Burkina Faso MPs to return touch-screen tablet gifts from Huawei Technologies

The head of Burkina Faso's National Assembly, Salif Diallo   (C)GettyImages

The speaker of the parliament in Burkina Faso says controversial touchscreen tablets given to MPs by a Chinese company will be returned. All 127 members of the National Assembly were each given a tablet from Huawei Technologies in November. The total cost of the gadgets was estimated to be around 100,000 euros ($107,300/£84,400). But this caused a row because a law adopted in the wake of the 2014 popular uprising against former President Blaise Compaore banned public servants from accepting any gifts more than $56.
The anti-corruption movement RenLac led the protest by arguing in a public statement that the lawmakers had broken the law. The MPs had been given the tablets after Huawei Technologies was awarded a contract for the construction of a fibre optical cable from Ghana to Burkina Faso.