The president of Togo has won re-election. According to the country’s electoral commission Mr. Gnassingbe got 1.2 million votes out of a total of 2 million votes cast. The opposition and a number of election observers have voiced their concerns over the fairness of the process. Mr. Faure Gnassingbe will most certainly be sworn in to continue serving as president once the country’s constitutional court approves the result.
Gnassingbe 1 Democracy 0
Togo, a tiny West African country of 6.6 million, goes to the polls today. Faure Gnassingbe, President of Togo and son of the late strongman Gnassingbe Eyadema, is hoping to be re-elected for a second term. His father ruled the country uninterrupted between 1967 until his death in 2005. The younger Gnassingbe was then installed by the military as interim president before elections were held. Most observers believe that these elections were not free and fair. Many hope that this time round things will be different.Yeah right.
African democracy’s teething problems will not go away just yet. 2010’s busy elections schedule will surely bring some of these problems to the fore. The top four to watch include the elections in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Ivory Coast. Paul Kagame will most certainly win in Rwanda, but the question is how much room he will give the opposition this time round. Mr.Kagame has been president since his forces ended the Rwanda genocide in 1994 and has been touted to be among the more economically liberal strongmen on the Continent (he is no Tutu but he is good for business). In Ethiopia Meles Zenawi’s party, Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDP), is also expected to win. Mr. Zenawi has been in power since he deposed the tin pot despot Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. Here too it remains unclear just how much opposition Mr. Zenawi will tolerate in parliament.
Madagascar, as you may remember had a coup in March of last year. It will be interesting to see who emerges as winner in this election. The contest is between the factions led by former DJ and mayor of Antananarivo Andry Rajoelina and the man he kicked out of office Marc Ravalomanana.The political instability in this island country off the east coast of the Continent has not gone without economic consequences.
Ivory Coast, once a paragon of stability in West Africa, is also holding elections this year. This year’s polls were originally planned to be held in 2005 before a bloody civil war that divided the country in half got in the way. The land of Houphouet-Boigny has not known peace and stability since the strongman’s passing in 1993. Mr. Houphouet-Boigny was president between 1963 until his death in 1993. Among his accomplishments was the relocation of the capital of Ivory Coast to Yamoussoukro, his home town, and the construction there of the US $ 300 million Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (which the Guinness Books of records lists as the largest church in the world).
UPDATE: The KNEC system seems to be down, judging by the amount of comments and requests I have received in the last few hours. I guess the cell phone thing is not working after all. Even the Nation went down at some point last night.
The 2009 KCSE results are out.
The best student in the country in last year’s national examination was David Ndung’u of Mang’u High School (yours truly’s alma mater. Congrats David!!! Jishinde Ushinde!!!). The top 100 list of students is largely dominated by students from public national and provincial schools. More on this here…
I am yet to read the entire report but the one thing that jumped at me is that no girl made it to the top ten nationally. Only 27 girls were in the top 100. The best female student was Grace Wambui of Moi Girls School Eldoret. She came 11th. Additionally, although overall performance went up this year the pass rate (C+ and above) was a dismal 24.56%. Mr. Ongeri clearly has more to answer for than just the cash scandal that hangs over his head.
The Kenyan Ministry of Education is due to release the results of Kenya’s high school national examinations (KCSE). This year the government will text the results directly to student’s cell phones – for those who subscribed – mitigating the need to actually visit one’s school or the KNEC headquarters to find out about one’s grades.
I expect that the usual suspects – subsidized national schools like Mang’u, Starehe, Alliance Girls, Kenya High etc – will top the charts. Although public and therefore subsidized by the government, the overwhelming percentage of the students in these schools usually come from private primary schools. Most public primary schools have since gone to the dogs due to the ill planned introduction of free primary education by the Kibaki Administration. And as in most years, I expect to hear a lot of noise from members of civil society (whose kids go to private primary schools, then public high schools and universities) to complain about the unfair education system that continues to reproduce existing inequalities. Silence on this issue from these same civil society types will then set in in about a week or so, until the next time the ministry releases exam results.
