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The Loud Silence on The Situation in Swaziland

Today marks the 38th anniversary when King Sobhuza II suspended Swaziland’s independence Constitution and banned the existence of political parties in the country’s political life. Labour unions, students and civil society organisations have planned what they hope to be the mother of all protests to mark the event. Inspired by the events in Tunisia and Egypt Swazis hope to achieve nothing less than the realisation of full democratic rights. The union’s much anticipated protest may however be interrupted by the government’s announcement that the anticipated protest is illegal and “anyone who (goes) ahead with the protests would be “dealt with in accordance with the laws of the country”. Reports of the arrests of union leaders and journalists earlier in the day are but a few of the examples that indicate what the Swazi regime is capable of.  It remains to be seen whether the people of Swaziland who have suffered for years at the hands of King Mswati III will finally have the courage to demand their long awaited liberation. It is again not clear what impact this attempt at demanding greater freedoms for the people will have on the politics of Swaziland generally. The jury is still out. Nevertheless, irrespective of how the protests turn out it is encouraging to see that Swazi people have not entirely lost the fighting spirit that recently helped the people of Tunisia and Egypt to remove their own dictators from power.

Swaziland is the last absolute monarchy in Southern Africa. If the country ever experienced some sort of democracy it must have been in the first five years after independence. By 1978 the then king had suspended the independence constitution, dissolved parliament, and had introduced the state of emergency. His argument was that the constitution and political parties were incompatible with Swaziland’s traditional practises and way of life. When the King died his son King Mswati III took over the throne at the age of 18 years and together with his advisors and the mighty royal Dlamini clans has ruled the country without any attempt to change the status quo.  In 2005 a new Constitution was approved by Swaziland’s Parliament to end the constitutional crisis created by the suspension of the independence constitution. However, the new Constitution vest powers in the hands of the monarchy, and King Mswati III still retain powers “to dissolve parliament and government, dismiss and appoint members of the judiciary and act as head of both police and army”.

King Mswati III known internationally for his flamboyant lifestyle and a great taste for expensive cars is together with his 13 wives accused of negligently using the public purse to maintain the royal family’s expensive standard of living. This happens in a country with the highest number of poor people and frightening statistics on HIV/AIDS. Without doubt Swaziland’s current situation demands that its people combine efforts in pushing away the frontiers of poverty while demanding greater freedoms from the Swazi regime. It is at times like these that serious questions need to be asked. What have the world done to help Swazi people?  While SADC sends delegations to Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and recently Libya what has it done for Swaziland? SADC recently took a tough stance against Zimbabwe to the annoyance of President Robert Mugabe but its silence on Swaziland has been too loud. One can ask the same questions of the United Nations. There is simply world silence on Swaziland. The world has not only forgotten the plight of Swazi people, it has ignored and turned a blind eye to their situation. South Africa, the region’s economic hub has remained silent as well with only the unions highlighting the plight of Swazi people. South Africa’s painful past demands that it speaks out on what is happening in Swaziland. South Africa cannot fully enjoy its new democratic dispensation if its neighbours worship with impunity undemocratic practises which have no place in the modern era. South Africa and SADC needs to live up to their responsibilities in the region. Swazis have a role to play as it is they who can change their own circumstances. It is through a democratically elected and accountable government that Swazis can have their human dignity restored.

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The Nigerian Electoral System: The Need for an Overhaul

The much-anticipated 2011 general election in Nigeria has eventually kicked off with the predictable hiccups and also embarrassing logistics problems. It may be recalled that the Nigerian elections was billed to start on the 2nd of April 2011 but was eventually cancelled shortly after it commenced due to what Nigerian electoral officials attributed to as dearth of logistics or inadequate logistics supply.

This development led to shock and angst across the land particularly amongst the electorates who trooped out in their numbers. The elections were eventually rescheduled to start on the 9th of April 2011 and were expected to have commenced as at the time of writing this. Questions and posers will continue to be asked why the electoral system in Nigeria is fraught with so much irregularities and inconsistencies, despite the huge amount of material resources committed to these exercises.

