While they sell to the world the mantra of one man one vote , they perfected the art of rigging and it ’ s the only country where winning the popular vote , the very basis of democracy , does not guarantee you the presidential seat .
This is perhaps why whenever the Americans are in the observer status during African elections , they are blind to blatant irregularities since they are not usually interested in the process but the outcome which they predetermine according to their interests .
So , America is probably a good place to visit as an African leader since one can learn from the best how to be unpopular and still stay in power . The current American polls confirm that both the presidential contenders are not popular .
While the African politician is derided for corruption and misdemeanor by the American big brother , in America it is possible for a presidential candidate to conduct a campaign from a courtroom facing criminal charges . Perhaps democracy is not meant to be ethical .
The American system of politics actually imposes presidents on the people depending of which party , which are internally undemocratic in their operations , can rig the swing states since Americans vote on party lines not manifestos .
How is it that the biggest economy in the world is also the country with the biggest income inequality ? Why is it that the richest people in America pay the least tax if at all , yet this is the home of the
Bretton Woods institutions , the mavericks in government taxation .
Is the richest country in the world actually unable to actually provide basic services like healthcare to its citizens or is the truth that they withhold it as the incentive to force the populace to work as holding a job is the way to qualify for medical insurance .
Why is education , which should actually be a universal right , create so much pain in America . Why should a person training to join the workforce start their career with a debilitating loan and the country calls that okay .
Perhaps Kenya can help them explain it as they provide free education at the primary level and give loans at the tertiary level yet decry the lack of innovation and creativity to spur development . Perhaps indebted graduates are a democratic requirement .
This democratic nirvana does not flinch to interfere with other countries ’ democratic space and are known to organize coups , assassinate unfriendly ones and impose leaders on hapless citizens , a most undemocratic behavior .
Kenya is obviously a good student of democracy since we have been accused of meddling in the internal affairs of Sudan , Somalia and the DRC and are hard put to explain why we are sending a police force to Haiti to control gangs while cattle rustlers run amok in Kenya .
The pilgrimage was perhaps apt to reappraise Kenya on the ways a country can develop by exploitation and the use of imperialistic methods , genocide and hegemony to enslave its citizens by providing minimum services while extracting the maximum .
America is certainly capable of sorting out its so-called undocumented immigrants who the politicians love to rant about , but the truth is that these unfortunate people are a necessary cheap labor who are conveniently labeled illegal to strip them of legal recourse .
A visit to the country of the masters of doublespeak and hypocrisy is definitely a must for a leader that wishes to learn unorthodox means to enrich the few at the expense of the toiling masses who have to work up to three jobs to merely survive .
But most important , the pilgrimage is crucial for a leader to learn the public relations tactics that enable a sweat shop to create a perception that it is the country of freedom and opportunity and maintain the mirage of the great American Dream .
A Kenyan once complained that Kenya was a country of ten millionaires and ten million paupers , a good reflection of the American reality where a bunch of billionaires ’ combined wealth is equal to nearly fifty percent of the global financial assets .
If this is the type of democracy that we need , then our leadership is learning from the best and woe to Kenyans who went to the polls on the promise of a bright new Kenya , perhaps the real purpose of the visit was to get a bigger allocation of green cards for Kenyan .