By: Crispy Kaheru
If you have just started following events in Ivory Coast, you might be tempted to think that Ivory Coast is just like any other African country that has plied through the standard road from Independence. For many African states, the standard route from Independence to four or five decades down the road has been characterized by civil wars, coup d’états, guerrilla warfare and many other political and economic catastrophes. I call this standard, because out of the fifty two African countries, at least forty have taken this very path upon descending into the magnanimity of self-government.

Ivory Coast taxed on a right note. Gaining independence in 1960 under the leadership of Papa Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the country quickly turned itself into the world’s leading producer of cocoa, pineapples and palm oil. Unlike many countries, Ivory Coast used its foreign exchange earnings to develop first class infrastructure and also deliver high quality services to its people. For about twenty five years President Houphouët-Boigny remained true to his vision of turning his country into a modern African state. The country established itself as a development reference and due to its exceptional high growth levels; it became known as, ‘the Ivorian Miracle’. With all the anticipated administration successes coming his way, Boigny fell short of preparing his country for political transition and succession. And when a natural illness claimed him in 1993, Ivory Coast plunged into the most unprecedented political confusion which still manifests itself in the on-going political crisis eighteen years after his demise.

Boigny is not the only African leader who neglected issues of political succession. Omar Bongo who continuously muzzled any succession talks in Gabon sunk his own country into political and economic terrorism when whe died in 2009 — after ruling the country for fourty one years. Examples of such leaders and scenarios are inexhaustible on the African continent. Togo plunged into political turmoil in 2005 after the death of Gnassingbe Eyadema; who had ruled the country for thirty eight years. Whereas the Togolese army sought to install Eyadema’s son as a successor, the public vehemently contested the decision and this sparked the instability that we continue to see in Togo till today.

These and many more scenarios should implore those in leadership to always open up for discussions on successions. And while discussing succession, leaders should not feel inclined to pass on power to their family loyalists as has been observed in most states where there hasn’t been open discussions on succession.

A country that claims to be a democracy should be able to broaden openness in its institutions (political parties) and consequently encourage the enlistment of people’s efforts in the administration of the State. Political succession arrangements reflect the farsightedness of political leadership efforts to avoid a vacuum and uncertainty.

Maybe it’s time to take a new perspective on the good succession practices of the west (America and Britain), where political parties have demonstrated relentless capacity to openly discuss, nurture and groom leadership talent and sacrifice certain interests in the name of socio-political harmony and long-term goals. This is not just about promoting the western form of governance as a perfect model of governance that should be emulated by all, but rather about understanding the succession challenge and drawing lessons on how to deal with it. For non-monarch societies, an orderly transfer of power continues to be a problem of all political orders.

It is time to break the ‘son succeeded the farther’ syndrome that has pervaded most of our societies. But I should note, it’s no fault of the sons to be born to successful politicians. It’s also not the fault of parents to indulge their children and do everything possible to secure them a small corner on a big political stage. And it’s definitely not the fault of the electorate to dote upon the political sons, for successions, but let popular public participatory discussions and approaches have the casting vote on who becomes the next leader at any level.

   By: Gwada Ogot
Joseph Stalin once said, ‘It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.

Stalin’s statement raises pertinent questions about the objective conduct of elections. In the last one year alone, the East Africa Nations of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda have all held elections including the birth of a new state – South Sudan.

This is so because only effective management of elections can determine the credibility of the process and secure outcome. Key factors are impartiality, integrity, transparency, efficiency, and independence.

As international thresholds, these ethics are customized by national legal frameworks and good practices. While historical and cultural factors inherently persuade the evolution of regional electoral practices, they are area specific and increasingly comply with binding global innovations.

In the global village we live in today, adherence to universally set values is multi rewarding. Conformity to values validates elections and spare government the sharp radars of international pressure and possible ostracizing as a pariah state or banana republic.

