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DA: Break silence on Kenya
08/01/2008 18:18 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance has called for the South African presidency to break its silence over the on-going fracas in Kenya, the party said on Tuesday.
Pretoria's silence on the democratic implosion in Kenya was puzzling, the DA's Tony Leon said in a statement.
"An upfront reiteration by the South African presidency that it will not countenance ballot rigging and improper retention of power, would be both appropriate and timeous," he said.
However, Leon said there was some merit in awaiting Archbishop Desmond Tutu's report on Kenya.
He said the DA welcomed the involvement of the United State's Secretary of State, the French government and the European Union election observers in Kenya.
"But far more relevant and appropriate would be a stronger profile and lead from the South African government on a matter of importance to this continent, its citizens and its projection in the wider world," said Leon.
Kenya was the most recent cautionary tale of how the illusion of stability and democracy could be shattered when an election process was severely compromised and ethnic tensions were inflamed, said Leon.
President Mwai Kibaki's contested victory in Kenya's presidential election has resulted in more than a quarter million people being displaced and the death of 500 Kenyans.
Leon said the unseemly haste with which the election result in Kenya was declared and President Kibaki installed did the African continent no favours.
"It is a negation of the African Renaissance promise of free elections and undisputed outcomes and the peaceful transference of presidential power. It also undermines the promise and the premises of the Nepad programme," he said.
- SAPA
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