Review of African Blogs – December 11, 2008

Two major topics on the African blogosphere this week have been the presidential elections in Ghana and the growing Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe.

White African shares the general sense of satisfaction and even elation at the conduct and outcome of the elections in Ghana:

“There’s lots to feel proud of in this election thus far. Former Botswana president Ketumile Masire, monitoring the election with the Carter Center, noted, “Ghana is becoming a model of democracy in the region and abroad.” Nana Oye Lithur, a Ghanaian gender activist, argues that a divided, “discerning” electorate is the sign of something that’s especially powerful in Ghana, a free, diverse and energetic press. Everyone who cares about this country, and the continent as a whole, is holding their breath that the next round of the election is as free, fair, smooth and peaceful.”

David Ajao writes about another aspect of the Ghanaian elections which has been the subject of numerous commentaries – the general absence of coverage of the elections in the Western media:

“The Ghana 2008 Presidential/Parliamentary elections has been over since about 12 hours ago and I find it interesting that many of the leading Western media outlets have not made a mention of Ghana 2008 Elections. Perhaps, Ghana does not exist on their radar screen. Ghana, like the rest of black Africa will only pop-up on their monitoring screens when over 1,000 people have butchered themselves or over 300,000 people are dying of starvation, or over 500,000 people are displaced by a civil war…

The Elections have been very peaceful and so I reckon CNN has nothing to report. Had 100 people lost their lives due to the elections, Ghana will be in their leading news headlines. For now, Ghana does not exist to them.”

The western media again draw the ire of Muigwithania 2.0 regarding their coverage of the Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe:

“The manner in which the European and British media have reported how cholera is spreading in Zimbabwe not only reveals they enjoy watching a people whom they cannot intimidate and control suffer, but even, more importantly, it is clearly a masquerade by supposedly compassionate human beings who have nothing to do with the problem.

The Zimbabwean Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, and his staff deserve ultimate praise, not only for their tireless efforts to maintain Zimbabwe’s broken health infrastructure, but for having the courage and integrity to inform the world that the sanctions — and not negligence or bad governance — are the root cause for problems with the country’s health delivery system.

While the cholera problem is tragic and deserves our immediate attention, the British government and its supporters (Raila Odinga and Co), obsessed with illegal regime change in Zimbabwe, should be the last ones allowed to pass moral judgment on how President Mugabe and Zanu-PF deal with this matter.”

Constitutionally Speaking compares the arrest of KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Health Minister Neliswa Nkonyeni on charges of corruption to that of Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich who is accused of trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder:

“Both countries have a Bill of Rights which guarantees accused persons the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. But in the USA, the arrest of the Governor immediately led politicians - across party lines - to call for his resignation despite him not having being convicted of any crime.

In South Africa, the arrested politicians (Zuma, Nkonyeni, Yengeni) become heroes despite facing serious charges. This is the difference between a country with a developed sense of public morality and a country where public morality is completely absent from the body politic. In the USA Mr. Zuma could never have become the leader of the ANC. In South Africa, Mr. Zuma will become the next President of South Africa…”

Reinventing Africa writes about a trip to the Central African Republic to conduct an assessment of the humanitarian situation in that country:

“I find it ridiculous, though unsurprising, that many people we meet are surprised that two Cameroonian women are conducting an assessment of the situation in CAR… I don’t see why anyone should be surprised that Cameroonians are concerned about the humanitarian situation in a neighboring country, considering the conflict has directly affected Cameroon...

Too often we expect and wait for Western powers to come to our aid, and as neighbors [we] are not as concerned as we should be for our welfare. In fairness, the countries of Central Africa have come together and formed a peacekeeping force for the Central African Republic. And many countries, including Cameroon and Chad, have opened their doors to refugees from the Central African Republic. This being said, we need to be as proactive as possible in helping one another solve problems within the continent… I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “If we don’t save ourselves, who will?”

Scribbles from the Den publishes a memo by Cameroonians in the Diaspora in reaction to a recent presidential decree on decentralization:

“The centerpiece of the new decree is a name change: the country’s ten provinces have been transformed into ten regions, and a few districts would be upgraded to sub-divisions. Nothing else is new....Nothing in this pathetic game of cards has anything to do with the welfare of citizens in Cameroon. All the governors and their regional underlings represent and report to our very detached and always-traveling President...

This devolution of power is not rocket science. It is the means by which responsible governments give their citizens the opportunity to set their own development priorities, choose their leaders at the local level and hold them accountable for the faithful implementation of their development desires…

It is hard to figure out what’s next for Cameroon. Decentralization is certainly not in the works. Certainly not until provincial (regional) governors become accountable to citizens and the ballot box replaces the presidential decree as the means for determining who governs and to whom governors are accountable!”

* Dibussi Tande, a writer and activist from Cameroon, produces the blog Scribbles from the Den

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org/