Do Ugandans Know the Law?

A few days ago I was assigned a couple of errands to run and I found myself having to move up and about the city on regular occasions. On this particular occasion I was on a Bod

aboda at Wandegeya traffic lights. I saw vehicles moving randomly without having to follow the signal of the lights. I immediately struck up a conversation with the person on whose boda I was riding. We spoke casually and I went as far as asking him about how these lights work because within me, I was at a loss understanding them. But his answer was plain and simple, “in Uganda there is no law”. I held my breath as the sad reality settled within me. I probed on for more and being a law student I found a lot that pricked my mind into thought. The truth was staring hard in my face yet I seemed not to understand the basics. I always sat in my lectures with the perfect feeling that after arming myself with all the laws there are, I would walk into the world and conquer it. For once I came within the boundaries of thinking that I was at University just because it was my next level in life. However on further meditation I saw some undertones of truth laced the man’s statement, it is rather time we faced the facts.

Uganda has a wealth of statutes that have been enacted by our honorable Parliament. The first piece of legislation that crosses one’s mind when they think about the road is The Traffic and Road Safety Act. This one emphasizes in its very first section that for a motor vehicle to be fit to go on the road, it must have all its parts in good shape. The reverse seems to be true and no wonder we are being made to pay very heavily with the increased road carnage on our roads. That is only one of the many examples that require one to be law abiding. For almost every activity done, there is a law in place governing it. One’s knowledge about it is only a secondary matter altogether. The late AIGP Andrew F Kaweesi said in his last interview before his brutal murder that three things are constant in life; death, sickness and crime. The people know the law but willingly go against it and that is crime. All men have crimes but most of them are hidden.

 Two things are normally prerequisites for any law abiding citizen. The first is their knowledge of the law and the second is their ability to abide by it. Statistically speaking I don’t need to be a statistician to know that majority of Ugandans do not know that there is a Traffic and Road Safety Act but however I can guarantee that majority know of the various provisions therein which include driving vehicles in good mechanical conditions, not to overload for public vehicles, to avoid careless driving and many other road faults. Majority Ugandans know that once one is sentenced to death but is not hanged in the first 3 years then that automatically transforms into life imprisonment but very few know that it was court decision in the Susan Kigula case. What that means is that the crimes people commit are not because they do not know the law but rather try so hard to circumvent it and find a way out. The hard questions will then be asked, that if we know the law then why are we treated to daily scenes of reckless road usage? Why are we witnesses to diurnal battles between police and hardcore criminals. It all goes back to ourselves, who have seen and allowed our society to decay, and have also accepted to go down to posterity with it. I have always given as a way of illustration the simple example of a driver who bribes a traffic officer for overloading his car. There are three parties involved here. The first is the driver who well knowing it to be an offence goes ahead to have excess passengers in his vehicle, the second party is the traffic officer who receives the bribe yet it is their duty to make sure that people are safe on roads and lastly the passenger who accepts to be the subject of the bribe because he/she has accepted to be that excess passenger who is otherwise not to be present. Each one in this case has the capacity to break the chain because their abscondence from participation will leave little ground for the occurrence. If therefore everyone woke up today and said they would not be an excess passenger then it is highly unlikely that you would see bribery on roads, if every driver woke up today and decided that they would not over speed, that they would not drink and drive, that they would not drive while on phone then we would definitely see a reduction on road carnage. The most important improvement however would be if every traffic and police officer woke up and decided that they would not take or compromise on any one who breaks the law. That would be the biggest breakthrough since the birth of this our nation. It would not require using the 7 billion phone app that was developed to track traffic fine defaulters and neither would it require you create very harsh penalties for the defaulters, the default mode would be set and that would be the standard for society

But how did we get to where we are now? I have since come to agreement with the one who said that poverty is the mother of crime. For all the crimes that are committed today, it is because of the startling poverty levels our country is facing today. Many may claim that the rich are also part of these crimes, but never ever be deceived as to believe that poverty is merely the absence of money.

Does Tribe Really Matter?

