Zimbabwe: Mugabe is a coward

Release my results

Follow me through this analogy – I have just completed a number of academic examinations leading to a major qualification – at the time when I was to receive the results, half the results were released but the whole detail that would prove I was qualified was not released.

Then as I clamoured with the examination board to release the rest of my complement of results, someone took the decision to remark my papers.

I am then left in a quandary, the first being why all my results were not released on time in the first place and then what could have lead to having my papers remarked without information as to why.

Nigeria not an example for good

This is just an analogy; the reality creates a worse feeling for all concerned because the first instance relates to when the Nigerian military government under Ibrahim Babangida cancelled an election that took place in June 1993 having released half the results of that election, a situation that plunged us into another few years of despotic rule.

The failure of democracy in Africa can be directly traced to the failure of simple democratic processes in Nigeria. The situation is so bad that you never find Nigeria at the forefront of speaking up for democratic reform because our processes are so tarnished and not credible enough to give us the moral right to talk to others about doing things right.

Some commentators would contend that the electoral debacle that happened in Kenya in December 2007 only happened because Nigeria provided no leadership in matters of electoral rectitude where the voice of people in votes are properly and correctly presented in the figures sanctioned as official.

Recounts before results

The second part of my analogy pertains to developments in Zimbabwe, where the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has decided to recount the votes cast in 23 districts covering the presidential, parliamentary, senate and council votes.

I find it incredible that first of all, only the complete parliamentary results have been released and only part of the senate results, the rest have been kept from the public who have a right to know what their collective voices have said about who should govern them in Zimbabwe.

I would have had no problems with the recount of districts that have results released, but I cannot see how there can be a recount when the results have not been released.

There can be a recount sometimes, if the results are close, but all parties should be privy to those results and the reasons for the recount. Unfortunately, the ZEC appears to be a pliant organ of the ZANU-PF rather than an independent arbiter and custodian of the democratic process for the good of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe is a coward

The real situation is simple, the Grand Despot of Africa and strong man of Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert Mugabe is a coward. He cannot bear to see that he has been rejected by Zimbabwe after all he did to terrorise the people or buy the election by giving away car keys on the eve of the election.

Mr. Mugabe, is coward because he was afraid to hear his fellow African leaders of the SADC tell him that his time is up, Mr. Mugabe knows the real truth and his cohort of hardliners whose loss of ruler-ship would make them fodder for the Coliseum of the hungry lions of retributive justice are steeling him up for stealing the election.

This is where a country like Nigeria or South Africa should have stepped in and pre-empted what might turn out to be a travesty of democracy.

Give me Brutus or Judas

I despair for what would happen in the end, but should it take a Marcus Junius Brutus to get rid of this Caesar that has destroyed his country or a Judas Iscariot to betray this non-Messiah with the goal to sacrifice one man for the good of the many?

It is time to have Mr. Mugabe despatched, Zimbabwe has been too long under the strangled-hold of this despot, it is time to forcibly take his grasp off the neck of the people and let then thrive as they should for a future that Mr. Mugabe does not have the time, the vision or the will to give.

Invade for democracy

This is one time where every well meaning voice must speak up for the democratic right to have the results of a vote released, correctly, promptly and without controversy.

If this recount is another ploy to adjust the results to meet the needs of people who cannot accept that their time is up, it must be repudiated with the greatest force possible and this time the sovereignty of Zimbabwe should and must be violated to ensure that the people’s voice and votes are what counted to reflect what they have intended.

Zimbabwe deserves respite and this is one cause that is a blight on Africa, only second to the disgrace in Darfur – Zimbabwe must be free by the vote or by the boot.

Nigeria sets no good examples for Africa

That Cliché about African Leadership

What is happening in Africa today bothers me a lot because it all concerns leadership – poor leadership, rotten leadership, leadership acquired by violence and corruption, leadership held onto without offering good governance, idiotic leadership and sprinklings of good leadership.

Very few countries in Africa can boast good leadership, there is hope, but what does surround us now is chaos.