It is on record that the history of elections in Nigeria predates political independence and has been an ongoing phenomenon since colonial times, the story of elections and its conduct in Nigeria with the possible exception of the 1993 elections has continued to leave a sour taste in the mouths of both local residents and international observers. The problem[s] of elections and its conduct often starts with sundry problems such as the compilation and collation of a credible voter’s register, to institutional and structural problems such as electoral laws that are ambiguous and intended to cause confusion, outright subversion of the will of the people by diverting votes cast, inaccurate delineation of political wards and polling units. These problems become very embarrassing when we discover that countries like India with over a billion people conducts elections successfully without these embarrassing hiccups associated with the Nigerian electoral system.

It is in the light of these, that the late Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yaradua set up an electoral reform committee headed by a former chief justice of Nigeria Muhammed Uwais particularly after the much derided 2007 elections which brought him to power. This committee came up with structural reforms which on paper could guarantee at least a 90% flawless electoral system. But quite unfortunately this report has not seen the light of the day as it seems a lot of entrenched interests in the country are not comfortable with it.

The present situation Nigeria is facing as regards the 2011 polls points to the fact that unless a structural reform of the electoral process in the mould of the Uwais Report is implemented, the conduct of elections will still continue to pose a nightmare to Nigeria, no matter the amount of material resources spent on such elections.

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2011 National Assembly Election Success in Nigeria: A Glimpse of Hope at Last?

Nigeria, touted as the world’s most populous black nation, for a long time, has been at the precipice of collapse economically and politically because of bad leadership. Right from the locust years of the military, the country had been plunged into the abyss of retrogression. This continued even with the advent of democracy in the country in 1999. The elections of 1999 were marred with malpractices and all sorts of untoward practices. As it was in 1999, so it was in 2003. As if the nation is doomed never to learn from its past mistakes, the 2007 election that brought in the late President Musa Yar’adua was arguably the worst election ever conducted in Nigeria! To further add insult to the injury, the electoral umpire, Professor Maurice Iwu was unapologetic for the enormous shame he brought upon the country with his ineptitude and insincerity. The scenario thus gave birth to hopelessness, helplessness and haplessness in the land. Virtually everyone became disinterested in the polity.

So when Professor Jega was announced as the new Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, the situation was largely the same. Despite his antecedents as an honest and trustworthy person, Nigerians were still not convinced that the much-awaited time of change was here. Many were actually quick to condemn the man when on Saturday, the 2nd April, 2011 the National Assembly election slated for the day became botched and was consequently postponed. One thing that none of Jega’s critics and cynics could take away from him was his integrity. This much they all acknowledged.

It was therefore not astonishing to see the way the elections went across the length and breadth of Nigeria on Saturday, the 9th April, 2011. The election, despite some pockets of hitches and violence in some parts of the country, was relatively free and fair. What further made the election remarkable was its outcome, which so far, has shown some major upsets. For instance, the Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Iyiola Omisore, the enfant terrible of Osun State politics, a state in the South-West of Nigeria, was roundly defeated by Omoworare, a less popular candidate, but with more credibility. Like in Osun State, the daughter of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole were also defeated in Ogun State. The implication of all of these is that Nigeria may be moving closer to getting it right this time. Show me a credible leader and you would have found a man who will rewrite the story of shame of the continent. Like I have always said that Africa is blessed, not cursed. Despite the crises in Ivory Coast, Libya and others, with the success of the National Assembly election in Nigeria on Saturday, the 9th April, 2011, it seems there is a glimpse of hope after all in Africa. Professor Jega is treading triumphantly even where angels are afraid to tread. Is it time for us to be jubilant? Are we edging closer to our promise land? Is Nigeria getting it right at last? Only time will tell!

