Democrazy, Death, and Dying
I’ve been watching, with a mixture of fear and horror, the fight for power between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga in the wake of the last Kenyan presidential elections. People went to the polls in Kenya, hoping for a smooth political process. The Kikuyu, the Luo, and other ethnic groups worked to keep Kenya as the beacon of stability in a region that has struggled with drought and war. But things did not go smoothly in Kenya this time. Hundreds are dead and many more are displaced in a struggle that stems from old ethnic tensions.
It is a sad story but it is one that Africans are only too familiar with. For years, since independence, many African countries have been reaching for the dream of democracy, while navigating through a treacherous obstacle course filled with coups, military dictatorships, corruption, and overnight army-turned-civilian presidents.
African nations (as well as many South American and new European nations) have grappled with attaining and retaining democracy. A lot of qualified and unqualified pundits have said that Western-style democracy simply will not work in many parts of the world, including Africa.
Neither Kibaki nor Odinga seem willing to compromise in Kenya today. A Yoruba proverb states that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. It is the ordinary people that have died in Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo and many other countries, in their quest to exercise their democratic rights.
Maybe democracy does not work in some environments where ethnic tensions are old and entrenched, and where poverty is palpable. But if democracy leads to quick death for some, the alternative of military rule leads to a slow process of suffocation and oppression for all.
Indeed, recent developments in Kenya are an unfortunate setback for Africa, which is, of course, putting it mildly. Sometimes it’s as if we take one step forward and four backwards on the continent. The Kibaki government’s resistance to international mediation is not helpful. One can only hope that calm heads can prevail and that Kenya can avoid a further spiral of violence and bloodshed.
Often times I wonder why certain countries embrace democract ideals with relative ease while others struggle with its implications. Although Democracy empowers the people who are governed, people will feel betrayed if their “govern - ors” corrupt the system. The Kibaki resistance is but one of several African examples and lessons by which African rulers and the govern must accept — democracy empowers, but democracy also “un” powers. The democratic process is a strong as it is malleable. The political system can vote in an incumbent as fast as it can take that person out.
What governents like the Kibaki must understand is not to equate their unpopular political agendas as being weak and tenable. Conversely, authoritarian and absolute rule are not the ingredients for a healthy democracy. The Kenyan people realize this, and believe in the power of the democratic process to transition out those who believe their power is untenable and absolute.