Kampala Catholic Archbishop Paul Ssemogerere has a practical mind. At the beginning of March, he advised the authorities to abolish electoral politics if it can’t be practised without endangering people’s lives. In other words, the way the current model of democracy is practised is not worth shattering people’s lives for.
Barely 10 days after the archbishop’s sermon, a by-election to fill one of Kampala’s 10 parliamentary seats was held and both the ruling party and the (victorious) opposition cried foul, expressing disgust at the execution of the exercise. But archbishops are men of humility, so Ssemogerere did not thump his chest in I-told-you-so-last-week mode.
During the by-election, held during Ramadhan in the Kawempe division of Kampala which is predominantly Muslim (meaning the public were operating under maximum restraint), there were two main casualties – the media and the military.
The national military which is generally well respected on account of its professionalism and discipline, had its image dented as for some reason we civilians cannot figure out, was deployed to police the polls in a singular constituency as if the police had been deemed unable to secure the exercise.
And the media personnel had their priceless bodies and precious equipment battered by the military whose mission remained unclear to the ordinary public.
That is when frustrated opposition members of parliament woke up to re-echo what the prelate has said calmly and hysterically addressed the press calling for abolition of elections so that their children get time to complete their education in peace.
But Archbishop Ssemogerere’s prophetic call shouldn’t be deemed to be directed at Kampala alone. It is also directed at Addis to benefit all African minds.
And here one hopes that the new African Union Commission leadership will not perpetuate the perverted excuse of “internal affairs of sovereign states” to justify looking away as elections ruin African lives and economies. All countries could do well to review the democracy models to ensure it is the best for citizens’ wellbeing.
The East African Community is a case in point. Starting with the original three, who doesn’t know how political contest in Kenya wastes resources that could be put to improve the citizens’ well-being?
Kenya may have many dollar billionaires but many of its people live in subhuman deprivation because its electoral politics is fused with individual private economic fortunes.
As for Uganda, lives are lost during elections though not to the scale of Kenya’s 2007-08 ‘democracy’. Sadly, Tanzania recently seemed to have enrolled as a “mature age entry” student in the political violence class.
As for Rwanda, only lengthening the current dispensation gives hope that the old vindictive mindsets will tire out to let new young citizens attain the critical mass and guarantee sustainable justice.
Burundi had better pray that its Tanzanian guarantors don’t graduate with honours from the East African school of political violence they enrolled in recently.
For South Sudan, please be kind and don’t wonder if their leaders have read their constitution.
Finally, Somalia, for which Uganda, Burundi and Kenya paid the blood of our young peacekeepers/ builders, needs to ask if the elective democracy model they have adopted will hold when the foreign troops leave. If they don’t leave, then Somalis should ask in whose interest they are mainly staying.
In case you are not aware, the United Arab Emirates is probably the biggest printer of ballot papers in the world. Are the powers in Abu Dhabi picked with ballots?
It is like China earning more money from Christmas sales than any country, or Israelis earning big tourist monies from Christian worship which they despise more than Islam whose followers they are eternally locked in combat with. Is UAE less developed than African countries that hold elections with clockwork punctuality?
Elections are good, sometimes even nice. But if they can throw even mighty US in confusion and trigger a nasty trade war with Canada, can’t Africans find better ways to recruit leaders than through polls? Must Africans believe that the only alternative to elections is crude dictatorship? Other than perpetuating corruption, have elections delivered justice and transparency where they are held?
