Trouble elsewhere? Kenya?!?

Now the trouble spot has shifted. To no less a country than Kenya, the hub of East Africa. Once again leadership is lacking and the suffering and death of people seems to be happening on another planet as far as the leaders are concerned. Makes you wonder if they are personally suffering any losses. We hear different figures 600, 900, thousands. People were burnt in a church in Eldoret. Apart from the capital, Nairobi, everywhere people are groaning. Shops are not opening, food prices and necessities are sky rocketing.

Demond Tutu has been there and failed to make peace reign, Jendayi Frazer is still there and nothing much has changed. The African Union President, J. A. Kuffor of Ghana, was there and couldn't get the elephants to stop the battle. Now Kofi Anan is apparently going on a holiday there as the government side of the conflict claim they did not invite and may not be willing to meet with him. Who is left? Maybe Bill Clinton and then the Pope, I understand President Kibaki is a Catholic. After all these options are exhausted we may have no choice but to take the case to the Most High.

I have always wondered about man's inhumanity to man. For the sake of power thousands of lives are being lost and the two sides are not swayed. If this is what leadership entails I will make a very poor leader. Would the world not respect the parties more if they were to call a truce to stop the killing. After so many lives are lost, is any of them going to be able to rule? With the numerous deaths come fatherless and motherless children, aggrieved partners, siblings and parents. Multitudes of people who will bear whichever 'winner' emerges ill-will, hold them responsible for their losses. Of course the leaders are not carrying the pangas (cutlasses) themselves but they are in positions that confer on them responsibility to impose sanity. Their behavior will be the stuff of history books for future generations.

Now to the elections themselves, we have unique dynamics in Africa. From the Kenyan elections we see that it is possible for a party to lose in the constituencies, even the Vice President lost in the elections, and the party wins the presidential elections. Why bother having results announced at the polling booth level if they will be over turned at the national level. The results at the ward levels were announced and bear no relation to the final announcement by the electoral body. Then the President gets sworn in within minutes of the announcement of the results. It was comical watching the President's body guards still rushing to take their position when he had already started his ' I, Mwai Kibaki....' swearing in procedure. It is comedy of an absurd nature.

There are protests being organized for Wednesday 16th of January 2008. Past calls have been postponed on the basis of violence inflicted on the masses. Many have died at the hands of the police. It is not all about spraying people with water as we are made to believe on CNN and BBC, people are being shot with live ammo and not rubber bullets as the stories go as well.

Kenya was an icon, particularly for East Africa, and this image is being thrown to the dogs. The economy is stranded, the EU is preparing to impose sanctions. The country depends on foreign aid and tourism is a big part of the income generated at national and individual levels. Who will visit a place where all you hear about is 'killings and killings'?

At the moment all we can do is have them in our prayers, May sanity return to this great country.

Happy New Year 2008

Well the year has started off. The race is on. I give thanks and praise to the Almighty for letting us experience this new year. May we continue to strive to live aright.

I am blessed! Short yet loaded statement that.

I am thankful for my life, grateful for the people in my life. I have the opportunity to live in this day and age, to have these wonderful people around me. Yes, I am blessed!

I am a proud Nigerian, blessed with a fantastic wife, with wonderful, healthy children. I have no health problems. I am able to walk on the streets with my head held high anywhere in the world. This is not boastful, there are many of us out there. Brilliant, strong, intelligent Nigerians and Africans.

Given, we cannot always look at the goings on in Africa with the level of pride that we want to. That mess really needs sorting out. There are however many of us out there with a vision to make the motherland great as it should be.

I give props to a great individual with vision and the energy and foresight to see it implemented: Dr Mo Ibrahim, founder of Celtel International. Not only has he done great by establishing that company and giving Africa a strong voice but his initiative for African leaders is laudable. He has set up a foundation, The Mo Ibrahim Foundation (www.moibrahimfoundation.org), whose sole aim is to encourage Leadership in Africa. The foundation's index of African Governance is also a veritable ranking of African nations using several parameters. Such forward looking initiatives are required by the world and the continent in particular to remove the existing guess work in the who is who of governance. You can check all this out on the foundation's site earlier quoted. 

The first winner of the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is the former President of Mozambique. The hope is that this prize will be an incentive for current and future Leaders in Africa to govern with the people in mind, to be positive leaders of their respective countries. By the way, the prize is higher in value than the Nobel prize.

Over to you Leaders in Africa, make your people proud!