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Ivory Coast Sit-tight Laurent Gbagbo Captured

Ivory Coast's Gbagbo grabbed

UN News Center

11 April 2011 – The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Cote d’Ivoire today confirmed that the country’s former president Laurent Gbagbo has surrendered to forces loyal to President-elect Alassane Ouattara and is currently in their custody.
“ONUCI [UN Operation in Cote d’Ivoire] is providing protection and security in accordance with its Security Council mandate,” the spokesperson of the Secretary-General told reporters at UN Headquarters.

Côte d’Ivoire has been engulfed by violence since last November, when Mr. Gbagbo refused to step down from power, despite losing a UN-certified and internationally recognized presidential election to Mr. Ouattara.

The Security Council, meanwhile, went into urgent consultations during which it will hear a briefing on the unfolding situation in Côte d’Ivoire from the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy.

From The BBC

Besieged Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo has been detained in the main city Abidjan and delivered to the headquarters of his elected successor.

He reportedly surrendered to Alassane Ouattara’s forces after French tanks advanced on his residence.

Mr Gbagbo had been refusing to cede power to Mr Ouattara after losing November’s presidential election.

France said pro-Ouattara troops had detained him, but an aide to Mr Gbagbo said it was French special forces.

Mr Gbagbo was then taken to the city’s Golf Hotel, where Mr Ouattara has his headquarters.

UN peacekeepers accused pro-Gbagbo forces of endangering the civilian population and had asked French troops in Ivory Coast to act against the defiant leader’s heavy weapons.

Ivory Coast’s permanent representative to the UN, Youssoufou Bamba, said Mr Gbagbo would stand trial.

In London, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said that if charges were brought, Mr Gbagbo should be tried in an orderly manner.

‘Gbagbo has surrendered’

Forces loyal to Mr Ouattara launched an offensive from their stronghold in the north at the end of March, after months of political deadlock during which Mr Gbagbo refused to recognise his rival’s election victory (continue at BBC)

From the Wall Street Journal

Forces loyal to Ivory Coast’s elected president Alassane Ouattara have seized strongman Laurent Gbagbo from his residence, bringing to a head a protracted conflict between two presidential rivals that had tilted the world’s largest cocoa producer toward civil war.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Ouattara said Monday that Mr. Gbagbo was captured during a flurry of fighting earlier in the day. “There [was] heavy fighting involving French soldiers, the United Nations and our forces against Mr. Gbagbo’s forces,” spokeswoman Sogona Bamba-Arnault said from Paris. “Once all heavy weapons were destroyed, Mr. Gbagbo was there and we arrested him.”

An aide to Mr. Gbagbo said the incumbent ruler was first arrested by French special forces, and only later handed to forces loyal to Mr. Ouattara.

In Paris, French officials had no immediate comment.

Ms. Bamba-Arnault, the president-elect’s spokeswoman, said Mr. Gbagbo was taken to the Golf Hotel, where Mr. Ouattara has set up his office.

Mr. Gbagbo lost a November presidential runoff certified by the U.N. but refused to recognize the result, citing voting irregularities.

When attempts by African leaders to mediate the conflict failed, Mr. Ouattara’s rebel forces launched an offensive, sweeping south and capturing key towns and ports that Mr. Gbagbo’s army once held.

That advance stalled outside the main Ivory Coast city of Abidjan, a stronghold for Mr. Gbagbo’s supporters. It was only when the U.N. and Licorne, or Unicorn—the French battalion stationed in Abidjan—launched a series of aerial attacks that the rebels were able to encircle the former Ivory Coast president in his residence.

The U.N. and the French said the air assaults were intended to protect civilians by destroying Mr. Gbagbo’s artillery and weapons stockpiles. Mr. Gbagbo’s supporters said the military intervention was the work of a former colonial power pushing a political rival into the presidency.

Mr. Gbagbo resisted surrender, and a core of a couple of hundred supporters rebuffed initial efforts to capture his residence. Mr. Gbagbo’s supporters continued to attack French and U.N. targets, prompting a retaliation that appeared to pave the way for the former president’s capture on Monday.

