‘Elections’ Archives
Togo Elections: Tip-toeing towards reconciliation
Lomé (Togo) — As up to 3.2 million Togolese cast their ballots in the presidential election on 4 March, IRIN asked voters and experts what it would take to reach true reconciliation after decades of political violence. "Impunity will no longer be tolerated, the blood of Togo's sons and daughters will no longer flow freely on our land, the [...]
Kenya’s Collapse
from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPEJanuary 31, 2008A rigged election, ethnic violence, economic dysfunction and now a political assassination -- the crisis in Kenya has hit a sad superfecta. Worse, the politicians who loosed these forces don't look capable of reining them back in.It's been a month since this once-placid country exploded. When [...]
The Situation in Kenya is So Sad (Warning: Contains Very Disturbing Pictures)
There is a very grave situation in Kenya at the moment that calls for international support to end violence that has rocked the counry over the past one month.Just Yesterday, a Kenyan Lawmaker was killed fuelling further violence across the country. Business is at a standstill, Losses are being reported and many workers are stranded since they [...]
The Man Who Would Be President
Andrew Ehrenkranz and Silvia Spring (Newsweek)Most Kenyans can only wish they were as confident about the future as Raila Odinga appears to be. Amid the violent ethnic unrest that has killed more than 600 people in the past three weeks, the 62-year-old opposition leader seems positive that he--not Kenya's incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki--will [...]
Kenya’s Kibaki sheds gentleman image
NAIROBI (Reuters) - When President Mwai Kibaki was inaugurated on December 30, 2002, a million Kenyans thronged a city park to hail him as savior after 24 years of repressive rule.Five years later, he was hurriedly sworn in, watched by a few close aides, on the lawn of his heavily guarded residence, as smoke rose from protests in nearby slums.The [...]
Zimbabweans Contemplate Kenya’s ODM Model
By Rejoice NgwenyaThe nightmarish quagmire of Kenya's deadly electoral circus has filtered shock waves of potential civic uprising to Zimbabwe, a country facing its own elections this March, having known no real ballot peace since 2000. We Africans tend to pick political bad habits from neigbhours because as it is, Zimbabweans are contemplating [...]
Are elections in Africa really necessary or a waste of time?
by ALPHAYO OTIENO ELECTIONS, IF MERELY FOR their own sake, are a waste of time in Africa, and nowhere else has this been demonstrated more than in Kenya.The recent polls have been roundly condemned by election-monitoring bodies. Observers from the European Union said that the whole process was “not credible” and the report they issued on the [...]
The example Kenya can set for South Africa and the rest of the continent
IN AFRICA, a hard-fought but fair election in a pivotal country is an example-setting event. No, this is not South Africa, where the election of Jacob Zuma as president of the ruling African National Congress on December 18th dealt a shattering blow to his rival, Thabo Mbeki. Although this puts Mr Zuma in a strong position to lead South Africa [...]
