Post by Opinion Ed on Sept 28, 2005 7:24:48 GMT 3
Coups in Africa do not occur out of nothing
PLAINLY SPEAKING by David Ochami
Today, as the president's men talk of an impending ouster of Mwai Kibaki, there are others who feel this should occur sooner or that the August 1, 1982 mutiny should have been taken to its logical conclusion.
Kiraitu Murungi, David Mwiraria have not said in which form the alleged ouster would take. In Africa fewer governments have been ousted through the ballot box or popular uprising than through coup de tats and armed insurgency. Do they have information about a coup plot in the offing?
The originators of the ouster rumour wish to remind Kenyans of the August 1 1982 coup attempt, hoping to make them revolt against their rivals. If their tactic is to make the masses revolt against the whole idea of removing a president from power, even if they were elected democratically at some point, or distort the debate on the referendum, they are wrong.
There is no guarantee that a coup or other ouster of a president involves bloodshed or is inherently bad for the country. Likewise, a democratic mandate such as Kibaki's in 2002 is no excuse to betray the ideals that brought him to power. Neither is it synonymous with democratic practice or economic and social progress. It or Kenya's 42 years of stability did not confer immunity from coups or ouster if/when he became a liability to the country and democracy itself. There are good reason for most coups.
The collapse of the Hezekiah Ochuka experiment denied Kenyans the opportunity to live through a military. Maybe Kenya would be better off now without the first generation of post-independence politicians, mostly likely to have been executed. Perhaps the country could have seen a civil war.
Twenty two years afterwards, Africa continues to see coup de tats and civil wars, despite the AU's objections. Nations with democratic governments have not been spared.
No single reason explains why Kenya has not exploded as it nearly did in 1982. Perhaps the people have not been stretched to the breaking limit. But as Taban Lo Liyong has argued in his Culture is Rutan, this country has notoriously postponed its day of conflagration and catharsis, that necessary rite of passage that makes great nations, hence today's indiscipline among leaders.
Maybe there has been good intelligence or there are no bold soldiers in the barracks with the political consciousness to strike a blow for freedom which is why Kenya has stuck with these status quoist political class of recycled and means people for four decades.
It is important to state two things here. Kenyans harbour a false sense of immunity and superiority as the USA was before 9/11, 2001, to proclaim the country is beyond what Hezekiah Ochuka dreamt in 1982, or what ministers are claiming is about to happen.
The AU is mistaken to condemn all coups with the pretext they are against democracy. Kenya's experience has shown that democratically governments are neither free from corruption, human rights abuses nor are they a panacea for these complex problems.
Save for the Sudan in the 1970s where a government was toppled through a military backed popular uprising and in the late Siaka Stevens' Sierra Leone where a regime engineered a mutiny against itself, most coups germinated from the failure of civilian regimes to live to the economic, political and social expectations of their people after eliminating all avenues for political change.
The constriction of political space and dictatorship that went hand in glove with corruption, economic collapse bred a paralysis, often backed by foreign governments and multinational corporations driving failed states to collapse and a dialectical response from the army.
Systematic tinkering with the basic law strengthened presidents who suspended civilian politics to rule by decree. The soldiers who rose to halt these riotous civilian regimes described themselves as products of peoples' anger motivated by feelings of betrayal and patriotic duty.
Often other mutinies followed elections that had either been stolen or whose outcome brought to power leaders more committed to corruption and the old order. That is how Ivory Coast's virginity was ended in 1999 by the army. Kibaki's Kenya reminds one of the creeping coup phenomenon in Africa’s military history in which a nation gradually moves towards civil strife caused by the failure of the political process to government the country due to an abdicating president.
His mistakes with the transition and Constitution have aborted the momentum for effective change that brought him to power and brought the country to a halt with palpable sensations of imminent collapse. If he is not responsible and in control, Murungi and others need not fear insurrection.
As they celebrate three years of 'prosperity', other Kenyans should be allowed to hope for a blast or blow of holy wind from somewhere to end this mess. The political process is no remedy to Kenya's paralysis and backwardness. No one can stop that inexonerable advance of time!
