Africa Media Watch

Health and environmental issues have attracted press attention this week.

In Kenya, the poisoning from contaminated illegal liquor that has killed at least 90 people prompted angry editorials criticising the authorities.

The Daily Nation accused policemen of colluding with the liquor dealers.

Efforts to curb illicit drinks are akin to a cat chasing its tail. The law is no more than a bulldog which barks briefly when fed by people's deaths.

The East African Standard, Nairobi

"It is common practice for law enforcers to operate protection rings that ensure dealers are not arrested. Save for the occasional raid by police officers out to punish traders for failing to pay the 'retainer', the effort has largely been abandoned to women's groups."

Bark without bite

The East African Standard highlighted the futility of crackdowns.

But beyond the pocket of many Kenyan drinkers

"Efforts to curb brewing, sale and consumption of illicit drinks are akin to a cat chasing its tail. The law... is no more than a bulldog which barks briefly when fed by people's deaths. Indiscriminate criminalisation of demon drinks... only drives the makers, transporters and drinkers underground," it said.

"It's the demon which should be exorcised from the drink. Let the liquors be prepared in hygienic conditions... and be certified as fit for human consumption."

In South Africa, the media have been preoccupied by two outbreaks of disease in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Natal Witness praised efforts to prevent foot-and-mouth from spreading beyond the zone where it was discovered in September, but said more must be done.

Leaky cordon

Cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals are being vaccinated over a wide area to prevent lasting damage to the livestock industry, but better education and co-ordination are needed, it said.

"The state's cordon around the entire control zone... will continue to be porous unless an even greater and more concerted effort is made. It is essential that those involved... be educated in the spread of the disease and understand their role in the maintenance of strict measures," the article said.

Delivering water free is not a good idea since it results in the rich and influential receiving more by way of subsidy than the poor and leads to people being treated as the objects of aid rather than partners in development.

The Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg

"Just as essential is that local and regional leaders... understand the seriousness of the situation... This requires the setting aside of... partisan and political differences: the disease affects us all and everything, including party loyalties and the forthcoming elections, should be set aside as we get together to grapple with it."

The cholera outbreak which has killed more than 30 people and affected nearly 5,000 since mid-August is also causing concern.

Two-pronged approach

One theory is that the introduction of charges for tap water prompted poor people to turn to rivers, but an article in the Mail & Guardian rejected calls to cancel them.

"Delivering water free... is not a good idea since it results in the rich and influential receiving more by way of subsidy than the poor and leads to people being treated as the objects of aid rather than partners in development," it said.

It proposed paying a monthly sum to each adult nationwide, supplemented with subsidies to poor rural communities, where the per capita cost of supplying water was higher.

"This two-pronged approach... is not asking the government to allocate social development expenditure twice but is recommending that the total payout be shared in a manner that achieves the greatest gains," it said.

"There are no short cuts to equitable development but let us get on the right road."

Bring back forests

The poor were also on the mind of a columnist in the Addis Ababa Daily Monitor, but he was more concerned about their environmental impact.

Widescale deforestation caused by the growing population's need for firewood was a long-standing problem but relatively simple to solve.

"The wider use of kerosene stoves can contribute towards saving the country from total decimation of its little existing vegetation and soil erosion... Let's stop for a while talking about grandiose schemes like wind energy, solar energy, biogas etc."

The solution to the growing population should also come as no surprise, he said.

"What percentage of Ethiopians even know or have heard that there is such a thing as family planning or birth control or condoms? How many can get the services when they need them?"

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.