But Patrick, what tribe do you belong to? If there is a question I have constantly interfaced with, it is this one. But for all the times I have been asked to answer it, I have been unyielding. Not because I lack an answer to it but rather humanity is bigger than race, tribe, colour or even religious sect, the rest of the things are really secondary. If the biblical teachings are anything to go by then I can confidently say that I am a descendant of Adam and Eve and so are we all. At a point we go different paths as Cain and Abel lead us to separate ways but we remain descendants of Abel, we remain united by the same blood that flows through our veins.
But why then do tones of tribal connotations keep shining their ugly sheen whenever two or three are gathered. It is about us and the sentiments we carry for those that we don't intersect a language with. It is about the stereotypes that we have associated ourselves with. A comrade recently made a very distasteful joke when he categorized people according to what they eat, (these are for eshaabwe, amaido, luwombo etc). This is the inception of tribal hate, the actual birth of tribal separation lines. I may be wrong, but do these things sometimes matter?

Living in Uganda as a country is a hard thing, it is harder to keep referring to yourself as a Ugandan without placing yourself somewhere, the place where you are identified with, where you are carried back that time you can't do it yourself and certainly not aware. This is not what is disturbing, what is bad is when you begin to elevate your tribe to an all important level that all others come second. I have personally made it a point to learn as many languages as I can to make me a perfect fit in whatever surrounding I find myself in. We are did not choose to be born where we were and neither are we paid to belong there!
Tribal allowance? Let me discuss that next time.

Often times I have wasted my evenings away with some unpalatable jokes from Uganda's stand up comedians. They are never really part of my program but somehow they tag along. One thing I have noted with concern is that many of the jokes cracked in these theatres have tribal coruscates underneath them.  Perhaps the aim is to make fun exactly what their job entails or even maybe it is the best way to capture people's attention but these things catch up with us. It maybe funny how different we are, or maybe the comedians have knowledge of a satirical nature, but in the end where does having the pride of a muganda over the arrogance of a mukiga benefit our grandchildren. I watched in awe as one friend of mine opened up to me about his particular hate for a certain tribe, about how he can't see his children marry or get married there. These are things we live with today and often brush them off as less important but they matter. The moment someone begins hating then you know what makes them shoulder that burden is not something light. When people begin asking you why majority V8s head  in a particular direction on Fridays', why beggars and street children predominantly comprise of people from a certain area then you ought to know that they are beginning to notice.

I think it is about time we answer these simple questions so that we nip in the bud the tension that is simmering. I think it is time to stop leaving comic gatherings with just bare smiles but the shame that glares at us for the insensitivity we harbour for our differences. It is time we give rationale for our assertions and notions we throw aside as being norms. we can sit on our proverbial ponies and point at the long nosed ogre on the top of the hill for the fact that his colleagues are green (pun intended), but what about your frown due to your daughter's bridegroom entourage?,and if so why is he considered sectarian for embracing that ministerial cabinet and yet we insist on embalu every August? It is these questions that we ought to get answering as soon as yesterday.

Co Authored with Patience Kabuga Nalukenge

The Politics of Komanyoko

In our respective native languages, the word "komanyoko" is loose translation for dirty, very dirty. Many other filthier meanings can be attributed to it but all these drive to a common end, that is nasty and displeasing. Anything nasty is thus not pleasant or desirable in anyone's sight.
The campaign and election period may finally be here in Makerere University and particularly Law School to which I am affiliated. For some it is the most interesting period but for others it is a trying moment. It presents with it passion laden moments where tensions sore, emotions blur reasoning and some nearly come to fistfights. But that is only a tip of the iceberg as the core of many campaigns involves mudslinging, dirty tricks and those political manoeuvres that go beyond mere negative campaigning. I once asked Martin (a friend of mine) why he didn't have passionate interest in Law School politics and his answer shocked me. He claimed they were too soft, they didn't involve candidates tearing themselves apart and going for each other's throats. Whereas he considers it soft, I think it is far from that.
Sleaze has not developed in modern politics but can be traced as far back as the US Presidential election of 1828 between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Jackson was from a humble background and yet his opponent was a polar opposite. There was so much dirt in this campaign including calling Jackson's mother an immigrant prostitute and Jackson himself a murderer. By the time Jackson won the election, the campaign had badly affected his wife that she died even before entering the White House. That was how bad it was. Abraham Lincoln was personally attacked for his looks. His democratic foe called him a "horrid-looking wretch". This was a core strategy to rally people against him.
In this day and age, tricks have become sleeker. An example is the Kennedy/Nixon contest of 1960, which involved the first ever debate to be aired on live television. Prior to the debate both candidates had agreed that neither would use makeup but both broke the rule. On top of that, Nixon's team knew that their candidate broke a sweat easily, so they set the thermostat to keep the studio nice and cool. But Kennedy's team also knew about the Vice-president's hyperhidrosis and secretly turned the temperature up a few degrees. When the cameras began to roll, the difference between the candidates was striking to audiences watching at home. Kennedy appeared youthful and relaxed while Nixon, who was only four years older than his opponent, poured sweat and repeatedly had to dry his face with a handkerchief. The debate was viewed by 70million people and Kennedy won by just over 100,000 votes. A few degrees on the thermostat may have made the difference. Such is the ingenuity in modern day politics and given that beauty is still a huge factor in many elections at present, that trick may not be antiquated as yet.
Nicolo Machiavelli opines that the first method for estimating the intelligence of a leader is to look at the people he has around him/her. I have heard for a fact that some of the hocus-pocus in the respective camps is engineered not by the candidates but by those around them. I wouldn't however be so credulous as to believe that, because the greatest aspect of any leader is their ability be in control of those under them. If they can't control their own camp then it is very much unlikely that they can succeed in convincing us that they can control a bigger establishment. But on the other hand I think some candidates simply have no ideas and they adopt the smear campaign as a strategy for them to win. The campaign is lowered to a position where there is exchange of insults rather than ideas. The insult oriented candidate lowers the idea oriented candidate to their level (of insults) and beats them with experience. Such is the tragedy that has befallen our student politics.
I will conclude with the words of Donald Trump (the American President), who says that one of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace; good people don't go into government. However that is not to say that we don't have very good leaders.

