Why consensus politics is good for the region

This week, a member of parliament in a neighboring country, while addressing the press, quoted Buju Banton; ‘he who feels it knows it more.’ It’s not Buju’s original quote but a famous Rastafarian line he borrowed for his song ‘not an easy road’ off his 1995 album Til Shiloh.’ Half a century after breaking free from direct colonial rule, countries have failed to agree on a national consensus with which to move their respective nations to transformation; instead, what we see are endless clashes of smaller selfish dreams within countries. The clash of smaller dreams within countries has put at stake, larger regional and continental aspirations. Progress on some of East Africa’s dreams of a standard gauge railway, inter-border electricity projects, joint investment in petroleum harvesting infrastructure have since been kicked out of news headlines as countries squabble over aspects of domestic politics. Last week, we noted that the ongoing squabbles in Kenya and Uganda, if not reined in fast, will worsen and further blot the region’s risk profile. Indeed, things escalated this week, with Uganda’s debate over attempts to change presidential age-limit moving from bad to worse. What started as heckling and name calling among members of the Ugandan parliament climaxed into blows with chairs and microphone stands improvised as quick weapons against each other; the fracas provided front-page headline material across the globe. In Kenya, the rhetoric by political actors is equally increasingly becoming frightening and could climax into a physical faceoff as the country gets closer to a fresh election to vote a president after the earlier one was annulled on claims of non-compliance with the laws. People living outside Rwanda have criticized the country’s form of electoral democracy claiming that political contest is devoid of real competition because the ruling party and the opposition appear to be in consensus with each other. For instance, when the conversation to change the constitution came in 2016, the opposition parties were among key supporters and during the presidential election this year, key political parties endorsed the ruling party candidate. To some, such a development is hard to understand because opposition elsewhere must be seen to be hungry for power and always fighting to grab it from the incumbent. No country in the world deserves to experience Genocide and that Rwanda did, is and will always be the country’s deepest blow, for centuries to come; but having that history has also given Rwandans the advantage of comparing the past and the present. A past that almost led to total destruction of a nation, and a present that has led to national consensus which has also been the foundation for today’s transformation of country and people. It is something that helps one appreciate the importance of running a consensus democracy; a form of governance where the ruling party and opposition agree on a direction to move forward to obtain a bigger dream good for all or majority of Rwandans. Every time there is chaos in Uganda or Kenya, dozens of people are killed. But the numbers are perhaps too small to teach those involved a lesson. So, the cycle of death that follows electoral activities has almost been accepted as normal. In Rwanda, the election killed no one and people on the outside criticized it as ‘boring and stage-managed’ because it was devoid of violence and drama. The truth is it hasn’t been an easy road that Rwanda has travelled from the chaos in 1994 to today’s stability where competition for public office is guided by national consensus. It is only Rwandans who feel and enjoy the benefits of national consensus who know better the effects of a country without consensus. Perhaps after countries have driven their way to where Rwanda was; they will finally appreciate where it is today and why things happen the way they do. Good luck to Uganda and Kenya in their quest for national consensus. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Why consensus politics is good for the region