Wisecanvas

Wisecanvas Commentary… So begins the article on the economist.com website about the presidential election fiasco that took place in Kenya. It should come as no surprise to keen observers of African politics that yet again an election was rigged in favor of the incumbent. It took almost a quarter of a century before the former Kenyan president, Daniel Arap Moi, relinquished his hold on the presidency by the then challenger – Mwai Kibaki. The 2002 election were often touted by observers as being a model for Africa to follow. Though not entirely free from irregularities (to be fair, which elections are?) they were deemed to be free and fair by the majority of local and international observers alike. It was not long before the allegiance and unity government of Kibaki fell apart with the notable alienation of his once close ally and today’s political nemesis, Raila Odinga. Many will agree that the turbulent landscape of politics with all its infighting, political side switching, ally and opposition battles are an inherent part of the game, regardless of the country where the drama is being staged. However, while in the Western world voters have the recourse, in the form of an election, to change or continue to support an elected official the same cannot always be said for African politics. It is the people who “count” the votes that decide elections, and nowhere is this truer and as blatantly practiced as in African politics. While some regimes attempt to intimidate supporters of an opposition candidate into not coming out to vote, as was the case, say in Nigeria, the tactics employed by the Kenyan political elite allowed for all the campaigning that candidate opponents sought, with the sinister premeditated intention of simply rigging the elections when counting day came. The outcome, as we saw, was a peaceful and internationally praised election campaigning processes, but a riotous, bordering on civil war outlash by the disenchanted poor after the election results were announced.

  The large Kikuyo and Luo tribes are being pitted against one another. This spells disaster for Kenya unless cooler heads can somehow prevail. Sub-Saharan African politics has always been tribally charged. Post colonial rule saw the boundaries of countries drawn arbitrarily without respect to the tribal, cultural and language differences of the people. While having such cultural diversity within the same country should not constitute tension in of itself, the problems arose when one tribe was given political power over the others and subsequently refused to relinquish it via a democratic processes. As a result, the only way for power to switch hands became the military coup. Hence, the ashes of African political history are littered with military dictators, some brutal, some repentant, and some shedding their khakis for civilian garb. Another important dimension to note is the African monarchial tradition of Chiefs and Rulers. The democratic system is at odds with this traditional African concept. However, such traditions were meant for local communities within the same tribe where there was a common cultural and language denominator between the rulers and the governed. Any ruler or chief who claimed dominion over a different tribe was viewed as a conqueror and the governed people’s expectations were always dim. Expecting no benefit to come their way the people of the “conquered” tribe saw sole salvation in a change of government that would see one of their own succeed the alien ruler. As such, we can begin to see how such a system is strained and not readily compatible when trying to export it to a setting which has as its landscape an entire country with multiple tribes, cultures and languages. It is this very challenge of reconciling the age old traditions of African government systems in a country populated by many tribes that has bedeviled Sub-Saharan politics since independence. I would argue that even if democracy was embraced and elections were free and fair the underlying problem of empowered and alienated tribes will, sadly, remain intact.  

So what could the solution(s) be? I’ve always been a firm believer that the answer to Africa’s problems will not be delivered politically, but rather, economically. Granted, the two are not always mutually exclusive as a sound and stable political backbone has to be in place before business can prosper. But it is business and its potential of delivering opportunity, jobs and an improvement in quality of life standards that has the power to convert people’s existing adversarial tribal inclinations to one of collaboration and growth. The political leaders that understand this and are able to implement policies that promote such a vision will be the leaders that will be enshrined in African, and even Humanity’s list of legendary visionaries. Sadly, neither Mwai Kibaki nor Raila Odinga strike me as being of such caliber or conviction.