In his latest press conference, the chair of Kenya's electoral commission, Wafula Chebukati, has commended Kenyans for helping to check the election results.

The commission, the IEBC, is uploading the paper forms submitted by officials at polling stations so they can be compared with what has already been published online.

Ordinary citizens have been invited to check that the two agree. The IEBC is doing its own verification process.

Mr Chebukati has urged political leaders to avoid making statements that could cause tension.

You can see the press conference here:

There's nothing like Twitter to spread news fast and there's always someone who has to be first. But it seems that Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has jumped the gun on Kenya's election.

A post on his Twitter account has congratulated Kenya's incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta on winning Tuesday's poll:

Mr Kenyatta may be in the lead in the vote count published on the electoral commission's website, but those results still need to be verified.

But perhaps this was tweet composed by a keen aide rather than President Nkurunziza himself. His Twitter bio says that only those signed PN are directly from him.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC World Service, Lusaka

Police in Zambia have released a leader of the opposition who was arrested last week for defaming President Edgar Lungu.

Saviour Chishimba of United Progressive Party (UPP) was arrested on the premises of a privately-owned television station where he had gone for an interview.

But after spending a week in police cells, he has now walked free and his case discontinued.

Zambia police spokesperson Esther Mwaata Katongo confirmed the release and discontinuation of the case.

His release comes five days before the start of the trial of Zambia's main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, who was arrested in April and charged with treason after his convoy allegedly failed to give way to President Lungu's motorcade.

The UN's migration body, the IOM, says that for a second day running migrants trying to cross from the Horn of Africa to Yemen have been forced into the sea.

On Tuesday, the IOM said at least 29 teenage migrants had been deliberately drowned by a people smuggler.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News

Image source, SA Government

South Africa’s deputy Education Minister for Higher Education Mduduzi Manana is appearing in the Randburg Magistrates Court in Johannesburg.

On Monday, he was accused of hitting a woman during a row at a nightclub and has since apologised.

He was escorted through a separate entrance to avoid the media circus outside the courthouse – the media has also not been allowed into the courtroom.

This is not common practice and will further fuel claims that he is receiving preferential treatment because he is a government official.

South Africans have taken to social media since news of his alleged assault of a woman in a night club last weekend, asking why he had not been arrested, in spite of admitting to the incident.

It has been a particularly sore point for many who point out that the alleged assault happened at a time when the country is currently observing a government-led campaign called 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children.

Some say the way the authorities are handling this case speaks volumes on how the country and society views violence against women.

US former Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been observing Kenya's elections for the Carter Centre, has said that all candidates should abide by the law, whether they win or lose.

Talking to journalists in Nairobi, Mr Kerry added that the observers were not in the country to take sides.

Senegal's former Prime Minister Aminata Toure, who has been heading the mission alongside Mr Kerry, congratulated the electoral commission, the IEBC, for its great work, and said the election was peaceful.

She also urged all candidates to accept the results.

Main opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga has challenged the results announced so far showing a clear lead for incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta.

He has alleged that the IEBC's IT system was hacked and the results were manipulated.

The IEBC is currently checking the results it has announced with the paper copies of the returns from all the polling stations. It has seven days from the time polls closed on Tuesday to announce the final result.

Juliet Njeri
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

A Kenyan woman has trounced her son to win a parliamentary seat in south-west Kenya, the Daily Nation, external reports.

Beatrice Kones was competing against her first-born son, Kipkalya Kones, in the contest in Bomet East, in one of the most watched parliamentary duels in the country because it pitted members of a nuclear family.

Mrs Kones was first elected MP following the death of her husband in a plane crash in Enoosupukia, Narok, but lost in the 2013 election.

She accused the region‘s former governor, who has lost his seat, of sponsoring her son to oppose her “for his selfish gains”.

“I wonder how the governor would feel if somebody sponsored his son to run against him,” she said.

But her son, who came fourth in the election, says that in 2013, his mother had promised to support his bid this year and that it was time to pursue his dreams.

“I have no personal differences with her. We have not quarrelled and there are no disputes away from politics. She remains my good mother,” he said before the poll.

The African Union team observing Kenya's elections have described the process as "very credible", the BBC's Abdinoor Aden reports from the capital, Nairobi.

South Africa's former President Thabo Mbeko, who headed the mission, told journalists that he was satisifed with the way the electoral commisison, the IEBC, had conducted itself.

Yesterday, opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga alleged that the results the IEBC were announcing were incorrect because its computer systems had been hacked.

Responding to the allegations, Mr Mbeki said his team was in Kenya to observe and not investigate.

Taban Amin, a grandson of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, has become a member of parliament for Kibanda North constituency in the western part of Uganda, the privately owned Daily Monitor, external reports.

Mr Amin was unopposed after his main challenger, Sam Amooti Otada, lost a court petition and withdrew from a by-election race.

The parliamentary seat fell vacant in July after the Court of Appeal nullified the earlier election of Mr Amin on grounds that he had not fully complied with the electoral laws.

