The
Roosters are Crowing:
It’s Time for Africans to Sweep Our Huts Clean
of Dirty Politics
February 18, 2008
The African roosters are crowing from the north to
the south to the east and to the west as the first rays
of dawn’s light are cracking through the darkness
hanging over Africa. From all over the continent, Africans
are awakening to a new understanding of their God-given
rights, their democratic rights and with them, to the
desire to rule themselves. No longer are they willing
to put up with a legacy of corrupt, greedy and power-hungry
dictators, no different from the colonizers, who controlled
the continent for years with their evil policies of
divide and conquer.
The people of Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Chad, Nigeria,
Somalia, Uganda, the Congo—too many places to
name, are challenging the status quo of dirty politics
and dirty politicians, not with guns, but with their
brooms! We are entering a new era and it is time to
clean our huts of corrupt leaders who refuse to give
up power while robbing and oppressing the people they
are supposed to serve! This is the root of our suffering,
misery and pain.
Dear Africans, it does not matter our ethnic group,
region, country, religion, political group, gender,
age, language or culture, it is time to truly choose
leaders who follow the rule of law and respect the rights
of the people. We must start by sweeping away the ill-smelling
garbage they helped to produce—hatred, ethnic
divisions, violence, poverty, oppression, injustice,
immorality and greed—it is contaminating our continent
and if we don’t sweep out the dirt and the rot
ourselves, no one else will do it for us!
Part of cleaning up that dirt begins with understanding
better how it got there. In other words, we must be
careful not to fall in the trap of the corrupt politicians
by fighting the wrong fight as they turn the truth upside
down just to confuse the public. A good example of this
is what happened in the general elections in Zimbabwe
on March 11, 2002, in Ethiopia on May 15, 2005, in Uganda
on February 23, 2006, in the Congo on July 30, 2006,
in Nigeria on April 21, 2007, and now in Kenya since
the national election on December 27, 2007.
The truth is that it is not a battle of politicians
and their political agendas; it is a battle for real
democracy, freedom, justice and peace against corruption
of the democratic process. Any peace agreement that
does not fearlessly address this key issue will be a
cover up of the truth. Yet, in both Ethiopia and Kenya,
the incumbents have attempted to convince others that
the real problem was with those who protested against
their claimed victory rather than with the actual stolen
election.
When the protest in Kenya became violent, the incumbent
was quick to define it as “ethnically-based protest.”
This seemed to best serve to advance the cause of the
incumbent who then can blame the opposition for not
bringing an end to the violence and humanitarian crisis
by simply accepting their loss. If Africans do not understand
these manipulations, they may fall into the trap of
committing violence against their fellow innocent countrymen—something
that has already created deep societal wounds that will
take years to heal. Yet, the motivation to create the
illusion that the violence is only a power struggle
between ethnic groups, vying for power, is simply a
diversionary tactic meant to cover up the allegedly
fraudulent election so as to undermine totally or at
least delay calls for a re-count or re-vote that might
lead to a different election outcome.
In a Reuters’ press release on February 16, 2008,
Jendayi Frazer, the U. S. Assistant Secretary of State
for African Affairs was reported to say that both Kibaki
and Odinga “understood they had to find a credible
lasting solution to the dispute.” She added, “Any
individuals seen as obstructing the effort for a peace
process, a power-sharing agreement, the president stated,
will be subject to possible further sanctions by the
U.S.”
Hopefully, this does not mean peace at any price, such
as through a cover-up that focuses on the aftermath
of the alleged election fraud rather than on the alleged
fraud itself that ignited the unrest. If there was fraud
on the part of Kibaki, why should there be power-sharing
and how could Kibaki be trusted under those conditions
to actually share the power? Would a power-sharing agreement,
something which would never be considered in a western
country, work in Kenya? Why is the west proposing something
like this rather than standing up for a fair election?
What would Jendayi Frazer say about Bush sharing power
with Gore after the 2000 election dispute in the US?
One of them would certainly have ended up with more
power than the other. Instead, democratic enthusiasts
should be lobbying for the truth, now popularly called
“good governance confronting their so-called allies
in the War on Terror, like both Kibaki and Meles, on
their failures to hold fair elections and to respect
the human rights of their citizens!
Disturbingly, throughout the international media,
much of the coverage about what was happening in Kenya
focused not on the election irregularities, but on the
ethnic dimensions of the violence and ways to re-stabilize
the country. There was little voice calling for examination
of the root of the problem originating in Kibaki declaring
himself a winner before the dispute was settled.