Almost universally, Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) are constitutionally constituted to fulfill specific electoral needs with pegs to as much Independence as is practically achievable.

The principle of independence remains vital to ensuring that Electoral Commissions do not bend to governmental, political, or other partisan influences in regard to decisions and actions, a matter which in essence interrogates the character of Electoral Commissions and Commissioners.

As a classic case, in Ghana, during the 2009 elections, a mere 0.7% separated the two main presidential contenders yet in spite of the close contest, peace prevailed during and after the elections — which has transformed Ghana into a democratic Mecca.

In June 2010, Guinea too held a closely contested presidential election after decades of authoritarian military rule. In spite of its history of military headship, the nation emerged intact, courtesy of the relatively well managed election.

This viewpoint raises both formal and normative matters which reflectively draw from Stalin’s point of counters and voters.

A standard gauge is the fluid and unwritten laws of perception which means that the election must not only be free and fair but be seen to have been so.

The case of Kenya in 2007, starkly contrasts the Ghanaian and Guinean successes. At the odds of a close electoral contest, the nation broke into a short but costly civil war even before the announcement of the results, deriving purely off negative perceptions.

In Ivory Coast, President Laurent Gbagbo blatantly refused to hand over to rival Alassane Quattarra after the December 2010 elections. Reason- one electoral body had declared him winner while another declared his rival winner.

Gbagbo Interview

In Ghana and Guinea, those who counted the vote respected or appeared to respect the will of the voters while in Ivory Coast and Kenya those who counted the votes swallowed the Stalinist perspective hook line and sinker.

Yet rationally, no Electoral Commission can be independent in every characteristic.

In Uganda, like many other countries, the financing of Elections and appointments of key personnel to the Electoral Commission is almost solely dependent on government. While constitutional requirements demand that parliament vets such appointments to ensure a relative degree of transparency, the banal considerations of parliamentarians in undertaking such crucial decisions repeatedly falters the process.

Conventionally, across the board, focus is laid more on the structures of electoral institutions ignoring requisite personal character attributes. This skewed focus purports that policy construction alone is sufficient to indemnify Electoral Commissions from partisan influences.

As the East African region closes its current electoral season, the handiwork of those who counted the votes is all that will primarily determine not only what, but how the next few years will unravel for the region.

Ivory Coast(Cote D’Ivoire) musician Meiway, pioneered the dance style “Zoblazo.” In Zoblazo, Meiway integrates traditional rhythms of southern Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana, with electronic instruments and party lyrics.

Inspired by great African Musicians like Manu Dibango, Jacob Desvarieux, Lokua Kanza, Kojo Antwi and Koffi Olomidé — Meiway has incorporated Cuban, Mbalax and Ghanaian Hi-life styles in his repertoire of skills.

After his second album in 1990 entitled “200% Zoblazo,” Meiway became the second best known Ivorian musician after Alpha Blondy. “9ème commandement – 900% zoblazo” was released in 2007.

His success in the Ivory Coast and the rest of West Africa, in the mid to late 1990s, spawned a string of hit Zoblazo records — a trend that has continued through 2009, even as other dance styles like prudencia and coupé décalé have edged out Zoblazo.

| More Meiway Videos | Visit AfricanMusicForum.COM For African Music Videos |

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By: Chris Agbiti

November 4th, 2008 will, undoubtedly go down in world history as epoch making.

It was a day that signposted the final internment of the age-long divisive philosophy that held one race superior to another (apology to the legend, Bob Marley); it was a day the entire world came together, irrespective of creed and religion, to recite Dune Dimitis (however, not with long faces) for the monster of racial discrimination that had for long defined the political climate of America but now chased away; it was the day Barack Hussein Obama won in landslide, the U.S Presidential election.

The U.S. Presidential Election has come and gone but the echoes of it continue to reverberate in every nook and cranny of Africa especially in Kenya where Obama traces his patrilineal descent from. The euphoria of Obama’s victory will for long continue its ripples in the Negroid race of Africa.

