A few stories rattling around my brain today:
There is trouble brewing in Kenya’s judiciary, where the country’s Chief Justice, Evan Gicheru, is caught up in controversy over judicial reform, cronyism, the rule of law, and general political machinations. This conflict is picking up steam, and as a general rule, these sorts of clashes do not just dissipate on their own. Expect things to come to a head soon and for a power struggle involving Gicheru’s position to ensue.
Speaking of political infighting, Namibia’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba is tired of backbiting and wants to know who among his ruling SWAPO party are enemies and who are allies. The country will undergo elections at the end of the year, and Pohamba surely wants to seal any cracks in the governing party’s ediface while at the same time taking out a pound of flesh against dissidents.
Meanwhile, despite fears that Senegal’s local elections this past weekend would descend into violence, all went smoothly according to observers. At the risk of stating the obvious, this is good news and marks an important step in the country’s political development.
Employment growth has slowed in South Africa. But what is striking is that however much that growth has slowed, the fact is that there is still employment growth in South Africa at all. In other words, this seems like a glass-half-full situation in a global economic situation in which many people would happily take a half-full glass.
Finally, in an important column in The Mail & Guardian Nigerian journalist Azubuike Ishiekwene argues that the success of any United States of Africa is contingent upon removing the continent’s tyrants from power. Good goverance and rule of law are crucial to political development across the country. Ishiekwene’s argument cannot be stated firmly or frequently enough. I also agree with his assertions that the International Criminal Court indictment of Omar al-Bashir should stand, even if we know (and knew) there are inevitably going to be short-term consequences as a result. Eric Reeves, who has been a stalwart advocate for Darfur and who has long called for action against Khartoum, suddenly has cold feet now that the ICC has taken the action available to it. So too has IRIN raised similar concerns about the fallout from the indictments. But any action was destined to carry with it consequences. It seems peculiar to rattle sabers against Sudan if you are not willing to use them.
