Arcadia Foundation

“Do you feel comfortable with all this wealth when so many people in the country are starving?”

“These things are God-given blessings. I know there are people starving, but these are the blessings from God”

The question – from BBC News reporter Sue Lloyd Roberts. The answer – from Ms. Chiyangwa, niece in-law to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

With a background in public relations, I know bad strategy when I see it. Flaunting the wealth of a corrupt leader’s family and openly downplaying the atrocity that is starvation is bad. Doing so while knowing the reporter will disseminate the message to western audiences who support sanctioning the nation for the very reason of broken aid promises and government embezzlement? Thats worse.

It has been just over a year since Zimbabwe’s inclusive government has been in power and what we’re seeing is a paralyzed government. A government that, with every bill, see progression impeded worse than the United States on health care.

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Rule of law is hardly adhered to in Venezuela, nor is democracy, for that matter – casualties of the revolution our favorite erratic autocrat repeatedly claims is on the rise. Judges who rule against the favor of the government’s wishes have been known to be thrown in jail themselves. Those in the executive cabinet that choose to speak out against the administration might wind up behind bars on trumped up charges so ostentatiously fabricated, it would be hilarious if not so sad. And mayor-elects might just not make it to mayor – that is, if they too oppose the powers that be.

It is in this light that the latest electoral news hit the wires – Venezuela’s highest court on Wednesday annulled the election of an opposition mayor, replacing him with a supporter of President Hugo Chavez until a new vote is held.

The Supreme Court threw out the 2008 election of Jorge Barboza, mayor of the Sucre municipality in western Zulia state, on grounds that he failed to pay $292 in local taxes.

The justices ruled Barboza was ineligible to continue as mayor because he lacked “the suitability (required) for the management of a mayoral post.”

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One of Liberia’s most notorious warlords reportedly once drank beer as he ordered his men to cut off an ousted president’s ears 20 years ago. Now a senator, Prince Johnson says he is fit for office.

Johnson plans to run for the presidency himself even though a government commission wants him tried for crimes against humanity.

Despite being widely known for the gruesome torture and slaying of Samuel K. Doe – a videotape of the event was even sold on Monrovia’s streets – Johnson was overwhelmingly elected in 2005 to the Senate by his native Nimba county for a nine-year term.

In the day to day politics of certain tumultuous developing nations, it seems camouflage is the traditional executive garb. In place of fatigues, Johnson now wears a business suit with a Liberian flag lapel pin.

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Marian Tupy is a policy analyst at the CATO Institute in Washington DC with a unique interest in Zimbabwean affairs. He, along with many of our readers and indeed writers, was horrified while watching images emanating from Zimbabwe covering the cholera outbreak, and was baffled as to why it wasn’t nipped in the bud at the first sign of danger.

In the article below, excerpted from the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Tupy documents how one man sought to hold those accountable for the spread of the unprecedented epidemic in Zimbabwe, attempted to raise awareness at those initial stages and how for his efforts, had his very career put at risk. Today’s dispute tribunal being held Nairobi will hope to raise international awareness to the efforts of Dr. Tadonki.

Over the last 10 years, Robert Mugabe’s government has destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy and eviscerated freedom in the country. In addition to the many victims of state-sponsored violence, hundreds of thousands of people died as a result of avoidable hunger and sickness.

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Far be it for me to quash birthday fever, Mr. Mugabe.

I just find it alarming that we’re celebrating after a year of systematic destruction to your government’s infrastructure. I find it frightening that you are so jubilant this soon after knowingly passing an ‘indigenization‘ bill that would deter not only fresh investment to an already heavily-sanctioned Zimbabwe but stifle continued investment. Far worse, I find it ominous that cake this year will be served at China’s embassy.

In an act of unabashed ‘foreign policy‘, China’s Foreign Ministry stated today that its embassy in Zimbabwe had thrown a birthday party for the now 86-year old President Robert Mugabe.

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Venezuelan Governor Henri Falcon, an ally of President Hugo Chavez, resigned from the United Socialist Party and called for open talks to resolve problems in the South American country.

Falcon, the governor of the central state of Lara, wrote a letter to Chavez today published in major newspapers to announce his resignation from the PSUV political party and to express his concern that regional leaders only receive orders and aren’t able to communicate with the president.

