United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivering a speech during
the UN climate conference in Marrakesh on November 15, 2016. The climate
accord was signed under his watch. PHOTO | AFP
Year 2016 was one that saw tectonic shifts in global affairs, whose ripples in world affairs will be felt for generations.
But the 16th year of the 21st century was a mix of blissful highlights, surprises and even heartbreaks.
In
significant ways, it was a year of blessings, declared by the United
Nations as “the International Year of Pulses” when the world celebrated
the role of beans, chickpeas, lentils and other pulses in feeding
humanity.
It witnessed laudable dialogue between cultures, religions and civilisations.
For
the first time ever since the Christian Church split in 1054, Pope
Francis and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church met and
signed an Ecumenical Declaration in February.
Mother Teresa was eventually declared a Saint on September 4.
President
Barack Obama became the first sitting American President to visit
Hiroshima, Japan, where, 71 years ago, America dropped a nuclear bomb
that ended World War II.
Although Obama did not cave
in to pressure to apologise for the death of more than 200,000 civilians
and many more through nuclear exposure, he called for a “world without
nuclear weapons”.
MILESTONES
The year had watershed scientific and technological breakthroughs, including the launch of the first solar-powered aircraft (Solar Impulse 2); the world edged closer to getting the first vaccine against the Ebola virus; America and China, which together account for 40 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions, ratified the Paris Global Climate Agreement; and the first-ever refugee team competed at the Olympic Games.
The year had watershed scientific and technological breakthroughs, including the launch of the first solar-powered aircraft (Solar Impulse 2); the world edged closer to getting the first vaccine against the Ebola virus; America and China, which together account for 40 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions, ratified the Paris Global Climate Agreement; and the first-ever refugee team competed at the Olympic Games.
But
2016 saw many heartbreaking developments including the outbreak of the
Zika virus, North Korea’s frightful forays into nuclear arms; spiked
tensions in the South China Sea after Philippines’ controversial win in
the case on the legality of China’s “Nine-Dash Line” issue; deaths of
Mohammad Ali and Fidel Castro and the assassination of the Russian
ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, in Ankara, on December 19.
And
violent extremism reached endemic proportions, hitting every corner of
the world with abandon from Turkey to Belgium, Bangladesh to France,
Nigeria to America, Iraq to Mali.
But 2016 will be
remembered more as the year when right-wing populism broke the seams and
forcibly returned onto the world stage to haunt the global liberal
order.
Many commentators have rightly drawn parallels to the rise of fascism during the 1920s and 1930s.
June 23 marked populism’s sweetest victory.
The
United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, throwing the region’s
future into chaos, wreaking havoc on global markets and raising
questions over the future of regionalism in the 21st century.
TRUMP VICTORY
Brexit revealed a deeply divided West, inspiring calls by emboldened far-right groups for further referendums to boost their anti-EU, anti-immigration policies.
Brexit revealed a deeply divided West, inspiring calls by emboldened far-right groups for further referendums to boost their anti-EU, anti-immigration policies.
Setting the stage for the resurgent populism
was the 2007–8 financial crisis, the worst economic crisis since the
Great Depression, which led to loss of jobs and trillions in wealth.
It
emboldened populists and “fascists” such as Marine le Pen, the
second-generation leader of France’s National Front, western Europe’s
flagship populist party, which endorsed Donald Trump.
Brexit
prepared the world for the rudest shock: Donald Trump officially won
the Republican Party nomination for president on July 9 and eventually
defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the November 8
presidential vote.
The victory thrust to the centre-stage of global governance the ugly history of American populism.
In
America, as elsewhere, the “Trump phenomenon” is likely to outlast
Trump as the latest champion of the ethno-nationalism, which trains its
fire on non-white “others” below and “nefarious” liberal elites above.
When America sneezes, Africa catches cold.
Trump’s
wedge politics based on ethno-nationalism is likely to inject a
divisive and violent tinge into Africa’s nascent democracies, and
undermine their stability.
The unfinished business in Trump’s election is the claim that Russia hacked and influenced the election.
The CIA has concluded that Russia acted to help Trump win.
The
House has called for a bipartisan probe into the Russian hacking saga,
with President Obama vowing that America will retaliate against Russia
for Moscow’s hacking attempts.
ELECTION RIGGING
Be that as it may, America’s hacking claim has its unintended consequences.
Be that as it may, America’s hacking claim has its unintended consequences.
It
has raised the spectre of election meddling involving major powers as a
formidable threat to free and fair elections and as a new instrument of
regime change via a flawed vote.
In Kenya, Majority
Leader Aden Duale alleged that a Canadian national he named as Michael
Yard was planning to hack into IEBC’s BVR technology and steal votes for
the opposition leader Raila Odinga, who Duale accused of planning to
rig the 2017 election.
In the same vein, during the
53rd Jamhuri Day celebrations, President Kenyatta accused “foreigners”
of planning to meddle in and influence the outcome of the 2017 elections
by funding shadowy projects.
On the African scene,
relations with the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) grew
even frostier, but the long arc of the moral universe continued to bend
towards justice.
On March 21, the ICC sentenced former
Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba to 18 years in prison for
crimes against humanity in the Central African Republic in 2002-2003.
The
court also sentenced the Islamic militant, Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, to
nine years in prison for destroying religious and historic monuments in
the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu.
For the first time, the court has tried the destruction of cultural heritage as a war crime.
TICAD
Finally, on May 30, an African Union-backed court sentenced former Chadian strongman, Hissène Habré, to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed during his tenure as president from 1982 and 1990.
Finally, on May 30, an African Union-backed court sentenced former Chadian strongman, Hissène Habré, to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed during his tenure as president from 1982 and 1990.
Again, this is the first time a regional court has convicted a former ruler of a country.
On the national front, 2016 was a bountiful year for Kenya’s economic diplomacy and pan-African leadership.
It
hosted several high-level forums, including the Sixth Tokyo
International Conference on Africa’s Development in Nairobi in August.
Kenya scored major successes in its pan-African strategy.
Mr Kenyatta was the chair of the African Peer Review Mechanism.
Prof Kagwanja is the chief executive of Africa Policy Institute
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