Idang Alibi
20 November 2008
Some weeks back at our Daily Trust Editorial Board meeting I remarked humourously that I hoped that the noble efforts by the Media Trust Limited, publishers of the Trust newspapers, to select a man or woman who can be hailed as the African of the Year was not about to be rigged from the beginning. I said I was expressing such fear because as soon as the idea was mooted, some nominees who I think do not qualify at all to be crowned as African of the Year were being nominated and were even fast emerging as 'front runners'.
So far some of the 'front runners' are Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, Raila Odinga, Jacob Zuma, Robert Mugabe, Mo Ibrahim, President Jakaya Kikwete, Professor Sulyman Kareem, a Nigerian scientist who is reputed to have invented a chemical formula for clearing oil spill and the world famous Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe.
Perhaps, the reservation I have over some of the nominees that have so far come up has to do with my distrust and no doubt the distrust of millions of other Africans about anything that looks remotely like election in Africa. You know in Africa, elections hardly ever produce the real people that the people want or deserve; they invariably end up giving us charlatans and looters. Elections, especially in Africa where I know so well, are like a beauty competition. Those who offer themselves or are pressed forward are hardly ever the most beautiful damsels around but they emerge beauty queens nevertheless because the really beautiful girls are either too shy to come forward or lack the guts to do so or do not have the people with the political know-how to push their case.
Although the ultimate decision as to who to crown as the African of the Year lies with the Award Committee which comprises eminent Africans, one has a responsibility to campaign against some of the nominees that have so far been put forward.
I think I must exercise this responsibility we must properly scrutinize those who are supposed to emerge through the process of an 'election'. My little 'campaign' may help the award committee in their decision.
Omar Al-Bashir. How on earth can any one nominate Al-Bashir as African of the Year? For killing people? For being the commander of the Janjaweed militia that kill, main, loot and dislocate thousands in the Darfur region of Sudan? Have some of us forgotten that a few years back Omar Al-Bashir wanted to be Chairman of the AU but some decent African leaders felt that giving him that position would amount to endorsing his murderous activities in Darfur? It was on that account that President Dennis Sassoua Nguesso of the Republic of Congo was drafted to become AU Chairman. If a few years ago we recognized that Al-Bashir is an embarrassment to the civilized world why should we now consider him fit to be declared as African of the Year?
Omar Bashir is the kind of leader we should begin to do away with in Africa. They ride to power by appealing to primordial sentiments and maintain power by using the same dishonourable technique. He holds on to power in Khartoum by appealing to anti-American and pro-Islam sentiments when the same man is presiding over a regime that is killing thousands of people in his country. If he is a true Muslim where does the Koran sanction wanton bloodshed? This man is a candidate for the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague and not one for the African of the Year.
When Nguesso was made AU Chair, some of us felt very uncomfortable with his choice also. I recall that when this man retired as head of state of Congo and Pascal Lisouba took over from him, he had some differences with his successor. And instead of taking legal, constitutional and democratic steps to remove Lissouba, he raised an army that went by the frightening name of the 'Cobra Militia' and wrestled power from Lissouba. Much blood was shed for him to get back to power. Such a man should not have been made AU Chairman.
Raila Odinga? What for? For merely contesting an election? When has the personal ambition of an individual become a yardstick for recognizing him as a hero? What has Odinga achieved for Kenya not to talk of the whole of Africa? His ambition to rule Kenya on behalf of the Luos cost hundreds of lives and contributed to the ruin of Kenya's economy.
How noble is Raila Odinga that he accepted to serve in a government that has the most bloated cabinet in the whole of Africa if not in the entire world? More over Odinga campaigned on the underlying theme of 'it is the turn of the Luos' to get power in Kenya. Such a man should not be held up as an African hero. Odinga has not portrayed himself as a man of principle. It is clear to all that Raila Odinga won the election and was denied it by Kibaki. If Odinga were a statesman in the making, he should have insisted on getting his mandate or wait for it the next time. For him to have succumbed to a dubious power sharing deal shows that all he is interested in is to have power no matter how little or ineffectual that power would be. With the kind of deal Odinga has accepted, what can he do with it to really improve the lives of the average Kenyans and to appease the thousands of Kenyans who died in the post election violence?
Jakaya Kikwete? This is a man who can not protect albinos in his country. Albinos are hunted like rats and rabbits in Tanzania by witch-doctors and herbalists. What act of extra-ordinary leadership has he shown in addressing this embarrassing challenge? Should we crown him African of the Year as a reward for his incompetence in protecting the weak in his nation? What spectacular achievements has he recorded either as President of the Republic of Tanzania or as AU Chairman?
Kofi Anan. I guess that Kofi Anan has been nominated by some persons chiefly because he negotiated the power sharing deal in Kenya. While I have enormous respect for Kofi Anan especially for the way he handled his former position as the chief servant of the world, I do not think he deserves to be commended for his diplomatic work in the Kenyan crisis. As I have said, all honourable Africans should condemn a situation in Africa whereby an incumbent president who loses an election is not pressured to give way but it is the winner who is persuaded to get the crumbs in the name of peace.
I expect personages like Anan to deploy the full weight of their full influence to insist that a winner of an election in Africa is made to enjoy his full victory and not made to have only a bite of it. The so-called African way of solving conflict is dishonourable and does not really solve problems and bring lasting peace, justice and fairness.
Another point against Anan is that his, to me, disreputable African diplomacy in Kenya has provided a bad precedent in Zimbabwe. In Africa, bad examples are copied more quickly than good ones and it is therefore to be expected that we are going to have many more examples of out-voted incumbent presidents insisting on power-sharing with the real winners. If this trend becomes the vogue, as I fear it will because it has already started in Zimbabwe, Anan should be held responsible.
Jacob Zuma. What has the man done to warrant such an honour? He no doubt dances well and some say he is charismatic. Let us wait to see how he will perform when he eventually becomes South African president and see especially how he handles the very sensitive land issue in that country.
Sulyman Kareem. It is heartening that native born Africans have started inventing things but I wish he has invented something that has a wider applicability in especially Africa than that chemical for oil spill. He does not deserve the crown but a small salute.
Mo Ibrahim. I appreciate the fact that with his Celtel or Zain, he has helped to link up much of Africa and to show that we Africans can also own and successfully run multi-national companies. I do not like his African Leadership Prize. Although it is worth a lot of money, it looks to me like a bribe for sit-tight African leaders to vacate their thrones and I hate bribe with a passion no matter the good intention behind it. Mo should have instituted that prize for research on Malaria and given it for scholarship for indigent but brilliant African children to study science in the best universities in the world. If he had done so he would have been my African of the Year.
Having dismissed some of these leading candidates for being unworthy of the crown, next week, by the grace of God, I will conclude by saying who my African of the Year should be.
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