Kenya: Mombasa County Government – Office of the Governor – Statement on the Illegal Detainment of Kenyans during Peaceful Protests – The Bill of Rights must be Upheld and Protected by the Kenya Kwanza Administration (20.03.2023)

Opinion: Odinga is now testing Ruto…

Today is the start of the #Maandamano demonstrations of Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Alliance. Azimio and Raila Odinga has called for the supporters to go to the streets and be vigilant. In such regard, that he called today, the 20th March a public holiday. A lot businesses ceased to operate and closed before the day started. Certainly, there will ripple effects of the demonstrations committed in the name of Odinga.

Alas, Odinga has done this all before. Yet, again we are seeing and hearing of innocent citizens dying as a part of the protests. There are also looting, destruction of public property and targeted offices, which has been destroyed completely. That’s is circumventing the rights to assemble and the rights to protest.

However, Ruto and the authorities are wrong by issuing tear-gas, violently and brutally arrest civilians. The extra judicial killings of today isn’t what should happen. The citizens shouldn’t fear for their lives, while crying out their grievances. That is just a mere fact and Ruto cannot run away from that.

Nevertheless, Odinga and Azimio is testing the Kenya Kwanza Government. The Azimio leadership and the means of civil disobedience is obvious. Odinga has used these means before and it isn’t anything new. Odinga has been busy protesting, swallowing tear-gas and accepting the plights of the common man. This trope is part of the fabric of who Odinga is…

That’s why Odinga should decide if the demos are about the “cost of living” or toppling Ruto. Because, the messaging from Azimio camp seems torn between the two. You cannot fight for the cost of living and expect the man who you want to get rid of to help you with that. Ruto either has to stagnate inflation and the rising prices or he has to step down. You cannot expect that the President and his government will do both. That’s just foolish and naive.

Secondly, Odinga will have more issues to deal with. We know he wants electoral reforms and more control of any sort action happening to the IEBC. That’s just what he does and he did the same with the OKOA demos too. So, we have seen this all happening before… Odinga has fought this same sort of battles for decades and his supporters has paid the price for him. Which is happening today too…

Odinga and Azimio has choices to make. They cannot fight every battle, every Monday and expect KKA government to listen. Why should Ruto listen, if they are wanting his head? Who would like to get dethroned, when they have just been in office for a year or so. Seriously, he finally became the His Excellency and Odinga expects Ruto to give it up… you must be delusional. The only thing Odinga can achieve is a handshake and a honorary title. That is what he accepted by the predecessor Kenyatta. So, why not do the same now? He did it surprisingly before and why not repeat it again?

Especially, when Azimio cannot decide what is the goal or the ambition of the demos. They should have figured it out. Nevertheless, the more causes, the merry, I suppose. Odinga and his allies should consider the way ahead. The hubris and the adrenaline is fine while it is pumping. However, the moment that disappear the weakness and fatigue will settle in.

Ruto has the authorities and the machinery on his side. Just like Kenyatta did during the two previous terms. So, it is not like Odinga has an advantage. No, his is in the same pickle and on the same streets as before. Begging for a bigger role and an prestigeous office. Peace.

South Africa: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) –Economic Freedom Fighters Gauteng Statement on the Raiding of the Hosue of Provincial Secretary Moshe Koma in the Early Hours of the National Shutdown (20.03.2023)

Kenya: County Government of Kisumu – Office of the Governor – Press Statement on Hooliganism during Kisumu Demonstrations (20.03.2023)

South Africa: African National Congress (ANC) – Statement on the So-Called Shutdown (20.03.2023)

Opinion: Ramaphosa has lost the plot…

The use of security forces to quell political dissent and the failure to address legitimate civilian concerns complicates the conflict and adds fuel to the fire. Economic and political stability is further compromised” (African National Congress – ‘ANC Statement on the instability in eSWATINI’ 30.06.2021).

The ballad of Cyril Ramaphosa isn’t going according to plan. The man who took over from Jacob Zuma haven’t delivered. Neither does it look like he was ever interested in doing so. The African National Congress (ANC) is more busy being in power, than actually serving the communities or actually try to represent the needs of citizens. It has become an elite and a bourgeois who skims of the top of society. That’s who the ANC has become and they forgotten the pledges to the average citizens.