Recent controversies associated with his rebel forces have complicated Mr. Ouattara’s struggle to oust the Ivory Coast strongman from his residence, and also point to the challenges of reconciliation after the conflict. The Ivory Coast fought a two-year civil war after Mr. Gbagbo came to power, and although the conflict officially ended in 2002, the country has remained sharply divided.

In a report released by New York-based Human Rights Watch over the weekend, Mr. Ouattara’s forces were said to have “killed hundreds of civilians, raped more than 20 alleged supporters of his rival, Laurent Gbagbo, and burned at least 10 villages” in the country’s western region during their advance south. The report said Mr. Gbagbo’s backers also killed supporters of the president-elect, but it called on Mr. Ouattara to investigate abuses on both sides.

That report followed a separate account from the International Committee of the Red Cross, estimating that 800 people were killed in intercommunal violence in the town of Duekoue, after troops loyal to Mr. Ouattara moved through the area.

The International Criminal Court also has said it was considering opening an investigation into reports of atrocities during the conflict.

Mr. Ouattara has pledged to launch an investigation into the allegations, and vowed that the perpetrators would be brought to justice in domestic or international courts.

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The Legon Sexual Violence: What We Did With Your Signatures

First of all, I want to say a big  thank you to all you for making the Legon Sexual Violence Petition a success. We got over 400 readers add their voice to the outcry. In response, we have sent a letter to the Vice Chancellor of the Univeristy of Ghana, The Dean of Students, The President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), and the Presidents of the Legon Student Representative Council (SRC) and Sarbah Hall.  Below is the letter we sent on your behalf. (Only 20 signatories were added to the letter for the sake of space and time)

Until the University responds, the petition is still open, and so if you could not sign last week, please take the opportunity to sign the Petition NOW.

Once again, thank you for your participation. KAM

Open Letter to The University of Ghana Petitioning a Response to Recent Sexual Violence on Campus

The Vice Chancellor

University of Ghana

Legon, Accra

cc. The Dean of Students, UG, Legon

The President, NUGS

The President of the SRC, Legon

The President of John Mensah Sarbah Hall, Legon

Dear Sir/Madam,

We the undersigned write to petition the University of Ghana, Legon, to

  • Speed up investigation into the sexual violence carried out by some residents of Sarbah Hall against a suspected campus thief, Amina
  • Report on the findings to the public as soon as possible
  • Announce appropriate punishment for the responsible students.
  • Institute measures that will prevent such incidence from happening on such a respected academic environment. We believe that unless the definitional and substantive aspects of the rape law and associated set of laws which deal with sexual harassment, molestation, unnatural offences, are clearly spelt out with appropriate potential punitive measures, any response given to this incident will remain historically a hollow gesture.

We believe that because the students smartly video-taped their crime, it should not take months for the University Authorities and the Law enforcement personnel to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

An online petition that was launched on the website talkafrique.com has so far generated nearly 500 signatures from concerned Ghanaians home and abroad and the list continues to grow. Much as some signatories have insisted on sending this petition to some of the national media here in the US to give a global perspective to the pervasiveness of sexual violence in our society, we believe that if the University authorities and the law enforcement can handle this locally, it will help to minimize the damage that will be done to the reputation of the University which has already suffered a huge blow.

We trust that your prompt response to this petition would convince us to end our reaction at this level and prevent further damage to Legon’s reputation.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned (representative signatories for the online petition for the sake of space. To request the complete list of signatories, please contact legon.sexual.violence@talkafrique.com

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Students Aim to Combat Malaria With Smartphone Software

By Barbara Liston (Reuters)

A team of graduate students has created a new smartphone application they say will allow healthcare workers in remote locations to diagnose malaria cases on the spot.

But first, the students hope their application wins this weekend’s Imagine Cup 2011 national finals in Seattle.

The 9th-annual Imagine Cup, sponsored by Microsoft, asks student entrants to “imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.”

Tristan Gibeau, 25, a graduate computer engineering student at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, said his team’s application fits the bill.

“It’s going to make a difference in trying to contain the outbreak of malaria,” said Gibeau, the project’s software designer.

