Sit tight rulers: The Zimbabwe example

I was sick with disgust and tried to accuse my eyes of deceiving me, when I read in the papers of recent, that the 84 -year-old despotic ruler of Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe, had already began campaign for a sixth term in office. As if that was not shocking enough, Mugabe boasted that, he was confident that his ZANU-PF party would get a landslide victory in the next general elections, slated for March 29.

And once again, President Mugabe has displayed the trademark sit-tight character of most African leaders, something that he himself epitomises. If one would recall, this same President Mugabe came into power in 1980, an unbelievable 28 years ago, and since then, he has held on to power tenaciously, uprooting all forms of opposition, and frustrating all efforts at organising a free and fair election, devoid of the strangulation of his ruling ZANU-PF party, in the lame Southern African nation. Not only has the Mugabe government succeeded in silencing all forms of political opposition in the country, his government has also succeeded in crippling the Zimbabwean economy, with an unprecedented galloping inflation in the economic history of the world, bringing the weak nation’s economy to near ruins.

As reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Zimbabwe presently is wallowing in a blinding economic crisis that has pegged annual inflation in the country at 100,000 percent. Of recent, the Cable News Network (CNN), showed footages of Zimbabweans picking food items from the refuse dump, and with their poverty wrecked faces, they were explaining that, that was the only way they could survive. And from report, it is now so bad for the Zimbabwean economy, that the Zimbabwean national currency has little or no value. Yet, it is in this poverty stricken nation, that this self-serving 84- year-old despot still seeks a sixth term.

It is, indeed, a perilous time that Zimbabwe and other African nations, held hostage by sit-tight rulers have found themselves. The Kenyan crisis, is another goodreference point. It is sad and regrettable, that a country like Zimbabwe that was regarded as a symbol of steady and purposeful growth in Southern Africa should be caught in this web. The poverty situation in Zimbabwe and its attendant devastations is stark and shocking, and one wonders if the mandate of the African Union, is that of a siddon look organisation. Zimbabweans in the last couple of years, have suffered wanton dislocation in their economic life, reckless human rights abuse, lack of freedom of the press, and a massive crack down on the opposition. These are rights that now form the major parts of the international human rights system, yet the common people of Zimbabwe continue to live a life of torture and human degradation.

Notwithstanding that various Western nations have been slamming sanctions on Zimbabwe, it can be correctly argued that the Mugabe government would not be made accountable, until other progressive African leaders have the courage to take the Mugabe bull by the horns, and return a participatory democracy to Zimbabwe.

Olusola Adegbite,
Faculty of Law,
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Yar’Adua, settle down to business

Let me start, first, by congratulating President Umaru Yar’Adua on his victory at the presidential election petition tribunal. The presidential election petition tribunal has upheld the victory of President Yar’Adua at the last April general elections and what we expect is that the president should now settle down to business.

Many have concluded that the Yar’Adua administration is a “slow motion” one. One is persuaded to agree with this line of thought; the attitude of the Yar’Adua administration lends credence to this view. The administration has not been very decisive. Moreover it appears the administration lacks its own programmes because it has only been concerned about reversing the policies of the immediate past administration.

But one may want to agree with the advocates of this administration, who are insisting that the Yar’Adua administration is only taking its time to study the situation on ground so that it can take appropriate steps to solve the country’s problems. However, it was also argued that the Yar’Adua government was slow because it was not sure of its legitimacy.

Now, the presidential election tribunal has spoken and it has declared the Yar’Adua government legitimate. We believe this should have given the president some respite and that is why we are calling on the president to settle down to business to tackle the problems of the country. The truth is, this government can further gain legitimacy by putting smiles on the faces of Nigerians.

Tope Okeowo,
Ososami Road,
Oke-Ado, Ibadan.