For instance, today, Darfur in Sudan still represents an intractable problem of genocide that is quickly fading from urgent action; the completely botched elections in Kenya has caused so much unrest, violent displacement and killings that it might slip out of the control of the political leaders, Zimbabwe has registered an inflation rate (150,000%) that makes the mind boggle and rebels are trying to unseat a government in Chad.

Africans adrift in Africa

The result of this is Africans are refugees in their own Africa, displaced because of policies implemented by fellow Africans who want power and give no respite to their people – savagery, murder, hunger and displacement becomes the lot of the masses whilst the middle-classes and the rising prosperous classes are completely oblivious or indifferent of those problems in the slums, villages and the hinterland.

However, I only have to go back to my blogs in April 2007 where I lamented the issues around the Nigerian election to see why Africans are unlikely to have African solutions for African problems.

Africans silent to African suffering

The issue in Darfur never became a crisis until others outside the continent decided they could not stand for such large-scale suffering, Africans are still dragging their feet on the matter.

The elections in Kenya were most definitely flawed as the head of the electoral commission eventually said he was not sure of who won. African leaders then welcomed the imposed president who “stole” the elections whilst he left his country behind burning.

The entrenched eternal incumbency of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe should have come to an end with the people of the country being able to choose who would lead their country out of the morass it is in, but for the appeasement of African leaders that continues to make a bad situation worse.

It would take the threat and actions of the French army in Chad to keep a democratic dictator, Idriss Deby who has done nothing for his country in all his years in power that others who think they can do the job better have to resort to arms to unseat him.

Where is the country?

The question is, where is the African country with the authority, clout, gravitas and respect that can speak up for the downtrodden masses and exert the kind of influence to ensure things are done right in the “Dark” continent, such we can all be seen in the light as enlightened, emancipated and in control, able to solve our problems with confidence?

Step forward – Nigeria? The Giant of Africa in size offers none of this ability, its institutions are still mired in corruption, its elections are flawed that it cannot condemn the ones in Kenya, its leadership skirts illegitimacy so it can say nothing to Sudan, Zimbabwe or Chad.

In all that has been happening in the last few weeks, we have heard not one squeak from the Heart of Africa because it has a bad heart.

The insignificance of the giant

We have the biggest sporting event going on in Africa and the grand populace of 130 million could not produce a team that could survive the first stage of eliminations.

This is result of our polity not realising the example we should be setting for Africa so that things can be done right and if done wrongly, we can be a model for correction.

Unfortunately, South Africa cannot step into the breach because they have not been able to raise the expectations of their people beyond subsistence; they would end up with a leader very much in the mould of the many that gives Africa a very bad name.

Africa can only begin to solve its own problems when we deal with each other honestly, truthfully, fairly, justly and with mutual respect based on leadership and governance that eschews corruption and nepotism, that embraces transparency and begins to tackle with vigour the problems that affect Africa and Africans.

There is hope for Africa, but in the meantime, it would require a lot more international intervention and scrutiny to ensure what we are doing is well beyond reproach and within globally acceptable standards before we are respectfully left to maturely seek African solutions to African problems.

PS: This was written to highlight the frustration of a fellow Nigerian about his country not being able to address African issues with boldness because we have set bad examples and lost the moral authority that could be projected with our greatness in Africa.

The lion is the jewel - Wole Soyinka

The man over the boy

The contrast cannot have been any clearer as to see the HardTalk interview of the 1986 Literature Nobel Laureate; Professor Wole Soyinka by Stephen Sackur this morning putting the ordinary and lack-lustre Chief Ojo Maduekwe - the Foreign Minister of Nigeria in the shade.

It would contemptible to offer to compare these two personalities, but I was both pleased, impressed and proud to hear Wole Soyinka address the issue of his vocation and activism in relation to the politics of Africa.

It was also interesting that Wole Soyinka was not interviewed as a playwright on the sister programme HardTalk Extra, but on the substantive HardTalk programme with a live audience in Lagos that applauded at the end of the interview.

