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Ghana: When Zimbabwe Sneezes

Appiah Kusi Adomako

2 May 2008

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opinion

Accra — Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught up in an escapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly affects one indirectly.

It has been more than a month since Zimbabwe had their presidential and parliamentary elections. The official election results have still not been declared with regards to the presidential election. Most of the parliamentary constituencies have had their results declared with few constituencies still to be decided by the electoral commission and the law courts. One does not need to be a PHD holder to know that the incumbent president-Robert Mugabe and his party Zanu PF has lost the presidential polls. The attempt by

the government of Mugabe to block the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for officially declaring the results of the last month's election has not only become scar on the image of government but also defeats the very purpose of democracy.

Perhaps, there are thousand one and one reasons why final and certified results have not been released. The first reason is that the regime has lost the election to the main opposition party called the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Secondly, the regime is afraid to stand before court to answer questions on the fundamental human rights which characterized the regime.

Over the weekend, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission released the results of recounts in 18 seats, which confirmed that Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980.

Someone may ask why has the TRUMPET OF CONSCIENCE suddenly become a voice in the issue of Zimbabwe. There is saying that when Nigeria sneezes the whole of West Africa catches the cold. Zimbabwe has become an issue which cannot be left to the people of Zimbabwe alone to decide. It affects everyone. It was Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr who said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Whatever affects one directly affects one indirectly. If the regime of Mugabe is able to succeed in his sinister agenda by pushing the election to run-off and bully his way through to win, it would become lessons for some unfortunate African leaders to emulate.

Already, some constitutionally elected presidents in the continent have attempted to amend the constitution to be in office for more than two times.

The deceased president of Togo called Gnassingbé Eyadema did it. Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to amend the constitution to be able to stay in office for the third time. It has become something like democrats turned autocrats. This new form of threat is more dangerous than military interference in democratic governance. Mugabe has not respected the fundamental rights of the people. The government of Zanu PF party has been using intimidation, harassment and torture as tool to weaken his opponents. All these are happening under a regime which calls itself democratic. If we call what is happening in Zimbabwe democracy, then I do not know how autocracy will be.

Zimbabwe today is no different from what pertained during the regime of Ian Smith. There is no freedom for those who yearn to breathe the air of freedom. If you do not sing from the same song sheet as the regime sings then you are singing discord. In attempt by the regime of Mugabe to do things to tease western powers, it has brought in the wake of dire consequences to the people. Currently inflation in Zimbabwe is almost reaching infinity. Supply of urgent commodities has dully been affected.

The image of the continent has dully been affected by what is happening in Zimbabwe. People watch what is happening in Zimbabwe on the television and conclude that Africa is the same all over.

The people of Zimbabwe have decided in an election. Their choice must be respected. You cannot stop the matching feet to the city of freedom. Victor Hugo once said that there is nothing so powerful in this world than an idea whose time has come. There is nothing than Mugabe and the Zimbabwe state apparatus can do to stop people who are yearning to breathe freedom.

In liberation theology we say that evil carries the seed of its own destruction and that evil cannot permanently organize itself. Historian Charles A. Beard when asked what lesson has he learned from history, he said: First whom the gods would destroy they must first make mad with power. Second, the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly small. Third, the bee fertilizes the flower it robs. Fourth, when it is dark enough you can see the stars.

These are the words, not of a preacher but a hard-headed historian, whose long and painstaking study of history revealed to him that evil has a self-defeating quality. It can go a long way but then it can reach its limit. God is always on the side of those who do the right thing. It was William Cullen Bryant who said that 'truth crushed to the ground would rise again.' Again, James Lowell Russell said that 'though the cause of Evil prosper, yet this Truth alone is strong, though its portion be on the scaffold, wrong forever on the scaffold, yet the scaffold sways the future and behind the dim stands God keeping watching above his own.'

Everyone of goodwill has the right to express his righteous indignation about what is happening in Zimbabwe. I speak and write on behalf of millions of Zimbabwean voters whose decision to choose one to govern them has not been respected.

Today, the Moses called Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe stands before the Zimbabwean pharaohs-Mugabe, the electoral commissioner and the law court and say LET MY PEOPLE GO.

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