Mr Amin now becomes an MP for the ruling NRM headed by President Yoweri Museveni.

Mr Museveni was part of a group of Ugandan exile forces, backed by Tanzanian troops, who toppled his grandfather Idi Amin in 1979.

Tuesday's elections in Kenya were carried out in a "transparent and credible" manner, the head of the Commonwealth's observer mission and Ghana's former president, John Mahama, has said .

Talking to journalists in Nairobi, Mr Mahama commended Kenyans for the election and added that he had "no cause to doubt the ability of the IEBC [the electoral commission] to deliver a credible election".

The preliminary results for the presidential election showing a strong lead for incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta have been challenged by the main opposition Nasa alliance.

Juliet Njeri
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

A 23-year-old university student is set to become Kenya’s youngest MP, after beating veteran politicians to win a parliamentary election, the Daily Nation reports, external.

Image source, Daily Nation

John Paul Mwirigi won the Igembe South seat after running a modest campaign, often campaigning by walking from door to door.

He says he discovered his interest in politics while in form three at Kirindine Day secondary school.

“I had a dream where I was tabling a motion in parliament while I was in Form three. That is when I started asking my fellow students to start campaigning for me since I would need their vote in 2017. I have held leadership positions in school and in my neighbourhood,” said Mr Mwirigi.

His supporters say they decided to elect him because they are confident he knows their problems and will address them.

Mr Mwirigi said his first task would be supporting agribusiness activities, promote entrepreneurship and nurturing talents.

“Since I come from a humble background, I understand the issues that affect the residents. My key agenda will be to transform the lives of the people,” said the youthful candidate.

The ancestors of humans are supposed to have split from the apes some seven million years ago.

However, little is known about the very first evolution of our earlier relatives also called hominoids.

This group also includes gibbons, great apes and humans.

Now Ales, a 13 million-year-old fossil skull of a baby primate, could tell us more about the mystery surrounding the link between apes and humans.

Scientists say the skull looks like that of a gibbon.

One member of the research team, Fred Spoor, spoke to BBC Newsday.

Kenya's western city of Kisumu, which saw some protests yesterday after the opposition said there were problems with the election result, is calm this morning, reports the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza.

He says that some shops and banks have reopened but many streets remain deserted.

The roadblocks that had been put up in one part of the city, Kondele, have been removed, and traffic is flowing freely.

Kisumu is seen as a stronghold of opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Zambia's President Edgar Lungu and detained opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND) have agreed to participate in talks to address the country’s political tensions, the Commonwealth Secretariat, external says:

This follows talks that Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland held with both men on her visit to Zambia.

Image source, Commonwealth Secretariat

Mr Hichilema is currently in prison waiting trial on treason charges following an incident in which the convoy he was travelling in allegedly blocked the presidential motorcade.

During her visit Baroness Scotland also met church leaders and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

The Commonwealth statement says President Lungu and Mr Hichilema agreed to “a process of dialogue” to prepare for reforms ahead of the 2021 elections.

The two leaders have been at loggerheads since last year when Mr Lungu won a closely contested presidential election last year.

Mr Hichelema challenged the result in the High Court.

As Kenyans continue to wait for the election result, the newspaper front pages are, as you would expect, dominated by news of the vote count..

The Star focuses on the fact that the electoral commission, the IEBC, is now checking the results it published on its website with the physical paper forms filled in by election officials at polling stations.

The Daily Nation concentrates on the news that the opposition Nasa alliance have alleged that the IEBC's computers were hacked:

And the business newspaper looks at how the wait for the final results has affected commercial activity:

At least 29 teenage migrants were deliberately drowned by a people smuggler in Yemen, the UN's migration agency says.

They were among 120 people who were deliberately pushed from a boat into the sea by the smuggler who apparently feared arrest.

Some 27 survivors were found on a beach by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on a routine patrol.

Twenty-two are missing while the rest have moved on, the IOM said.

It added in a statement, external that the average age of the Somali and Ethiopian passengers on the boat appeared to have been 16. They had been hoping to reach countries in the Gulf via war-torn Yemen.

"The survivors told our colleagues on the beach that the smuggler pushed them to the sea, when he saw some 'authority types' near the coast," explained Laurent de Boeck, the IOM Yemen Chief of Mission.

Image source, IOM

The international teams of election observers have been giving the preliminary verdicts on the running of Tuesday's disputed elections in Kenya.

In the presidential race, early results show that incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta has a commanding lead, but the figures have been challenged by the opposition and the electoral commission, the IEBC, is now verifying the results.

The teams from the Commonwealth and the East African Community have praised Kenyans for turning out in large numbers and applauded the security forces for keeping order, the BBC's Abdinoor Aden reports.

They said that the polling stations were peaceful.

Image source, AFP

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in Kenya with the Carter Center, last night called on Kenyans to allow the IEBC to do its work.

On Wednesday there were some isolated incidents of violence as supporters of Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga took to the streets in some parts of the country.

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Image source, iStock

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