Nigeria is not a democracy

The Professor rubbished the context of Nigerian democracy highlighting the fact that the elections were seriously flawed and democratic institutions had been undermined by the executive in the tenure of the last President.

He was disgusted by the fact that political thuggery found expression and patronage from the ruling “democrats” but lauded the fact that despite repression and dictatorial tendencies the freedom of the press has been sacrosanct; maybe in another forum he can address the issue of quality.

Many would agree that it takes a special kind of temperament to get involved in Nigerian politics, even my foray into student union politics has taught me too much already – the Professor contented that he had a bigger forum with his work, writing and expression than to be subsumed into what is essentially a quagmire.

Complacency in Nigeria

He talked of his membership of a forum that is concerned about a creeping complacency and resignation to issues that have been abused in the country, especially that of the electoral process.

The fear is that many have placed their optimism for resolution in the future without really addressing the problems now. Another point he mentioned was that Nigeria is becoming a powder-keg ready to go off as people realise how resources are plundered to the detriment of others. The example he gave of shared poverty being a shared prosperity in Tanzania was quite an insight.

We should remember that the day before, the views of Wole Soyinka about the political situation were discounted by the Nigerian Foreign Minister, but it was Wole Soyinka that was invited by the US Congress to testify on the matters of the election.

A conflagration about to consume

In the end, the Professor is not advocating violence, his struggle is to bring the complete democratic process into all facets of life; but he also sees where resentment might eventually flare up into an unmanageable situation – our leaders need to take note of the fact that the people would only allow themselves to be taken for fools for so long after which, nobody knows what might really happen.

This interview was part of the BBC “Why Democracy?” season, it is a question that needs to be answered because like the Professor said, at independence, there was an aspiration and vision to bring radical change to Africa, all of which has floundered in the depictions that emanate from Sudan and Zimbabwe as the worst cases of egregious abuse of power in Africa.

Playing by the rules

Nigeria however finds itself in a situation where the rulers abuse the rules and processes with impunity and hubris, but we who seek justice and fair-play have to use the democratic rules of due process, the respect of the rule of law and an assuredly independent judiciary – impartial in its analysis, fearless in its judgements and courageous in debunking megalomaniac potentates.

From that point, Wole Soyinka represents a beacon of hope for Nigeria, he may never vie for President but he is a worthy president and representative of the hope and aspirations for a better governed and equitable Nigeria - He is the lion and the jewel [The Lion and the Jewel (1963) is one of Professor Wole Soyinka's best known plays] stating how precious democracy is to the real development of Nigeria.

It also means that those in power today might still be deprived of the mandate to rule if the electoral tribunal elects to invalidate the flawed elections of April 2007.

The interview (Real Media file, you can obtain RealAlternative [Link to executable] to play this back in Windows Media Player).

Ojo (Maduekwe) has lost his mojo

Updated with video link ...

The BBC has now updated the HardTalk site with the Ojo Maduekwe interview - listen (Real Media file, you can obtain RealAlternative [Link to executable] to play this back in Windows Media Player).

Parseltongue from Nigeria

Unfortunately, the BBC has not updated its HardTalk site to include its recent guest. Having been creating a large carbon footprint around Europe, well visiting sunny Madrid and now settling down in my hotel in Paris, I searched for world language channel and landed on BBC World.

Just in time to see Chief Ojo Maduekwe the current Foreign Minister of Nigeria being grilled by Stephen Sackur.

Never have I seen someone so given to platitudes and banality exhibiting such a complete lack of grasp of his portfolio or realizing the importance of the quality of his responses.

Nigeria not in front

On three critical African issues, I failed to see Nigeria offering guidance, leadership or vision, just diplomatic talk aimed at appearing present but offering nothing.

Darfur – He expressed regret at the loss of African life especially Nigerians, he was not forceful about the need for real action and when cornered he tried to say it not really an entirely African problem (some truth) and the lack of resources for the soldiers was still praised as success on the part of Africans.

