Should Kabila rig in his ‘project’, there won’t be any peace in DRC

The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have hit upon rather innovative ways of manipulating and stealing elections which should be quite an eye-opener to those strongmen on the continent who do not want to let power slip from their hands regardless of the outcome of such elections. First, shut down the Internet and the short messaging system (SMS) to ensure that no information about the vote count reaches the voters or the outside world to avoid early declarations of victory by the opposition.

Secondly, postpone the elections in some opposition strongholds thus effectively disenfranchising as many voters as possible. But to prove that you are not entirely heartless, allow the vote three months after the rest have done it, even if it will be completely meaningless. At least the electorate cannot accuse anyone of denying them their democratic right to queue. This is a most ingenious solution, for a country’s peace and security cannot be compromised.

Third, pull down the signal of the most popular radio stations which are not under the control of the regime so that nobody can broadcast any inconvenient truth. It would never do to allow a station owned by foreigners to usurp the will of the people. All these foreign broadcasters have a habit of siding with the opposition in Africa, thus fomenting internal strife among peaceful citizens. They must be stopped in their tracks and their nosy correspondents kicked out of the country.

Fourth, reject any offers of assistance by outsiders. If there are glitches during the elections, especially in the matter of results transmission, it is not the business of outsiders to interfere. Problems with the logistics must be tackled locally otherwise what is the use of talking about sovereignty if outsiders can end up helping the opposition? By the same token, it would be unwise to allow too many international observers into the country, for they tend to turn into intolerable busybodies whose main aim is to instigate insurrection and regime change. The fifth solution, besides stuffing ballots boxes which has been rendered anachronistic by electronics, is to ensure that even if the voters in opposition zones do line up, they won’t vote. Either their names will go missing in the register, or the voting materials will be delayed on voting day until closing time. Also, electronic voting gizmos are made by men and one should expect some to break down here and there. The government cannot be blamed for such inevitable malfunctions.

There are many other ways in which opposition politicians who want to change the status quo can be contained, but the most effective is to ensure the names of the most popular do not appear on the ballot papers at all. Banning such politicians from participating is relatively painless and negates the need for all those other measures which are prone to easy detection. There are very few politicians without skeletons in their closets and discovering such reputational blemishes is easy. So is acting on the intelligence.

These are not mere theories. All these things happened in the DRC in the run-up to the voting last Sunday, the first “free” election since the country’s Independence in 1960. Indeed, variations of this kind of vote theft have occurred in many African countries, Kenya included, which make a mockery of our pretensions at democracy. What is different is that the DRC pulled a fast one by using a disease outbreak to rig the election most blatantly. This is definitely original.

While it is a fact that the Ebola virus has already killed 360 people since April last year, and while, indeed, there are militias wreaking havoc in the eastern region of the vast country, disenfranchising a million voters cannot be taken lightly anywhere. Ebola is not spread through the ballot; it is spread through the exchange of body fluids – blood, saliva, vomit, semen, sweat, tears and urine – none of which is likely to happen in a queue. This makes nonsense of the claim by the DRC government that its aim is to save the lives of voters in the eastern region.

The other inexcusable ploy by the government is to prevent people learning the progress of the vote count. While it is true that the major opposition contenders were as early as Tuesday claiming victory, so did President Joseph Kabila’s “project”. Shutting down the Internet is a high-handed way of ensuring that blatant rigging goes on unhindered. It is also myopic, for when people discover they have been prevented from expressing their will through a stupid ruse, they will definitely go on a rampage, and the response may be brutal and deadly.

It is difficult at the moment to know exactly what the preliminary results will show tomorrow, but one thing is certain. If President Kabila’s protégé is rigged into office, there will be no peace in that country just as there has never been any in the past 58 years. This means the long-suffering people of the Congo will have to wait longer for their elusive messiah.