The Sunday News
Meluleki Moyo
“Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”
Probably in oblivion fulfilment of the biblical text in Luke 11: 46, the Kenyan legal minds recently determined the mood in the East African nation, a situation which saw some reportedly dancing while some wept the night out.
Be that as it may have been, the Kenyan Supreme court became a haven of petitions led by Africa’s celebrated legal minds, lawyer Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba and James Aggrey Bob Orengo.
After deliberations and considerations on the circumstances surrounding the 8 August election in that country, Chief Justice David Maraga, a church elder within the Seventh Day Adventist Church in that country, declared the Presidential election result null and void.
The court however, did not place blame on President Kenyatta or his Jubilee party for the noted irregularities. The declaration attracted international attention amid wild celebrations, and as to be expected, opposition movements across the continent joined Kenya presidential hopeful Mr Raila Odinga as he reportedly danced the night out in a “Nairobi night club”. Some felt it was “Africa’s first, a historic and ground-breaking” moment, and having been giving a refreshing feeling that “Africa is indeed rising”.
Not to be left out and making noise from corners of ignorance, our brothers from the regime change sect seized the opportunity and rose to the occasion. Deliberately ignoring the fact that Kenya is not Zimbabwe and that Nairobi is actually an hour ahead of Harare, some imported events from Nairobi to Harvest House in Harare in a desperate attempt to justify and vindicate a political failure called Mr Morgan Tsvangirai in face of his imminent demise in 2018.
Just because a coalition called National Super Alliance (NASA) fronted by Mr Odinga recently won a so-called landmark ruling in the Kenyan Supreme court does not mean that all African opposition coalitions in the future, including the one mooted in Zimbabwe, will be lucky to revel in the same political temporary glory.
For the record, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has said it will conduct next year’s elections in accordance with the country’s electoral laws and that the success of biometric voter registration (BVR) exercise hinged on the integrity and professionalism of the commission. This manifested during the official opening of a five-day BVR Master trainers and Technicians’ training-workshops in Harare recently, and in the words of Justice Rita Makarau:
“I therefore cannot overemphasise the need for us to always follow instructions. We give you instructions based on the law because we want to conduct our elections in accordance with the law.”
With the Kenyan judgment recently shaping discourse, I found the MDC-T spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu’s point of view amusing and ridiculous. While commenting on the news from Nairobi and apparently laying the foundation of his party’s usual crying foul notoriety, the MDC-T spokesperson was quick to display the beleaguered party’s gross cowardice.
“As Zimbabwe approaches the harmonised elections in 2018, we call upon ZEC to fearlessly and resolutely exercise its constitutional mandate to run a free and fair election. ZEC should flex its muscles and make it unambiguously clear that it shall not tolerate or countenance any electoral malfeasance from any quarter. In that way, ZEC would be able to gain the confidence of the majority of Zimbabweans, many of whom are still not entirely convinced about the independence of our electoral management body.”
He continued:
“We would like to applaud the judiciary in Kenya for being bold and independent enough to come up with this kind of ruling in a very high profile and politically sensitive case. Many a time, here in Zimbabwe, the people have been denied the opportunity to freely and fairly choose a Government of their choice. The people of Zimbabwe will remember that the 2002 MDC Presidential election petition is still pending, more than 15 years after it was filed in the courts of law”, wrote Gutu before describing Zimbabweans as a peace-loving people who always endeavour to peaceful ways of resolving their political conflict.
On the contrary however, Zimbabweans will never forget the complacency and lack of will possessed by the MDC T and its allies. If the 2002 petition indeed had some substance, Zimbabweans will forever ask why the MDC-T lost determination. After all, lessons from Kenya postulate that allegations should be accompanied by proof and besides, it has always been De Minimis Non Curat Lex! (Of small things, the law knows no cure).
Regarding the much clamoured for electoral reforms, Zimbabweans will as well forever ask why the same MDCs did not push for such reforms during the GNU when they had all the time and opportunity to do so, if ever there was a need.
Again for Mr Gutu to talk about solving political conflict through peaceful ways coming from the spokesman of a party with a well-documented history of violence in resolving conflict, boggles the mind.
Addressing supporters at a rally in Bulawayo recently, Mr Tsvangirai set his blame game machinery in motion ahead of the 2018 polls when he said: “If it happened in Kenya it can as well happen in Zimbabwe”. Mr Tsvangirai and his cabal just need to be honest with themselves, make hay amid a shining sun, stand up to the occasion and avoid their now usual norm, crying foul at the aftermath of each election.
The dumb and lacking-common-sense opposition have failed to assemble a meaningful coalition in the past four years. Mr Tsvangirai is reportedly being bullish, “appointing” himself leader of the MDC Alliance and running the show much to the disdain of other coalition hopefuls like Dr Joice Mujuru’s National People’s Party (NPP). All the MDC has managed to achieve is the so-called MDC Alliance, a grouping of the party’s prodigals who have wandered far from home to the extent of consequently forgetting that Zimbabwe is not Kenya!
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