Briefly: Independence from Britain celebrated amid turbulence

Kenya’s 222 lawmakers currently make about $120,000 a year each. The minimum wage in Nairobi, the capital, is about $1,500 a year.

Kenyan parliamentarians are fast earning a reputation for trying to give themselves expensive perks.

Last year parliament attempted to raise their annual pay to $175,000, but the idea was met with such fierce public resistance that they shelved the plan.

Earlier this year, parliament inaugurated a new 350-seat chamber, where each of the seats cost about $3,000.

Human rights and anti-corruption activists say the motion to increase the parliament’s bonus to $110,000 — a vote that passed Thursday night with only about 30 legislators present — violates the country’s 2010 constitution, which does not allow parliament to set its own pay.

GHANA

Ruling expected Thursday on seized Argentine ship

ACCRA — An Accra Commercial Court will rule Thursday on whether to release the seized Argentine naval ship ARA Libertad to its creditors after it was impounded on arrival last week at the Tema Port.

Officials of the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority, which runs Tema Port, seized the ARA Libertad on the orders of a U.S. court, and said they would release it only after a court order to do so.

The authority said last week the vessel was kept because of an injunction placed on it for debts owed.

Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong on Tuesday heard arguments from attorneys of the creditors and the Argentine government, and said he will give his ruling Thursday.

ETHIOPIA

Newspapers stop publishing,cite government obstruction

ADDIS ABABA — Two weekly newspapers that have been critical of Ethiopia’s ruling party have stopped publication because of government obstruction, the papers’ publishers said this week.

The publishers are appealing to newly appointed Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to intervene.

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