Uganda opposition leader Kizza Besigye during the launch of ‘Kenya: The Failed Quest for Electoral Justice’, at Hotel Intercontinental, Nairobi on July 16, 2018. He praised Kenyans for their resilience. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has urged the West to rethink its strategies if voting is to have an impact on Africans.
Dr Besigye was delivering a keynote address during the launch of a book on last year's General Election in Kenya.
Kenya: The Failed Quest for Electoral Justice was written by Mr John Onyando, through a grant from the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
Dr Besigye said Western governments have had a negative influence in African elections out of a desire for stability.
SUSTAINABLE PEACE
“Let Western nations revisit their template on elections and invest in sustainable peace and stability underpinned by justice. There can never be peace and stability without justice,” Dr Besigye said at Hotel Intercontinental, Nairobi.
The book examines the political events around the election within a historical framework and concludes that what was to be Kenya’s most free vote turned out to be its most tainted in the multi-party era.
Earlier, Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo said the insistence on placing stability ahead of legal and constitutional processes undermines the quest for justice.
DEMOCRACY
“We have succeeded in placing into our laws the idea of democracy and the requirement that every vote should count but we do not live by it,” Mr Amollo said.
Dr Besigye hailed the Kenyans for their resilience and the civil society for remaining steadfast, adding that they have made "a significant step in the democratic struggle".
The event was attended by Narc-K leader Martha Karua and former CJ Willy Mutunga.
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