Ever since the election violence in
both Kenya and Zimbabwe in 2008 people have tried to compare the two countries.
Beside the violence the two countries also had unity governments but that is as
far down the same path the two nations travelled after which they each two
different routes poles apart.
Whereas Kenya has tackled the
political violence of 2008 head-on; with some of these involved now awaiting
trial in The Hague including the winner of the just ended elections, Uhuru
Kenyata. In Zimbabwe, none of those responsible for the violence have ever come
to trial. The Zanu PF Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa has even dismissed
the violence as nothing but “a skirmish” although hundreds of thousands mainly
MDC supporters and innocent people were beaten and/or raped and over 500 murdered.
Kenya has since produced a democratic
constitution designed to maintain key institutions like the Police and
Judiciary apolitical. Mugabe has refuse to implement all the democratic reforms
and has even retain the fiercely partisan top brass in the Police, Army, CIO
and judiciary in command at the time in 2008 still to continue running these
key institutions.
The Copac constitution is nothing but
a dictator’s creed whitewashed to give fool the gullible.
Kenya has enjoyed a free press for
years now and during the just ended elections the presidential candidates had
two televised public debates. Mugabe and Zanu PF have retained their strangle
hold on the country’s large public print media whilst keeping a muzzle on the
small private print media through oppressive laws such as AIPPA and POSA. The
country’s electronic media, radio and TV, remains the exclusive domain of the
Zanu PF controlled public media. PM Tsvangirai has yet to be interviewed on TV talking
about his party and its policies.
There was certainly a desire by all
parties across Kenya’s political divide to stir the country away from the
totalitarian tendencies of the past regimes into the open calmer waters of democracy.
Sadly the same cannot be said of Zimbabwe; whilst Mugabe fought tooth and nail
to retain the dictatorship, Tsvangirai has turned out to be as politically spineless
as a common garden slug for he allowed Mugabe to get away with everything!
Whilst Kenya has just had an election
free of violence; the spectre of violence hangs large over Zimbabwe for
everything behind 2008’s violence is still in place and are waiting to be
launched! Zimbabwe’s next elections are set to be “bloodier” than 2008,
admitted MDC Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone.
The only way to avoid the violence is
for the people to vote NO in the upcoming referendum on the Copac constitution.
It is none other than MDC who have taken it upon themselves to campaign for a
yes vote in the referendum and time is fast running out for them to change
their call!
2 comments:
Australia Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr has announced his country will be lifting sanctions against 55 ZANU-PF leaders.
'Zimbabwe's reform process has been painfully slow,' he said. 'However, leaders such as Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have made genuine progress.'
What the Senator meant to say is there have been no meaningful reforms and PM Tsvangirai’s incompetency has been breath taking!
Well the proof of the pudding is in the eating; after the referendum Zanu PF will roll out its terror machine and the nation will see the political violence of 2008 repeated and thus proving beyond all doubt that no meaningful reforms were ever implemented!
Australia, the EU and the world at large had expected MDC to make significant inroads in implementing democratic reforms but after ten years of blundering and dithering many have come to the conclusion that nothing in Zimbabwe will change. So they all want to lift the sanctions and deal with which ever government is in Harare regardless how corrupt and op-pressive it happened to be.
If the Zimbabwean people confirm this political fudge in the referendum then the nation’s fate is sealed; we will have the Zanu PF dictatorship for decades! People get the government they deserve; it cannot be said we did not have our say in choosing this Copac rubbish and the violent elections it promises!
@ Eddie Cross
The Copac constitution is supposed to be a democratic constitution comparing it to the tattered and torn Lancaster House Constitution is therefore a dishonest way of avoiding answering the question: is the Copac Constitution a democratic constitution. The simple answer is that it is not.
MP Cross would be right to say the Copac Constitution "lists" human rights but it does not guarantee any of them. Everyone is talking about the violence of 2008 will be repeated this year and that is because Copac lists the right to free and fair elections but will not guarantee that right!
MDC should have implemented the reforms if they wanted the rights guaranteed. The only way the reforms will be implemented now is if the people voted no in the referendum and MDC is asking people to do the exact opposite!
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