Politics

Kenya: Kibaki Wins, Democracy Looses

It would appear that the two Kenyan factions are finally on their way to a negotiated settlement to the crises in that country. Compromise was inevitable, given the strong pressure from the international community. Once that happens the international community will move on to other, more immediate crisis. Yet, the key question is, will Kenya recover the loss of faith in its institutions and its democracy?

If this sounds overly critical consider that over the last two weeks Kenya’s much vaunted democracy, often held up as an example for the rest of Africa, has already fallen far from its once giddy heights.

My argument, that Kenyan democracy will suffer lasting damage, does not depend on whether the elections last week were actually rigged. All that matters is that a vast number of Kenyans believe the elections to be rigged.

In their opinion the Election Commission of Kenya (ECK) upheld a flawed result in order to keep a President in power. To the citizens, and to other institutions of Kenya, this indicates only one thing - that retaining Kibaki was more important than retaining democracy.

To add insult to injury, the Kenyan system provided the ODM no way to challenge the outcome. While violent protest was probably self-defeating, the party had no legitimate means of appeal. And even if such mechanisms existed, the ECK had already signaled to the citizens that government institutions existed to protect Kibaki, so what confidence would they inspire?

A Contrast with the 2000 Elections in the US
The contrast with the elections of 2000 in the US is stark. That was, by some counts, one of the most controversial elections in US history. Yet, there are two key differences with Kenya. First, in the USA the looser had several opportunities to appeal, including a mandatory recount, a manual recount that Gore asked for, and the option to go to the courts.

The second difference, however, is even more telling. When the dust had settled and Gore had still lost, his supporters did not go ransacking the country - they accepted the decision of the Supreme Court. Gore had a further chance to create a constitutional crisis: when Congress met to certify the electoral vote, he rejected objections to the election results by 20 representatives, as expected of him in his capacity as President of the Senate. Gore’s actions indicated what every American accepted as an article of faith - that the system, for all its flaws, was more important that any one result and any one person; and the Supreme Court’s decision was not to be challenged. As a judge had once remarked, “We are not final because we are right, we are right because we are final.”

What Faith in Kenyan Democracy?

Two years ago I had commended the Kenyans for rejecting a new consitution, and the ECK for holding a free and fair referendum. It had seemed then that Kenya had strong institutions. But strong institutions require strong people, and this episode suggests they are sorely lacking where it counts.

Kibaki has, no doubt, won the Presidency. But democracy in Kenya has lost. Because democracy is sustained not by elections, freedoms, institutions, or even people. It is sustained first and foremost by faith in the system. By suggesting that a person is more important than the individual, Kibaki and the ECK, have undermined that faith - and the system.

© 2008 The Discomfort Zone.