Africa leaders use polls to stay in power- Forum

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Participants follow proceedings during the opening of a two-day workshop on Elections in Africa, in Nairobi May 25, 2011.The workshop heard that African Heads of State are using regular elections as a tool to rubberstamp their hold onto power. STEPHEN MUDIARI

By AGGREY MUTAMBO, amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, May 25 2011 at 14:25

African Heads of State are using regular elections as a tool to rubberstamp their hold onto power.

An ongoing conference in Nairobi on the state of elections, women and democracy on the continent has heard that most of its leaders have accepted multiparty elections only because they want to “legitimise their standing internationally”.

On Wednesday, participants at the workshop dubbed ‘Unpacking Elections in Africa’ said that while an obvious wind of change has swept each country, these indicators of democracy are in fact a ruse.

“Several countries are holding elections because they don’t want to be left behind, they want to show donors that they are doing something right,” said Dr Ochola Pala, a Kenyan gender researcher.

And the story is the same, only the details vary. African countries have been holding regular elections whose results have been tragic.

Kenya’s 2007 General Elections led to 1,133 deaths, and thousands displaced. In Zimbabwe, intimidation forced the then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangrai to withdraw while in Ivory Coast, the loser did not concede defeat.

“While people in our country were preparing for fair elections, (Laurent) Gbagbo was preparing for war against (Alassane) Ouattara,” said Marguerite Yoli-Bi Konè, the country’s Director of Studies and Civic Education at the Cote d’Ivoire Independent Electoral Commission. It took the UN forces to unseat Gbagbo.

But there is another weakness in these elections: women continue to be denied opportunities for leadership. According to Dr Ochola, the continent's problems began at independence.

First, those who negotiated for independence were all men, who knew how to hang onto power by dividing the populace.

When the laws seem to limit them, they change constitutions to perpetuate their long stay. Uganda and Cameroon are examples.

She argued that they inherited structures set up by colonialists, which were gender insensitive and not meant for African way of administration.

“For us, we have only started thinking about democracy, we haven't started to build it yet,” she said.

Delegates drawn from 17 African countries and Canada, concurred that the use of political parties as tools for elections has also contributed to the low number of women in elective posts.

The parties, the participants said, use stringent conditions such as financial requirements, age, and political background as rules to lock out women.

One delegate from Nigeria observed that most people have been reduced to voting only when there is a promise of “rice and stew” because elected leaders (men) know how to flex their muscle and rarely return after being voted in.

The activists argued that this scenario can only change if leaders stop excluding sections of the public even if they don't voter for them. They also want African governments to learn from other nations abroad on how to improve gender equality and reduce incidences of post-poll violence.

However, it will still be upon the delegates to push what they discuss in the boardrooms for any change to be seen.

Some of the countries represented include Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Egypt and Kenya.

The conference, which ends Thursday, is organised by Urgent Action Fund-Africa, an NGO that fights for the rights of women and is based in Nairobi.