The African Intelligentsia Is Silent Part I

 African intelligentsia are captured by American presidential elections and yet they are not captured by elections in Guinea, Tanzania, Côte d'Ivoire, Uganda, Tigray in Ethiopia, and Ghana. The African Intelligentsia is not captured by the protests of our brothers in Nigeria. Not so many are captured by the EndSars protests like they're captured by American elections and all their affairs not ignoring the American protests. United States of America is a world power, and we all should be interested in American elections since they shape and determine future global events, the tragedy however is that not so many of us are showing interest with the same vigor for African affairs. 

African Politicians in Africa are arrested on flimsy grounds. And we ought to condemn that in the strongest terms as a people but the African intelligentsia is mute. 

The Guinean constitution was amended in the controversial constitutional referendum earlier in the year changing the presidential terms allowing incumbent president Alpha Condé to run for a third term. 

Guinean Post election violence

Guinean elections preliminary estimates were reported to indicate that Diallo was in the lead but  the Independent National Electoral Commission declared incumbent president Alpha Condé the winner.

 

Alpha Condé takes on Cellou Dalein Dialo

Both the legislative and the referendum elections in Guinea was marred by violence and protests. The protests were harshly repressed by security forces claiming a number of civilian lives but the African Intelligentsia is silent. 

 An MP for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party in Tanzania, suggested that holding a presidential election in 2020 was not a good idea due to the cost, and that the money should be used for development projects.

Tundu Lissu and John Pombe Magufuli

The proposal was likely made in order to keep President John Magufuli in office till 2025, with Lusinde saying "no one can defeat president Magufuli". Nevertheless, the election was held. 

Sight of elections in Tanzania

The police in Tanzanian,  arrested several opposition politicians for allegedly planning illegal demonstrations after accusing the ruling party of rigging the general election but the African intelligentsia in Uganda and Kenya don't even know that this is happening to their brothers and sisters in the Southern part of East Africa. 

Opposition in Côte d’Ivoire struggles to find common ground. Noting “the end” of Côte d'Ivoire's incumbent president Alassane Ouattara’s term, opposition parties  called for “the start of a civilian transition”. Violent clashes in Toumodi, south of Yamoussoukro, injured 18 people and 4 people died in Toumodikro.  According to Indigo, 23% of the country’s polling stations were shuttered and nearly 6% of polling stations were forced to close before the counting process and the announcement of the results could be completed. Laurent Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party opposed the idea. “We feel it’s too early to form a transitional government because the current environment doesn’t lend itself to it. What’s more, we can’t condemn Ouattara for violating the law and then do the same ourselves. 

Alassane Ouattara alongside Laurent Gbagbo

The political capital’s entry points were blocked by extensive barricades. A team of ECOWAS monitors were forced to travel by helicopter to reach Abidjan after waiting endlessly to enter the city. At the city’s northern entry point, the motorcade of a businessman close to the government was attacked. He wasn’t injured but six vehicles were set on fire.

Election violence in Côte d’Ivoire

Protesters in Côte d’Ivoire

In Zatta, near Yamoussoukro, the motorcade of budget minister Mamadou Sanogo’s employees was targeted by protesters blocking the road. The department officials were shot at with .12-calibre bullets and three vehicles were set ablaze. According to a statement from the budget ministry, one injured victim was reported missing and another person was seriously wounded but the African intelligentsia is silent about these matters. 

Civil conflict broke out in the Tigray region of Ethiopia between Tigray regional state special forces and the Ethiopian National Defense force after Tigray held parliamentary elections that were considered illegal by the government of prime minister Abiy Ahmed who postponed elections because of the COVID- 19 pandemic.  

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. 

Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked a military base and looted the national defense force's light and heavy firearms. A state of emergency in the region was declared for the next 6 months following this attack. Electricity, telephone and internet services in Tigray were shut down by the Federal authorities. And Prime minister Abiy Ahmed's administration launched airstrikes against the forces of fortified Tigray regions in several locations. 

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the Tigray People's Liberation Front of "criminal hubris and intransigence," claiming they rejected the federal government's efforts at "mediation, reconciliation, dialogue". Sudan closed its borders with Ethiopia and the United Nations called for immediate de-escalation of tensions and peaceful resolution to the conflict. Several high-ranking officials within  Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government were replaced. Abiy’s head of intelligence, army chief and foreign minister were replaced, and the military resumed new rounds of air strikes. 

Tigray People's Liberation Front

According to government sources, hundreds of people have so far died in the conflict. And the Ethiopian army has also reported to have lost hundreds of its personnel. Tigrayan troops yielded to the Ethiopian military during the takeover of the Humera airport by the Ethiopian Defense Forces. 

Over 2,500 Ethiopians among which are Ethiopian soldiers have fled from the restive northern Tigray region to the neighboring Sudan, and the number of departures is rising by the day but the African intelligentsia is silent. 

They used tear gas on protesters in Abuja and they restricted bank accounts of some EndSars protesters. This is the tyranny in Nigeria right now but the African intelligentsia is silent. 

For the African Intelligentsia that has shown so much interest in the American elections, at least let us take home two major lessons from those elections. 

The President and The President Elect of The United States Of America

1. That American systems work. Let the African Intelligentsia do all in their power to ensure that their systems work too. Despite the fact that Trump used a textbook authoritarian move and in his capacity as president of the United States of America demanded that they stop counting the votes while he is a head, the counting still went on cause the American systems are functional and these systems allowed them to keep counting. And they did what they were supposed to within the law. 

2. That voting in America really matters.  Let the African Intelligentsia do all in their power to ensure that their voting should matter too.Unlike Africa where for the most part, voting is one of those things that we do to feel better but doesn't actually do anything, in America, voting represents the will of the people. Let's borrow those two major lessons and apply them in Africa. 

To Be Continued........