More Christians less Christianity!

In 2014, Uganda this time didn't go to polls but rather conducted a population census. Many things were put to count and religion was one of those. According to that census, over 84 percent
of the population was established to be Christian while only a paltry 14 percent of the population adhered to Islam. The simple mathematics there puts the percentage of those who subscribe to at least a religion in Uganda at 98. If we are to take a margin of error then probably we can say only a minimal 5percent don't subscribe to any religion. I can thus comfortably say that Uganda has a populace of over 95percent that belong to a certain religion. Interesting statistics!
So back to the basics, first of all what tenets does religion inculcate in us, what does it teach us to do and not to do? The values taught in the Bible are often the
opposite of worldly values: kindness and respect
for all people instead of power; humility instead
of status; honesty and generosity instead of
wealth; self-control instead of self-indulgence;
forgiveness instead of revenge. Christian values
promote peace and good will among people in
accordance with the purposes of God. Worldly values I imagine promote jealous, resentments and conflicts among people in accordance with the purposes of Satan.  For a country such as mine to jettison to the winds all the values that mould a religious society, for it to be engulfed in an endless mild of rantings, accusations and counter accusations, something is certainly amiss. Either the biblical teachings have been twisted to suit the current times or probably the masses are not heeding to the cries of our religious leaders. I venture to say there are a blend of factors that have precipitated this. Everyday we wake up to different stories, some are whispered while others are are told in broad daylight
Stories about Christians stealing from their places of work, some disappearing after defrauding unsuspecting members of the public, stories of how offertory baskets are filled by people who amass a lot of wealth through dubious dealings. The argument can be made that these people are offering to their God but the entire essence of Christian values is defeated, stop to think about the crisis they have created. I don't think the God we all believe in will be happy to see offering baskets filled up in churches by money acquired fraudulently. It wouldn't please Him either that His people are sick and suffering because of absence of the necessary and obvious from hospitals. What then is the purpose of preaching love for our neighbors? I believe the capacity to care is what gives life its deepest significance. For us to be human we must know that the cry of distress is the summons to relief, that we give help to one another in times of need otherwise we become no different from animals that live in the bush.
 The breed of religious leaders that is emerging is also increasingly becoming suspect. The surge in stage managed miracles, crammed prophesies and other "religious" practices have plunged our nation into a trying time. For one to dictate on what you should offer and when you offer it is completely divergent of the biblical teachings. The bible tells us that what our good Lord wants is a clean and contrite heart and not millions of dollars or pounds.
I imagine that the flock is beginning to learn from their leaders. Often, we see Christians pointing fingers at their leaders, accusing them of all the evils in the world but forgetting they are only human like us. That alone doesn't justify one's actions because we ought not to look at our neighbors but rather do what is required of us all. It is better for one to be clear on what they stand for rather than keep oscillating from side to side, otherwise we shall increasingly have less and less Christianity even when we are Christians.

