East Africa’s polls: where colour, tension and invention freely mix

It is another election season in East Africa and there is no shortage of excitement and drama. Chaos and violence reign in many places. Cries of jubilation will be very loud in some places while tears of loss will flow in others. It is the way of elections around here. As I write this, vote counting is going on in Tanzania following Sunday’s presidential and general elections there. Although, the country is reported to be calm, there are also reports of anxiety and tension. One can predict that the outcome will be contested if not rejected outright. It always happens like this – not just in Tanzania. Tales of playing fields that are not level, rigging, intimidation, ballot stuffing and all manner of gerrymandering even before the poll takes place abound. There is such little trust in the electoral process exists that you wonder why people bother to take part in the first place. But they do. In Uganda, the ruling NRM holds its primaries today to elect its members who will contest for various positions in next February’s presidential and general elections. Here there is more than tension or anxiety. There is actually physical violence. Fist fights are common. Party membership cards have been torn and burnt in public. Party offices have been burnt. There might even be a few deaths before the whole thing is concluded. Kenya is in perpetual electioneering mood. The governing Jubilee and opposition CORD coalitions have since the last election in 2013 been trading accusations and seizing every opportunity to score political points ahead of the next elections in 2017. When they are not doing that, they are busy watching their backs to avoid being stabbed. Which makes you wonder: when does the work of governing get done? Luckily for Kenya, the private sector is sufficiently strong to roll along as politicians engage in interminable squabbles. What can one say about Burundi? The country is still burning after elections a few months ago, and nobody seems to be keen to put out the fire. In fact, authorities in Burundi seem intent on exporting the fire to other countries. Their thinking seems to be: if we are going to burn, we should not burn alone. That leaves Rwanda. There isn’t much to say about elections here. They are still nearly two years away, and when they happen, they will be conducted in the usual calm, efficient and even boring way. People will come to vote and go back home when they are done to wait for the results. Once they are announced, there will be jubilation. They will party that night, and go back to work soon afterwards. So what is wrong with most of East Africa? Or maybe there is nothing the matter; this is the region’s brand of politics and elections and concept of democracy. It probably is because we can identify certain characteristics of elections in this region. First, they are a contest in a literal and physical sense. Ask any Ugandan. Many decades ago, politics in that country, and probably in others, used to be defined as a game, until a young man came along and disabused people of this backward view of such an important human activity. He said it was not a game but a serious debate. The young man, lanky, beginning to get bald and with a quick sprightly step converted many other young people to this viewpoint. He has, of course, since grown chubby and gone completely bald. His converts have also altered in different ways. Along with the physical changes, their respective world view has also changed. There has been a real transformation. Debate was supposed to be a discussion of ideas, usually contending, and carried out through words. It now appears that is an incomplete understanding of debate. It can also be expressed in fist fights, stone-throwing, arson, public undressing and many other novel ways. In other words, political contestation is not simply a test of contending programmes, but also a test of the physical strength of the contestants. In this contest, losing is, apparently, not an option. Everyone must win. If they don’t, the only reason for that is foul play. They seem to have taken to heart the idea of contest once espoused by residents of a noisy students’ hall of residence at one of the universities in that country. Whenever they were went into any competition, usually sports, they chanted menacingly: we either win or they lose. And if they lost, there was indeed trouble. Second, electoral politics is not about how people can best live together, but rather about finishing each other off. This brand – political cannibalism – popularly known as kumalizana was invented in Kenya during the days of KANU. Threats of politicians finishing off (kumaliza) their rivals were quite common then. Sometimes this was in a literal sense – of physical elimination. Other times, it was putting an end to their political career. For a while, this sort of cannibalism was thought to have ended. It has not. It has only morphed into another related brand – that one of “fixing”. In the last few weeks, Kenyans have been told of plans by some individuals to procure witnesses so as “fix” the deputy president at the Hague-based International Criminal Court. As is to be expected, political temperatures have risen. Claims of fixing might yet become a long list. In the next decade, fixing of opponents will probably have changed to something else. Or another chilling invention will have been made. It all adds to the colour and inventiveness of East Africa’s elections. As we await the results of the presidential and general elections in Tanzania, we are likely to be treated to examples of our peculiar innovations. There is certainly no boredom in this region. jorwagatare@yahoo.co.uk

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East Africa’s polls: where colour, tension and invention freely mix