** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
I am just wondering: when shall African leaders stop treating their own
constitutions like pieces of toilet paper? It's so shameful what's
going on south of the Sahara!
PETER W.VAKUNTA
DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON
602 VAN HISE HALL
1220 LINDEN DRIVE
MADISON WI 53706-1525
U.S.A
Office 608 262 4067
Home 608 422 6089
Cell 608 381 0407
"The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of the wise man is
in his heart."
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
----- Original Message -----
From: PETER W VAKUNTA <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, September 22, 2005 10:25 am
Subject: VAMPIRIC COMPAORE CLINGS TO POWER!
> ** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
>
> Compaore for ever
>
> 23/08/05, Martin Luther King
>
>
> In Burkina Faso, democracy appears to have acquired a new meaning.
> Instead of "government by the people, of the people and for the
> people," critics say it is now "government for Blaise Compaore and by
> Compaore." The critics levelled the accusation after the long-serving
> President Compaore announced that he will stand again in elections
> scheduled for November 13. He personally announced his intention
> in his
> hometown of Ziniare, 35 km from the capital, Ouagadougou. But the
> opposition says the move is unconstitutional.
>
> Compaore, a former army captain, seized power in a bloody coup in
> 1987.Trading his military fatigues for civilian dress, he went on
> to win two
> landslide elections in 1991 and 1998 that were boycotted by the main
> opposition parties, who complained that the electoral system was
> opaqueand unfair.
>
> "The most important issue is to win over the public and reassure them
> that we can ensure the continued progress of Burkina Faso," Compaore
> said in comments broadcast on Radio France Internationale.
>
> At the heart of the row over Compaore's candidacy is whether a recent
> amendment to the west African nation's constitution should be applied
> retroactively. In April 2000, parliament voted to reduce the
> presidential term from seven years to five and to allow a leader
> to be
> re-elected only once.
>
> That, says the opposition, means that Compaore, who has already served
> two seven-year terms, should not be allowed to bid for a third.
>
> "Compaore will be completing his second term in November... and
> will be
> violating the constitution if he stays on," said Benewende
> Sankara, the
> leader of the opposition Union for Renewal party, who is planning to
> stand in the presidential poll himself.
>
> "Compaore's candidacy is improper not only in legal terms... it's
> improper because after 18 years of his rule Burkina Faso is one of the
> poorest countries on the planet even though there's no war and
> politically things are stable," Sankara stated.
>
> The UN Human Development Index ranks Burkina Faso as the third poorest
> nation in the world, with an estimated 80 percent of its 13 million
> people living on less than US $2 a day.
>
> Hermann Yameogo-son of Burkina Faso's first post-independence
> president, the leader of the National Union for Democracy and
> Development and another opposition candidate in November's
> election-is
> also incensed but not surprised. "This regime has never bothered
> itselfwith respecting the laws of this country," he alleged.
>
> However, the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP), which
> selected Compaore as its candidate in June, says the opposition
> has got
> its legal and moral arguments wrong.
>
> "Legally, President Compaore can be a candidate," said Salif Diallo,
> the director of Compaore's campaign and the current Agriculture
> minister. A constitutional revision brings a new constitution with it
> and the old formula no longer holds. We in the CDP believe that there
> is a need for a prolonged stability for the political body so as to
> strengthen democracy. The president's positive results lead us to
> endorse his candidacy... Today human rights and economic growth are
> realities."
>
> Political stability followed Compaore's military coup which was the
> fifth since independence from France in 1960. And Compaore at one
> pointwas free to rule for life. In 1997, the president's party
> amended the
> constitution, removing all restrictions on the number of times someone
> could stand for re-election.
>
> However the social unrest that erupted in the wake of the so-called
> Zongo Affair in 1998 meant that the change was short-lived. The Zongo
> Affair was named for Norbert Zongo, the journalist and government
> critic, who was assassinated while investigating the death of a driver
> employed by Compaore's brother.
>
> Zongo's murder-which was later linked to the government by an
> independent, internationally-backed inquiry-prompted a series of
> massive strikes and public demonstrations, as Burkinabes railed about
> the lack of freedom of speech and the suppression of political
> opposition. The reforms that were brought in to appease the public
> included re-establishing presidential term limits.
>
> Aside from the issue of whether the 2000 constitutional amendment
> should be applied retroactively, the opposition groups are also
> unhappyabout changes to Burkina Faso's electoral code, passed last
> year. The
> country's electoral unit changed from the region-of which there
> are 15-
> to the province, of which there are 45. The opposition says that this
> gives the government an unfair advantage as it will be impossible for
> them to field candidates and polling observers in all of the new
> zones.
> They also allege that fraud has occurred as voter registers have been
> computerised, with some people's records going on file several
> times. "All these manoeuvres do not suggest transparent elections in
> November," Sankara said.
>
> But the government refutes these claims. Diallo, Compaore's campaign
> manager, declared: "Nobody can accuse us of not creating the
> conditionsfor transparent elections. We have always strived for
> fair elections."
>
> Analysts reckon that Compaore should triumph in the November poll.
> Apart from the incumbency factor, the lack of unity among the many
> opposition parties is also likely to split their vote. There are
> so far
> 15 opposition candidates vying for the presidency and even Alternance
> 2005, which is supposed to be an umbrella group of several
> parties, has
> seen more than one nomination emerge from its fold.
>
> As London-based researchers Global Insight said in a recent briefing
> note: "With the state apparatus at his command and the vast
> majority of
> Burkinabes having no pressing problems with his current dispensation,
> the President is, of course, the favourite candidate."
>
> September 2005
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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>
> PETER W.VAKUNTA
> DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN
> UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON
> 602 VAN HISE HALL
> 1220 LINDEN DRIVE
> MADISON WI 53706-1525
> U.S.A
> Office 608 262 4067
> Home 608 422 6089
> Cell 608 381 0407
>
> "The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of the wise
> man is
> in his heart."
> BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
>
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