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Africa Media Watch
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In this week's Media Watch:
- Language lessons from Kenya
- Nigeria's absentee leader
- Boom time for Kenyan museums
- Witch-hunting in Tanzania
- Nigeria's absentee leader
A slight misinterpretation
An Eritrean conference on promoting indigenous languages has provoked a broadside in Kenya's Daily Nation'against foreign-based African intellectuals it accuses of "preaching Kenyan water and drinking Western wine".
The paper spotted high-profile Kenyan academics flying in to "remind the African masses and governments to use their mother-tongues" before jetting back home to their universities in Europe and the US.
Language is not a high priority issue for most Kenyans |
The reality is that most Africans are "so mired in poverty and low literacy that speaking a foreign language is an academic luxury" and the paper sees an irony in academics who have built their careers on "poor African taxpayers" skirting the continent's most serious problems.
"In prioritising the language dilemma as if this were the greatest problem the continent has, the intellectuals flunked worse than their daftest students in America".
Africa will go on having problems with democracy, if its intellectuals only snipe at dictators from a safe distance in the West, the paper writes.
"The problem is that there is little commitment."
While the paper agrees that preserving indigenous languages is a noble cause, it points out that in multi-tribal societies like Kenya's, such concentration on local languages runs the risk of fanning ethnic conflicts because, "like the rest of us, intellectuals are crude social products of their tribes".
You're grounded, Mr President
As Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo reveals his late predecessor Sani Abacha's appetite for public funds, the new leader is under attack himself, albeit on the rather milder charge of spending too much time abroad.
"Olusegun Obasanjo has left no one in doubt of his interest in what he calls contact diplomacy and his robust desire to pursue it even if with a streak of recklessness," Nigeria's Guardian writes.
"In prioritising the language dilemma as if this were the greatest problem the continent has, the intellectuals flunked worse than their daftest students in America".
Africa will go on having problems with democracy, if its intellectuals only snipe at dictators from a safe distance in the West, the paper writes.
"The problem is that there is little commitment."
While the paper agrees that preserving indigenous languages is a noble cause, it points out that in multi-tribal societies like Kenya's, such concentration on local languages runs the risk of fanning ethnic conflicts because, "like the rest of us, intellectuals are crude social products of their tribes".
You're grounded, Mr President
As Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo reveals his late predecessor Sani Abacha's appetite for public funds, the new leader is under attack himself, albeit on the rather milder charge of spending too much time abroad.
"Olusegun Obasanjo has left no one in doubt of his interest in what he calls contact diplomacy and his robust desire to pursue it even if with a streak of recklessness," Nigeria's Guardian writes.
Stay at home Mr President |
Since his election last May, he has been from India to the United States and the capitals of Europe, as well as keeping "on a permanent shuttle" across Africa as a peace-maker.
The paper accepts the need for diplomacy but says Nigeria's leaders have always been tempted to "conjure up" some excuse for "global junketing".
"Rather than look for salvation within the nation, its leaders are always fascinated by trips outside the shores to learn the ways of others or to invite them over to Nigeria as investors," it writes.
President Obasanjo runs the danger, however, of "mistaking the razzmatazz of foreign travels for concrete achievement" and losing sight of events at home.
"There is so much on the ground that requires his attention," The Guardian concludes: "Let him suspend further trips and attend to these problems."
Art for the people
Kenya's museums are enjoying a new popularity as local people take a greater interest in what was once considered a preserve of the elite, The Nation writes.
The paper accepts the need for diplomacy but says Nigeria's leaders have always been tempted to "conjure up" some excuse for "global junketing".
"Rather than look for salvation within the nation, its leaders are always fascinated by trips outside the shores to learn the ways of others or to invite them over to Nigeria as investors," it writes.
President Obasanjo runs the danger, however, of "mistaking the razzmatazz of foreign travels for concrete achievement" and losing sight of events at home.
"There is so much on the ground that requires his attention," The Guardian concludes: "Let him suspend further trips and attend to these problems."
Art for the people
Kenya's museums are enjoying a new popularity as local people take a greater interest in what was once considered a preserve of the elite, The Nation writes.
Art and museums in Kenya are losing their elitist image |
"Many have changed their attitude that museums were only for foreign tourists," the director-general of the National Museums of Kenya, Dr George Abungu, said as he launched a Millennium arts exhibition at the old law courts in Fort Jesus, Mombasa.
In response to growing demand, the National Museums have organised a series of events this year to promote the work of Kenyan artists.
The Fort Jesus exhibition, for instance, features oils and water colours by painters from the coastal area.
Elderly warlock arrested
Tanzanian police are holding a witch-doctor in the central region of Dodoma who is accused by villagers of causing a drought, the Pan-African News Agency reports.
Three human skulls were found among Mienzeli Silipi's possessions when the 70-year-old was caught after a "massive manhunt" which was directed by another witch-doctor.
Silipi has fared better than the 399 old people in the Shinyanga region to the west who have been put to death by vigilantes for witchcraft in the past three years.
Next Media Watch on 18 February
In response to growing demand, the National Museums have organised a series of events this year to promote the work of Kenyan artists.
The Fort Jesus exhibition, for instance, features oils and water colours by painters from the coastal area.
Elderly warlock arrested
Tanzanian police are holding a witch-doctor in the central region of Dodoma who is accused by villagers of causing a drought, the Pan-African News Agency reports.
Three human skulls were found among Mienzeli Silipi's possessions when the 70-year-old was caught after a "massive manhunt" which was directed by another witch-doctor.
Silipi has fared better than the 399 old people in the Shinyanga region to the west who have been put to death by vigilantes for witchcraft in the past three years.
Next Media Watch on 18 February
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