Who is not eating?

I read with keen interest the story of government officials being rewarded for their contribution in winning a court case that fetched the country prodigious amounts of money. Later on, as I enjoyed a tete-a-tete with one friend of mine, I told him of this very stimulating story, also with how members of Public were up in arms against the rewards. He paused a very simple question to me and asked, "But Patrick, who is not eating?" The question slowly sank in and I allowed myself a few moments to think it over. He told me of the many dubious and shady dealings that take place in government offices which never see the light of day, those that we prattle about, only a handful looting what is meant for us all. It is a culture that we have cultivated, it is a custom that has become part of our DNA, he went on to tell me and it is what will one day kill our generation and country. I refused to believe that our generation will be wasted but deep inside me I was skeptical.
Recalling the words of Mwai Kibaki, he once said that leadership is a privilege to better the lives of others. It is not an opportunity to satisfy personal greed. If that had been the guiding principle of our country's service then the lining on the cloud would be brighter. It summarizes what a perfect society should be like and no doubt we would have one if we all were selfless. We have bred leaders, that we have entrusted with power but only to squander our resources unapologetically. Our trust has thus dwindled because everyone seems to be betraying our national cause. That explains why fewer and fewer people will go out on voting day when the opportunity presents itself, it illustrates why respect for our leaders has hit record low even when this is an entitlement and it also demonstrates that the future seems unpromising. We see stupendous sums of money vanishing day and night and yet majority of the citizenry remain cash strapped, we remain in a hopeless state only hoping for the next day. It is what our society has grown into, that whoever has access to the source can "eat". At Makerere University for example there is terminology used to refer to tokens or handouts that we call "mugatti". It is unashamedly courted and the beneficiaries are part of us. No doubt our institutions of learning have also been penetrated by this virus but it would be foolhardy of us to sit and watch as our country is run down.
I understand that humans by their very nature always have zest for more but this should not be at the financial burden of this our beloved nation. We can develop a culture of hard work so that our efforts can be rewarded that way. Instead of siphoning funds from the national coffers illegally, we can simply work for this money so that it shows progress. The Bible is one such place where hard work is a pillar and in its absence there is no progress. I refuse to believe that we have a completely rotten society, a few bad elements could be in place but this should not derail us from becoming better. We can hate our government but not our country.
The president of this country once stated that a medical doctor must diagnose his patient's disease before he can prescribe treatment; similarly, a political leader must diagnose correctly the ills of society. I have heard him time and again bemoan corrupt officials as the people making his government look ugly. He can choose to weed them out, if he is to revive its already bad image. That is the only way out otherwise they will keep "eating" and am worried one day they may "eat" their own people if only they haven't already started!

Guilty or not guilty?

The talk of town at the moment is the murder of a promising young man, Akena Watmon allegedly the hands of a pompous tycoon known as Mathew Kanyamunyu. It has unraveled like a clearly choreographed movie with each one taking up their rehearsed and crammed roles. However the sad reality is that a tragedy has befallen our nation. By all accounts we could have our own "O J Simpson case". For starters and beginners O J was a celebrity in California who was suspected of having murdered his wife and another young man at their residence. It was a trial that had many twists and turns, it involved unearthing mysteries and myths, in actual sense it was a jigsaw that had to be carefully patterned.
The abridged facts of the incident as presented by various media outlets are that Akena had at leisure gone to Game Supermarket Lugogo and whilst there, he tried to park his car which accidentally brushed on Mathew's car causing a scratch. Meanwhile Mathew together with his beautiful girlfriend Cynthia were inside the car. Akena noticing his mistake decided to take it upon himself to come out and negotiate with the owner. Akena was shot at this point according to the dying declaration he made to his brother in hospital shortly before he passed on. After being shot, he was taken to three different hospitals by Mathew before he finally breathed his last. I must admit that these facts are still scanty as we have not yet obtained an autopsy report, a report from the investigation team, to say the least. But on the basis of what we have we can apply the law.

