These countries have verystrict criteria for determining the qualifications of a country to be considered for inclusion in the Community of Democracies (CDs).
Needless to state that Zimbabwe is not one of them, and will only qualify after the implementation of some serious and far reaching changes to the political and governance system. Nothing short of regime change can enable Zimbabwe to qualify. One other fellow patriot, who happens to be a UN diplomat, also attended in his official capacity.
There were numerous resolutions made at the end of the conference, but the ones that can be considered to be pertinent to our deteriorating situation can be summarised quite briefly. For example, there was a recommitment by the member states to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including the commitment to reduce poverty by half by the year 2015.
We all know that this is not going to be possible in Zimbabwe since our predatory regime is actively escalating the rate of poverty. No less than 80% of the Zimbabwe population now survives well below the poverty datum line. Even if we manage to effect regime change next year, we will still not have enough time by the year 2015 to have reduced poverty by 30%, let alone 50%. In fact, it is very unlikely that Zinbabwe will meet any of the targets as dictated by the MDGs, thanks to the dictator.
The conference further notes, “We emphasize that democracy, development and human rights are mutually reinforcing.” Sadly, all of them are being negated in Zimbabwe as a result of the desperation of the Mugabe regime to retain political power at all cost. There is no such thing as democracy in this country. Instead, there is pure-bred autocracy and unbridled authoritarianism.
There is also kleptocracy, and this negates both democracy and human rights. Indeed, for the majority of Zimbabweans, human rights have now become the privilege of the rich few while the rest of us should be grateful that we are alive at all. The police, the army and the intelligence running dogs of the dictator are the major perpetrators of human rights violations. Fortunately, the names of those who are committing these evils are being carefully recorded and kept for the purpose of prosecuting them once regime change has been effected. They will not be able to run away from the law. It is only fair to let them know in advance that one day they will be at the receiving end of the law.
Further, the conference was emphatic that democracy cannot flourish in a society that does not respect the rule of law. Our situation takes the cake in that it is actually the state that violates the law and engages in lawlesness. The judiciary has been copromised by the dismissal of forthright judges and their replacement with bootlickers who are grateful to the dictator for allocating them some of the stolen farms.
Prisons are bursting at the seams as the poor resort to crime in order to keep themselves and their families alive.
The Bamako Conference seemed to focus on all the serious issues that the rotten Mugabe regime cannot be expected to undertake. For example, part of the final declaration reads, “…we highlight the importance of an effective, efficient and responsive public sector to help deliver services responding to social needs for education, housing and health care, social security, and assistance in job creation, especially for youth.”
The Mugabe regime is clearly moving in the opposite direction from all of these. Public services have all but collapsed. Operation Muranbatsvina ensured that those who had managed to build themselves some form of shelter were violently deprived of it. There is no social security to talk about, and most of our youth will not be able to get jobs before the tyrant is defeated. There is certainly no alternative to regime change.
Post published in: Opinions