TMCnet News
Good Luck, President Sata [opinion]Sep 26, 2011 (Nairobi Star/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- The recently concluded elections in Zambia were not perfect. But all the same they carry some lessons for Kenya, at this point where we are still wrangling over the composition of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. For example, the election had been marred by riots in Zambia's northern mining region. And it was reported that at one point the electoral commission banned the media from announcing results they had not verified, after its website was hacked to falsely record a landslide for 74-year-old veteran opposition leader - and now the new president of Zambia - Mr Michael Sata. There was also the usual talk of foreign money (this time from China) being "poured in" to influence the election. But in the end, it was a relatively peaceful election, ending up in a leading Zambian politician being declared the winner in what was generally judged to be a free and fair election. There was a time when Kenyans took it for granted that this kind of thing was routine in our country. After all, in 2002 during the General Election and in 2005 during the referendum, the government of the day was soundly defeated by the opposition in broad daylight, and no negative consequences followed. But at this point in time, if you compare the relatively peaceful Zambian election, and the kind of details being revealed daily at The Hague about what ordinary Kenyans suffered in the post-election violence, you cannot fail to feel deeply ashamed and embarrassed that a Kenyan General Election should have led to such dire consequences. Still, Zambia is a much poorer country than Kenya, despite being blessed with the kind of mineral wealth that we can only dream about. And the new Zambian president rode into office largely on a populist promise of better working conditions in the mines, and more and better schools and hospitals. He will not find it easy to keep any of those promises. And so even as we congratulate the new president, we wish him the very best of luck in the enormous task that lies ahead of him. |