First we need to be aware of the cardinal principle in criminal law that anyone charged with a criminal offence is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. We can't be blind to this because in seeking for justice we must be able to do justice ourselves. Article 28(3)(a) is instructive on that matter. Mathew at this point can only be treated as a suspect and can be said to be innocent at least in the eyes of the law. Courts in Uganda still rely on the case of Woolmington vs DPP [1935] AC 462 to determine the standard of proof in murder cases. The standard set in this case was that prosecution was required to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was guilty of the offence committed. This however doesn't mean without a shadow of doubt. Proof beyond reasonable doubt means that;
1) Before verdict, the court should consider the evidence as whole to determine guilt.
2) The court should not determine the facts in issue separately and in isolation.
3) That where issues of credibility arise between evidence of prosecution and the defence, it is not necessary to believe the defence evidence on a vital issue, it is sufficient if in the context of all the evidence, a state of reasonable doubt is left as to the guilt of the accused.
The above leads me to what the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt;
1) that the deceased is dead
2) that the death of the deceased was caused unlawfully
3) that the death was caused with malice aforethought
4) that the accused participated in causing the death of the deceased
We shall deal with one ingredient at a time.

For the first ingredient on whether the deceased is dead. It was reported that the deceased died at Norvick Hospital and a postmortem was done at Mulago Hospital. It therefore not in dispute that the deceased didn't die.

The second ingredient is whether the death of the deceased was unlawfully caused. In law, every homicide is presumed to be unlawful unless it was accidental or excusable. This was cited and approved in the case of Uganda vs Dr Aggrey Kiyingi and 2 Others. It is excusable when caused under justifiable circumstances like self defence, or property or person or when authorised by law. The facts before us do not suggest any accident or any justification and it can therefore be concluded that the death was unlawfully caused.

On the third ingredient, whether the death was caused with malice aforethought. S 191 of the Penal Code Act Cap 120 defines malice aforethought.
It is clear from that section that malice aforethought is subject of a human mind, which is difficult to prove by direct evidence because what is in the mind of one is difficult to discern by another, but can be inferred from the surrounding circumstances of the incident under investigation. In R vs Tubere [1945]12 EACA 63 court held that malice aforethought can be inferred from ;
a) The nature of the weapon used (whether lethal or not)
b) The part of the body targeted (whether vulnerable or not)
c) The manner in which the weapon was used (whether repeatedly or not)
d) The conduct of the accused before, during and after the incident (whether with impunity)

From the the facts it is clear that a sensitive part of the body was targeted. Doctors at Mulago Hospital recovered bullets from his stomach. The weapon used is also likely to be a gun. If the doctors say that bullets were recovered from his stomach then it is unlikely that he was either stoned or hit with a stick. We can therefore be sure that a dangerous weapon which in this case was a gun was used in the murder. Bullets by their nature are not known to fly out of nowhere in the absence of a gun, so it is also unlikely that he hurled a bullet at him or at worse he coughed the bullet.
The conduct of the accused after the incident is very important. We learn that he carried the victim to three different hospitals and later reported the matter to the police. First we should use a "reasonable man's test" to establish what any other person would have done. Many argue and say that if it is true he shot him then he wouldn't have carried him to hospital. This however cannot be conclusive because it could have been an act of panic in a bid to try and make up for his mistake. Any person on noticing that someone has been shot in front of them and more so in a parking yard of a big supermarket manned by security officers, would notify those around. It is unlikely that they would not tell any of those in charge of the premises and also notify police at a later time when hopes of the victim's survival are over. Be that as it may, we can consider the case of Uganda vs Kabandize (1982) HCB 93 where the accused stabbed the deceased and ran away to a nearby swamp where he was arrested. Court held that the conduct of running away immediately afterwards was that of a guilty mind. This can be differentiated from Henry Kifamute vs Uganda SC Crim Appeal, where the appellant was convicted of aggravated robbery and murder and it was stated that after the offences had been committed the appellant ran away but was overrun by police. Court held that any innocent person would have run for his dear life given the irate mob that was present. The facts show that only Matthew and Cynthia were present at the scene of crime and it is unlikely that it would have required them to run since no mob was around. We need more evidence about what happened between the shooting and the death of Akena to be conclusive on this. However any doubt created as to the conduct of the accused should be resolved in favour of the accused.