If the emphasis is not on conducting a fair and honest
election, what price will Kenyans and other Africans
have to pay in the future for choosing a “feeble
peace” over the establishment of long-term justice?
It is simply another example of sweeping the dirt and
rot under the carpet rather than out of the house—it
will still smell! If it does not work in the US, the
UK, Canada, Europe and other western countries, why
should we think it would it work in Africa?
The people chose the ballot box to vote for change
rather than the gun. They did everything right, but
were cheated out of the fruits of their earnest desire
for justice, opportunity, the rule of law, development
and human rights. Those who historically benefited from
the favors of the incumbent, including those outside
the country, largely supported Kibaki’s assertion
of winning, despite the evidence to the contrary.
The Kikuyus, Luos, Kalenjins, Luhyias, Kisiis and others
should join together and vote for fair elections; thereby
refusing to fall victim to an ethnic struggle no matter
how much pressure there is to put them in an ethnic
box. Kenyans with vision and wisdom must stand together
with other Africans in destroying the ethnic manipulations
that keep the corrupt in power by using the people against
each other! Instead, it is a great insult to freedom-loving
Africans who have been cheated out of their votes by
a deceitful leader posing in democratic clothes that
do not fit his actions!
Please learn from what happened in Ethiopia. Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi never was held accountable for
the rigged election or for the deaths of the protestors
following that election, killed by his own security
agents. He remains in power today and he has only proceeded
to further suppress any resistance to his falsely won
regime. The majority of the people of Ethiopia are deeply
suffering.
Look at what God says about it in the Biblical book
of Ezekiel when he condemns the “princes”
who plot ways to oppress and rob the people of their
rights, property, justice and lives.
“There is a conspiracy of her
princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey;
they devour people, take treasures and precious things
and make many widows within her…Her officials
within her are like wolves tearing their prey: they
shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. Her
prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions
and lying divinations… The people of the land
practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress
the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them
justice. I looked for a man among them who would…stand
before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would
not destroy it, but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:
25, 27-30)
People of Africa, we must first see ourselves and others
as being equally created in the image of God. We will
all face judgment someday and the decisions we make
now, may forever influence the outcome. Will you be
one of those willing to do the right thing? If we refuse
to stand in the gap for what is right, we will see the
destruction of not only ourselves, our families and
our communities, but we will bring destruction to our
countries and to our continent! Yet, if we fear God
with all our heart, soul and mind the darkness will
lift off of Africa.
It will require that we treat our fellow Africans and
all of human kind, especially the vulnerable, as part
of us and as someone equally precious to God. If we
do, He promises to bless us as seen in Psalm 41: 1 and
in Psalm 72: 4. Let us seek such a blessing and deliverance
for our continent!
“Blessed is he who has regard
for the weak: the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.”
“He will defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy: he will crush the
oppressor.”
The darkest part of the night is right before the dawn
so expect that those who see the darkness as an opportunity
for evil to increasingly resist the people who love
the daylight, but the daylight is coming anyway. Therefore,
we should not be discouraged but instead, we should
press on all the harder by joining together with others
who value doing what is right. It is not a time to be
timid or to give up.
Even dictators, who many times flourish only because
of the support of outsiders, cannot overcome a united
people who join together to sing the praises of freedom,
justice, equality and love towards each other. As such
a groundswell from the people emerges; it will become
like the journey of the sun through the day-- impossible
to alter. The sun is setting on the old Africa of dictators
and they know it, yet we too must change! We Africans
must come out to the light if we want Africa to come
out of the dark! It is not only about our dictators—we
too have a responsibility!
God is light; in him there is no darkness
at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet
walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the
truth. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates
his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves
his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing
in him to make him stumble. (I John 1:5-6, 2:9-10)
This means an end to ethnic hatred or discrimination.
This means an end to violence and barbaric acts. This
means an end to corruption, bribery and false testimony.
This means returning to God, promoting respect for the
rights and lives of the people He has created. This
means we must choose the side of morality, righteousness,
compassion, integrity, forgiveness, reconciliation and
goodness as we call out for God’s help or He will
not be with us and we will be no better than those we
are fighting against.
Look at the following passage from Psalm 34: 17 and
Psalm 35: 4-5 where God hears the cries of the righteous
and those righteous may be the ones we have wounded
by our actions. May we be willing for God to change
us quickly where we have done wrong!
