other longstanding rulers in africa have also continued to end meaningful democratic elections, like nkurunziza in burundi or biya in cameroon. i celebrate each time a real election takes place, which you can see when an opposition candidate actually wins, as in senegal, although for a long time senghor and then diouf put in place mechanisms to thwart the electoral process.
ken
Paul Kagame could eliminate term limits and keep running each time so that as long as he keeps doing a good job and winning through a fair process he would have a legitimate government however giving the immediate past history of genocide in Rwanda, he makes the possibility of war far more likely by imposing himself arbitrarily. Politics is war by other means and if the practice of politics were censored what you have left is war!
--On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 7:06 AM Samuel Zalanga <szalanga@bethel.edu> wrote:
The author of the document raised some legitimate issues of concern. But given the world we live in today where American pragmatism and neoliberal globalization have taken over, I will liken the author's concern to the case of complaints against corruption. Corruption can and should be critiqued on moral grounds, no matter what. But some scholars argue that having said that, the major problem with money gotten through corruption in many countries is that it is not invested productively in the society's economy. It is often either siphoned out of the country or wasted in ostentatious consumption. If the money were to be invested productively, while it will still create inequality and distortion, at least some people will get job. And for many, this is their main concern. We may think it is naive but when you do not have anything to do as with the youth in Africa, this is not something one can ignore just because they live in the West.
I do not see anything surprising actually with the situation in Rwanda. I attended two conferences where two persons who were not Africans, made presentation about Rwanda arguing that in spite of the genocide, there is some significant progress taking place in the country and it is now a sign of hope rather than despiar. Many Africans challenged the guys and the guys were not really trying to promote Kagame but just looking at some empirical evidence. The idea is that the country is trying to become a kind of Singapore or a hub for information technology in the region.
There is one documentary film I watched that I cannot remember now, whether it was Michael Moore's capitalism a love story or "Inside Job" but in the documentary an official of the Wall Street said without apology that an efficient market economy that is functioning is more important than democracy for people. I was not surprise when he said that because I am familiar with the different schools of thought about the market that Alan Aldridge summarizes in his book "The Market." Here is the summary of the ideas of the group called market populists which I believe is relevant for understanding the silence of the West and the situation in Rwanda:
Market Populism:
a) Market populists see "the market" and "the people" as one and the same.
b) They believe that the market is MORE democratic than any of the formal institutions of democracy: elections, legislatures and government.
c) The market is free of ethnocentric boundaries.
D) The market abstractly sees everyone as the same and having the same desires.
e) The market claims to liberate us all.
f) Market populism presents corporations as being on the side of the people because they respond to the demands and needs of the people.
Market populists claim that if a corporation in a free market becomes a monopoly, it is not an abuse of power but the will of the people who voted for it with their check books.
"The end point of market populism is to hold that the free market is an achieved democratic utopia" Aldridge, p.47).
In effect, Market populism which is the public relations part of market fundamentalism and neoliberal globalization, believes that everything about democracy is just public relations, because in true sense, they believe that the market is more democratic. The market allows you to vote with your check book directly. You can vote in an election but once the officers are elected they go to the national capital and share the "national cake." Paid, lobbyist have more access to them than ordinary citizens who voted for them in large numbers. But if you have your check book, you have direct control over your "vote", choice or life. You can get what you want without the risk of a politician who divides and rule and forgets about you.
So from this perspective, and other historical evidence, it is expecting too much for anyone to assume that the West is so deeply concerned about democracy per se. In the "Commanding Heights" documentary, it was the military regime / government of Chile (military dictatorship) that was relied upon to implement neoliberal economic reforms. President Nixon resumed diplomatic relations with China and he sent Henry Kissinger to go in the middle of the night from India to China to arrange the visit when China was officially communist and calling the U.S. the great devil then. Singapore for as long as it has lived has been considered or classified an authoritarian state, but the country is run efficiently and so does the West care? President Clinton and many dignitaries attended the funeral of their founding president. As dependency scholars argue, the West has not permanent friends but permanent interests.
What is happening is what in the development literature is considered the competition or debate between "The Washington Consensus" and the "Beijing Consensus." Many in the ways have resigned to the fact that many developing countries will go with the Beijing Consensus and they not like that. The Washington consensus insists on combining liberal democracy and neoliberal economic policies as the best way forward.
