The Prescription that the Doctor Ordered
Maina wa Gathoni, Boston, USA
Feb 08, 2008
Next time you visit your Doctor, make sure you double check the labels to be sure that the prescription your doctor ordered is the right one. Most often than not, the medication you have been ordered to take may not always be the right one for you.
This is more so as evidenced in the recent election season in Kenya. The foreign countries especially US and UK have a tendency to impose democracy on developing countries, but isn’t it time for us to ask whether democracy is right for Kenya and other developing countries?
The recent riots in Kenya only shows us two things; First, the leaders of the losing parties, either do not understand democracy and if they do, then they are not ready to act democratically when things don’t go in their favor. Secondly, the riots also tell us that, their followers are not ready to live in a democratic country if at all they understand what democracy is all about.
You may not agree with me, but there was no reason for the recent riots in Kenya following the elections results. In a democratic country, there are always channels through which to resolve any grievances such as may arise during a hotly contested election like the one we just saw. The reason why the opposition urged for calmness from their followers, but later went a head to declare themselves as winners in total ignorance of the ECK, shows us that they are not themselves ready for democracy.
The democracy champions, the so-called “Western world” are not without fault themselves. What happed in Palestine a few years back is a clear example. When the rule of the majority had declared that Hamas and not Fatah Movement had won the elections in 2006, the Western world was quick to state that they cannot negotiate with a group that does not recognize Israel. Hello, hadn’t the will of the people been spoken?
If I had my way, I would like to alter the prescription that the doctor ordered. I would urge everyone to try a new prescription called dictademocracy once every five years. Dictademocracy is whereby the patient, in this case the developing world citizen gets a little bit of both worlds. That is a little bit of democracy mixed with a little bit of dictatorship. In this case, the Pharmacist must be skillful since mixing the right amount of proportions is necessary in order to get the desired results.
Too much of Democracy will be abused by the developing world citizen as we have witnessed in Kenya the past few days or could even be used by the democracy champions to impose the ruler of their choice as we have seen happen time and time again all over the world.
Too much dictatorship on the other hand is primitive and denies the citizen of their rights and calls for chaos. We all agree on this one, but if the people are not ready for democracy, then what has a poor country to do?
Until such a time when the Mwananchi has had such a level of education as to enlighten the mind and cease the use of rampant violence to resolve issues, then and only then is democracy the true remedy for the ailing African political system.
Maina wa Gathoni, Boston, USA
|
