GNU

is a new TLA that has entered the mainstream lexicon, especially if you've been following the disputed election results in Kenya. It stands for Government of National Unity, but as the utterances by Kenya's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister show, it is anything but. For the Kenyan taxpayer, the GNU means having to pay for a bloated cabinet. Kenya's IDPs face a delay in being resettled because funds for the IDPs have been diverted to the precious lawmakers. Cocking a snoot to the plight of the IDPs, Kenya's lawmakers have decided to award themselves a non-taxable generous allowance increase.

If Zimbabwe does go down the road of the GNU, as they are being encouraged to, then I certainly hope Zimbabwean taxpayers get a better deal than that of their Kenyan counterparts. And if the wishes of the electorate are ignored as was the case in Kenya and Zimbabwe, what's the point of spending all that money on having elections in the first place? Why not set up a GNU at the outset? I believe the IDPs in Kenya and Zimbabwe would be amenable to that because exercising one's democratic right is not worth one's life, livelihood or displacement.

Africa doesn't do elections (apart from Botswana), it does selections, but there is a slight breeze of change.

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.

Kenya vs Zimbabwe

Mwai Kibaki showed the world how to mount a civilian coup when he refused to concede defeat, despite exit polls showing that Raila Odinga was heading for a landslide victory. How Mwai Kibaki can expect the world to believe he won the presidential vote when his party only garnered 1 in 5 parliamentary seats beggars belief!! But as his belligerent counterpart in Zimbabwe has shown, world opinion counts for very little, especially if it's the opinion of the US and Britain. Funnily enough, the US showed indecent haste in congratulating Kibaki on his re-election but had to do an embarrassing U-turn when evidence of massive vote tallying irregularities came to light. Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe is stalling the announcement of the electoral results while he ponders his next move.

Kibaki effectively stole the election, but is rewarded by remaining president while his party gets all the plum positions in the engorged cabinet. Why Kenya with a population of between 30-35 million needs a president, a vice president, a prime minister, 2 deputy prime ministers and 40 ministers, while Ethiopia, with a population of 70 million has a 13 ministerial cabinet is a clear sign of the lack of statesmanship that so bedevils Kenyan politics today.

I'm sure all the current internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kenya, would gladly give up the right to exercise their democratic vote if it meant that they would not be forced to flee their homes, with just the clothes on their backs.

****UPDATE****
Well this shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone, but there doesn't seem to enough swill for the piggies to get their fill. They intend to use money which was supposed to help resettle the IDPs to pay for their cars, office furnishings etc. - what was that about serving the people?!!