We can't allow family rule in Africa - AU wise panel

Nov 16, 2017

The AU panel of the wise has convened in Kampala to discuss trends in democracy, elections and governance in Africa.

 Dr. Specioza Kazibwe and some members of AU wise panel in Kampala. Photo by Nancy Nayonga.

                                  
The African Union panel of the wise, which monitors potential conflict areas on the continent, has castigated leaders who are building family chiefdoms around national politics, saying they will not allow family rule in Africa.

The AU panel of the wise, which is currently camped in Kampala for a two-day retreat at Speke Resort Munyonyo, has also regretted the current situation in Zimbabwe, which saw the army siege President Robert Mugabe and First Lady, Grace.

According to the acting chair of the AU panel of the wise, Dr. Specioza Kazibwe, who was also the former Vice President of Uganda, the eminent members on the continent have unanimously resolved not to allow what they dubbed as "farmdoms" where leaders anoint their relatives as successors.

"We are in the middle of a crisis in Zimbabwe.  It is a depressing state of affairs. The idea of farmdoms has been criticized by the members here. Farmdom is where one leader leaves office, and then his wife or child takes over. We cannot afford to have this happen in Africa," she said, warning that the events in Zimbabwe indicate that the military is back into the arena of civil politics.

"The military is back—for good in Zimbabwe, but also for bad, in countries like Lesotho. We need to devise mechanisms of incorporating the military in democracy," she added.

The AU panel of the wise has convened in Kampala to discuss trends in democracy, elections and governance in Africa, and also analyse the implications of these trends to the body politik of the continent, which has pledged to silence guns by 2020.

Commenting on the current Zimbabwe situation, Kazibwe said: "We all abhor military coups but given the situation, there is no better solution. The alternatives are worse."

On Tuesday the Zimbabwe army took charge of the political events of the country, and executed what the ruling ZANU-PF party officials have described as "a bloodless transition" of power from President Robert Mugabe to his former Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

"There is no coup, only a bloodless transition which saw corrupt and crooked persons being arrested and an elderly man who had been taken advantage of by his wife being detained. The few bangs that were heard were from crooks who were resisting arrest but they are now detained," the party said on its officials twitter handle yesterday.

S.B. Moyo, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, also said yesterday that the military was in charge of events, emphasising that the purge is targeting criminals around Mugabe, and not the President and his family.

"The President and his family are safe," Moyo said in a televised address to the country.

Yesterday reports from Harare indicated that Mugabe and his wife, Grace, were placed under house arrest at the Blue Roof, which is their home in Borrowadale, Harare.

According to the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, who is also the chairperson of SADC, in a telephone conversation with Mugabe, the long-serving leader of Zimbabwe said he was "under house arrest, but safe."


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