BONYO'S BONE: African elections in terms

Tonight, I’m picking a bone…with none other than Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs...Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi. Arguably Kenya’s top diplomat.

Your recent remarks on African presidential elections? They were grossly misleading and a mockery of democracy. Now, just in case your busy prime ministerial calendar has already moved on, let me remind you.

You said—and I paraphrase: “It is impossible to defeat an African president when seeking a second term if the constitution allows them.”

Whether that was a gaffe, a cynical joke, or part of a well-scripted 2027 political chess move, you were wrong and dangerously so. Sure, you’ll say it was your opinion. You have the right to it. And you do. But here’s the thing: not when that opinion ridicules democracy.

Not when it undermines the power of the ballot. Not when it suggests that elections in Africa...are mere formalities, rubber stamps for incumbents. So allow me, Bwana PCS, to take you through a few facts...because African presidents have lost elections in their first term. And not just once.

1991, in Zambia. Kenneth Kaunda, the founding father, lost the first multiparty elections to Frederick Chiluba. Didn’t even finish a first term in the new democratic setup. That is democracy.

2011 still in Zambia, Rupiah Banda lost to Michael Sata after stepping in for President Levi Mwanawasa. One term. Done.

In Malawi, Joyce Banda, Africa’s second female head of state, serves from 2012 to 2014.
Come the 2014 elections? She finishes third. Her attempt to annul the results? Thrown out by the courts.

In Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan. Elected in 2011, runs out of luck, defeated in 2015 by Muhammadu Buhari. The first time in Nigeria’s history that an incumbent lost. That is democracy at work.

Up north in Tunisia. After the Jasmine Revolution, Mohamed Marzouki is elected. He loses re-election in 2014. Peacefully. Again. That is democracy.

These are facts, Mr. Mudavadi. And they matter. Because when a senior leader like you paints African elections as fixed second-term parades, you send the wrong message to voters, to the youth and to future leaders.

You reduce democracy to a tired ritual. You make a joke of choice. You insult the struggles of Kenyans who’ve fought for political freedom. But let’s be honest your comments didn’t land in isolation.

They come hot on the heels of similar remarks from politicians in your corner, who’ve made even bolder, more dangerous suggestions. The kind that make Kenya’s democratic journey sound like a staged show. The kind that make a 10-year presidential term proposal sound like it’s already on the table.

And this, Bwana Prime CS, is the most troubling part. Because Kenya is already on edge. Politicians are throwing barbs. Tempers are high. And the people—especially the youth—are watching closely.

So when someone like you, a respected voice, a symbol of government diplomacy, starts throwing around tired old clichés about African elections: you’re not helping. You’re fanning flames.

We need leaders who protect the promise of democracy not preempt its outcome. Kenya doesn’t need politicians recycling despair into doctrine. It needs men and women who believe in the constitution they swore to protect.