I doubt if he had deigned to grace Darfur with his presence as it does not exude the opulence megalomaniacal Nigerian politicians like to be found in.

Twice if not thrice in the whole interview, this offered one opportunity to damned Wole Soyinka with praise without acknowledging the cause Wole Soyinka lamented about.

Nigeria not forceful

Zimbabwe – Nigeria has no view on approaching the Zimbabwean issue to alleviate the sufferings of the people. Whilst it would have been undiplomatic to ask Mugabe to step down, he should have been more forceful about the need for change in that country.

Where Nigeria should have been a mover if sanctions should be considered, he skirted that question by saying when it comes to that situation, Nigeria would make its views known.

You do not need another person of great political importance to dampen the aspirations of a people in Africa than to have such a person in the position of Nigeria’s Foreign Minister.

Then he offered the democratic exercise in Nigeria as a template for the resolution of the issues in Zimbabwe, I was left breathless and astonished.

Nigeria an example?

Nigeria – Once again, regret was expressed at the death of people during the elections and whilst agreeing in a circulatory way that the elections were flawed he laid into Wole Soyinka for not being a politician and talking about political processes.

It force the Stephen Sackur to express a bit of frustration at how such a respected Nigerian could be discounted in such a way on issues that affect every Nigeria.

Ojo would not have it as he praised the success of the transition and then offered it as a tribute to those who died during the elections and pledged that the President offered to make election reform a fitting legacy to those who lost their lives.

Nigeria’s political class

Indeed, I need to watch this interview again, but my first impressions left me seriously unimpressed and not amused. It appears politicians and ministers have a view of themselves being above the fray in Nigeria and would not brook non-politicians commenting about Nigerian situations especially when expressing exasperation at the Nigerian polity.

There are people who might think he acquitted himself well, but I would say we have had better brains and articulate people with a good grasp of their briefs represent Nigeria before not to talk of the fact that the attack on Wole Soyinka might just be the mindset of denigrating world-respected Nigerian technocrats and great minds whose views gain greater audiences than the clowns who cannot even do balloons.

PS: Parseltongue made popular by the Harry Potter books is the language of snakes.

Clapping for the Zimbabwe Mugabe destroyed

Clapping for the tyrant

This is really beyond me and my understanding of issues African. I am always amazed at how problems in Africa are allowed to fester and sometimes accorded the impression that things are alright when again like I said in my blog yesterday, they really are not.

One can say they reason why Darfur has continued to be the greatest humanitarian crisis in years is because African leaders have refused to stand up to other leaders in Sudan who have decimated their people with a brutality that is now only second to the Nazis.

The Nigerian elections which were clearly unfair, not credible and definitely not free as many objective observers could see were passed off as free and fair, everyone accepting the unacceptable and moving on.

The one that really beats me is at the summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Lusaka yesterday, the gerontocrat Grand Despot of Africa – Robert Mugabe drew the greatest applause from the delegates at the summit.

Now, this might be a case of history not catching up with the present since Robert Mugabe at 83 is the oldest living African freedom fighter who is still in office, but this was at least a generation ago.

The demise of Zimbabwe

This man came into office in 1980, assumed all the levers of power soon afterwards and embarked on what is essentially the politics of anti-imperialism (PDF) – kicking the white man out and letting the indigenous black man take over the property and businesses of the white men who were forcibly dispossessed.

Now, there is more to the workings of this matter, but these few facts remain evident; Zimbabwe used to be a vibrant economy and the bread basket of Southern Africa, many of the white men who were driven out of their farms are just as Zimbabwean as any other black Zimbabwean – the white could possibly trace their ancestry back a lot further than any of their indigenous assailants.

The fundamental flaws in Mugabe’s mission was that a fair value was not placed on the property seized and after seizure, it was handed over to either his cronies or so-called freedom fighters who as mobs could raid the farms but had not inkling as to how to run the farms.

