Kenya, democracy and Africa

The verdict of the six-man panel that declared the victory of Kenyan President Kenyatta null and void came when the whole world was expecting the usual rape of law and justice, a phenomenon deeply rooted in Africa. This is a continent in which political leaders hold on to powers for decades, using it to silence critics and dissents. And they extend such to the judiciary which ought to be independent and the last solace of the common African. The judiciary, like other arms and departments of the government, is a mere stooge tool of the executie. Joseph Kabila, the Congolese president, took over after his father, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, a former president of the central African country, was murdered in 2001. Mr. Kabila was supposed to relinquish power in December 2016, but his insatiable quest for power wouldn’t let him recognise the constitution that set the limit of his tenure. Despite the irregularities that surrounded his reelection in 2006, the Supreme Court, apparently bowing to the whims and caprices of the incumbent president, confirmed his victory. There have been violence, arson, ethnic cleansing and crises in the country. The Kenyan 2007 presidential election claimed more than 1,000 lives in the crisis that resulted from the election that was allegedly rigged by President Kenyatta, whose influence reflects on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The trend isn’t actually peculiar to Africa. Russian President Putin, Turkish leader Erdogan and German Chancellor Merkel have all been in power for more than a decade. To a very large extent, these leaders allow the will and opinion of the people to prevail. Elections and referendums to seek the people’s views are conducted and judiciary isn’t a subsidiary of the executive arm. The intervention of foreign countries and powers helped in the removal of Laurent Gbagbo, former president of Ivory Coast in 2011. His counterpart in the small country of the Gambia, Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jammeh, having initially conceded the defeat, would not want to leave power until ECOWAS and some other countries mounted pressure on him. Democracy exists in white and black in African continent. It’s often professed with actions opposing the resolution to operate the system of government. Elections are just a charade to legalise and legitimise the dictatorships.

From 1985 when Zimbabwe got its independence, no other person has got the mantle of the government except the veteran leader, Robert Mugabe who, despite his old age, sees no reason to hand over power while he is still alive. He ‘wins’ elections to renew his vehement grip on power. Would the Zimbabwean youths choose to vote such an old man to power endlessly? The elections are pretence. No individual or institution can successfully wrestle power from him because he controls the electoral body and the judiciary that can annul his victory. So, it shouldn’t be surprising to have many elected dictators who rob and steal votes clinging to the power which ought to belong to the electorate in an ideal democratic state.

Though Nigeria’s case appears to be an exception, the situation is not totally different. If allowed, former president Olusegun Obasanjo could have run for a third term. Ever since 1999 when Nigeria returned, formally, to democracy, electoral malpractice has been dominating the system. Once in power, a party could rule for decades. Several irregularities marred almost all the general elections since the return to democracy. According to the Human Rights Watch, about 800 people died in the post-election violence in the northern part of Nigeria in 2011. Much bloodier ones could have been recorded in 2015 if the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan, had chosen to follow the way of African leaders. Having survived the coup d’etat that toppled his administration while he was away, the Burundian President, Pierre Nkurunziza, sought reelection in 2015 amidst stiff opposition as to whether he could run for a third term. He disregarded the constitution, and the result of his unpatriotic, undemocratic action left more than 100 persons dead in the southern African country. Not that these African leaders do not believe in democracy: the major issue is that the product of democratic processes must suit their personal interests which are inimical to the national and popular ones held by the electorate.

Being the third country that will record an annulment of the election that returned a sitting president, Kenya is now being looked up to as a model in Africa. The jurors who refused to be bought or intimidated are now a force to uphold democracy on the shores of Africa. It would be quite easy to sustain the modern system of government if the bench in the Black nations could discharge their duties without fear or favour. Judicial independence, a feature of democracy, is lacking in Africa. So, how do we expect democracy to blossom? Championing democracy without an independent judiciary is like sowing seeds on rocky soil.

• Faboade lives in Gbongan, Osun State

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