Kenyan crisis deepens as leaders speak out on Togo

And the repeat election, selection, opinion poll or whatever it has been termed finally happened in Kenya. With leading opposition candidate Raila Odinga calling for a boycott, there is no doubt that president Uhuru Kenyatta will be announced the winner of the October 26 exercise. In about four counties, the exercise didn’t take off because of violence.
If the annulled August 8 election was flawed, the October 26 poll lacked legitimacy by the mere fact that majority of the registered voters (more than 50 per cent) chose to stay away. In future, scholars will write about and debate the repercussion, demerits and merits and the precedents Kenya’s 2017 polls have set.
Away from Kenya and the loud silence on the continent about the political crisis in Togo seems to be waning. West African leaders from the regional group Ecowas have finally made calls to Togo’s president Faure Gnassingbe to do more to resolve the country’s political crisis that has left at least 15 people dead in anti-government protests.
The people have been protesting over delayed constitutional reforms and are calling for an end to Africa’s longest-ruling dynasty. Speaking of political crises, Venezuela opposition leader has quit an opposition coalition in protest at the decision by four newly elected opposition governors to pledge allegiance to the constituent assembly.
Henrique Capriles, an ex-presidential candidate, said he “would not be part” of the opposition Roundtable for Democracy (MUD) “because it is not unity as a concept or a vision”. The MUD governors were elected in regional polls this month in which the government won 18 out of 23 states. The opposition said the outcome of the October 15 elections were fraudulent. President Nicolas Maduro has since insisted that all new governors bow to the constituent assembly which has caused a rift among members of the opposition coalition.
The fight between Rwanda and France is not about to end. The latest is a decision by the Kigali-based authorities to recall Rwanda’s ambassador to France after defence minister James Kabarebe was summoned to appear before a magistrate investigating the death of former president Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994.
The downing of Habyarimana’s plane is considered to have helped fuel the genocide which left about 800,000 Rwandans dead. Ambassador Jacques Kabale was recalled to Rwanda for “consultations”. France, on the other hand, has not had an ambassador to Rwanda since the departure of Michel Flesch in 2015 after Kigali failed to approve the appointment of his successor. Rwanda’s government has repeatedly denied involvement in the shooting.
War criminals on the continent now have a cause to worry after a commitment by Hollywood actor George Clooney to give $1m (Shs3.6b) to The Sentry campaign group to investigate people who finance and benefit from conflict in Africa.
He said the focus should be on making sure that war crimes don’t pay. That it is difficult for those willing to kill en masse to secure their political and economic objectives and that an effort is made to go after the warlords’ wallets and bankrupt those who choose the bullet over the ballot. This he said will ensure there are incentives for peace, not war; transparency and not corruption.
Finally, Ugandans and other migrant workers have something to smile about after Qatar introduced minimum wage for first time and committed to a range of labour law reforms.
Doha’s record on migrant worker rights has been under international scrutiny in the run-up to the 2022 football World Cup.
The announcement came the day before a meeting of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which had warned Qatar to end abuse of migrant workers.