The author is a staff writer
davidkoch2@yahoo.com
PLAINLY SPEAKING by David Ochami
Today, as the president's men talk of an impending ouster of Mwai Kibaki, there are others who feel this should occur sooner or that the August 1, 1982 mutiny should have been taken to its logical conclusion.
Kiraitu Murungi, David Mwiraria have not said in which form the alleged ouster would take. In Africa fewer governments have been ousted through the ballot box or popular uprising than through coup de tats and armed insurgency. Do they have information about a coup plot in the offing?
The originators of the ouster rumour wish to remind Kenyans of the August 1 1982 coup attempt, hoping to make them revolt against their rivals. If their tactic is to make the masses revolt against the whole idea of removing a president from power, even if they were elected democratically at some point, or distort the debate on the referendum, they are wrong.
There is no guarantee that a coup or other ouster of a president involves bloodshed or is inherently bad for the country. Likewise, a democratic mandate such as Kibaki's in 2002 is no excuse to betray the ideals that brought him to power. Neither is it synonymous with democratic practice or economic and social progress. It or Kenya's 42 years of stability did not confer immunity from coups or ouster if/when he became a liability to the country and democracy itself. There are good reason for most coups.
The collapse of the Hezekiah Ochuka experiment denied Kenyans the opportunity to live through a military. Maybe Kenya would be better off now without the first generation of post-independence politicians, mostly likely to have been executed. Perhaps the country could have seen a civil war.
Twenty two years afterwards, Africa continues to see coup de tats and civil wars, despite the AU's objections. Nations with democratic governments have not been spared.
No single reason explains why Kenya has not exploded as it nearly did in 1982. Perhaps the people have not been stretched to the breaking limit. But as Taban Lo Liyong has argued in his Culture is Rutan, this country has notoriously postponed its day of conflagration and catharsis, that necessary rite of passage that makes great nations, hence today's indiscipline among leaders.
Maybe there has been good intelligence or there are no bold soldiers in the barracks with the political consciousness to strike a blow for freedom which is why Kenya has stuck with these status quoist political class of recycled and means people for four decades.
It is important to state two things here. Kenyans harbour a false sense of immunity and superiority as the USA was before 9/11, 2001, to proclaim the country is beyond what Hezekiah Ochuka dreamt in 1982, or what ministers are claiming is about to happen.
The AU is mistaken to condemn all coups with the pretext they are against democracy. Kenya's experience has shown that democratically governments are neither free from corruption, human rights abuses nor are they a panacea for these complex problems.
Save for the Sudan in the 1970s where a government was toppled through a military backed popular uprising and in the late Siaka Stevens' Sierra Leone where a regime engineered a mutiny against itself, most coups germinated from the failure of civilian regimes to live to the economic, political and social expectations of their people after eliminating all avenues for political change.
The constriction of political space and dictatorship that went hand in glove with corruption, economic collapse bred a paralysis, often backed by foreign governments and multinational corporations driving failed states to collapse and a dialectical response from the army.
Systematic tinkering with the basic law strengthened presidents who suspended civilian politics to rule by decree. The soldiers who rose to halt these riotous civilian regimes described themselves as products of peoples' anger motivated by feelings of betrayal and patriotic duty.
Often other mutinies followed elections that had either been stolen or whose outcome brought to power leaders more committed to corruption and the old order. That is how Ivory Coast's virginity was ended in 1999 by the army. Kibaki's Kenya reminds one of the creeping coup phenomenon in Africa’s military history in which a nation gradually moves towards civil strife caused by the failure of the political process to government the country due to an abdicating president.
His mistakes with the transition and Constitution have aborted the momentum for effective change that brought him to power and brought the country to a halt with palpable sensations of imminent collapse. If he is not responsible and in control, Murungi and others need not fear insurrection.
As they celebrate three years of 'prosperity', other Kenyans should be allowed to hope for a blast or blow of holy wind from somewhere to end this mess. The political process is no remedy to Kenya's paralysis and backwardness. No one can stop that inexonerable advance of time!
The author is a staff writer
davidkoch2@yahoo.com