“The righteous cry out, and the LORD
hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
May those who seek [our lives] be disgraced and put
to shame…May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them away…”
The real struggle in Africa is no longer between different
power-hungry leaders, but it is between people who want
freedom and those who are trying to repress it. It is
between morality and immorality and between truth and
the lie. With some exceptions, our institutions, like
the African Union, have become “social
clubs of dictators for life.” They back
up each other so that they will not be held responsible
for the crimes they have committed to gain and maintain
their power and riches. They are a union of the shameless,
leaving a trail of blood, horror and immoral actions
behind them.
They are unconscious and uncaring about the pain of
the child whose limbs have been cut off, the orphan
without parents, the screams of the woman who was raped
by a gang of soldiers and the widow whose hovel was
bull-dozed to make room for the business of the privileged
elite who have been favored for supporting the regime.
These dictators have abandoned their duties like parents
who have come into a union of marriage and given birth
to a child they refuse to parent.
Where was their voice when the Rwandan genocide occurred
or when the atrocities against young children were occurring
in Liberia, Sierra Leone and which are still occurring
in Northern Uganda? Where is their voice for those in
Darfur, the Congo, Somalia and Ethiopia?
As the African Union accepted Kibaki’s participation
in this past months’ summit meeting, protecting
him by refusing to put the election dispute and ensuing
crisis on the agenda, they showed their refusal to face
the hard issues of Africans. Instead the crisis was
referred to IGAD, another ineffective organization which
is headed by Kenya, which is no different than telling
a criminal to investigate his own crime!
This all happened in Addis Ababa where their host,
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, is trying desperately to
hang on to power after his own stolen election of 2005.
Is he going to speak up for the execution of justice
when such a thing does not exist anywhere in Ethiopia?
Is he going to stand up for the oppressed when his own
people are oppressed and terrorized by him? Will he
speak out against human rights abuses when in southeastern
Ethiopia, in the Ogaden region, and all the way to Mogadishu,
Somalia, Ethiopian National Defense Forces are committing
widespread crimes against humanity—even carpet-bombing
Ethiopian civilians in the Ogaden? Should we expect
Mugabe to speak out or Museveni, al Bashir and others
in the Union of Dictators? Who will speak for the people
of Africa who have been abandoned by those who are supposed
to care?
This African Union should be a union that gives life,
nurturing, compassion and wise guidance to the continent,
but instead it has become a union that promotes the
perpetrators of death and destruction to the continent.
Those of integrity, courage and moral strength are too
few. As long as the major players, including the West,
are willing to “look the other way to corruption,
human rights abuses and electoral fraud,” it appears
that the payoff is worth the risk—look at Ethiopia.
However, in Kenya, the results have not gone as smoothly
as they have in other African countries, having turned
one of the most stable countries in Africa into political
turmoil, seriously affecting the Kenyan economy. Unfortunately,
many innocent Africans, from all different groups, have
suffered for it.
Let us first look at how it played out. On election
day, Kenyans did exactly what they were supposed to—they
came out in the millions and peacefully voted, standing
in line with other Kenyans from every ethnic group and
political persuasion to cast their votes, some for President
Mwai Kibaki, others for Raila Odinga, the leader of
the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). At their polling
booths, the Kenyan people voted not only for a president,
but even more so for democracy. Tragically, the deciding
vote against democracy was cast when President Kibaki,
according to credible sources, stole the election and
defrauded the Kenyan people out of their vote.
Look at the chaos that erupted when Kibaki refused to
accept the truthful results of the election. One thousand
lives were lost, a tragedy that could have been avoided
had he acted with integrity and morality instead of
hurriedly being sworn in as president by Mr. Samuel
Kivuitu the Chairman of the Kenyan Election commission
when both knew the election dispute was unresolved.
Despite being a Kibaki supporter, Mr. Samuel Kivuitu
could have refused to support the flawed election, but
he instead lied about the results, along with 22 others
on the Board. The next few days when Mr. Samuel Kivuitu
took back his declaration of Kibaki as winner of the
election, stating it was impossible to know the real
winner, it was already too late—the chaos had
begun.
Even though voters did not follow rigid ethnic lines
in voting for Odinga and the ODM, causing them to win
in six out of eight of the provinces and the majority
of parliamentary seats, it was later falsely defined
as a power battle along ethnic lines, between Odinga
and Kibaki, rather than a power struggle between a leader
who wants to stay in power at any cost and the people,
who should have the right to decide.
