African press review 10 December 2015

Today's Africa press review takes a look at an ongoing mysterious story in Kenya. Plus, plans by the Sudanese government to cut subsidies. Meanwhile, Business Day wonders why Africa doesn't have more business leaders and Africa Check says South Africa is not the most corrupt country on the continent.

We start with Kenya, and a story we've been hearing about all week surrounding the alledged discovery of a mass grave in the north of the country just keeps unfolding.

On Tuesday, we heard that no bodies were found after the excavations of 15 sites in the Mandera region. This Wednesday it now appears the Kenyan government wants political leaders in Mandera to be questioned by police.

According to The Standard, the Interior Cabinet Secretary even told the leaders to apologise and retract the claims they made. Mandera leaders had accused the army of extra-judicial killings.

But it appears that after two days of search only one body was exhumed, "a cook for al-Shebab militants" says the newspaper.

Newspaper The East African reports that the Sudanese governmnent has plans to cut subsidies on "some essential commodities as part of its austerity measures".

The parliament has to vote in the coming days on the 2016 budget. According to the paper, the government is trying "to cushion the national economy against collapse".

But things could get ugly, "In September 2013, dozens of people were killed in nationwide demonstrations after the government lifted subsidies on fuel products" writes The East African.The country's economy has been in trouble since 2013 and the independance of South Sudan.

South Africa's Business Day takes a look at why "nurturing talent is hard in Africa".

Despite being a "major growth market" for investors, companies are having a tough time finding leaders to "run their operations", according to the article.

This is the conclusion of a report that surveyed leaders and recruiters in Africa.

One of the problems facing investors in South Africa, Kenya or Nigeria, is that there is a lack of business schools, says the paper.

"Many with management aspirations tend to leave to study or work abroad, and persuading them to return home to pursue their career is a challenge" adds Business Day. This means companies had either to import their own talents or develop their own training programmes.

As Business Day puts it, that's "not a sustainable solution".

Finally, Africa Check wonders if South Africa really is the most corrupt country of the continent.

Everyday, the website fact checks studies, reports or speeches from politicians. Today, they had a look at a study by graft monitoring group Transparency International tilted "Global Corruption Barometer: Africa 2015".

After the release of the report, the international media were quick to headline on how South Africa is the most corrupt country on the continent, pointed out Africa Check.

But this is wrong says the website, because it's not what the report tells us.

"The 2015 survey report stated that the “majority of Africans (58%) say that corruption has increased over the past year" writes Africa Check. "This is particularly the case in South Africa where more than four-in-five citizens (83%) say they have seen corruption rise recently.”

In short, it's all about the perception of corruption by African citizens.

"What the report does tell us, is that perceptions of corruption across the African continent can vary widely between countries and regions", concludes the website.