In the process, the mainstays of the Zimbabwean economy collapsed around a political situation that should be untenable if any African leader had risen up to really challenge the rape of Zimbabwe by selfsame Africans.

Now, about a quarter of Zimbabweans have fled the country to become refugees in neighbouring countries, the majority in South Africa as inflation in the country scales 4,500% and is expected to reach 100,000% by the end of 2007.

The Presidency introduced price controls which were of no effect because the shelves in the stores are empty as Mugabe still maintains a grip on power as a leviathan mite sucking dry the blood of everything that was once good about Zimbabwe.

Sorry Africans

Within this sorry tale of a catastrophic African failure, seemingly respectable people find the enthusiasm to applaud President Robert Mugabe for all he has undone for Africa.

I seriously do not get it, but this is enough to give Mr. Mugabe the impetus to carry on digging his country into the ground with South Africa being given the responsibility of resolving the democratic crisis that Mr. Mbeki has been too cack-handed to bring to any reasonable compromise.

I predict, if leaders of Southern Africa do not honestly speak up as men of principle about the unforgivable mess going on in Zimbabwe, France and Germany would be ready to host the 2010 World Cup because Zimbabwe for all intents and purposes is a man-made natural disaster that is claiming more victims and getting worse. I do not want to find myself in a security situation that could have been prevented if due attention, incentive or sanctions had been applied to get Zimbabwe out of the rut that it is in now.

Aussies put the boot in

Australia has never minced words about the situation in Zimbabwe to the extent that Prime Minister John Howard in preventing the national cricket team from visiting Zimbabwe for a test termed Mugabe a grubby dictator.

I am heartened by the fact that Australia would deport 8 students whose parents are senior members of the Mugabe government on one simple premise – “preventing those behind human rights abuses from giving their children the education their policies denied ordinary Zimbabweans”.

It is commendable and should be the kind of policy Western governments should mete out to leaders who plunder their homelands whilst seeking world-class opportunities for their kids in preparation for creating ascendant dynasties of leadership for generations to come.

As usual, Zimbabwe would react with some bombastic diatribe, to Australia this time, they are accused of “funding violence by aiding civic groups in the country”.

Ghana makes Nigeria a truly failed state

The World is more unsafe

In May 2006, I covered the issue of the index of failed states as The Coalition of the Unviable, the heads-up from NaijaBlog led me to the Failed States Index for 2007.

My friends, things have not improved; rather, they have gotten worse all over, literally every country from the most successful Norway to the least viable Sudan have registered heightened states of uncertainty or turmoil - they both retain their positions from last year.

The worst 10 feature with last year's positions in parenthesis. 1. Sudan (1), 2. Iraq (4), 3. Somalia (7), 4. Zimbabwe (5), 5. Chad (6), 6. Cote d'Ivoire (3), 7. DR Congo (2), 8. Afghanistan (10), 9. Guinea (11) & the 10. Central African Republic (13).

Junk analysis

Sudan, obviously because of Darfur is a powder-keg and a stain on the conscience of the whole world; that the atrocities have been allowed to thrive for so many years - it would probably not leave that spot for another few years.

Since the troop-surge more or less came after the sampling time of May to December 2006, we might have to wait for the analysis in the next report, but it appears things have not improved at all in Iraq.

Zimbabwe does not deserve to be in the top 10 at all, but for what the Grand Despot of Africa has done to that country, it should be treasonable for anyone to commit such a crime against their fatherland and it is unforgivable that the whole world cannot bring all things to bear on this really untenable situation.

Africa lags again

8 African countries counting as the most failed states in the world; this cannot have us complacently blame the issues on colonialism or slavery, these problems are created by Africans exploiting and oppressing other fellow Africans; most foreign intervention has been to stop the killing, the raping, the plundering, the dying and the suffering - how we can divorce these issues from true democratic representation and accountability escapes me?

Nigeria has also moved up 5 places from 22^nd last year to 17^th, there being no improvement in all the 12 indicators apart from 2 bearing on few internally displaced persons or refugees and minimal intervention from other states or external actors.

