By Janet Mwikali-White
Whether its out of ideological confluence, the relationship between the Jubilee regime is intricately intertwined with Nkurunziza’s Burundi. Uhuru and Ruto are known to have made pilgrimage to Bujumbura where a Jubilee delegation had made President Nkurunziza a courtesy call, probably to seek advise on coalition building.
Nkurunziza’s own path to power wouldn’t have been possible were it not for his suave negotiation skills, that saw his militia accommodated into the ranks of Ndayizeze’s government.
Its not uncommon for leaders with similar ideological persuasions to share ideas. Tom Mboya had on certain occasions graced Martin Luther King Jr. civil rights rallies. The relationship between Raila Odinga and Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is deeply rooted in their passion for Pan African ideals.
The mantra that birds of a feather flock together is one that transverses boundaries. And so Uhuru’s dealings with Bunjumbura in the run up to 2013 ought to be looked at from that perspective in order to comprehend the roots of Uhuru’s vigor in creating an impression that displays a total disregard of the bill of rights as enshrined in Kenya’s 2010 constitution.
Kenya maybe a democracy(yes it claims so) that holds elections every 5 yrs; but on substance doesn’t differ much from Burundi. All of us agree that “the last credible and uncontested Kenyan presidential election was Kibaki’s election of 2002”. Kenya’s 2007 and 2013 elections, even though resolved in the quasi-political and judicial sense respectively, remain controversially inconclusive in our minds.
Burundi on the other hand even though it held elections in 2010, Nkurunziza intimidated his opponents into withdrawing from the race in which ethnic militia were deployed to intimidate the opposition out of contention. The opposition boycotted the elections, which lead Nkurunziza into sweeping back into power in a 91% “landslide” victory.
Even though declared president by the Supreme Court, Uhuru’s own journey to the presidency remains shrouded in mystery, with the military and the intelligence having played a huge role in instituting Uhuru’s takeover of the government.
Like Nkurunziza, Uhuru also has a penchant for hanging onto power through the power of the bullet. However Uhuru is a coward, who, unlike Nkurunziza, didn’t find it worthy to serve in the military. However, Uhuru orders the armed forces to give him a set of uniforms from each of the military services.Both Kenya and Burundi under the poor leadership of these 2 men seems determined to foster a faltering “demo-razy” rather than muster a flourishing democracy that goes beyond holding elections Omne V annis (every 5 years- learn a new thing bastard)
Uhuru’s Kenya seems headed into an opposition boycott of elections in 2017, with CORD contemplating that option should efforts to push for electoral reforms flounder in the face of Uhuru’s adamance and obstinacy in protecting IEBC which has been accused of being “complicit in a massive 2013 rigging racket which saw a 2 tribe coalition defeat a 40 tribe alliance by a 1 million margin(doesn’t make sense)”.
Uhuru’s hypocrisy also seems divisive considering his total disregard of the chicken-gate scandal with names of IEBC commissioners MIA in the list of shame, despite being mentioned adversely in a UK case in which a jury unanimously found the IEBC UK accomplices guilty in a racket that greatly compromised the transparency of the 2013 elections. And due to this corruption, Kenya has in State House a leader who is widely believed to have been defeated. An obstruction of justice. A subversion of the will of the masses. A miscarriage of democracy.
Whether its banning jogging, intimidating the media, or seeking an unconstitutional third term, Nkurunziza like Uhuru in Kenya has spared no opportunity in moving Burundi into regression by limiting democratic space.
Nkurunziza has gone against the spirit of the Arusha Peace Treaty while Uhuru “watermelon” tendencies in assault of the letter and spirit of the 2010 constitution has been self evident.
Both of them belong to dominant ethnic communities of their respective countries, tribes which “selfishly guard their domination of power” to the exclusion of the minority tribes. Nkuruzinza was actually the leader of a Hutu militia group, which eventually negotiated a power sharing deal which saw him appointed into the government of the them President Ndayizeze in a deal that saw him gain immunity from prosecution over war crimes.
At the ICC Uhuru was- just like Nkurunziza- accused by ICC- OTP “of war crimes, in which he commanded a Kikuyu militia group known as Mungiki to rape murder, and forcible transfer of populations”.
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