Tomorrow the long awaited National Shutdown is going down in the Republic. The ANC who could easily lecture eSwatini is now doing the same. The SANDF is already stationed on the streets and it has been done without the prior knowledge of the Parliament or due process. Meaning the President ordered them out there all on his own. That is showing the ANC and the ways of the President.

President Ramaphosa are inciting fear, desperation and possible violence. Even government spokespersons are speaking of keeping the “brutality” on the low. Like you can be brutal on a scale of softness, as if it was cheese. Let’s just be clear, the soldiers aren’t on the streets to be cute to the citizens. No, they are there to quell or silence the dissidents.

We can anticipate this tomorrow. The Economic Freedom Fighters and their allies are prepared. What this planned marches and demos has shown is the weakness of the centre. Instead of meeting the opposition half-way or understand their concerns. The ANC and the state is answering with soldiers, the authorities and possible threats.

With this in mind. We should be worried about tomorrow. The ANC and the President is apparently relentless. The ANC haven’t fixed their bad governance, their state capture or the grand corruption cases. They are instead thriving in the load-shedding, the lack of due diligence and the open misuse of government funds. That’s how they have operated for years and the President think they can skate away from it.

Ramphosa thought he could stop the Phala Phala investigation, as long as the Zondo Commission is busy investigating his predecessor Zuma. That’s how things are looking and the winds of change is glacier slow.

Alas, tomorrow might spark something Ramaphosa and ANC cannot control. Tomorrow might be the start of a new era. If not… it is unearthing the trust between the executive and the people. That is shattered by ordering soldiers and the army on the streets. They are there to defend the borders and the integrity of the sovereign republic. These are not there to shield the elite and the ANC from it’s critics. Therefore, we know the drill of SANDF is out of order.

Ramaphosa is a fool for this one. Peace.

Ethiopia: Tigrai Universities Scholars Association (TUSA) – Open Letter – Call for immediate actions (17.03.2023)

South Africa: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – EFF Rejects the Deployment of SANDF ahead of the National Shutdown (19.03.2023)

Ethiopia: Prosperity Party’s hallow promises…

Another year, another pledge, this time the ruling regime and the consolidated party of the Prosperity Party released a Press Release yesterday from Executive Committee. This is in a way of showing progress and means to an end. We have seen what the Prosperity Party is willing to do and how it’s ushering in violence across the Republic. The PP cannot shield itself from criticism or questions about its actions. When it has waged war and caused conflict in several of regions of the Republic.

The PP Executive Committee starts with this:

Ethiopia is on a bridge where our country is crossing to a great chapter. Some are struggling to bring it back from the bridge. Others are trying to break the bridge and throw it down a cliff. And her fighter children are struggling to make her walk on the bridge without much time. Prosperity has chosen the third. A bridge will not be as strong as the past road. But it is necessary to cross the cliff. Staying on the bridge for a long time is dangerous. It is important to cross quickly and reach the stable ground. This is what the transition period we are in tells us. The goal of the transition is not to stay there but to transition to a prosperous Ethiopia” (Prosperity Party, 18.03.2023).

This is a way of the party in power to play the game of buying time – calling their reign a transition and enable to them to “give way” so they will resolve the issues later. They are at the same time blaming others and claiming they are the ones that has understood how they need to cross the bridge. Not like the other ones, the ones taking the dangerous bridge or throwing it off a cliff. No, the PP party can lead this transition to a “prosperous” nation.

Alas, that’s where the fault line begins, because we have seen what they have been up for the last few years. It doesn’t help with a metaphor, when they are the ones making it either dangerous to cross or they are the ones destroying the bridges. They can act a fool, but we have seen what the PP party has been up to…

It is really rich that the PP says this:

The executive committee has assessed that the problem of administering freedom that is seen in the area of administrations, media, religious institutions, political parties and activists should be addressed immediately. Free governance means respecting the law, without hurting others, destroying the country and causing conflict, and being able to use your rights. Destroying the law, violating the rights of others, provoking conflict and hatred. But it can’t be freedom. And crime must be held accountable by the law. Therefore, there are signs that administering freedom in our country is becoming a challenge. We are losing the freedom that we got because of the crime committed in the name of freedom. The executive committee calls on government institutions, political parties, media, justice institutions, religious institutions, scholars and elders to do what is required of you” (Prosperity Party, 18.03.2023).

