How about we quit holding elections?

By Oumar Ba, Bokamoso Leadership Forum

Elections are expensive. Really expensive. I propose that the African Union convene a group of experts to do a cost/benefit analysis of elections in Africa. In the meantime, let me explore the ways in which elections are costing many African countries so much money and time that they are hindering their “development”.

First cost: money. One has to print the ballots, transport them, pay the electoral personnel, pay to transport people to the meetings during the electoral campaign, buy them sandwiches and a bottle of Coca Cola after they have spent a whole day clapping and screaming their candidate’s name. Moreover, the new trend in African politics is to hire Western polling companies, and communications firms, etc...

More often than not, during the electoral campaign, which lasts many years in some cases, the ruling party hijacks the governments’ vehicles, gasoline, chauffeurs, TV stations, newspapers, radio stations, journalists, and its security forces to protect their candidate(s).

The cost of elections in Africa can be also tallied in the terms of human lives lost, stores looted, crops ravaged, careers ended, schooling time shortened, and dreams shattered.

As I’m writing this article, Cote D’Ivoire has two presidents, and two governments. Laurent Gbagbo was “elected” in 2000, and after a failed coup two years later, the country was divided de facto with the loyal army controlling the South, and the rebels re-baptized Forces Nouvelles occupying the North. Gbagbo’s presidential term ended in 2005, but he managed to stretch his rule by another 5 years, postponing the elections multiple times. Finally, according to many reports, when French pollsters assured him that he will win the elections without any problem, he decided to hold them. The rest of the story is still breaking news...

Back to the elections cost, why in the world should people decide to go to elections without a prior firm decision to respect the vote of their constituency?

Elections cost us valuable time. Many African countries are in a permanent state of electoral crisis. President Wade of Senegal announced that he will seek a third term two years before the end of his current term, despite the fact that the Constitution, which he drafted himself, clearly limits the number of possible terms to only two. That, coupled with the fact that he named his current Prime Minister as the head of his electoral campaign committee, one will wonder who the hell is running the state. I mean, do we elect our leaders so they can keep trying to get reelected, or so they can take care of our business? Former President Tandja of Niger is still under house arrest for having tried to do the same...

Another example of this silliness is Burkina Faso. Blaise Compaore came to power in 1987, after the coup that killed Thomas Sankara. He won the elections in 1991, and 1998. Lifting the constitutional ban that limited the number of terms to two, he was re-elected in 2005 by 80% of the votes. In November 2010, he won again 80% of the votes, which really didn’t surprise anyone. Since we all knew what the outcome of this election would be, why not save the money and not waste our time re-electing the man? How about a vote by acclamation? Are you listening, Hosni Mubarak? You too, Paul Biya.

At least, Laurent Gbagbo has put his PhD in history to good use. He knows that when the contender wins the election and the incumbent decides that he isn’t going anywhere, we can have a power sharing agreement. I think that if the winner of the election settles for the post of VP, he is not worthy of the trust of the people, and it shows that he just wants his piece of the pie. Yes, Mr Odinga and Mr Tsvangirai, I’m talking about you.

I can only imagine the dreadful atmosphere in the conference room in which the presidents of the 16 countries that comprise ECOWAS decided to send Presidents Pires of Cape Verde, Koroma of Sierra Leone, and Boni of Benin to go ask Gbagbo to leave office. I mean, the possible choices for such a delegation are extremely limited. The presidents need only to look at each other to realize that very few of them are well suited to ask Gbagbo to accept the wish of the Ivoirian voters.

Finally, I was discussing with a friend a few weeks ago about the fact that plastic bags are banned in Rwanda. Although Paul Kagame has an outrageous human rights violations record, one must recognize that as a president, he is getting things done. And yes, he got elected with a landslide too, and I told my friend that if he leaves power after his current and last term, he will be a respectable man. My friend said that he probably still be around and said just two words: “Vladimir Putin.” I hope he is wrong.