Zim should brace for a Kenyatta-Odinga 'Handshake' after polls

Sun Tzu in his book "The Art of War" says;" Anybody, including me, can contest the Presidency, but not anybody can become President. Queuing to vote is a formality, but the President is selected through boardroom rituals by the system. At least we can now agree so, after several years of struggling and fighting to make the vote count in vain.

Zanu-PF's presidential candidate Emmerson Mnangagwa is poised for a victory though this time it will be 54% unlike the previous one recorded by his predecessor Robert Mugabe in 2013, like it or not the ruling party will win the presidential polls.

The MDC Alliance will do well in the Parliamentarian and council seats but for the post of the president the battle has already been won. With due respect to my brother Wilbert Mukori's views indeed Zimbabwe is headed for a flawed polls at the same they is nothing that the young man Chamisa can do now.

Withoult critical electoral reforms free, fair and credible elections will remain a myth in Zimbabwe. In terms of popularity i still think Morgan Tsvangirai was more popular than Nelson Chamisa and both Nelson Chamisa and Thokozani Khupe are riding high on the legacy of the late Morgan Tsvangirai.

Chamisa was lucky to succeed the late former premier and Khupe is also lucky to use the MDC T name as her party name thus proving that all of them are soaring on the late former Trade Unionist leader's legacy. However my article seeks to discuss the aftermath of the July elections.


Calls for electoral reforms since (2009) GNU
Zimbabweans should know that Zanu-PF will never reform itself from power thereby if the opposition (MDC T) failed to mount enough pressure on Zanu-PF for the critical reforms needed to ensure a credible election when it was still in the formally stable GNU what makes it think that it will force Mnangagwa led government to reform before July polls.

Nelson Chamisa they is nothing that he can do as of now, if Mnangagwa failed to listen to the USA's calls for reforms the young clergy man should forget of any prospects of succeeding in reforming Zanu-PF out of power.

According to local newspaper Senator Coons was quoted saying "Well, there is less and less time for the president to take concrete action. It's been wonderful hearing his encouraging private and public comments about welcoming international observers, about publishing the list of those who are enrolled for the vote, of identifying the list of places where polling will take place, providing access to state media for opposition candidates, a whole variety of things that are a basic indicators of free and fair elections. But no steps have been taken yet, at least that I'm aware off.

"Such a statement from a team that set down with EDM for more than two hours brings a lot to be desired if Zimbabweans thinks that Zanu-PF is going to lose the presidential elections. The reason why Zanu-PF doesn't want to apply these critical changes it knows that it won't even last a second in government.

Boycotting the election won't help either
Raila Odinga did boycott the October 2017 presidential elections in Kenya but that did not stop Uhuru Kenyatta from contesting a one man race in which he later won with more than 98% of the votes. In that election Raila Odinga withdrew his candidature citing a lot of irregularities especially from Kenya's electoral body (IEBC) how it had been captured by Uhuru Kenyatta.

The same scenario is also happening in Zimbabwe in which ZEC cannot reveal the tender and the procurement of ballot paper company. If Nelson Chamisa boycotts the coming election Zanu-PF will go ahead and participate and that won't derail it because what Mnangagwa wants is legitimacy.

Mnangagwa-Chamisa Handshake
Whether Chamisa participates in the upcoming July elections or not, a Government of National Unity is now inevitable, the two guys will find each other just like what Uhuru and Odinga did and Chamisa will be appointed the Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe, for development it will be a good cause but for democracy it will be a big loss.

If Nelson Chamisa decides to participate in the elections they will still be rigged just as before. However for legitimacy Mnangagwa will definitely need the young man and the only way out will be to romp him into the GNU.

Knowledge Hakata is an independent political analyst who is also the co-founder of Demos Cratos a political organization. He can be contacted on knowledgehakata@yahoo.com