The West should be affronted by this Kenyan result
for in a perverse way the West has now become victim
of its own values and rhetoric - freedom and democracy
and the right of the people to choose their leaders
through the ballot box. Here is the real dilemma for
the Western liberal democracies - in the Kenya case
which represents blatant electoral fraud - can we allow
Kibaki to continue when all know the political class
whom he represents will flaunt democracy at every moment
in order to remain in power.
How can the West preach democracy and `good governance'
when the people of the most advanced and stable country
in East and Central Africa are robbed of their voice?
What are we to do now? Support Kibaki, court Kibaki,
install of minor sharing of power under the title of
`power sharing', or, more appropriately, disown Kibaki
as no true friend of democracy and demand his resignation
in favour of Odinga and the ODM. Given that Kibaki was
willing to sacrifice his own people in the post-election
violence and turn his police on non-Kikuyu protestors,
can the West expect him to suddenly acquiesce to `power-sharing'?
As donor countries are placing incentives and expectations
on these countries to become democratic, the voting
public will be betrayed if election fraud is ignored
by those donors who choose a band-aid approach to peace
that will not lead to sustainable resolution of the
root problem.
Honest and fair elections are the groundwork for a
free society and Africans should not ever side with
corruption. It is the wrong side and pits like-minded
people against each other along ethnic lines instead
of bringing them together to stand against injustice.
Today’s injustice will tomorrow become one’s
own.
Therefore, the desire for a free and democratic Kenya
should unify Kikuyus, Luos, Kalenjins, Luhyias, Kisiis
and all the other many ethnic groups in Kenya to fight
against electoral manipulations or all will lose. This
does not mean that they do not have legitimate complaints
and disagreements (like land disputes) that must be
fairly settled, but these may be all the more difficult
to settle after a fraudulent election, especially if
a peace-agreement is only superficial and used to further
suppress justice, truth and honest democratic expression.
Let us look again at the ethnic tensions that continue
to exist in Ethiopia. They are serious enough that the
wrong set of circumstances, like another flawed election,
could potentially explode into chaos that could exceed
that in Kenya. However, the many legitimate complaints
that various groups and factions have against one another;
should not be approached using violence.
Instead, Ethiopians and Kenyans need to rally behind
a consensus to resolve these disagreements fairly and
civilly. Yet, in Ethiopia, Meles has been masterful
at inciting dissension between groups, a tactic that
most certainly will backfire and is now also being used
in Kenya. In fact, there are allegations being made
that some are stirring up the violence for their own
benefit.
Currently, some witnesses have come forward to report
that some of the financial elite within Kenyan society,
who have a vested interest in ensuring that Kibaki stays
in power, have reportedly been bribing “Mungiki”
or unemployed youths on the streets to commit violence,
even violence directed at innocent members of Kibaki’s
own ethnic group, the Kikuyus, in order to exert pressure
on Odinga and the ODM to give up their positions by
blaming their refusal to accept Kibaki as the winner
as the reason for the continued violence. Such subterfuge!
However, this tactic is not original—ask Meles!
Let us look how the same thing was done in Ethiopia.
The opposition party was blamed for the violence following
the rigged election even though a later governmental
report was leaked that indicated Meles’ security
agents were responsible. The Opposition Party, under
pressure from outsiders, agreed not to protest, but
later were thrown in prison for twenty months. The movement
lost its momentum. Meles is still in power and has only
become more and more repressive due to his fear of being
overthrown.
Most all sources of communication in the country are
blocked. For instance, because the radio, TV and newspapers
are all controlled by the government, because many Internet
sites are blocked and because spies are all over, Meles
has effectively created a wall of silence around Ethiopia.
Many Ethiopians have no idea what is going on in Kenya
and Meles obviously would like to keep it that way.
As long as ethnic groups are divided, Meles is stronger,
but Ethiopians are starting to see through this, including
many Tigrayans from his own ethnic group who do not
support him. The soil of Ethiopia is stained with the
blood of its citizens due to immoral leaders who are
willing to sacrifice their own people. Do not let this
happen in Kenya!
Certainly some are always willing to commit violence
against their fellow countrymen and women, but just
like there are criminals in every society, the majority
should not condone it. However, when it is supported
by those in power, the people of Ethiopia, Kenya and
others should be outraged and stand against it in a
joint effort of diverse, but united people who value
life and liberty.
