Kenya Shows Africans Can Freely Elect Leaders of Their Choice

Uhuru Kenyatta in red won the presidential elections in the East African state of Kenya. Observers were concerned about the possibility of violence., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Kenya shows Africans can freely elect leaders of their choice: Analysts

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 00:00
Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe Herald

PRESIDENT Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in the Kenyan elections indicates that Africans can freely elect leaders of their choice without the West’s influence, analysts have said.

They said Zimbabweans can take a leaf from the Kenyan experience and choose a president of their choice despite similar machinations by the West to influence the vote in favour of the MDC-T.

President Kenyatta and his Jubilee Alliance won the presidency against Western favoured Mr Raila Odinga’s Coalition for Reforms and Democracy, much to the chagrin of his handlers and financiers.

Prior to the election, President Kenyatta and his running mate Mr William Ruto were indicted for trial at the much discredited International Criminal Court for alleged involvement in the political violence that engulfed the country in the aftermath of the 2007 elections.

Observers viewed this as an attempt to influence the Kenyan elections.

Utterances by some Western diplomats compounded the belief that the West did not want President Kenyatta to ascend to power.

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Mr Johnnie Carson had also warned Kenyans against voting for President Kenyatta.

“Choices matter and they have consequences,” Mr Carson told reporters, adding later: “Individuals have reputations, individuals have images, and individuals have histories. Individuals are known for who they are and what they do, what they have said, and how they act.”

Former coloniser, the British were also viewed with suspicion by President Kenyatta’s camp and were accused of “shadowy, suspicious and rather animated involvement” in the election in favour of Mr Odinga.

Midlands State University lecturer Dr Nhamo Mhiripiri yesterday said a number of important issues could be drawn from the Kenyan experience.

“What we can learn as Zimbabweans is that we are free to elect whoever we like and that endorsement of a leader by Zimbabweans is what the rest of the world should accept,” he said.

“We understand that people can support personalities even if they are foreigners and not involved in our affairs in the same way we can prefer certain personalities to occupy power in the US. However, if their favoured personalities do not win, then they simply have to cooperate with those we would have elected.”

Dr Mhiripiri said modern democracy was premised on allowing people the right to freely elect their leaders irrespective of their nations’ military or economic strength.

“The problem with some of the Western powers is that they might still be interested in our affairs because of the colonial past and the investments and business interests they might have but they simply have to work with who has been elected.

“What we do not want to see is the destabilising activities that threaten peace and security in our countries,” Dr Mhiripiri said.

University of Zimbabwe political analyst Dr Charity Manyeruke said there were a number of similarities between Kenya and Zimbabwe in that the West always retained an interest in the both country’s domestic affairs.

“We are both former British colonies and because of that Britain always has an interest in what goes own in our domestic affairs.

“We face same problems to do with land reforms and compensation for past atrocities so I think we have to be aware of what happened in the Kenyan election because it is likely to repeat itself in Zimbabwe,” she said.

“The main lesson that we can derive is that the coming election is an opportunity for us to elect a leader of our choice and that the Western world cannot impose candidates on us and we should be careful that that should not happen,” she said.

Dr Manyeruke said the way Mr Odinga was questioning the integrity of the electronic voting system used in Kenya was similar to how some parties were already discrediting the voting system before elections as a way to find an excuse if they lose.

“That system was said to be the best to prevent electoral fraud but the way it is being trashed now by (Mr) Odinga, it makes one wonder what kind of systems he wanted.

“We also find similar things where others are already criticising the elections when they are yet to be conducted and you really wonder whether they are anticipating defeat and are already looking for excuses,” Dr Manyeruke said.

MDC-T secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti has already trashed the voters’ roll saying it was full of names of dead people.

Zimbabwe will have its general elections later this year at a date to be announced.