Africa highlights: Mugabe hails agricultural 'success', 'case for colonialism' academic row

1. Zimbabwe's president highlights country's self-sufficiency in food
2. Argument as academic writes in favour of colonialism in top journal
3. Kenya's president opens parliament amid opposition boycott
4. MPs from Uganda's governing NRM back move that would allow Museveni to run again
5. Zambian journalist's death in child birth sparks maternal mortality discussion
6. UN research reveals that sub-Saharan child migrants are most in danger
7. SA ex- President Motlanthe says ANC needs to lose to renew itself
8. SA football association will not appeal against a decision to re-play Senegal World Cup qualifier

Scroll down for Tuesday's stories

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.

A reminder of today's wise words:

No matter how tall the Iroko tree grows it still cannot touch the sky."

Sent by Abdul Abubakar in Kano, Nigeria

Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with these photos of works by Ghanaian artist El Anatsui, who is one of two African winners of one of the world's most lucrative art prizes, the Praemium Imperiale. El Anatsui and Sneegalese singer Youssou N'Dour have won $130,000 (£98,000) each.

Togo's president 'in a desperate situation' - opposition

Protests for constitutional reform in Togo took a lull today as parliament was expected to debate calls for a return to the 1992 constitution and presidential term limits.

But the debate didn't take place as a result of a disagreement over procedure.

Claude Ameganvi, the leader of Togo's Labour Party which is among 14 opposition parties calling for the president to quit, has told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme:

Everyone knows the electoral processes were just a masquerade.

It's to clear to everyone, abroad and inside the country, that the Togolese people no longer want this regime in power."

Mr Ameganvi says a draft bill setting out a two-term presidential limit - as under the 1992 constitution - has been handed to Togo's law commission, who will then bring discussion points to a cross-party meeting tomorrow morning.

"Tomorrow we'll know exactly what the regime's response to the [people's] demands... will be," Mr Amegavani says.

"They are in a desperate situation... For a regime that's been in power for 50 years, taking into consideration the fact that they should go is very hard for them," he adds.

AFP

Hundreds of thousands of Togolese have joined demonstrations calling for constitutional reforms in recent weeks

Ghana parents' joy at free school scheme

A new programme of free secondary school education has started in Ghana.

This was a key campaign promise of President Nana Akufo-Addo, who was elected last year.

The 400,000 students entering secondary school this year will also receive free textbooks, meals and other benefits.

Ghana free secondary education programme starts

Bell Pottinger goes into administration over SA work

Bell Pottinger has collapsed into administration after failing to find a buyer.

The troubled PR firm put itself up for sale last week after it was thrown out of the PR trade body for running a campaign in South Africa which was accused of being "racially divisive".

The administrators BDO said they had made a number of redundancies.

They are also working to transfer remaining clients to other firms to "realise value for creditors".

AFP

Bell Pottinger was employed by the controversial Gupta family in South Africa, which is accused of having a close political relationship with President Jacob Zuma

Read more about Bell Pottinger's work in South Africa: Will 'the Zuptas' fall in South Africa?

Top Burundi opposition politician 'abducted'

BBC World Service

The family of a prominent member of the opposition in Burundi says he has been abducted in the capital, Bujumbura.

Leopold Habarugira of the UPD party was out walking with his wife when four men are reported to have leapt out of a car and taken him.

Mr Habarugira's wife said one was wearing a police uniform.

There has been no comment so far from the authorities.

Mr Habarugira is one of the few opposition leaders to have remained in Burundi since a political crisis erupted in 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term in office.

Top East African university could recall degrees

The prestigious Ugandan university where cultural and political giants like Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Julius Nyerere and Milton Obote were educated could recall large numbers of degrees issued since 2011, the Daily Monitor reports.

Makerere University broadened the scope of an existing investigation after noticing "staggering mismatches" between the results released by colleges and final grades issued by the Office of the Academic Registrar, the newspaper reports.

It adds that "a former minister... and a number of members of parliament... will likely be affected".

The newspaper also quotes Ugandan police as saying that some Makerere drop-outs forge transcripts in printing houses which they falsely present as official university documents.

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'We face infanticide, kidnap, and open discrimination'

Ishaq Khalid

BBC Africa, Abuja

Nigeria's Albino Foundation has launched a project to protect rights of people living with albinism in Nigeria, who say they face serious discrimination.

"There are reported cases of infanticide, kidnap and open discrimination," Chairman Jeke Epelle told me at the launch in Abuja today.

BBC

Another attendee, Aladesanmi Dakpo, spoke of being denied a job in the Nigerian police force despite completing training and performing well.

