The Africanism in the US polls

Lies, money and violence are featuring high in the race for the Republican candidate in the US.

Donald Trump the front-runner, Ted Cruz and John Kasich are the three left in a long drawn contest drawing the world's attention.  

In Africa, which is just learning democracy, it would be no surprise when such things happen. And in response the West including the US would, as they have always done, admonish countries on the black continent to measure up to ‘international standards'.

But the acrimonious Republican contest will not attract condemning lectures from any country and certainly no civil society organisation concerns about the spates of violence, however limited they might be.

The US has a long tradition of democracy spanning over 200 years that such lapses especially violence, however remote, become big issues.

In the many years of independence the US has managed to develop the management of elections at party and national level to near perfection.

However, there was a time when the conduct of elections was just like it is in some African countries today.

For instance, the 1876 election is still the most disputed in the US history, which compared to the present shows significant strides the country has made on its democratic path.

That year not only did the Republican manoeuvres edge out James G. Baine, a front-runner to pick Rutherford B. Hayes but also the national election results were disputed.

The Democrats' Samuel J. Tilden emerged winner with 184 electoral votes but shy of one to make the required 185 while the Republicans' Hayes polled 165. But there was a dispute over 20 votes in South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana with each of the states presenting two electoral votes one in favour of Tilden and the other Hayes.

A commission was set up to solve the matter and in the ‘Compromise of 1877' the Democrats accepted its decision to declare Hayes president. In return the Democrats' demand to withdraw federal troops from the South was honoured.

The impasse instilled fears of war, which was also fuelled by rumours rising tension in a country that had experienced a civil war earlier. So the US has been where probably several African are today.

The US media has recently been awash with salacious headlines like "Trump's rallies marred by violence", "Trump,  rivals battled under cloud of violence", "Donald Trump Rally in Saint Louis Turns Violent" and "Chicago Rally Shut Down Due To Violent Protests" tempting the conclusion that the country known to be the cradle of democracy is not yet perfect.

Punches have been thrown, arrests made and pepper spray applied on protesters, creating scenes similar to those common in Africa.

Some anti-Trump protesters have been finding their way into Trump's rallies and causing trouble and Trump ordering them to be thrown out.

This happening in America is a critical test for the country because of the sanctity of the freedom of speech and expression, and also as a mature democracy. It is so un- American that on one hand Trump had to cancel his rally because his opponent's supporters were poised to attack his.

On the other hand those who get into his rallies to protest are denied the chance and instead roughly bundled and thrown out.

There is also another incident where protesters blocked the road to one of his rallies in Arizona for hours.

The Republicans' race and to some extent the Democrats' have shed some hard truths. Although it is a country which tolerates divergent views it is not so absolutely.

Trump blamed the violence in Chicago on the Democrat candidate Bernie Sanders and warned his supporters would retaliate. The Republican front-runner claims Sanders organized groups to disrupt his rally, an accusation the Democrat candidate rubbished.

Pushing on with threats of violence, Trump has warned of riots if the Republican Party blocks his nomination. "I don't think you can say that we don't get it automatically.

I think you'd have riots. I think you'd have riots. I'm representing many, many millions of people," he told CNN. To stop Trump a lot of money is being spent to discredit him.

Millions of US dollars are being spent in adverts projecting him as the wrong man for the party and also for the country. All efforts by the party leadership and his rivals are geared at stopping him.

Attempts to brand him a liar have not been effective. Instead he has turned round to successfully call all his rivals liars and even gone on to name his main challenger as Ted Lyin'Cruz. It is difficult to tell who the liar is.
 
Worldwide politics is a brutal game packed with intrigue. It is uglier in developing countries and less ugly in the developed ones.

Twitter @dmukholi1