The last and most contentious ingredient is whether the accused participated in causing the death of the deceased. For Mathew to be convicted or acquitted, it may settle down to how best this ingredient is proved. A dying declaration is the first consideration on this. S30(a) of the Evidence Act provides for admissibility of a dying declaration as an exception to hearsay. Justice Duncan Gaswaga in Uganda vs Jackie Uwera stated that, "the admissibility of a dying declaration in evidence is founded on the principle of necessity. A dying declaration is not given on oath nor subjected to cross examination. But as a piece of evidence, it stands on the same footing as any other piece of evidence. If found reliable, it can form the basis of a conviction." In Okethi Okale and Ors vs R 1965(EA) 555, the court held that it is generally speaking very unsafe to base a conviction on a dying declaration of a deceased person unless there is satisfactory corroboration. The evidence on record can be used to offer corroboration to the dying declaration. Some reports suggest that Cynthia could have been a target of this shooting given that she is a subject of political persecution back home in Bujumbura. I think this will be partly answered by the autopsy report. The distance between the one who shot and the victim will be determined by the medical report. I refuse to buy into this because Cynthia was seated in the car at the time of the incident and Akena was outside, so we can rule out the fact that he could have been mistaken for Cynthia given that these are two very different people. If it is also true that Cynthia was the target then the first reaction by Mathew would not have been to take Akena to hospital but to whisk her away since it couldn't be established if the killer was away or not. Police has searched Mathew's residence and found no gun and he also denies ever owning a gun. We have already ruled out the possibility of a stick, stone or anything apart from a gun because of the bullet recovered from the body. Guns are also not known to release bullets at leisure without anyone pulling the trigger. They are owned and don't own themselves. That means there is a gun somewhere that tragically ended Akena's life and that is the first puzzle that police must fill.
As it stands, the DPP has a tough call before him and to get Matthew convicted many gaps in the prosecution's case have to be filled because one is convicted not on the weakness of the defence but on the strength of the prosecution. However, at the moment it remains that Mathew still enjoys the presumption of innocence and cannot be taken to be guilty.

Conceding defeat is hard but necessary

As I write this, the world is still recovering from another shocker. Donald Trump is the president elect of the United States of America, he has trounced Hillary Clinton to win the most coveted office on land. Besides all that has surrounded this election, the media hype, the altercations from either side, the twists and turns, I have one major takeaway from this election. Conceding in the face of defeat. That is an important lesson for us all to pick from this election.
Minutes after Trump had been announced winner, he was called on to address a jubilant crowd of his supporters and the world, as president elect of the Free world. "I just received a phone call from Hillary congratulating me for having won this race", was his opening statement. To me it spoke volumes, especially when I reflect on the election Uganda has just had as a country which to this day has never been accepted by those that lost. First of all it spoke of a country that even in its political division, is united as a country, a people that when they don't speak the same political language recognize that they are one as Americans. It once again showed that Americans are bound together by ties invisible to the eye. That to me is a very important lesson especially for our African leaders and to us the African people.
It wasn't long before Clinton took to the stage herself. She was full of laughter albeit beneath you could discern the sadness that she was fighting hard to suppress, something that is normal for any human being. Anyone in her position would be crying themselves out or perhaps drinking themselves silly, all to forget but she chose to come and address the world. The crowd she addressed was an emotional one as well. Fighting hard to hide emotions yet doing little to succeed. Her opening statement was not different from Donald's, "Last night I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country". She went on to say that she still believes in America and always will and if the others do then they should accept the result and move on. This was extraordinary especially after losing an election that she was clearly portrayed as leading. Many times in African countries, when a candidate is portrayed as leading and then goes on to lose the election then the story is very much different for them. Fingers are pointed and in most cases results are rejected, presidential petitions are filed and it is from here that hatred is bred. I think the story all begins with having faith and trusting the systems in place. Many of the people who run for political positions supposedly do not trust the system and yet continue to run within the establishment. That is a contradiction in itself. The elections are marred with hatred, brutality, intrigue, bribery and all the election evils that come with it. The results are then rejected and that is how Kenya got to the post election violence of 2008, that is how Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was made to share power with his nemesis Morgan Tshangaria, and that is how disunity has managed to flourish amongst us. But again we have had our very own defy the odds and act "unAfrican". Jonathan Goodluck of Nigeria conceded and congratulated the president elect who had just defeated him. It only shows a people who are mature politicians, those that have outgrown the little nothings that divide us. Hillary in her concession speech said that "Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power. We don't just respect it, we cherish it". That is a huge statement for us to pick from especially after a rollercoaster campaign that has been full of barbs and tantrums flying from one camp to another. Democracy may be alien in Africa but we had better pick a few things from it if we are to build great nations. Otherwise I wish President elect Donald Trump, 45th President of USA, a successful presidency and an enriching term in office.