Empirical evidence suggests that this is naive and it does not seem to work as suggested on paper. Amy Chua of Yale Law school wrote a book "The World on Fire" where she provided empirical evidence with case studies from Asia and Africa, that documents how implementing democracy and neoliberal policies do not always work together. Actually, they create a lot of tension because often the group that is politically dominant (numerically) in terms of democratic voting maybe the one far behind and losing in terms of the implementation of neoliberal economic reforms.
Thus the losing group will use their power to take away the opportunities of successful minority entrepreneurs, which will create political instability. Malaysia is a good example. Indonesia, Philippines, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are all examples. There are successful minorities in all these countries. China refused to go with the approach of the West, and they developed the Beijing Consensus which focuses on promoting economic prosperity while maintaining an authoritarian control of the state. The West criticize that but see how they have rushed to invest in China. Why? Because the China is far more and better governed (notwithstanding Tibet and other cases) than many so-called democratic countries. There has been significant success in getting millions out of poverty even though inequality is widening. In some parts of Africa, they have democracy but both poverty and inequality are either remaining the same or increasing, in spite of economic growth.
Moreover, Herbert Marcuse will argue that this happens in the West through a process a calls repressive de-sublimation. In theory people are free in the West, but the culture industry bombards them with consumerism and sexual excitement to the point, the people become consumed with these and forget about the real workings of the political system and how it marginalizes them. The goal of the culture industry is to control the hearts and minds of people and distract it from focusing on the real issue of life in a democracy.
Today, if you ask many Africans to choose between an authoritarian government that is able to maintain law and order, provide electricity, infrastructure, reduce poverty etc, and a democratic government that just caters for a small percentage of elites who share public funds among themselves while ignoring the provision of public goods etc., they will go for the efficient authoritarian government. And the West will prefer that.
The real issue is if Kagame compared to other African leaders is really transforming Rwanda to a point where the people see some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of material prosperity. Do investors feel the country is stable and producing results or making progress along capitalist lines. Western nations and ordinary Africans will prefer Kagame even if he is authoritarian but he is really improving the country forward. If this is the case, to ignore that and be thinking just about democracy is simplistic and naive as it suggests not appreciating the history of what capitalism wants. Capitalism is not primarily committed to democracy. In many cases, democracy even here in the US. some would say is just like a public relations or "crowd control" mechanism to keep the masses calm, and give them an impression that they have a say but the substance of politics remained the same.
There are good reasons to want democracy, but for many Africans, if democracy does not provide concrete dividends, are they going to eat just the idea? Those of us writing from the West sometimes, need to imagine writing from the perspective of villagers in some interior of Africa. Such people do not know what the constitution of their country is all about. They vote but what do they get out of it. IN some cases, their votes are not even counted. They do not benefit much if anything from the government. So if you get a country like Singapore that is authoritarian but very efficient or credible on the indices of a well-run economy, who will be taking seriously the push for democracy that even when laudable in concrete reality, it makes no differences to the millions of the masses in Africa.
Singapore in the past has been characterized as draconian in terms of some of its public order laws but who cares? The real issue is: is it a good place to invest? Is there order, guarantee of property rights etc. Is there good infrastructure etc. Is there good investment in human capital (health and education). If they have that, who will leave that for many African economies where the elites just use democracy is if it is some kind of spiritual or miraculous experience that once you have it, it will change things even when you are doing everything wrong in terms of governing your country well.
There was a time I looked at the human development indicators of Rwanda and found out then that they were better than that of Nigeria. Rwanda went through terrible experience, but it may well be that if Kagame is running the country well and opportunities open for the ordinary masses and investors to trust the place, and there is good infrastructure, good investment in human capital, guaranteed of private property, the West will prefer that than a country where you have Boko Haram, Biafran mobilization, poor infrastructure, declining health care system and educational facilities.
If African countries want democracy to be highly admired, they must ensure that democracy truly produces results and dividends for the masses. For many, the government is a nuisance.