The PP have fore-longed the issue of freedom or liberty. It has taken the same old EPRDF orders and elevated it. That’s why parties cannot assemble, parties cannot be on the ballot or even the party itself interferes in the religious sphere. The PP party takes everything and involves itself where-ever it can. There is nothing it cannot touch or have a say in. They are limiting the space and only allowing the anointed ones of the government to speak. The rest has to move in silence or be oppressed. So, when the state speaks of being accountable. The state is using a fierce hand and the law as a tool to silence its critics. That is obvious and been so in all the years of the PP. The PP amped everything up from the EPRDF. It just re-issued and re-used the techniques, to take leaders, activists, journalists and whoever who stood in its way. Just so they could reign supreme and have no initial naysayers in public.

The PP Party continues:

The Prosperity Executive Committee has assessed that our country is at a critical stage. We are getting rid of the two years of war. The work we have done to control the illegal armed forces in the area is bearing fruit. We are getting better results in agricultural products. Activities started with job creation are getting results. The challenges we had in diplomacy are getting better. Aid and loans are increasing. Ethiopian economy is one of Africa’s three major economies in sub-Sahara. The projects we started in Gebeta are being completed. We have to overcome the challenges that are thrown from all directions to stop these hopeful beginnings. For this, it is important to strengthen our national unity like steel. We have to make sure that our actions and speech will lead the oppressed people to prosperity. Let’s focus on development, peace and security. It is a must to administer our freedom responsibly. They will make the cost of living and accelerate our development. Taking constructive measures is our homework that can’t be done for tomorrow. Expanding and consolidating our diplomacy is our key action. Making the plan and situation happen at the intended time is to make Ethiopia succeed” (Prosperity Party, 18.03.2023).

The PP party is acting like the conflict of the North is over. PP is saying the war is over. The “Operation Law Enforcement” is now “game over”. Nevertheless, the blockade, the lack of service and no real change on the ground. The Tigray region is far from safe, sound or in any good hands. The troubles of the war is still prevalent and the famine isn’t over either. The possibility of starvation, death and a humanitarian crisis is still on. It isn’t averted and the border regions of Amhara and Afar is already badly hit by the conflict. These are only endangered and lacking the resource to be rebuilt. This is all the play the PP government to consolidate power and gain total control of Mekelle. The price is the thousands of dead civilians, starving people and lack of basic necessities. In combination of a national blockade and military enterprising with fellow allies. Allies who are still in the region and has never left it either. So, the Eritrean armies are still in the Tigray and they haven’t been called “home” either. Just showing how the Addis Ababa – Asmara axis is toying around with Mekelle in 2023.

The ones believing the words of the PP in 2023 is naive. They are at a crossroad. The PP is still challenged in Oromia. It has enemies in the Ogaden and Issa Somali militia in Ogaden/Afar regions. There are plenty of enemies who will haunt the ones in office. The rulers of Ethiopia aren’t in a moment of peace and neither have they done anything fruitful to ensure it either. Only create headlines and praying to the Gods that United States of America opens up trade through AGOA again. Because, the Addis Ababa elite needs the currency and the trade to save themselves in a deficit created by steady conflict. War is expensive and the prestige of doing so has cost the Prime Minister even more. His a warlord and an ally of another one in Eritrea. These two have a pact and it’s obvious that Tigray are the ones that get to suffer the consequence of that.

Nothing in this Press Release from the ruling regime was any good. Just mere boosting the ego of the Prime Minister and trying to sound resourceful. While we know the gist of the ones in-charge. Abiy and his closest allies will not cause or be able to handle peace. They only know how to wage war and conflict. Certainly, they will only accept defeat of their enemies and ensure their demise. That all they are up too and the years they have been in the office proves this. Peace.

Kenya: Ministry of Interior and National Administration – Statement on Exercise of the Rights under Article 37 of the Constitution of Kenya (19.03.2023)