Africa Media Watch

In this week's Media Watch:

• Easter prompts soul-searching in Uganda, Nigeria and Zambia
  
• Ghanaian paper urges stiffer penalties for corrupt officials
  
• Ethiopia's The Monitor argues against debt reduction
  

  The Easter weekend prompted newspapers across the continent to reflect on the problems afflicting their countries and to call for more reasoned and unselfish responses in future.

  Massacre overshadows Easter

  In Uganda, the Kanungu Doomsday cult killings continued to cast a long shadow over the holiday.

  As the New Vision put it: "Christians in Uganda are marking this Easter weekend at an especially poignant time for the body of Christ in this country."

  
  

  
  

  Kanunga villagers hold herbs to their faces
  

  "The Kanungu tragedy, in which about 500 people burnt to death and the subsequent revelation of 500 murders apparently committed by the cult leaders, makes this Easter a time for reflection."

  The paper urged its readers to be "wary of false teachers" but warned against religious persecution.

  
  

  
  

  The Kanungu tragedy makes this Easter a time for reflection

  
  

  New Vision

  "There has also been a lot of hysteria over people who gather to worship and intolerance has crept into many minds.

  "The president instituted a commission of inquiry into the Kanungu tragedy, whose report every Ugandan, Christian and non-Christian, awaits to know the cause of what has been the biggest abuse of our otherwise cherished freedom of worship."

  Pleas for tolerance, compassion

  Nigeria's The Guardian reported on President Olusegun Obasanjo's Easter message, which called for tolerance and cohesion in the wake of outbreaks of communal violence.

  "Apparently worried by recent national developments," the paper commented, "he said: 'The tasks and challenges of nation-building before us are far too urgent to leave us room for unnecessary bickering and divisive distractions.'"

  The Times of Zambia focused on the plight of the country's poor and mentally ill, noting the impact of the breakdown of extended families and HIV/Aids.

  And it called on Christians to transform their faith into "living acts of love" to help the sufferers.

  
  

  
  

  Zambian Aids orphans at play
  

  "If the naked would be clothed, the mentally-ill bathed and clothed in the dignity of human life, this Easter can be turned into a memorable service to non-believers rather than one of the periods when more accidents, deaths and robberies are recorded," it said.

  "As a matter of fact, rather than sermons accompanied by the holding of costly Easter ceremonies, it would be put to better use by doing what Jesus... came to fulfil. It does not cost much."

  
  

  
  

  If we can only adopt the right attitudes and bear our crosses as Christ did at Easter, we shall overcome

  
  

  The Ghanaian Chronicle

  Ghanaian papers noted that Easter was a time of sacrifice, urging stoicism at a time of economic crisis.

  "To say that Ghana is going through very trying moments would be an understatement," The Ghanaian Chronicle said.

  "The already precarious economic situation in the country... has suddenly been exacerbated by the current drastic fall in the value of the cedi [the local currency], throwing most Ghanaians into panic," the paper added.

  "It is against this background that The Ghanaian Chronicle wishes to remind Ghanaians of the sacrifices that Christ made at Easter...

  "If we can only adopt the right attitudes and bear our crosses as Christ did at Easter, we shall overcome."

  Anger over corruption

  The economic crisis has also been the subject of editorials in the Daily Graphic, which has been angered by allegations that five top officials at the Bank of Ghana are guilty of massive fraud.

  "The Graphic, like all decent and hard working Ghanaians who have made and are still making immense sacrifices to our national reconstruction effort, is shocked at the unravelling of yet another monumental scandal, this time at the very heart of the country's banking system - the central bank...

  
  

  
  

  The Graphic is shocked at the unravelling of yet another monumental scandal

  
  

  Daily Graphic

  "The Graphic regards these thefts as highly criminal, especially coming at a time when the national coffers have been progressively weakened by the fall in the prices of cocoa and gold, our major exports, and the hikes in oil prices in addition to reduced donor aid inflows."

  The paper went on to say that in previous cases of theft of state resources the perpetrators have simply been "dismissed from office and allowed to go and enjoy their loot to the disadvantage of the state".

  It demanded that "stiffer measures" be employed "to deter people from indulging in such nation-wrecking activities".

  Debt relief questioned

  Ethiopia's The Monitor, meanwhile, dwelt on the issue of African debt, arguing that there was little point in debt relief when African leaders such as Uganda's Museveni, DR Congo's Laurent Kabila and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe had spent millions on waging wars.

  
  

  
  

  Congo rebels are supplied by Uganda and Rwanda
  

  "The solution to Africa's problems is not to be found in the cancellation of a $365bn debt burden," the paper stated.

  "Why should this debt be cancelled when Africans are spending their scarce money to wage war with one another, legitimate or otherwise, or to enrich their personal bank accounts?" it asked.

  "No point at all in debt reduction, unless it is intended to deprive the leaders of one big excuse," the paper concluded.

  Next week's Media Watch is on 5 May