Elections –A Catalyst for Insecurity in Africa

In an ideal situation, elections are supposed to bring in a government  chosen by the people  and with the interested of their citizenry at the centre, however , in Africa today , election spells doom mostly for young people and mothers.

During elections in many African countries , young people are used as mercenaries for hire during campaigns , when opposing forces meet , scuffles happen and in extreme cases lives are lost .Elections are cut-throat competitions  mainly because many people view politics as a way of getting easy money  and a ticket to riches through deals as well as gaining power to control the masses .

Many women have been widowed as a result of elections .In Kenya for example saw many  women become widowed as a result of the 2017 elections and the aftermath .Police brutality was observed and this has been widely reported by Human Rights Watch (https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/27/kenya-post-election-killings-abuse).Many parts of the country were no go zones as police conducted house to house search and responded with brutality to protestors mostly young people.

Post -election violence is not contained to Kenya alone , the recent elections in Zimbabwe saw  violence on the streets such as Harare and with violence the most affected are usually women and youth. A walk through Internally Displaced Peoples camp in any county will come face to face with  the challenges that women and children face as a result of election related violence , uprooted from normalcy , many women suffer psychologically due to election related violence , additionally  aftermath of disputed elections also brings with it  sexual violence mainly targeting women , in some cases women even get infected with HIV as a result of violence meted on them.

In my view security means democracy founded  not on elite interests but on genuine interests of citizens , it is not clinging to power  long after one’s term has expired , it’s about  not using violence on citizens during elections  to quell dissent .

Photo Credit: BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40872778   9th August 2017