Mugabe's dance of shame

I must confess that I am not one of the optimists that Mr. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe will accept defeat and hand over power to Morgan Tsvangirai. I knew for sure that Mugabe would lose but would never agree to leave. Early results show that Tsvangirai, the presidential candidate of the Movement for Democratic Change has won about 55% of the vote and Mugabe 38%. Several of Mugabe's ministers, including the justice minister, have lost their seats to the opposition.
Since the tyrant saw the handwriting on the wall, he has sat on the release of the results that had been ready since Saturday. He is said to be conferring with his military apologists on how to stop the opponents from taking over power. The security chiefs had earlier claimed they would not work with any other leader apart from Mugabe and had already deployed soldiers and policemen on the street to ward off any election victory dance by the MDC.
Although Mugabe is treading on a familiar terrain-something he has been doing in about three decades- plunging his country into ruin and despair, he is not alone in this macabre dance of shame. Mwai Kibaki, an old horse in Kenya used the same tactic when he saw that Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Party had thrashed him without redemption in the December 27, 2007 poll. Just as the Zimbabwe election commission is doing, the Kenyan results were released in trickles and largely tampered with to favour the man who had already lost.
Now, it is clear that the MDC in Zimbabwe has done to Mugabe what the ODM did to Kibaki in Kenya a few months ago. It is time for African politicians to begin to think about the magic behind 'orange democratic', movements and 'revolution' and learn some lessons from it. Perhaps, they can contact Victor Yushchenko, the Ukraine leader, on what Orange Revolution launched him into political limelight against all odds.

Links:

Encyclopaedia Britannica

BBC

Guardian

Kenya State House Nairobi

BBC

Ukraine Government Office

Time to tame China or never

Seeing those horrendous pictures of Chinese securitymen manhandling poor harmless Tibetans and dragging them to prison makes me feel for those souls. How wrong were they in assuming that the world was with them and that their right to peaceful assembly and protest would be respected by China? China broods no dissent and is not ashamed to clamp down on innocent media's attempt to report the riot and those it has branded as 'guilty, using its mouthpiece. It is sad that the Chinese government that had pledged in 2001 to respect human rights as a prerequisite for hosting the Olympics is repudiating. Most disappointing is that neither the UK nor the US is willing to challenge Hu Jintao to change the country's mad dog behaviour towards Tibetans and journalists. So appalling is George Bush's declaration that the repression against Tibetans won't make him not to attend Beijing Olympics opening. Britain has also disappointingly said that boycotting the games would not do the world any good. If China has failed to keep its own side of the bargain, why does the world not also slam the despotic regime at least for once? Beijing has gone ahead to block foreign media's websites so that only its spin would be heard and seen around the world. Those who allow economic gains to overshadow public good have missed a great opportunity to call China to order. If it cannot be tamed now that it is desperately looking for the world's support to host the Olympics in August, when will it be called to order? I love Nancy Pelosi for going to see the Dalai Lama and for speaking out against China's inhuman behaviour in Tibet. Only time will judge the rest whose mouths have been clipped as China roars as a roaring lion.

Links:

China.or.Cn

China English People's Daily

China News Agency

ABC News blog

Nigerian media: the more you look the less you see

If the spirit and character of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution regarding press freedom were to be adhered to, then the country's media would have emerged as one of the freest in the world. It gives me the impression that the architects of the document had good intentions by modelling the provisions after the American First Amendment, which the UN has put under its famous Article 19 of 1948.
Sadly, what section 1 of the law has generously given is taken away by subsections 2 and 3, leaving the media practitioner with little or nothing to cheer about. It is even worse when the same law vests the president with the power to give radio and television licenses at the recommendation of the National Assembly. President Obasanjo's government allegedly approved licences to his cronies under this law.
In Nigeria, radio and television have come to be seen by the political elite as a status symbol and instrument of suppression. That is why the Nigerian Television Authority, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and Voice of Nigeria with the largest coverage and national spread, are covetously guarded by any government that comes into office. These outlets funded with public resources have over the years been turned into the personal property of top politicians of the party in power. They have no room for opposition. Government messages are aired free while those of opposition must be paid for and duly approved by the ruling party or its organs.
At the state level, governors control what goes into their respective public radio and television station because they are empowered to hire and fire the operatives of such stations. They use such terms as 'commercialisation and privatisation' to justify the need for the opposition to pay for even public service announcements while they use the media free of charge. This is modern day apartheid, which has been silently supported by both the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC and the National Communications Commission. On paper they are seen as media regulators but in reality they are 'yes men' for the government in power.
The print media, which are set up in most cases by politicians and business-conscious persons, hold the only hope for the masses and they have become the champion of human rights and investigative journalism. Ask former president, Olusegun Obasanjo what they did to him when he wanted the now infamous 'third term' in office
Check these out: they hold the ace for the country's crusading journalism: The Punch, The Guardian, Daily Independent, ThisDay, Vanguard, The News and Tell.
The only concern however is that if any of the politicians/publishers has a matter that borders on them directly, it may not be very easy for the editors to publish and be damned as journalism pundits expect. Some of the media, it has been alleged, sometimes pander to the economic interest of their owners by engaging in self-censorship just to make ends meet.
The country's broadcast media has been put asunder by undue commercial interest selfishly being pursued at the expense of public service with the full support of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigerian, BON and some elements in government circles. But with a station like Rhythm 93.7 in Port Harcourt, which has been standing up for the people at all times, there is hope that one day, the voiceless will have a say in Nigeria. In all, there are many flourishing media in Nigeria but if one were to use the example of the broadcast media to judge the country's performance, it would amount to a situation whereby 'the more you look, the less you see'.There is an urgent need to review media ownership in the interest of the people.