BBC

The Albino Society says this new project has three key aims:

• Lobbying the authorities to protect the rights of citizens with albinism
• Informing those living with albinism how and where to report cases of discrimination and violence
• Changing attitudes and perceptions by educating society at large

BBC

BBC

Cholera kills 500 in DR Congo

At least 528 people have been killed by cholera outbreak which has spread to 20 out of the 26 provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there are more than 24,000 suspected cases in the country, and that most people lack access to clean water let alone the live-saving treatment they need.

Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesperson, tells BBC Focus on Africa radio that a high-level meeting has been held with the Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry in the hopes of "eliminating the hotspots" where the disease is most prevalent:

An outbreak of cholera in the DR Congo has reached 20 out of 26 provinces

Row over 'case for colonialism' article

A bit of a storm is brewing over an academic article in the respected journal Third World Quarterly that attempts to make the "case for colonialism".

The abstract for the article by Bruce Gilley, an associate professor of political science at Portland State University, begins:

For the last 100 years, Western colonialism has had a bad name. It is high time to question this orthodoxy."

The author argues that colonialism brought benefits:

Western colonialism was, as a general rule, both objectively beneficial and subjectively legitimate in most of the places where it was found, using realistic measures of those concepts."

Many of those commenting on Twitter on this have reacted with anger:

Others have called for the article to be withdrawn:

In 2016, Mr Gilley published a piece in the African Affairs journal suggesting that Nigerian author Chinua Achebe acknowledged there were some positive aspects to colonialism called "Chinua Achebe on the positive legacies of colonialism".

Elephants change behaviour because of poachers

BBC

African elephants tend to move more at night-time when the risk of poaching is high, a joint study by Save The Elephants, the University of Twente and Kenya Wildlife Service has found.

The study suggests that elephants are aware that they might be in danger. It tracked elephants and compared their movements at times when the threat of poaching was high, and then not so high.

“When danger threatens they move at speed in the open almost entirely by night, showing a marvelous adaptability," said Save The Elephants’ founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton.

A 2016 survey found that in seven years, 30% of Africa's elephants have disappeared - many of them in East Africa.

Would-be Burundian 'al-Shabab recruits' arrested in Kenya

Robert Kiptoo

BBC Africa, Nairobi

Police in Kenya have arrested four people believed to be Burundian nationals who were allegedly travelling to Somalia to join Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

Undercover security officers had been trailing the suspects after receiving information about their plans, police spokesperson George Kinoti says.

He adds that the four suspects were arrested at a police road block in Isiolo, around 350km north of Nairobi, while on their way to the border town of Mandera.

Police also say the four men were in Kenya as tourists on a free visa exchange programme between Kenya and Burundi.

Officials at the Burundian embassy in Nairobi say they will issue a comprehensive statement on the arrests after consulting Kenyan authorities.

In January this year another foreign national, that time a Tanzanian, was arrested in Mandera trying to enter Somalia allegedly to join the militant group.

Kenya's top judges not at parliament's opening

Opposition lawmakers were not the only people missing from today's opening of parliament in Kenya as the Supreme Court judges were also not present, reports the BBC's Anne Soy.

But this wasn't a deliberate boycott, instead the judges were not invited according to the chief justice's office.

Opposition National Super Alliance members were staying away because they said President Uhuru Kenyatta could not open parliament while the country was waiting for the re-run of the presidential election.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that the result of August's presidential election, which President Kenyatta won, should be annulled.

In his address President Kenyatta repeated that while he disagreed with that decision he respected it.

But in the hours after the ruling he described Chief Justice David Maraga as a crook.

KTN

Kenyatta and Kenya electoral commission slammed at opposition rally

We reported earlier that opposition leaders in Kenya are staging a rally in Nairobi after boycotting today's opening of parliament.

Alongside Raila Odinga, who heads the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa), senior opposition figures are addressing the crowds.

A big cheer was heard when Musalia Mudavadi, the leader of the Amani National Congress, part of Nasa, said:

If you impeach somebody, there has to be a basis for impeachment. What crime has [Raila Odinga] committed to be impeached?"

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He was referring to President Uhuru Kenyatta's recent comment that he would impeach Mr Odinga, if the opposition leader wins the re-run of the presidential election next month.

Senator Moses Wetangula called for reform of Kenya's electoral commission (IEBC), saying:

Doing the same over and over again without changes is the definition of stupidity."

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Politicians on the podium led the crowd in singing Bob Marley's Get Up, Stand Up, including the lyrics:

Get up, stand up

Stand up for your rights!

