Only in Africa

How come, one can lose an election in Africa à la Kibaki in Kenya and Mugabe in Zimbabwe yet if you play hardball, again à la Kibaki and Mugabe, "well meaning" outsiders will encourage you to form governments of national unity, again à la Kenya and Zimbabwe. Doesn't this mean that the will of the majority of the electorate is not being reflected?

In Kenya for example, Kibaki's party won 46 seats out of a possible 220 ie less than 1 in 5 in the parliamentary elections so by what logic would it have been possible for him to have won the presidential elections?! In Zimbabwe, Mugabe conceded that Zanu-PF did not win the March election so by what logic does he think Zanu-PF will win a free and fair run off?

A so called government of national unity in Kenya has given rise to a bloated cabinet of FORTY TWO ministers - it cost about $500 million to run the cabinet for 2 months, and despite this Kenya politicians demonstrate just how out of touch they are with reality by asking for this.

And what about justice for those who were killed, raped, tortured and forced to flee? Justice denied means that resentment lingers and it will eventually erupt into another round of blood letting. Kenya, for so long regarded as a safe haven for refugees fleeing from conflict in neighbouring countries now has her own IDPs to deal with - money that should be used to resettle these IDPs is being diverted to fund the engorged cabinet.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, but it is good to see Raila Odinga condemning the shenanigans going on in Zimbabwe. And finally, African leaders are finding their voices.

Yes, Britain has A LOT to answer for - virtually every ongoing conflict in the world today is a legacy of British colonialism (to be examined in another posting) - that's the Napoleonic complex at work right there. But the time has come time for African leaders to start accepting responsibility for what is happening within their own borders. Mugabe came to power in 1980 so why did he allow 17 years to elapse before starting to tackle the land issue? There are similar unresolved land issues in Kenya and South Africa (both former British colonies!!), but the powers that be in those countries aren't going to cut off their hands to spite their face.