Mugabe's despotic tactics

I read with disgust in the Guardian of March 17, 2008, the threat by the Robert Mugabe government to further denigrate the dignity of humanity and freedom of expression by expelling journalists from the Western world,whom it accused of spying for either the United Kingdom or the United States. It is understandable why the threat is coming barely a few days to the so-called elections in Zimbabwe. This has always been the regime's unpopular tactic and may not surprise those familiar with a desperate regime.If it is not the arrest and detention of Morgan Tsvangirai, it must be the eviction of opposition voters from their abode just before election is held. Now that Mugabe's repressive style is well known, he sees nothing good in any journalist outside his government establishment.What a disgust from a regime that has failed all forms of tests on human dignity and has lost face with all that is good and meaningful but is desperately hanging on?
He lost an opportunity to salvage the country when he drove away white farmers who were producing food for the dying masses and pretended as if nothing has happened. He has since lost touch with reality and stop wasting Zimbabwean scarce resources.Does Mugabe not know that he has caused his people more havoc than peace, headache than economic emancipation and hunger in place of bread? If he was a conscionable man, with the fear of God in him, he would have stepped aside long ago and paved the way for a charismatic, God-fearing leader with the Midas touch to salvage the famine-ravaged country from the throes of starvation, misery and squalour. He is an expired leader who has little or nothing to offer his people, who are dying for change.

Links:
Guardian

Infoplease

U.S. official website

Zimbabwe official website

BBC

Nigeria: Stifled by political 'godfathers'

Isn't it sordid that after 47 years of nationhood Nigeria is still a political Lilliput? Its leaders have refused to learn and would rather prefer to run the country as their personal estate. Take the case of the maximum leader, Sani Abacha, who ruled with iron fist all in the name of 'moving the country forward' with a warped and self-serving slogan of "Vision 2010" . Before then, General Ibarahim Babangida, never wanted to leave the the seat after eight solid years on the saddle. Under his administration Nigeria made millions of dollars from the Gulf war but misery and squalor could not be tackled even marginally. Then came Olusegun Obasanjo, who had earlier ruled Nigeria between 1976 and 1979. Upon his inauguration as civilian president on May 29, 1999, 'baba promised to transform Nigeria"Corruption is to be stamped out from the country's way of life and nobody no matter how highly-placed would be spared in the the new onslaught", Obasanjo boasted at his inauguration.He quickly established the controversial Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, with a senior police officer, Nuhu Ribadu, at the helm of affairs.However, like a toothless bulldog, the commission could not drive away corruption because the constitution placed a roadblock against any such war.Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution shields top politicians from civil and criminal prosecution while in office. The president, his vice, governors and their deputies can neither be questioned by any court of law nor summoned by any law enforcement agency while they are in office.Right now, the House of Representatives, is probing how the Obasanjo administration committed a whopping $16 billion into the energy sector with no results. Most of the contracts alleged to have been awarded to companies not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC. While that is a serious crime by itself, most of the projects for which money had already been paid, are yet to begin. One of the companies is linked to a former head of state and a friend of the government at the time. Worst of all, Nigeria's energy capacity has fallen by the time the government left office because not a single watt of electricity was added to the national grid by the man who portrayed himself as an anti-corruption czar.President Umaru Yar'Adua who was sworn in last May, has however promised to eliminate the canker worm called corruption but it is not likely that he would succeed in a jiffy because of the anti-progressive forces still lurking around the corridors of power in the country. He might have also been misled into forcing Nuhu Ribadu, the EFCC boss on a study leave at the Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru near Jos, Plateua State. He is also unfortunate to have appointed a pro-politician lawyer as one of his advisers.From the East to the West and the North to the South, poverty looms like a colossus while the basic amenities of life remain out of sight. At every turn, the political 'godfathers' come around and anoint those who should take over from them using a debilitated organ known as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to 'select' such candidates irrespective of their immoral credentials.Nigeria has been enslaved by this political cabal for ages. God-fearing people have never been allowed to lead the country since independence in 1960. Too bad for a nation that is well endowed with human, capital and natural resources.

Eliot Spitzer: Consumed by a monstrous ring

This man has thrown himself into a pit and is in the middle of nowhere. Spitzer should have learnt a lesson from the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and stayed off this blitz that has swept off his blossoming career. Now, he has had his fingers burnt in a prostitution ring just as Clinton was bruised by an intern.
The worrisome thing however, is that both are democrats and this can give the impression that the amorous are taking refuge in the party. They can only take a fleeting consolation in the fact that a McCain has been accused of having some relationship with a female lobbyist even though the matter seems not to have denied the candidate of any sleep.
My headache is not for both men but with Barrack Obama, who is pushing for change in the American political turf. Facing constant rebuke from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for not being a likely robust C-in-C and not having a radical health care scheme for the electorate, it would be hard for BHO to ward off criticisms if the GOPs decide to throw up sex scandals as an issue against the democrats in the ongoing campaign.
But I take consolation in the fact that neither Senator Clinton nor McCain can throw the bat on that vexatious issue since their conscience would unfailingly prick them thoroughly. But the democrats need to retrace their steps from the sex arena to save themselves and the image of the party, which holds so much hope for the future of America and its people.

Links:

New York Times

CNN

Bloomberg

John McCain Website

Timesonline

Barack Obama Website

Hillary Clinton Website

Republican Party Website

Democratic Party Website

CIA Worldfactbook