The twelve indicators

The indicators remain the same

1. Mounting demographic pressures
2. Massive movement of refugees and internally displaced peoples
3. Legacy of vengeance - seeking group grievance
4. Chronic and sustained human flight
5. Uneven economic development along group lines
6. Sharp and/or severe economic decline
7. Criminalisation and delegitimisation of the state
8. Progressive deterioration of public services
9. Widespread violation of human rights
10. Security apparatus as "state within a state"
11. Rise of factionalised elites
12. Intervention of other states or external actors

The lament of Nigerian potential

Nigeria scores quite high in [3] with the antics in the Niger Delta and the occasional religious skirmishes around the country. As [5] obviously feeds into the security issues for life and infrastructure, the elections are the manifestation of [7], the state within a state is obviously now the PDP and the devil-(not god)Fathers of nepotism, corruption and patronage which comprise part of the factionalised elites in [11].

The only place where Nigeria seems to have the most positive outlook is in the fact that we are not under-going sharp or severe economic decline - I bet that is a subject for serious debate and disputing for some.

For those who worship and commend the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, pause to ponder - in 2005, Nigeria was 54^th out of 76 compared to 22/146 (2006) and 17/177 (2007) - leading the country into terminal decline whilst vented his vindictiveness on people as he lost the plot for the country is too telling for words - that was a plummet of 34 places in a widening sample in two years - I doubt if any other country has suffered so great a movement.

And before those who cannot take criticism invade my pad, just consider why the figures are the way they are and if there is any reason to do Nigeria down unfairly, remembering that this was well before the elections in April 2007.

To crown it all, Ghana sits at 125 - 108 places apace of Nigeria - as Ghanaians now consider their prospects back home - they have hit a gusher, hopefully they would not acquire the curse of black gold - it does not take too much to do things right and it starts with honesty and truthfulness. With Ghana turning into the African Tiger and Nigeria's African Giant emulating an African Black Sheep - Nigeria, it's your turn to change for the better.

Sustaining bad reports from Africa

The international shame of it all

One must now begin to wonder if there is anymore pride to be had in being African.

Somehow we have been bestowed with ignominious leadership and representatives who heap opprobrium, ridicule and embarrassment on Africans; it is now unashamed bravado to proclaim African-ness in public and keep a straight face.

Last month we endured with derision the shameful debacle of the Nigerian (S)elections so comprehensively rigged there was almost no just recourse apart from new elections by unbiased organisations, but this did not happen.

A bit earlier, the grandfather of African despotism had his hoodlums beat up his political opponents as his country set records for hyperinflation.

Other African governments have tacitly allowed for Zimbabwe to become a basket-case, it is an utter disgrace.

Death on horseback

The only comfort in Darfur is death visiting people as horse-backed black Nazis called the Janjaweed. The incredible fact being they are equipped for their death mission by the Sudanese government and this has been going on for at least three years.

I am no fan of John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia, but his decision to stop the Australian cricket team from touring Zimbabwe is laudable, nothing should be done to let the brigands in that government savour any ounce of credibility; unfortunately the British government could not muster the guts to take that kind of decision 2 years ago.

It appears we still have to learn of ways to ensure Africans do not get a raw deal from our leaders from the West. Where is our humanity, civility or even civilisation?

Sustainable disgrace

To crown it all, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development had a vacant chairmanship position available to be filled by an African and the Africans put forward the Zimbabwean Environment Minister of all qualified Africans we can find for such a role. It is laughable and risible if it were not a complete letdown of Africa and Africans.

Sustained destruction of a once great, resourceful and self-sufficient nation is what this man brings to the job following his service to Mugabe's megalomania.

Someone must be acting out irony or playing a bad joke. It leaves me unwilling to continue to identify as African and one is just not impressed.

We cannot continue to sustain this kind of report from Africa, it is primitive, ignorant, savage and backward, it must stop.