“In the big picture, it’ll hopefully help in the fight against most diseases out there and make everybody’s life a little easier.”

His team’s prototype is a Windows 7-equipped Samsung Focus smart phone modified with a microscopic camera lens.

Gibeau said the software application can take a picture of a blood sample, process the data to detect malaria parasites, quantify how much malaria is in the sample and point the parasites out to the phone user.

“It actually draws a red box around the clusters of malaria, and it actually notifies you how many it found,” Gibeau said.

Although microscopic lenses are already available for smart phones, Gibeau said the software takes the concept’s usefulness to another level.

It would enable a doctor or nurse working, for example, in an African village lacking Internet access to make a diagnosis without having to upload data for processing elsewhere.

However, once the data stored in the phone is uploaded, it can be used to spot disease trends, Gibeau said.

He said he is working on smart phone applications to detect sickle cell and other diseases and also plans to make the software easily adaptable to lab-based microscopes.

The smart phone application was the idea of team member Wilson To, a 25-year-old graduate student in comparative pathology at the University of California at Davis.

It builds upon a mobile microscope concept that To and a different team created to win last year’s Imagine Cup national finals.

Gibeau said the team is working toward patenting and marketing the new application.

“From different conversations we’ve had with investors, we feel that this definitely is a money-maker,” he said.

[youtube]UrMdDlvrqJg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

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Teenage Love in Senegal and Baby Dumping in Namibia: Why Sex is not for The Ignorant

Regular visitors to TalkAfrique.com may have noticed that a disproportional amount of space is dedicated to the issues affecting women in Africa. The reasons are obvious, to say the least. The issues affecting women in Africa are enormous, and they begin the very day the doctor or mid-wife says “It’s a girl”.  Today, I discuss two disturbing statistics that are prevalent across the continent, at least, in most countries.

Senegal:

According to the UN World Health Organization, seventy percent (70%!) of teenage girls in Senegal are married. You would probably doubt this figure if the source was any other than the WHO. A report by the United Nations Children Fund early in the month showed that in Senegal, teenage pregnancies are responsible for 40% of maternal deaths in the country.

Teenage pregnancies account for up to 40% of maternal deaths in some African countries

African women are under-represented in all sectors of society except in the poverty department. Figures such as indicated above continue to be real adversaries that need to be tackled bluntly. The situation in Senegal is not an isolated incidence but rather a pervasive war of attrition that needs to be won sooner than later. In Niger, 50% of girls are married before they are 15. A couple of month ago, we posted an article here with similar disturbing facts: nearly, 5000 schoolgirls in Johannesburg, South Africa, became pregnant in just one school calendar year. It is regrettable to say that most of these girls would never become what they dreamed of becoming: teachers, pastors, parliamentarians, ambassadors, or doctors.

Namibia:

In Namibia, it’s even perhaps more shocking. Reports coming to light show that baby-dumping by teenage girls is at all-time high. Most teenage girls admit that the plausible balance between carrying an unplanned pregnancy, the stigma attached to it, the rejection by family and the society and the difficulty in obtaining or affording abortion, is to simply dump the baby. According to media reports from the state health department, about 40 bodies of newborns are found each month in human waste flushed down toilets.

I would love to hope that these incidences are unique to Senegal and Namibia but I’m afraid it rather the opposite. It is estimated that 80 women die each day in Africa from procedures they adopt to terminate unwanted pregnancies. We have a society that sweeps thorny issues under the carpet and hope they go away. Like it or hate it, teens are having sex, an exercise that is not meant for the ignorant, because the consequences could be the difference between life and death, graduation and fallout, and success and failure. When a girl is brought up in a male-dominated society where the powerful man gets whatever he desires, equipping the poor girl with ignorance is essentially sentencing them to a life of a nightmare.

It is time to close the curtain on the era when mere mention of sex in the family or school was a taboo. African teens need know more; in fact they want to know more, about sex and how to protect themselves from teenage pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Whatever we’ve been doing for the past years is not working, at least, not as we expect. The figures don’t lie.