Samuel
On Sun, Nov 1, 2015 at 9:58 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
--Why no outrage especially from Kagame's Western friends? Silent indignation is not enough. The silence is deafening.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Oluwatoyin Adepoju
Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2015 7:34 AM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - PAUL KAGAME BECOMES A LIFE PRESIDENT [Ludicrous]
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: 'Herrn Edward Mulindwa' mulindwa@look.ca [Mwananchi] <Mwananchi@yahoogroups.com>
Date: 31 October 2015 at 14:23
Subject: [Mwananchi] PAUL KAGAME BECOMES A LIFE PRESIDENT
To: ugandans-at-heart@googlegroups.com, Mwananchi@yahoogroups.com
Rwandan Parliament Makes US Ally and Military Partner, Paul Kagame President for Life
Global Research, October 29, 2015
Rwanda has never, since its independence from Belgium, experienced peaceful transfer of power from one "elected" president to another. Each president that grabs power declares himself the only Rwandan capable of ruling. Each regime comes in power because they want to remove the dictator from power and hand the mantle of state power to " the people." Change from one regime to another has always been bloody in Rwanda.
In 1994 General Paul Kagame defeated General Habyarimana after a bloody four year civil war. General Habyarimana had made himself " the father of the nation" and an irreplaceable president of Rwanda. General Kagame and his RPF/A waged the 1990-1994 war because General Habyarimana had closed all the possible venues for peaceful transfer of power. General Kagame and his RPF/A sounded determined to hand power over to " the people" after the war. Over a million Rwandans perished during the war.
General Kagame and his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party: More of the same
After the war and massacres that brought Gen Kagame and his RPF/A into power, Gen Kagame's diagnosis of Rwanda's problem was " bad political leadership and clinging on to power. To address this problem, Gen Kagame and his RPF/A wrote the 2003 Rwanda Constitution. Article 101 of the 2003 Constitution provides, inter alia , " no person shall be president for more than two terms". Each term is 7 years under the 2003 Constitution of Rwanda.
Gen Kagame's second and last term under the 2003 constitution of Rwanda is due to expire in 2017. General Kagame claims that no Rwandan is capable of leading the country and " the people" need him to consolidate his "achievements".
Constitutional amendment to keep General Kagame in office:
In a bid to legitimize his broad scheme to cling to power, Paul Kagame deployed his brutal security apparatus, at all levels of his administration, to compel " the people" to petition Parliament to change the law regarding term limits. Millions of Rwandans, including those who cannot read and/or write, "wrote" to Parliament " begging" for a constitutional amendment. The General then instituted a " constitutional review commission" which " consulted" the people before Parliament passed the constitutional review proposal on October 28th, 2015.
The new law of the jungle:
Parliament approved various amendments including Article 167 which provides that: Considering the citizen petitions preceeding [preceding] the coming into force of this revised Constitution that were informed by the nation-building achievements and creation of a sustainable development foundation, the President of the Republic completing the term of office referred to in Paragraph One of this Article may be re-elected for a seven (7) years term of office. The President of the Republic who has completed the term of office of seven (7) years referred to in [ ...] this Article may be re-elected as provided for by Article 101 of this Constitution.
Article 168: Senators Senators in office at the time of commencement. Article 167 comes under a Section termed " Transitional Provisions".
Article 101 provides that " The President of the Republic is elected for a term of office of five (5) years. He/she may be re-elected only once."
A most unusual law:
Article 167 read together with Article 101 has many implications.
First, the "amendment " has created an exception for the current president and military commander of Rwanda. Article 101 will be shelved until after seven years – the exceptional term created for him after 2017 – when Kagame will start running for a five year term, renewable only once, giving Kagame a chance to rule for 17 years after 2017. This is confirmation that "some animals are more equal than others " in this Animal Farm, thereby rendering the constitutional principle of equality before the law null and void.
Second, the law does not mention whether or not, if Kagame died or otherwise becomes incapacitated after 2017 but before 2024, Article 101 would come into force immediately. In any case, a constitutional provision ( the proposed Article 101) that shall not come into force until after 7 years is a most unusual law.
Third, the amendment creates " transitional provisions" in a constitution without a provisional government. "Transitional provisions" without a transitional government prove that what Kagame's junta has completed is a constitutional coup, not an "amendment to the constitution," as they call it.
Charles Kambanda is a Rwandan American attorney, a former law professor at the National University of Rwanda, and an apostate member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, now living in exile in New York City.
The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Charles Kambanda, Global Research, 2015
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
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