SADC, which has guided the process aimed at ending years of political violence. The next elections should bring an end to the shaky power-sharing government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, formed four years ago as part of a plan to end political bloodshed.

The SADC meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, also touched on the crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar.

Regarding the DRC, where attacks by M23 rebels have destabilised the eastern part of the country, the regional bloc noted continuing progress on the deployment of the SADC intervention brigade and called on Rwanda and Uganda to find a lasting political solution in the Great Lakes region.

Turning to Madagascar, SADC reiterated its earlier decision not to recognise the outcome of any election results that would include the candidates who presented their candidatures in violation of the constitution.

The group also urged the international community to continue to exert political and diplomatic pressure on the three illegitimate presidential candidates to withdraw ... for the sake of peace and stability.

Another political salary story dominates the front page of the Kenyan Daily Nation. The headline reads "Lawyers protest at Kibaki send-off pay", and the small print claims that the Act that set the benefits to be paid to retired President Mwai Kibaki is unconstitutional because it was prepared without the input of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission,

The Presidential Retirement Benefits Act is the basis on which government officials want Parliament to approve an allocation of six million euros in the supplementary estimates to buy a building to house the office of the retired President.

Regional paper The East African gives pride of place to a war between oil companies in Kenya.

Only a week after Kenya suspended some 10 oil marketers over defaults in servicing a 262 million euros credit facility and failure to collect product from the country’s rickety refinery, their peers are now pushing for tougher penalties in a move that looks likely to escalate the crisis currently facing the industry, says The East African.

At least 20 oil marketers want punitive action taken against firms that fail to take their full allocations of fuel from the crude oil processed by the Mombasa-based Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd.

They want trading licences of such companies withdrawn by the Energy Regulatory Commission. This would effectively put the 10 suspended firms out of business, potentially affecting the retail supply situation in the country. As things stand, suspended firms can still buy crude from other dealers and continue in business.