Please welcome Aliou Goloko to the ONE Blog. Aliou is a Senegalese journalist who his passionate about Africa and football. He offers his take on the Senegal elections. Image courtesy of SeneNews:
After several months of uncertainty and tension, the Senegalese people have again expressed themselves through the ballot box. The election of their fourth president, Macky Sall, stands as another fine example of African democracy.
Wade, victim of his supporters
Sall defeated incumbent president Abdoulaye Wade, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for a third term after nearly twelve years in office. Many ordinary citizens, along with the opposition, denounced his campaign. The outgoing president’s supporters, most notably his family, only made matters worse by behaving poorly in the public spotlight. Wade’s stubborn defense of his controversial son, politiican Karim Wade, cast a dark cloud over his candidacy. Other members of his entourage have been arrested for financial misconduct and physical assault, but have yet to stand any punishment. To these stains we must add the stress of increasing demand for staple foods and resulting price hikes, the skyrocketing unemployment rate, and the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed by state offcials.
The N’diguël: End of a tradition?
Senegal’s population breaks down into 94 percent Muslim, 5 percent Christian, and 1 percent animist. During election season, politicians tend to seek the public approval of religious leaders, who issue voting instructions called the n’diguël.
Previous presidents, including Wade, used this opportunity to consolidate their power. This election proves that today’s voters, especially youth, don’t’ see the n’diguël as a mandate. Even with religious sanctioning, Wade still lost the election — which means that religious leaders’ hold on the voting booth is loosening.
Rui Landim, a political analyst based in Guinea-Bissau, reports on the country’s first round of presidential elections. Overall, Bissau-Guineans are skeptical and worried about the election process, due to a number of factors outlined below:
The challenges of the vote
First of all, we should note that since the advent of democracy in Guinea-Bisseu in the mid-90s, no democratically elected president has managed to complete his five-year mandate. This observation is also valid for the governments.
After the unexpected death of President Malam Bacai Sanha, on January 9th, the country had to organize an early presidential election to ensure constitutional continuity.
Bissau-Guineans were expected this election to consolidate peace, stability and above all a national harmony. Wishful thinking!
Why was this delivery so important? Because right now, oil company lobbyists are pressuring the SEC to keep their deals hidden. If the SEC doesn’t enforce these rules, billions of dollars will continue to go to corrupt leaders, rather than poverty-fighting programs.
We’ve got to make sure the SEC commissioners now know that more than 143,000 ONE members expect them to end these secret deals once and for all.
Even if you weren’t there on Friday, join us in telling the SEC that we delivered this petition to them by sending out this Tweet:
@SEC_News Commissioners, we’ve done our part, now it’s your turn. Stand up to Big Oil! #NOSecretDeals http://ow.ly/9KurJ
Take a look at the rest of the photos from our delivery here:
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blairdelivered a speech today at the Times CEO Summit Africa in London, claiming that with the right support and policies, Africa can end its dependence on aid within a generation. With Africa’s new-found confidence and optimism, the continent is now at the position to overcome its challenges and focus on the future.
To help illustrate Africa’s changing attitudes toward aid from foreign governments, he used a powerful statistic from ONE’s new report, “Small Change, Big Difference,” an analysis of UK foreign aid, during his remarks:
“And aid has helped with governance too: according to a report released today by the global campaigners ONE, by 2015 UK aid alone will help 44.9 million more people to vote in freer and fairer elections.”
Mr. Blair, who founded the Africa Governance Initiative, works with African countries at critical turning points –- like Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Liberia –- to advance good governance and alleviate poverty. Read more about his organization here.
As you all know, ONE has been campaigning hard in recent weeks to pressure the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pass a hard rule on the Cardin-Lugar Amendment. More than 180,000 of our members have contributed their voices to the cause, and they’re not the only ones: Global Witness attended this month’s Indaba Mining Conference and has compiled a video of interviews with African mining ministers and company execs who are tired of corruption spoiling their industry.
Big names like Musa Mohammed Sada, Nigeria’s minister of mines and steel development, and Mohamed Lamine Fofana, Guinea’s minister of mines and geology, agree that the corruption is a “serious challenge” and that the “most effective way to fight against corruption is to be transparent at all levels.”
Over the past few months, ONE has become very interested in the government affairs of Equatorial Guinea, a tiny Spanish-speaking country off the Western coast of Africa. The country, home to sizeable petroleum reserves, is one of the richest on the continent — but also has the most uneven distribution of wealth. Approximately 70 percent of the country lives below the poverty line, while those in power are living a life of incredible opulence.
The cause for this disparity is unquestionably corruption, specifically in the extractives (oil, mining, gas, etc.) industry. To learn more about this issue in Equatorial Guinea and beyond, we spoke to Tutu Alicante, an Equatoguinean human rights lawyer and the executive director of EG Justice, an NGO devoted to fighting corruption in Equatorial Guinea. You might recognize his name from our email at the beginning of our extractives transparency campaign, where he expressed his outrage at Big Oil for bullying the US Securities and Exchange Commission into secret deals.
Leading business publications the Financial Times and The Economist have recently voiced their support for transparency laws on both sides of the Atlantic that will help reduce corruption in developing countries and increase the resources spent on poverty reduction.
They join the voices of 180,000 ONE members who have called for policy-makers to stand firm against lobbying by a small group of oil and mining companies who want to maintain the secrecy status quo (you can still sign our US and European petitions).
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
After several months of uncertainty and tension, the Senegalese people have again expressed themselves through the ballot box. The election of their fourth president, Macky Sall, stands as another fine example of African democracy.