Niger’s military junta just named an interim government that included three generals that were close to former President Tandja. The leader of the junta, Major Djibo, promised a return to democracy in the near future but did not give actual dates.
I still have faith in the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, see post below. That said, the longer they stay in power the harder it will be for Niger to return to civilian rule.
The coup leaders in Niger promised a return to democracy as soon as possible. Perhaps as a signal that they are willing to keep their word on this they have appointment a civilian as prime minister.They have also promised that none of the military leaders in government will take part in elections whenever they are held. For now I shall give the colonels the benefit of the doubt on this one, after all they proved pretty reliable when they re-instituted democratic rule after a coup in 1999. Fingers crossed.
And in other news, do Kenyan politicians take themselves seriously? Like really? Don’t we have enough national holidays?
Also, kudos to the South African authorities for a job well done. Although if I had it my way I would have some mechanism within the AU to hold individual leaders personally accountable for violations of arms embargoes (well, if only the AU was not a club of autocrats, genocidaires and kleptocrats, with a few democrats here and there).
In the recent past the Niger coup, the return of the ailing Nigerian president Umaru Yar’Adua from a hospital in Saudi Arabia and the supposed peace deal between Khartoum and the Darfuris have stolen most headlines on the Continent.
But let us not forget that the eastern reaches of the DRC still approximate a war zone, to put it mildly. The ineffectual government in the opposite side of the country in Kinshasa still lacks the capacity to provide any amount of security to its citizens in the east. Makes you wonder why the DRC still survives as a single sovereign state.
The number of actual dead in the bloody civil conflict that begun with Kabila’s match towards Kinshasa in 1998 is sort of debatable – ranging from a low of just over 2 million to a high of 5.4 million, pick your number. Really, does it matter that only 2 million human beings instead of 5 million have so far died in the conflict? At this point should the numbers even matter?.
So let us not lose perspective here. Even by conservative estimates more than 2 million lives have been lost. Millions of children continue to stay out of school (with grave long-term consequences for the security and economy of the region). And those that benefit from the conflict – the generals and arms and mineral smugglers – continue to do so with impunity. There is also no question that international big business is either directly or indirectly bankrolling the conflict (check out the more detailed report from Global Witness here). Hillary Clinton’s visit last year to Goma highlighted the unbearably gruesome existence of those (especially women and children) who are unfortunate enough to find themselves in a war zone. Everyone who matters in the country and region know these facts. So the big question is: What will it take to change people’s approach to this conflict? Why isn’t more being done?
I am not particularly keen on these debates but here you go…
The New York Times’ Jeffrey Gettleman has a thought-provoking piece in Foreign Policy. I don’t particularly buy his doomsday analysis (most of the Continent will definitely not head the Somalia way) but his characterization of the modern day African rebel movement is spot on. The typical rebel leader on the Continent is nothing but a roving bandit with huge amounts of ideology deficit.
Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, might be having information that we don’t in relation to the upcoming general election in April. His government just signed a peace accord with the JEM, Darfur’s biggest rebel movement. Mr. al-Bashir is desperately trying to stay in power. He also dreads the inevitable secession of Southern Sudan come 2011. Perhaps this is why he wants to make peace with the Darfuris so that he won’t have to deal with two war fronts if he chooses to maintain the territorial integrity of Sudan by force post-2011.
The conflict in Darfur has killed at least 200,000 people and displaced almost 2 million. Like Southern Sudan, the former independent Sultanate of Darfur has never really integrated into the Sudanese state – dominated since independence by the north central valley. The Southerners fought a protracted civil war between 1983 and 2005 before Khartoum agreed to a peace agreement that provided secession as an option. Southern Sudanese will most surely vote to secede in 2011. It will be interesting to see how the Darfuris will react to this. Khartoum is obviously loathe of any further dismembering of the Sudanese state.
