African press review 3 September 2013

There's more trouble between the Kenyan ruling coalition and the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

According to the top story in this morning's Nairobi-based Daily Nation newspaper, court officials have dismissed as inconsequential, a move by MPs allied to the Jubilee Coalition, to withdraw Kenya from the ICC ahead of the hearings facing President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto. The two men face charges of crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in the 2008 post-election violence.

An ICC spokesman was categorical that the case against Kenya’s two leaders and journalist Joshua Sang would go on, even if Kenya withdrew from the Rome Statute that established the international court.

According to the same spokesman, a withdrawal would not have any impact on cases already open, nor on the State’s obligations regarding cases that are already before the ICC.

The trial of William Ruto is due to begin on Tuesday next.

In Uganda, the Daily Monitor is unhappy at the behaviour of some parliamentarians.

According to the Monitor, civil society activists have accused lawmakers and ministers of “greed” and of being “insensitive” to national priorities after it emerged that they abandoned the budgeting process and travelled abroad, seeking “fat allowances”.

For the third year in a row, Parliament on Friday missed the deadline for approving this year’s Budget, prompting complaints about parliamentary “fecklessness” on fiscal matters and bloated expenditure on foreign trips.

The Budget Act, 2011 requires Parliament to have passed the 2013/14 Budget by last Friday to facilitate the delivery of services to the people. However, because of the absence of the lawmakers and some ministers, who chose to travel abroad in the middle of the budgeting process, the Daily Monitor understands that the Budget debate in Parliament has been temporarily put off until 10 September.

This is the third year in a row that the Ugandan Parliament has missed the Budget deadline.

There's more bad news for Uganda in regional paper the East African.

There, we read that falling household demand and weak growth rates in the industrial and services sectors are hampering the Kampala government’s push to achieve 6-7 per cent economic growth this year.

Public sector wages are forecast to drop by about two per cent in the current financial year, with a consequent decline in household consumption.

While government officials are sticking to growth forecasts of 5-6 per cent for this year, local economists point to the inflationary risks tied to mounting food prices caused by the crop failures experienced between January and June. Uganda's inflation rose to 5.1 per cent in July, up from the 3.6 per cent recorded in June.

In South Africa, Johannesburg-based financial paper BusinessDay reports a bit of good news on the labour relations front. According to BusinessDay's main story this morning, more than 50,000 clothing and textile workers will not go on strike as five out of six employer organisations and the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union managed to hammer out a last-minute deal.

The union general secretary said on Monday that this agreement would bring stability to the sector for the foreseeable future. The employer organisations had acceded to all of the union’s demands, he added.

Under the terms of the settlement, clothing workers in urban areas will receive a seven per cent total wage increase and those in rural areas, a 10.1 per cent increase.

Things are not so promising in other sectors, however, with BusinessDay also reporting that a planned strike by the National Union of Metalworkers in the motor industry has been put on hold, while strike action in the construction sector continues.

If this week's motor industry talks fail, 72,000 petrol attendants and other employees will down tools on 9 September.

The union is asking for an increase of R30 an hour across the board on current rates of pay.

Strike action in the construction sector continued on Monday, after the latest wage offer was rejected.

The body representing employers, the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors, has offered increases of between 8 and 10 per cent depending on the employment category. The unions want something closer to 40 per cent.