The issues of Kadhi’s courts and abortion are being presented as issues central to the debate on Kenya’s Proposed Constitution, writes Cyprian Nyamwamu, but in reality there are several others. Nyamwamu compiles a list of 36 reasons why Kenyans supported the draft of a new constitution.

Albert Bourgi

Pierre S. Adjété

Zapiro’s controversial cartoon featuring the Prophet Mohamed, published in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, prompts Mahmood Mamdani to ‘reflect on times and places when humour turned deadly’. Speaking at the University of Johannesburg, Mamdani explores the relationship between ‘two great liberal objectives, freedom of speech and civil peace’. Zapiro’s cartoon, Mamdani argues, has misread the real challenges we face today: The intellectual challenge of distinguishing between ‘two strands in the history of free speech – blasphemy and bigotry’, and the political challenge of building ‘a local and global coalition against all forms of bigotry’. We need to learn ‘how not to respond to a changing world with fear and anxiety, masked with arrogance, but rather to try a little humility so as to understand,’ Mamdani writes.

Every year billions of dollars of potential development capital are drained from Africa through holes in the continent’s ‘bottomless bucket’ as a result of illicit financial outflows, writes Karley Curcio. Greater transparency and oversight of financial dealings is the only way to curb this monetary drain, which restricts the majority of ordinary people’s access to capital, Curcio argues.

Israel’s military attack on Gaza-bound humanitarian ships, the Freedom Flotilla, on 30 May, brings questions of piracy and the violation of international laws into sharp focus, writes Horace Campell. But the incident is only the latest example of the Israeli government’s policies to ‘dehumanise the Palestinian people and those in solidarity with them’, observes Campbell, as he calls for ‘peace-loving citizens all over the world’ to join forces with ‘peace-loving Israeli citizens and Palestinians who stand for peaceful coexistence to change the present apartheid leadership in Israel’.

South Africans appear to have had their constitutional right to protest suspended during the 2010 World Cup, writes Jane Duncan, following a directive from the country’s police service (SAPS) to municipalities hosting matches. Sceptical of claims that the country does not have the capacity to police marches and the World Cup simultaneously, Duncan asks whether SAPS decision is motivated by ‘the need to remake South Africa's brand in the international media as a land of peace, reconciliation and stability’, or if it reflects, more seriously, ‘an intensification of a recent trend towards suppressing the waves of protest action’ by the Zuma administration.

Like many people around the world, Sokari Ekine is ‘elated’ by the news that Malawian couple Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, have been pardoned and freed. But, asks Ekine, ‘How can we claim justice has been done when the law used to convict the couple has not been successfully challenged?’ In this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, Ekine finds her sentiments echoed by others across the continent.

Kenya should encourage the use of bamboo in building affordable shelters, especially for 60 percent of the population who live in poorly constructed dwellings in rural areas, says a specialist. "Poor construction means they [houses] serve as breeding grounds for diseases including malaria, amoebic dysentery and respiratory conditions, which commonly claim the lives of many of their inhabitants,” Jacob Kibwange, project director of an initiative at Maseno University that aims to encourage bamboo exploitation, told IRIN.

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), in collaboration with FARA, Yam-Pukri, CAFAN, AYF, ANAFE and PAFPNET, is organizing an essay writing contest on Youth and ICTs in Agriculture and Rural Development, aimed at identifying innovative solutions on challenges faced by
youth in agriculture and rural areas using Information and Communication Technologies.

"Behind an orderly facade, the government pressured, intimidated and threatened Ethiopian voters, ...Whatever the results, the most salient feature of this election was the months of repression preceding it." - Rona Peligal, acting Africa director at Human Rights Watch. There is little surprise in Ethiopian election results now beginning to come out, with the ruling party being returned with overwhelming majorities in all parts of the country. Nor has there been any large-scale violence reported, although some observers warned that new crackdowns on opposition might follow the election, But both Ethiopian and non-Ethiopian critics warn that the most important issues are structural, and that the appearance of democracy is belied by an authoritarian system.

Dr Machivenyika Mapuranga, the Zimbabwe Ambassador to the United States, was forced out of an event to commemorate Africa Day after he heckled and continuously interrupted a speech by US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson.

A veteran opposition leader in Togo has said he will enter into a power-sharing deal with the government. Gilchrist Olympio told the BBC that his party will get eight ministerial posts in the coalition. President Faure Gnassingbe won re-election in March, although the opposition alleged irregularities in the vote-counting system.

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday a referendum on a new constitution will be delayed, possibly until next year. Under the unity deal that brought Tsvangirai into government with his long-time rival President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe was meant to vote on a new charter by August.

Ethiopia's ruling party swept all the parliamentary seats in Sunday's elections and appeared to head back to a single party era. The opposition coalition, Medrek, won a single seat in capital, Addis Ababa, in a race over 547 seats in the House. Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and its allied political parties won all the 533 seats out of the 536 seats declared when the Ethiopian National Electoral Board (NEBE) released the provisional results.

Zambia's former finance minister, Katele Kalumba, has been jailed for five years for corruption. Lusaka High Court deputy director of operations, Edward Musona, sitting as magistrate on Wednesday, convicted Kalumba to five years, along with six others, including former finance permanent secretary Stella Chibanda and former finance chief economist Bede Mphande.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is to increase its capital from US$ 33 billion to US$ 100 billion, in a bid to continue supporting African countries, a communique issued by the bank disclosed.

Experts at the 47th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR), which ended Thursday in Banjul, the Gambian capital, have said that the Commission's greatest handicap was its inability to perform its mandate of protecting human rights in Africa. Reine Alapini-Gansou, Chairperson of the Commission, stated that at the Banjul session, participants adopted new rules which seek to enhance human rights services in such a way that they would complement the activities of the African Court on Human and People's Rights.

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria on Thursday said the democratic stability of the Fourth Republic was traceable to the position the National Assembly took following "the unfortunate health challenges" which confronted late President Umaru Musa Yar'adua. Jonathan said "many speculated that Nigeria was going to split but you (National Assembly) proved them wrong." The President also stated that the success of his administration "would depend on the cooperation of the National Assembly".

The Southern African Catholic Bishop's Conference on Thursday asked President Jacob Zuma to intervene in Swaziland's "political crisis". SACBC president Archbishop Buti Tlhagale said in statement: "I have written to President Zuma to ask the government to take part in normalising the situation before it resembles what happened in Zimbabwe.”I've asked the president to consider a mediating role to facilitate a climate of dialogue among all stakeholders in Swaziland." SACBC leaders recently expressed shock at the death of Sipho Jele after he was arrested for wearing a People's United Democratic Movement T-shirt during May Day celebrations in Manzini on May 4.

Burundi's opposition have demanded a re-run of local polls it said were rigged by the regime while the country's top former rebel threatened a boycott of crucial upcoming elections. The allegation of fraud in Monday's local council polls -- the first phase of a months-long electoral marathon -- was likely to heighten fears over the stability of the small war-scarred central African nation.