The post election riots in Kenya and its similarities with the 2005 Ethiopian post election riots
Zekarias Ezra
January 03, 2008
Africa is in the news in a big way again. Africa is in the news not because it has emerged from poverty unexpectedly or of any other heart warming news. Africa is the news because the land is marred again by ruthless bloodshed among and between its inhabitants. This time this blood shed is happening in Kenya.
By many reports the death toll has mounted to over 300 hundred. The catalyst to the ensuing violence is the just concluded Presidential election. The incumbent, President Mwai Kibaki, is accused of stealing the election by the opposition. To shade a good deal of doubt on the fairness of the election, the Chairman of the election commission made a startling admission that he was under duress to prematurely release the results of the election.
300 hundred people, unique and peculiar people, people created in the image of God, have lost their lives while a 76 years old man, who by Kenya’s standard of living could well be argued living in a borrowed time to the tune of over 30 years, will not budge. In Africa, where accountability to the electorate is almost a foreign concept, to expect President Mwai Kibaki to discharge his day to day functions ably is an illusion. Of course, that does not matter a bit. In fact, so long as the sycophants in his inner circle and the Police and the Military do ably conspire and willing to squash any opposition, President Mwai Kibaki can continue to be President until he dies, why not? Many have done it before him and others are doing it too.
Do you recall what has happened in Ethiopia in 2005? Over 198 people have lost their lives. The Ethiopian and Kenyan situations are very similar. In both cases the incumbents did not want to relinquish power. Instead they have chosen to squash any opposition in the name of protecting peace and controlling unruly and unemployed youth rioters. And, they are comfortable; it seems to me, that many lives were lost in the process of ensuring their continued ride on the backs of their poverty stricken citizens. What a tortured reasoning?
Who should be responsible for Kenya and Ethiopia for creating millions of unemployed youth? None other than the governments respectively of President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minster Meles Zenawi. So, what is wrong for these ‘unemployed and unruly’ youth to demand a change of government? What is wrong for them and the people at large to demand their voice as expressed in the ballot box be respected?
The similarities are even striking when you analyze how the incumbents strive to resolve the impasse. ‘The judicial process will resolve the disputes’ so the people were told. This would have been the only preferred avenue to resolve disputes of such magnitude and nature if there really is an independent judiciary. However, it would be misleading to assert that both countries have an independent judiciary in the real sense of the term. In a country where corruption is rampant, it is too much to ask the people to put their trust on a broken institution.
No amount of dressing would erase the fact that the people knew in their hearts of hearts all the talk is baloney. In Kenya corruption is a public secret. In Ethiopia corruption and outright embezzlement are public secrets.
A few days ago, the Ethiopian Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission announced that it is drafting a law requiring governmental and public institutions officials to basically declare their financial worth. On the surface this is a good step in the right direction. However, the real question is whether the Commission is independent and has real legal teeth to hold accountable public officials who profited from the public trust. Holding accountable the mini officials although still important should not be seen as a successful endeavor in combating corruption. How about the grandiose officials who immensely profited from behind the scene dealing with businessmen or out rightly embezzle? It is a known fact that many children of these public officials are attending schools in Europe and N America. Does anyone have a problem with this? Does the Commission care to ask the officials to explain how they can afford to pay tuition in private boarding schools in the amount of up wards of $20,000/year? We will sit and see. When in fact the Commission does inquire to such actions of the officials and hold them accountable, then and only then the public trust will start to develop. Until then Africa will continue to be ruled by shameful dictators who are barely educated and have no sense of decency.
http://ethiopianpolitics.wordpress.com/
By many reports the death toll has mounted to over 300 hundred. The catalyst to the ensuing violence is the just concluded Presidential election. The incumbent, President Mwai Kibaki, is accused of stealing the election by the opposition. To shade a good deal of doubt on the fairness of the election, the Chairman of the election commission made a startling admission that he was under duress to prematurely release the results of the election.
300 hundred people, unique and peculiar people, people created in the image of God, have lost their lives while a 76 years old man, who by Kenya’s standard of living could well be argued living in a borrowed time to the tune of over 30 years, will not budge. In Africa, where accountability to the electorate is almost a foreign concept, to expect President Mwai Kibaki to discharge his day to day functions ably is an illusion. Of course, that does not matter a bit. In fact, so long as the sycophants in his inner circle and the Police and the Military do ably conspire and willing to squash any opposition, President Mwai Kibaki can continue to be President until he dies, why not? Many have done it before him and others are doing it too.
Do you recall what has happened in Ethiopia in 2005? Over 198 people have lost their lives. The Ethiopian and Kenyan situations are very similar. In both cases the incumbents did not want to relinquish power. Instead they have chosen to squash any opposition in the name of protecting peace and controlling unruly and unemployed youth rioters. And, they are comfortable; it seems to me, that many lives were lost in the process of ensuring their continued ride on the backs of their poverty stricken citizens. What a tortured reasoning?
Who should be responsible for Kenya and Ethiopia for creating millions of unemployed youth? None other than the governments respectively of President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minster Meles Zenawi. So, what is wrong for these ‘unemployed and unruly’ youth to demand a change of government? What is wrong for them and the people at large to demand their voice as expressed in the ballot box be respected?
The similarities are even striking when you analyze how the incumbents strive to resolve the impasse. ‘The judicial process will resolve the disputes’ so the people were told. This would have been the only preferred avenue to resolve disputes of such magnitude and nature if there really is an independent judiciary. However, it would be misleading to assert that both countries have an independent judiciary in the real sense of the term. In a country where corruption is rampant, it is too much to ask the people to put their trust on a broken institution.
No amount of dressing would erase the fact that the people knew in their hearts of hearts all the talk is baloney. In Kenya corruption is a public secret. In Ethiopia corruption and outright embezzlement are public secrets.
A few days ago, the Ethiopian Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission announced that it is drafting a law requiring governmental and public institutions officials to basically declare their financial worth. On the surface this is a good step in the right direction. However, the real question is whether the Commission is independent and has real legal teeth to hold accountable public officials who profited from the public trust. Holding accountable the mini officials although still important should not be seen as a successful endeavor in combating corruption. How about the grandiose officials who immensely profited from behind the scene dealing with businessmen or out rightly embezzle? It is a known fact that many children of these public officials are attending schools in Europe and N America. Does anyone have a problem with this? Does the Commission care to ask the officials to explain how they can afford to pay tuition in private boarding schools in the amount of up wards of $20,000/year? We will sit and see. When in fact the Commission does inquire to such actions of the officials and hold them accountable, then and only then the public trust will start to develop. Until then Africa will continue to be ruled by shameful dictators who are barely educated and have no sense of decency.
http://ethiopianpolitics.wordpress.com/
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