I just discovered this cool news source. Check it out.
Southern Sudan continues to be an extremely dangerous place as it prepares for elections in April. “Ethnic clashes” have so far killed at least 2500 this year alone. The SPLM has nominated Yasir Arman, a northerner, as its presidential candidate in their attempt to dislodge the genocidal al-Bashir from power. The fact that President Kir of Southern Sudan is not running at the national level is a clear signal that the South has its eyes on secession come 2011. President al-Bashir is likely to win the presidential election in April. What matters the most is whether he will let the Southerners go if they so choose in the 2011 referendum.
In the meantime, one of the things that should be done ASAP is to professionalize the Southern Sudanese army and mop up the excess weapons floating around. There are 2.7 million small arms in circulation in Sudan. Quite the definition of a tinderbox if you ask me.
Nigerien president Mamadou Tandja has been ousted in a military coup. An announcement on national radio stated that the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy was now in charge of the country. The council includes Col. Salou Djibo (the leader) and and four other colonels.The president and members of his cabinet are being held at a military barracks outside the capital Niamey after they were seized during a cabinet meeting.
Mr. Tandja had been president since 1999. Last year he was supposed to leave office at the end of his two terms but amended the constitution in a sham referendum allowing him to stay on for a third term. His presidency did not do much for Niger’s 15 million odd citizens. 63% of them continue to live on less than a dollar a day.
It is almost tempting to say good riddance, but given the track record of military rule (remember Guinea?) in West Africa the Nigeriens may have jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. Only time will tell. In the meantime condemnation of the coup and calls for an immediate return to democracy keep coming from the AU, ECOWAS, EU and other concerned parties. How things never change.
News reports indicate that the Nigerien leader is being held by soldiers in the capital in an apparent coup attempt. President Tandja recently extended his rule after the constitutionally mandated two term limit claiming that no one in Niger was good enough to replace him. He had French backing. The French are investing in a Uranium mine in the northern reaches of the Sahelian state. Official France was complicit in the sham referendum in which 92% of Nigeriens supposedly voted to extend Mr. Tandja’s rule so he could personally supervise the projects he had started. Mamadou Tandja has been president of Niger since 1999.
I am not fan of coups. Junior army officers make horrible presidents – just ask the Liberians about one Samuel Doe. That said, President Tandja must go. And his French connections should be exposed for what they are: illegal networks designed to continue to impoverish the vast majority of the country’s 15 million souls while a few French companies and the president’s men enrich themselves from Uranium, Gold and oil exports.
Per capita income in Niger stands at US $700. 63% if Nigeriens live below the poverty line of 1 dollar a day. Life expectancy in Niger is 52 years and the country has the 4th worst record of infant mortality in the world – about 116 deaths per 1000 births. The 2009 Human Development Index report places the country last out of 182 countries ranked, with an HDI value of 0.34. Mr. Tandja is clearly doing an excellent job as president.
sources: the CIA world fact book and the UNDP Human Development Index report
And in other news…. aren’t we at least supposed to respect those that we are helping. Here’s a quote from Care for the Children about photos of needy children that they use in their fundraising:
“We don’t keep records of individuals in our photographs. We don’t know when this photograph was taken, or where. We can only guess it was somewhere in Africa. Or maybe Haiti.”
Nice. Read more here
The first time I saw this paper/chapter presented at a workshop last year it left me with more questions than answers. I have since been convinced. The paper makes intuitive sense. That said, I am still a little uneasy with some of the implications of the argument. For one, providing education with a foreign labor market in mind may distract us from trying to find solutions to local problems. If we follow this route we may end up with a lot of government trained cosmetic surgeons ready to move to London or Paris but very few specialists in tropical diseases.
The minor objection cited above aside, I am all for exposure through immigration (and eventual return, of course). This might just be what it will take to undo the isolationist effects of the Sahara (from the Eurasian land mass) from centuries past.
kenopalo.com 