When Kenyans first began their protest, it was governed
by the Kenyan values, conscience and the constitution.
It was peaceful and respectful until the police shot
live bullets and sprayed water canyons at the people.
Now, a thousand or more Kenyans have been killed and
500,000 others displaced.
Africans and others in the world are closely watching
what happens in Kenya. What happens there will have
an effect in other places on the continent. Freedom
and democracy must be the winner. Humanity over ethnicity
must win. We must unite against the dictators who have
united themselves against us. Mr. Kibaki can go to the
school of other dictators who will support them and
instruct them in the fine nuances of maintaining control.
Mr. Kibaki can learn from the likes of Meles Zenawi
of Ethiopia, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Museveni of
Uganda, Kabila of the Congo, Al Bashir of Sudan, Isayas
of Eritrea, Deba of Chad, along with many others. They
will be tutored on the fine details of how to subvert
democracy, how to silence the opposition, how to divert
attention by instigating ethnic conflict and humanitarian
crises while at the same time, reaping the financial
benefits. However, these dictators will never stop the
light that is bringing Africans to see each other as
fellow Africans.
The signs are everywhere that the roosters of Africa
are crowing. They are crowing for a new day for Africans
where we will look upwards to God, our Creator, the
provider of that light who cares about the oppressed
and the harassed. He cares for our neighbors like He
cares for us. As we can have perfect trust that the
light of dawn and will bring a new day, we can have
faith that a humble people who look to God, will never
be disappointed. As we do, we will see our African-ness
more than our ethnicity and our humanity more than our
African-ness.
This is a fight for a new Africa by new Africans. The
old Africans are like old seeds you put in the ground
that never rises from the ground to produce any crop.
It is the old Africans that makes Africa to be known
as a dark continent, full of misery, pain, death, bloodshed
and sorrow. These old Africans are not like our African
forefathers who invest their wisdom, love and strength
in guiding and helping the next generation. Instead
they are those who want to devour the young as they
might rise up to challenge them. They have failed Africa
and have created institutions of nothingness. This is
the reason why the first places African leaders go to
when they are in need, is the west rather than to African
institutions where corruption is upheld too often.
This past week, a doctor from Toronto, Canada, was
charged for stealing kidneys from unwilling victims
in India. He tricked them by first promising jobs, then
secretly sedating them. In a private operating room
in the back of his home, he then proceeded to remove
one of their kidneys in order to sell it to someone
needing one. After the forced donor awakened from the
surgery, he was threatened that if he told, he would
be killed.
Is this any different from the danger that is lurking
in the dark corners on our continent? We have been seduced
by the promises of those among us who only talk the
words of democracy, justice and freedom, but who have
no heart for the people. They get us to go along with
them, but then use that power to exploit us—removing
our lives, souls, resources and the future of our children.
If we complain, our lives our threatened or ended.
As long as we are silent, the evil system continues,
preying on new victims. But, the roosters are crowing
and waking up Africans to this deception. We must start
talking about it and unifying against it as one force
and now it is up to all Kenyans to make sure they do
not fall for this deception in their own country!
By supporting the outcome of a stolen election, the
people of Kenya, from every group, are supporting continued
corruption—and giving up far more than they realize.
It is not about which leader they supported, it is about
protecting the establishment of justice!
As we write this article, we are not choosing Odinga
over Kibaki or Kibaki over Odinga—that is for
the Kenyan people to decide. That is exactly the major
point! Nothing less should be tolerated any longer in
Kenya or in any other country in Africa. Africa does
not need sham democracies and anyone who pressures Africans
to accept such false substitutes is not a friend of
Africa and instead is trying to keep us in the darkness
while “our organs” are being removed!
Now is the time for this new Africans to connect with
each other, putting the entire puzzle together for the
first time. Those who are seeing the light in Ethiopia
must be connected to those seeing the light in Kenya.
Those seeing the light in Zimbabwe must be connected
to those seeing the light in Chad, Nigeria, Uganda,
Somalia—the list goes on. This cannot be accomplished
by organizations consumed and controlled by tribal loyalties
which blind them to the humanity of others.
