We are ostriches: We blame the state of the economy on the elections. Yet our debt level is crazy. FOTOSEARCH
Another year is over. The trajectory for Kenya and its neighbours is not good.
Yes,
the government of Somalia is reassuming the responsibilities of a
state, including, most recently, control of its airspace. The African
Union Mission in Somalia is winding down, even as “targeted” (American)
drone attacks on Al Shabaab increase. But neither move seems to have
affected Al Shabaab’s ability to execute its attacks. A couple of weeks
ago, they detonated a bomb in the capital’s police academy.
Ethiopia
finally ended a state of emergency imposed in the wake of protests that
spread from Oromia to Amhara and the Southern Nations and Nationalities
Region.
Many Ethiopians were detained and
“rehabilitated,” but the reforms promised alongside those punitive
measures have not addressed the political and economic grievances
fuelling the protests.
Then there is South Sudan,
where both the region and the rest of the world are unable to bring the
government to account. State-sponsored violence continues and the ruling
party continues to fracture. The peace agreements brokered by the
region are neither respected nor implemented. There is no end in sight.
Uganda
has been praised for its refugee-hosting model, while its own politics
go to pot. Having succeeded in removing constitutional term limits for
the presidency, the latest battle has been for the removal of age
limits. There is no universal standard for an optimal presidential stay
in office or the age at which presidential reason can be determined to
have departed.
But in countries like ours, where the
Second Liberation against post-Independence, kleptocratic, one-party and
military dictatorships was so hard-won, these limits are a check
against the possibility of that happening again.
Yet
here we are, marching blithely back into the lion’s den. Which is not to
imply that the manner in which kleptocracy is being fought in Tanzania
is OK. We have lost count of the journalists, opposition politicians and
supporters detained, not to mention “missing.”
Media
houses have been arbitrarily closed for innocuous “offences”; the gay
community has been openly harassed for organising, even on health
grounds; and Burundian refugees are being told it is safe to return when
it is obviously not.
The news from Tanzania is
surprising, given that, until recently, its only obvious state
heavy-handedness was in respect of the Union. Now it seems to be with
everything that moves.
And then there’s Kenya, where
supposed nationalism is one of the guises for the crackdown on
non-Kenyans in the civil society. Even non-Kenyans in the private sector
are complaining of a “most favoured nation status” problem in obtaining
entry (work) permits.
We have gone through yet
another election in which all the safeguards on the electoral process
were thrown out. We have perfected the art of enabling the vote and
compromising it. We have got better at closing our eyes to the violence
that accompanies our elections.
Let it never be said
that there’s a dearth of hand-wringing and calls for dialogue on our
“inter-communal tensions” while ignoring the elephant in the room. We
are ostriches: We blame the state of the economy on the elections. Yet
our debt level is crazy. The new railway cost an about four times more
than it should.
Being good ostriches won’t save us. But freedom, integrity in public office, constitutionalism and rule of law will.
L. Muthoni Wanyeki is the Africa director of the Open Society Foundations. Muthoni.Wanyeki@opensocietyfoundations.org
No comments :
Post a Comment