THE AU SHOULD USE COMMON SENSE WHEN DEALING WITH MADAGASCAR

By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
March 18, 2009

A major political upheaval has been going on in Africa’s island of Madagascar for the better part of this year with not much media attention except occasional newsflash on foreign television channels. Most of the coverage has been online to be precise.

What has been going on in that island has been the people’s revolt against a corrupt regime which though has been in power in the last seven years through a democratic process; it has not been different from many elected leaders in Africa.

Deposed president Marc Ravalomanana has since been overthrown not by the Madagascar military but by the people of the island after persistent protests and boycotts that have made it impossible for him to govern the country for the last three months.
At one point he vowed not to step down in favor of his main opponent and leader of the opposition in the country’s parliament, a 34 year Andry Rajaolena.
At 59 years of age, President Ravalomanana could not withstand the people’s onslaught led by Rajaolena, 25 years his junior.

Why did Madagascans throw their president out of power? They accused him of massive corruption, nepotism, mismanagement and misuse of public resources. They accused him of running the country like his personal property. Witnesses that have been to Madagascar in the last one year have told tales of a man obsessed with political power and primitive accumulation of wealth.

Every construction company, industry and supply food chains belonged to one Ravalomanana or his close relatives and friends. Either you were in his circles or not to determine whether you would benefit from his regime.

For seven years he had subjected the people of Madagascar to this kind of rule. Despite lucrative tourist business and thriving mining industry, all proceeds, like most African heads of state, flowed to his coffers or the pockets of a few friends he chose to share the national wealth with.

Here was one head of state that lived a life of his own. He dwelt in fools’ paradise when his 20 million citizens survived on a dollar a day while he acquired and cruised in a 60 million dollar jet. The tragedy was; his opulence was so vulgar that even the military refused to protect him at his hour of need.

When finally he threw in the towel in mid March, he found it necessary to hand over power to the military and not to the people’s choice; one young Ralijaona.

A reaction of the AU; that outfit that is supposed to unite and improve good governance was most embarrassing and strange. The AU chiefs had the temerity to say they would not recognize the new government of Ralijaona because it was unconstitutional!

The truth of the matter is; this young man called Andry Ralijaona did not overthrow Ravalomanana’s government. He was no soldier with guns. The people of Madagascar threw their president out. All the army did was to decline power offered to them by their besieged president. They instead gave the power to the man of the people.
In my opinion, and I may be wrong; what happened in Madagascar was more democratic than many sham elections we purport to carry out in this continent. Don’t tell me that what happened in that island was less democratic than our elections in Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and even Senegal.

Our continent is littered with pre-rigged elections from South to North, East and West. If we had fair and democratic processes, Uganda would not be fighting a 20 year war in the North. If we had some semblance of democratic tolerance, El Bashir would today not be an international fugitive in his own country. Yet, murderers like Bashir and Robert Mugabe are the darlings that the AU would rally behind from time to time despite the atrocities they commit against their citizens.

The Madagascar situation is another classic example where the AU has been caught with its pants down. It has revealed the AU’s helplessness in solving African problems. If it had the power and the teeth to bite, we would to day not be witnessing human massacres in Somalia and DRC decades later. If it had the clout to deal with the continent’s crises, it would not have allowed Mugabe’s criminal antics to run its cause; yet it did without batting an eye.

People’s uprising against corrupt and autocratic regimes are the answer to Africa’s bad governance. Had it not been so, Uganda would still be governed by rogue dictators of the caliber of Milton Obote and Idi Amin. Had it not been for the people’s uprising, apartheid would still be ruling South Africa.

Yes, because of today’s downpour, let us not forget the thunderstorms of yesterday.

jerryokungu@gmail.com