Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. His sentiments are against the West and its perceived supremacy over Africa. [Photo: therwandan.com]When Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe stood to deliver his speech during the UN general assembly last month, he appeared to mock the West's patronage of other countries and the way they go about their internal affairs."Some of us are embarrassed, if not frightened, by what appears to be the return of the biblical Giant Gold Goliath. Are we having a return of Goliath to our midst, who threatens the extinction of other countries?" Mugabe said in reference to the US President's threat to 'totally destroy' North Korea.Mugabe's speech was praised worldwide and more so in Africa, where various pundits applauded the 94-year old President, saying he had indeed affirmed that he was a true Pan-Africanist and a son of the soil.Fast forward to October 13, and meet Kenya's Opposition leader Raila Odinga at Chatham House, London, giving a lecture on elections and democracy. It goes without saying that Mugabe, listening to Odinga, must have fidgeted in his seat severally in denouncement.In his speech, Odinga decried the deteriorating democracy in Africa, which he said was partly attributed to the West’s waning concern."While the West has previously underwritten democracy, it appears to be pulling back. Elections in Africa are being judged not by how free and fair they are but how peaceful they are," Odinga said on Friday as quoted by the Nation."Performance of incumbents is getting judged by how they can be used to fight terrorism no matter the human rights abuses that accompany the fight and economic gains that come with doing business," Odinga added in apparent reference to the initial endorsement by many observers of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s win on August 8.He said elections in Africa had become a ritual 'which must be won by the incumbent at all costs'.Raila, who has severally been castigated for washing Kenya's dirty linen in European capitals, also regretted that regular elections have not translated into good governments and respect for the rule of law and fundamental freedoms.

Share news tips with us here at Hivisasa