In Ethiopia, we are convinced that what must happen
is to create a Movement for a New Ethiopia
which includes everyone. The strategic goal of this
Movement is to reclaim Ethiopia from its tyrannical
rulers and their associates. Our path is about life
enhancement for all not matter their ethnic identity
for in the end we are all Ethiopians and Africans. We
are not pursuing State sovereignty here but rather people
sovereignty, to set our people free from oppressive
rule.
Those who want to create ethnic conflicts and issues
want us to remain backwards so we put our heads down
while they rob us of our natural resources as well as
our lives. These are the politics of colonization and
enslavement. Part of what must be done is to stop the
exploitation of not only the natural resources, but
of the precious people of Africa. This will only happen
when we see ourselves and our neighbors as God’s
children, beautifully made and full of purpose and potential.
This is the only way to prevent us from being thrown
into cages to fight and kill each other like dogs or
roosters, while we hardly utter a complaint. These power-hungry
leaders are out to kill the brightest and most compassionate
among us so they can continue the economic colonization
of the continent.
We Africans must resist by coming together within our
countries and within our continent. It should be done
in Zimbabwe before the election next month and in Ethiopia
and Uganda before their elections. Africans have been
divided for too long. We have put up with this political
game that is destroying us from within. We can prosper
together, knowing that we are a continent with some
of the greatest and richest of natural resources, including
ourselves, despite having the poorest of opportunities
for our people.
We must change the way we think and it will require
a spiritual transformation with God at the center! If
Europe, who used to fight and kill each other, can live
with the same money and can travel between twenty-four
countries on that continent without a checkpoint, this
can be done in Africa, but only if we begin to think
differently. We must refuse to be by-standers while
the continent is engulfed in flames!
Africans who see this must start connecting with one
another in making this dream of living peacefully with
others come true. It can be done! It will not be easy
because there will be some who do not want it because
they make money off of our lives, but if we believe
in God and seek Him and if we respect and love one another,
it is more than possible! God can provide a new path
through the jungles, savannahs, deserts and over the
mountains where none yet exists!
This can be the starting point from where Africans
begin connecting with each other, giving life to the
continent, constructing a new Africa, through the power
of God that will include all people regardless of differences.
It is up to us Africans to start the journey with God
at every side.
Right now we, as well as these African dictators, know
that the sun is setting on them. Their power is like
a piece of hanging pottery, held up only by an unraveling
cord, but yet holding the heavy offenses they have committed
against the people of Africa. Soon the weight of those
offenses will become too much for that cord that has
been holding their power up for years and it will snap.
When the fragile pottery crashes into many, unusable
pieces, everybody will see how weak they really are.
This is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message, relied
on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will
become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
that collapses suddenly, in an instant. It will break
in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that
among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking
coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.
In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness
and trust is your strength, but you would have none
of it.... Yet, the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God
of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! (Isaiah
30:12-15, 18).
Change is possible individually and collectively. The
Chairman of the Kenyan Election commission Mr. Samuel
Kivuitu was part of the deceit that made Kibaki the
winner of the election, unleashing violence and chaos
in the country; yet, something changed in him overnight
and he admitted his wrongdoing.
Mr. Samuel Kivuitu had done his job well in 2002, but
had failed this time. Perhaps his God-given conscience
convicted him, giving him the courage to correct what
he had done the previous day—we do not know, but
we do know that as people we can make mistakes and those
mistakes can have consequences for others, but that
should not stop us from later admitting our failures
and changing our ways.
Imagine what would happen if Kibaki or others would
admit theirs—like King Nebuchadnezzar was warned
in a dream to do? Confused by the dream, the prophet
Daniel interpreted it for him, telling him that until
he acknowledged that “the Most High God was sovereign
over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he
wishes” that he would literally go crazy. Daniel
advised him not to boast of his power and instead to:
“Renounce your sins by doing what
is right and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed.
It may be that then your prosperity will continue.”
(Daniel 4:27)
At first he refused, but later heeded the warning.
May our African dictators change their ways for the
good of the people and because some day they also will
be held accountable before God! However, regardless
of what they do, we Africans have such a great resource
in a gracious and merciful God, who will show us the
way to walk in humility, love, compassion, integrity
and morality.
Let us pray that through the “bread of affliction”
and through the “water of adversity,” that
we Africans have gone through, that we will discover
a way out of our legacy of pain, misery and suffering
that will change the direction of Africa for future
generations to come! May God provide light to the path
we must walk together!
____________________________________________________________
For additional information, please contact:
Mr. Obang O. Metho,
E-mail: advocacy@anuakjustice.org
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