Two official leaders of the Kenya National Union of Teachers where heavily fined yesterday, report both Kenyan dailies The Standard and The Daily Nation.

The Union's chairman Wilson Sossion and acting secretary-general Mudzo Nzili were found guilty of defying a court order requiring them to call off the teachers' strike that started on July 1 and lasted 24 days, reports the Nation.

The Kenyan court ordered the two unionists to serve a 30-day civil jail term each if they failed to raise the fine adds the daily, as she found the two top officials and the union guilty of contempt of court by defying a directive to call off the teachers' strike by July 1.

According to the Standard, the condemnation and fines are the result of a sustained offensive by the Kenyan government to whittle down the power of the giant union which had led some 240,000 primary and secondary school teachers to strike for more than three weeks for higher pay.

The two accused suffered further humiliation, explains the Standard, as they were handcuffed as they were led from the courtroom to their cells, where they will remain until they've paid their fines.

The nationwide strike, which was called off last week after the government threatened the indefinite closure of primary schools, was the biggest crisis President Uhuru Kenyatta's government had faced since it won elections in March.

Still in Kenya, the Nairobi-based daily The Star reports that deputy President William Ruto, currently under investigation by the International Criminal Court, claims that he has strong evidence to show that local and international NGOs have a scheme to fabricate evidence against him at the ICC.

Ruto has accused eight witnesses on the stand at his trial of being coached to lie against him immediately after the opening statements, says the newspaper.

The Deputy President also demands that the Prosecution's lead investigator be put on the witness stand and explain how he oversaw the selection process of the witnesses.

Ruto's trial has already been delayed and is due to open on September 10 at the Hague, adds The Star, while that of President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to kick off on November 12.

The Ugandan Daily Monitor reports on the arrest and detention of the former political opposition leader Kizza Besigye.

Besigye and other opposition members will be charged with publishing and distributing material supporting unlawful protests, reports the Monitor, adding that hundreds of anti-riot and police officers had cordoned off his Kampala home to avoid surges of violence during his arrest.

Police have been incessantly arresting opposition activists and preventing opposition rallies since 2011, explains the Monitor, justifying their actions as 'preventive measures' to insure public safety.

And the South African Business Day's editorial takes a look into the country's President Jacob Zuma's relationship with Zimbabwe, as the South African Development Comity monitors the upcoming Zimbabwean presidential elections.

Zimbabwean President Mugabe's barely concealed contempt for Lindiwe Zulu, Jacob Zuma's foreign-policy adviser, almost led to a diplomatic incident last week.

Mrs Zulu had expressed public concern on the disorganisation of the elections, infuriating Mugabe.

Business Day finds it regrettable that the South African Presidency saw fit to distance itself from its envoy's remarks in an attempt to calm tensions down.

But the fact remains, adds the paper, that little of substance has changed in Zimbabwe since the violent and rigged elections of 2008, and concerns for the upcoming July 31elections are well-founded.