However, the point is worth making that for the Americans, the euphoria of joy sweeping through its entire nation is understandable: That, at last, someone who has a clear vision and a good grasp of the issues that need to be addressed to restore U.S. lost glory, consequent upon the lacklustre performance of the out-going president, was not held back from realizing that ambition by prejudices. But for Africans, what other reason beside the sentimental consideration that a fellow brother African now becomes President of U.S., can we adduce to bedrocks our own euphoria at the election of Obama?

If one may ask, what business do African countries, together with their stinking leaders, have in rejoicing over Obama’s victory at the U.S. poll when we know in our hearts of hearts that we will never allow the kind of system that has produced Obama in U.S. election to be replicated in our own land?

Or, are we under a delusion that, with Obama’s presidency, African countries shall wake up one morning, like the fabled Alice in Wonderland, and find all the good things of life in sufficiency for all as obtain in the western world, even while our leaders and people continue in their culture of greed, corruption, ethnic hostilities and all such practices antithetical to the dictate of modern civilization?

It bears repeating to state here that it borders on crass hypocrisy for African countries such as Zambia, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, et al, to rejoice at Obama’s victory even when they are all still involved in various acts of prejudices, this time around, not even against a coloured person but against their own black brothers.

We have witnessed instances in Zambia where the first post independent Kenneth Kaunda had his citizenship withdrawn on the allegation that his ancestry is somewhere in another African country! Similar acts have played out in Ivory Coast and Nigeria (Shugaba’s case). The xenophobic hostilities in South Africa and Zimbabwe are all still fresh in our memories. Africans must be reminded not to expect too much from the presidency of Obama any more than they expected from the presidency of Bill Clinton.

Our only obvious claim to Obama is his blood ties to his Kenyan father. But we must call to memory that, for all the time the elder Obama lived, his conduct in juxtaposition to what Obama Jr. is and stands for today shows, in very lucid details, those sad commentaries of a pure bred African man. The elder Obama came to America and deceitfully led Obama’s mother into marriage, even while he was already married to another Kenya woman back home.

He was to later abandon Obama’s mother and returned to Kenya, leaving young Obama in the care of his maternal grandparents in America. It was recorded that he died drunk-driving. Should Obama’s father were to be alive, one imagines that he too may be rejoicing just like the other African leaders are hypocritically doing.

We must stop deceiving ourselves. It is high time we told ourselves a few home truths. Whatever Obama is today or stands for, he owes it all to the American society.

If he were to be brought up in Kenya, his fatherland, with all his seeming immeasurable grace of intelligence, he would have ended up, at best, as a very brilliant but frustrated university don holed up somewhere in one of our glorified secondary schools, called university, like many other frustrated Obamas in our African society today. The American society that shaped Obama to become what he is to day places a higher premium of kinship of ideas over and above that of blood.

That explains the acceptance of Obama’s candidature across the racial divides. If Obama were not of the rare breed of mankind (who recreates themselves independent of genetic force), he would not even be identifying his African root. It is only for Obama’s high sense of humility and decency that he does so and I commend him for it. Africans must be reminded that as we cheer Obama’s victory, we must cast away that extra baggage of hypocrisy and begin to reflect on the need for us to home-grow a system similar to what sustains in the U.S. that has made possible the Obama phenomenon.

The world today is ruled by ideas. It is not enough for us bank on blood kinship to Obama and think that alone will be the open sesame to our El Dorado.

In today’s modern world, kinship of ideas, as aforesaid, rather than of blood or ethnicity is one of the driving force of attraction. In doing so, we must remind ourselves that until we jettison that negative attitude that encourages subjugation of fellow man rather than our environment which is what the white man has effectively achieved, we shall continue in our collective grope.

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Chris Agbiti wrote from Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
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‘Vas Y Doucement’ — By Dr Sakis!

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