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Hold your horses I am always impressed by the high moral standards of our politicians. Consider, for example, the claim of Nigeria's President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua that "God has made me president". One then wonders why he did not reject the offer of the presidency and sponsorship of it by Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president who was disliked with a passion by large numbers of Nigerians. Or better still, why he did not reject the election results of April 21, having acknowledged that they were neither free nor fair? Yet the media seem to sing his praises, like Sola Odunfa's "No Greasy Palms" article in the July-September 2007 issue of Focus on Africa. I think it is too early to sing Yar'Adua's praises. Obasanjo enjoyed similar eulogies in 1999. Let us wait until 2011 when the world will know his true moral character. Uchenna Oyali, Abuja, Nigeria White lady with an African heart I remember seeing the BBC's Kari Blackburn, who died in June, for the first time in one of my early issues of Focus on Africa. I saw the picture of her taken on the day of her wedding in East Africa, standing shoulder to shoulder with her husband, Tom Boto, along with a host of other women. I was shocked to see a white woman willing to have her wedding take place in such a rural, and dare I say, primitive setting, thousands of miles away from the glamour of the Western world. On face value, I thought her decision to have a local wedding was ludicrous, but having read some of the eulogies of her colleagues in Bush House, I can see that Kari Blackburn was a white lady with a black African heart. Adieu Kari Blackburn! Israel Ambe Ayongwa, Bamenda, Cameroon No hoodwinking please The battle of the Titans looms in Kenya as the general election draws near. Meanwhile, tempers continue to flare as presidential, parliamentary and civic candidates jostle for supremacy. "I am the greatest!" each one seems to say as they forget that their real employer is the electorate – the poor masses that make up the bulk of voters. You don't need to have a degree in political science to realise that the politicians are only hoodwinking gullible voters. They are pushing their personal agenda and fighting for their own survival. With the fat pay cheques that they have awarded themselves, losing a seat in parliament, to a Kenyan MP, is like losing one's very soul. Let no Kenyan voter be cheated by empty promises this time round. Tom Olang' Okeyo, Nairobi, Kenya When elephants fight… I am not amused by the goings-on currently taking place in Malawi. I am referring to the struggle for supremacy which is taking place between parliament and the executive. This struggle is hurting ordinary Malawians who are the real employers of these politicians. At the moment the chest thumping among politicians has resulted in the budget not getting passed as opposition politicians insist that members of parliament who defected to the ruling party resign from their seats, as per the constitution of Malawi. I am not advocating the violation of the constitution because it is the supreme law of the land. However, those opposition MPs should know that the budget does not belong to the president and his cronies but to the people of Malawi. If these politicians don’t want to face the wrath of the people, they should look for other ways of teaching the executive a lesson without messing around with people's lives. Kimani wa Njuguna, Gatundu South, Kenya This is a small selection of letters published in the October - December 2007 edition of Focus on Africa magazine. Write to 'Letters', BBC Focus on Africa magazine, Bush House, PO Box 76, Strand, London, WC2B 4PH; fill out the form on the top right hand side of this page; or email us at |
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