“I’m concerned about the absence of an adequate space for dialogue,” Falcon wrote. “It’s impossible to build a participative democracy and virtually impossible for the transformation of the country to succeed if local and regional leaders aren’t heard.”

The autocrat’s response has yet to be documented. Chavez had however warned Falcon to stop listening to opposition parties trying to get him to rebel against the government, saying that he could end up like Raul Baduel, a former Chavez defense minister who was jailed on graft charges.

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Health and political risk are no stranger bedfellows in Nigeria than oil reserves and skiff-boat diplomacy. From the surrealism of ‘missing president’ Umaru Yar’Adua, linked to the outside world via a ghostly voiced interview with the BBC, and with attendant disputes of legitimacy and sovereignty, Nigeria has seemingly chosen to solve the crisis in its own way, by effecting what some call a ‘democratic coup’. One by one, the elected institutions of state (the powerful governors’ forum and both houses of the National Assembly) and several non-elected regional councils met and agreed to support the handover to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Whatever the constitutional doubts that remain, the resolution passed on the 9th of February by the National Assembly, citing the appropriately titled ‘doctrine of necessity’, to recognise Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President was warmly welcomed by Nigerians who had watched the country teeter for over 70 days.Many can chalk the instability to the health concerns of Yar’Adua, whose unfortunate bout with near-kidney failure has stirred the political pot as to who shall succeed him.

A deciding factor was Jonathan’s own base in the Niger Delta: the prospect of a return to widespread militant attacks against oil installations there in protest at the blocking of his political elevation was enough to convince most of the political class that it was time to suspend Umaru Yar’Adua’s attempts at ruling from a hospital ward in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In a truly atrocious act, Martin Ssempa, a Ugandan pastor, recently played graphic pornography to a crowd gathered in a Kampala church in an effort to stir anti-homosexual sentiments. Ssempa’s actions came after Ugandan lawmakers tabled a bill that would enforce various punishments, including death penalties, for homosexual practices.

“The major argument homosexuals have is that what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms is nobody’s business but do you know what they do in their bedrooms?,” he told the crowd of 300, which included children.

The bill has provoked international outrage, with President Barack Obama calling it “odious“. Ugandan President Museveni has been adamantly opposed to the bill coming to pass, clearly understanding the ramifications it would have in the realm of foreign policy.

While showing graphic pornographic pictures to the crowd, Ssempa described the images.

“Is this what Obama wants to bring to Africa?” he asked the crowd.

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Mercelo Chimirri, former General Manager of Hondutel, (originally accused by the Arcadia Foundation’s Robert Carmona-Borjas) was today found guilty of abuse of power to the detriment of public administration. The Judges further disallowed  Chimirri from running for office for 8 years.  Chimirri was charged with a ’special disablement’ annotation, which means that he cannot make any civil action for up to eight years while serving his sentence in prison.  These are just some of the charges he has had to face.

Chimirri is most notably the nephew of former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, whose regime was notorious for corruption. This latest action may speak to the newfound adherence to rule of law that had long been absent in Honduras.

The following article (in Spanish) from El Heraldo further documents the sentencing of Chimirri. We congratulate Professor Carmona-Borjas for leading the charge on behalf of our Foundation and curbing corruption where it was most prevalent in a nation on the road to political transparency.

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Reports from Tegucigalpa are stating that Honduras’ foreign minister will head to Washington to try to arrange a meeting between new President Porfirio Lobo and President Barack Obama in hopes of restoring ties damaged by last June’s ouster of former President Manuel Zelaya.

Honduras’ army removed Manuel Zelaya from office after he pushed ahead with plans for a referendum on changing the constitution the country’s Supreme Court ruled illegal. The move was originally condemned by many governments and Washington in turn cut aid to the Central American country.

However, proof of free and fair elections and a democratically nominated President has resulted in international acceptance of the new President, whose goal of course is to eventually turn the aid tap back on to a Honduras still very much in need. Economic and Infrastructural development is critical, especially in these times of positive civil discourse. The U.S. toned down its criticism after Lobo was elected and rightly so, the Honduran foreign minister feels its time to initiate outreach to President Obama.

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