Get up, stand up

Don't give up the fight!

Kenya opposition MPs hold rally to snub parliament

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, whose petition to re-run the August presidential election over voting irregularities has been upheld by the Supreme Court, is addressing crowds in the opposition stronghold of Kibera in Nairobi.

The timing of the rally is deliberate, taking place at the same time as President Uhuru Kenyatta's opening address to parliament - an event which hundreds of opposition MPs have boycotted.

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The opposition rally is being streamed live on Mr Odinga's Facebook page

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Kenyatta calls for constitutional respect and national unity

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has asked MPs to uphold the constitution as he opened parliament - its first sitting since the 8 August elections.

Addressing a joint session of the country's two parliamentary chambers he said that at this point, as Kenya is waiting for a re-run of the annulled presidential election, it is vital that "all of us uphold the supremacy of the constitution and its institutions".

He repeated his message that although he "strongly disagreed" with the Supreme Court's decision to annul last month's presidential vote he "accepted it because of my respect for our constitution".

Members of parliament from the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) were not present because they say they object to the president addressing the joint session while the country is still waiting for a new election.

But Mr Kenyatta said that until the next president is sworn in, he remains the president.

KTN

The president has been appealing for calm and national unity ahead of the new vote scheduled for 17 October.

"My government will not tolerate anyone disrupting our hard won peace," he said.

Prayers ahead of the opening of Kenya's parliament

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta is due to open parliament - its first sitting since the 8 August election.

Ahead of the lawmakers heard traditional prayers from various religious leaders.

Kenyan TV station KTN is covering proceedings:

KTN

Mugabe hails agricultural 'succes's in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has opened parliament hailing the fact that the country has achieved food self-sufficiency this year after good rains led to a bumper harvest, reports the BBC's Shingai Nyoka in the capital, Harare.

"Government is now working to consolidate agriculture through, among other things, investing more resources in water harvesting and irrigation development," the AFP news agency quotes the president as saying.

In the past, the president has been criticised for land reform polices which led to a reduction in the productivity of the country's agricultural sector.

Mr Mugabe also said that a bill to outlaw marriages for girls under 18 will come before parliament this session.

AFP

President Mugabe (right) came to parliament with his wife Grace

Togo parliament 'fails to discuss reform' despite protests

Constitutional reforms were off the agenda when Togo's parliament met today despite last week's massive opposition protests calling for changes, the AFP news agency reports.

The government had indicated that proposed changes could be discussed but the only thing up for debate was the budget for the running of parliament, AFP adds.

AFP reports that opposition MPs then wanted the session to end.

Lat week, tens of thousands of people went onto the streets in what opposition supporters described as unprecedented protests.

They wanted President Faure Gnassingbé, who has been in power since 2005, to step down.

He became president after the death of his father, Gnassingbé Eyadema, who had been at the helm for 38 years. Protesters are calling for the end of the "Gnassingbé dynasty".

Large numbers turned out for last week's protests

Reuters

Will Ugandan MPs remove presidential age limits?

Patience Atuhaire

BBC Africa, Kampala

MPs from Uganda's ruling NRM party have agreed to table a private member's bill in parliament, proposing the removal of the presidential age limit.

If successful the bill would make President Yoweri Museveni, who is believed to be 73 years old, eligible to stand again in the next election in 2021.

He has been in power since 1986 and is currently serving his fifth term in power.

The bill, which is being backed by 200 NRM MPs, seeks to amend article 102 (b) of the Uganda's constitution, which sets the lower and upper age limits for presidential candidates at 35 and 75.

AFP

President Museveni won last year's disputed presidential election with 61% of the vote

Many are speculating that the NRM, which holds a parliamentary majority, will endorse the constitutional amendment, but some in the NRM and the government denied it.

An MP who is leading the team supporting the bill says the move is "out of the realisation" that the country does not have a pool of people with leadership abilities to help the country continue on the path of development.

But another MP who opposes the move has told me she questions the rush to table a bill before the ruling party caucus has even consulted Ugandans on the amendment.

MPs say they will table the motion to present the bill before the house in a week’s time.

Kenyatta due to open Kenya's new parliament

Preparations are being made for the formal opening of parliament in Kenya.

Kenyan TV station KTN is showing pictures of soldiers getting things ready:

KTN

The first session since the 8 August elections is not without controversy.

Incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta is due to address a joint sitting of the two houses of parliament.

But the opposition are questioning whether he has the right to do this given that his victory in last month's presidential election was annulled, and the vote needs to be re-run.

Opposition MPs have threatened to boycott the opening.