Ahh the days of “Change We Can Believe In” are long gone here in the United States. It seems that everyone has forgotten President Obama’s warnings while he was campaigning when he indicated that change is hard, its not easy and requires sacrifice. Unfortunately, as far as Americans are concerned change has not come to America and everything and I mean everything is President Obama’s fault. Afghanistan, high unemployment, Israel going bananas on the flotilla, the ridiculous BP oil spill and even America’s loss and knockout from the World Cup has been and will be (one way or another) blamed on President Obama. Change is not easy and progress is even harder.
This is not just attributed to the United States, shift gears to our home continent and specifically Kenya. I have long followed post-election violence Kenya and if many of you have followed it, the current situation is quite messy concerning a monumental constitutional reformation. Kenya’s new constitution is promising and if implemented and successfully approved by the upcoming referendum on August 4th, it will not only be a victory for Kenyans in general but also for Prime Minister Raila Odinga (this is his baby). The underlying theme of the new constitution is to prevent the sort of violence and uproar that strangled Kenya and East Africa in 2008 and to defuse ethnic divisions that has long plagued Kenya. See article on the Economist.
Change is hard and painful and requires sacrifices but I believe that this referendum will pass despite different factions opposing it. Will violence be inevitable? As we all know it is election year in Tanzania and this summer will be a hot one. We all know that President Kikwete is assured another term but all eyes are on Zanzibar. Can we move on and have a violence-free election in perhaps the most significant election for Zanzibar? Significant because it marks the end of the Karume era and an acceptance by Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) that they can no longer ignore the major opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF). Will change be implemented?
Sacrifices are slowly being made as both CCM and CUF have agreed on a power-sharing deal regardless of the outcome of the elections.We are moving towards the right direction, we just cant afford setbacks and if Kenya successfully concludes and implements its new constitution many investors will realize that Kenya is stable after all and has the sacrifices to prove it, leaving us behind.
So would true sacrifice for us back home entail having free and fair elections in Zanzibar? No strings attached? You tell me…
Ooh Obama….I remember a while ago I made some comparisons between Obama and Kikwete. Both men are charismatic, and they both made a lot of promises during their campaigns, promises that resonated with a lot of people. Unfortunately, there is never a easy way out when you make promises, thats why its safe to make promises that you can deliver, and thats why waswahili usually say, ahadi ni deni.
As far as Obama’s situation is concerned, he should have known about this, I guess nothing that is happening right now is a surprise to me. Americans are hard to understand and easy to forget, as many of them have started to move towards the right. I think a lot people fear that Obama is a man of more rhetoric than action, just like Kikwete’s ari mpya, kasi mpya, nguvu mpya, but realistically, nothing significant has his presidency achieve so far, Kikwete that is.
Although changes take time, but people want to see changes happen fast, and this is specially due to a lot of people who are struggling, and tired of struggling, so frustration quickly builds up. A scared man is a very dangerous person, and most Americans are unsure of how the future is going to turn out to be; therefore, they’re blaming Obama and even unhappy with him like never before.
Just to make matters worse, Obama has immigration bill coming up soon, thats going to be another huge challenge ahead of him, as midterm elections are also around the corner. People want to see him work his magic on this bill like the health care bill. He’s under great deal of pressure because he has very little option but to make sure it passes, because if it fails, he’s in danger of losing the latino votes (coz appointing Sonia Sotomayor will never be enough to give him a pass or a free ride with the latinos) which are very important today.
Kikwete on the other hand, he has a easy job ahead of him, he just as to stand out there and smile, tell us charming stories, and his through. He has no major challenge ahead of him, simply because there are no real oppositions, the only person that can beat him is himself, how sad that this is what multi party system has come to.
However, I think Obama needs to toughen up a little bit, and I think he needs more help and advice on the economy, because I dont think the stimulus package was that effective as he anticipated will be. Kikwete has only his legacy to finish writing, so far not so good (my personal opinion of course based on his so called war on corruption, yeah that has gone down really well, so ari mpya am even convinced to vote for him this time).
The Kenya constitutional matter, is an interesting one. I do hope the reform will improve the relationship between the fighting groups. However, I am not so sure with the Islamic courts issue, coz I know it was a heated debated a while ago in Tanzania, probably is still is. I dont get the point of having Islamic courts, someone please help me to understand this. But if having them in Kenya means improving the relations among the people, then they should go for it, but in Tanzania, aahhh may be not, I don’t think its such a flattering idea.
In conclusion, like Kikwete like Obama, two men with a lot of similarities, but who are faced with somewhat different challenges and situations. Although Obama has much of a tougher time, because his dealing with ignorant people (tea party to name the few) who choose to speak their ignorant minds without understanding the issues, while Kikwete is dealing with many ignorant and poor minds that keep it to themselves, because settling for less is embedded in our character, that has become our culture. This makes Kikwete’s work much easier.
But I hope that, both of these men have learned the art of making promises. Dont make too many promises (u’ll overwhelm yourself & they may backfire), but few at a time coz voters have the minds of their own. Its like tempting an hungry dog with a bone, coz if you dont give it to it, you’re in trouble, because the hungry dog wont sit down and reason with you, that the bone magically disappeared, yeah right, and lots of good luck o you if you were kidding around with a pitbull.