Election observers from the African Union and ECOWAS seldom present true reflections about polls on the continent. Interestingly, bad politicians with a penchant for refusing to let go power even when they are no longer wanted, dangle their usual �free and fair� verdict as sacrosanct stuff and, therefore, blemish-less.
Infused with diplomatic niceties the reports of these African observers are presented in a manner which would obtain for them future entry permits and fat handouts.
Ghanaians will never forget the role of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in what befell their country�s elections in December. We can bet that if he ever sets foot here on a similar mission, he surely will meet an inhospitable populace.
We recall with consternation the STL issue and how the former Nigerian strongman sought to calm tempers when some irate NPP supporters stormed the place. His explanation that nothing untoward was taking place there was indeed rich and made the irate party persons wonder why, he as a foreigner, knew so much about the facility as to vouch for its innocuousness.
At the end of the day, he rendered a report which did not represent a true reflection of how the polls were conducted in the country as evidenced from the rancour which followed the declaration of the results. His impression was presented with such gusto that that it could convince strangers to local political machinations that it was as clean as the scriptures.
Last Wednesday, the people of Zimbabwe went to the polls in an election which pitted the 89-year-old President Robert Mugabe against his political rival Morgan Tschangarai.
Although over one million urban dwellers, most of them supporters of the opposition MDC, were unable to vote because their names did not feature in the register which was presented only a day before polling day, Obasanjo has already given it a thumbs-up.
Another look should be given the membership of such missions whose false reports do not help the cause of the political development on the continent.
African observer missions, especially those with Olusegun Obasanjo leading them, lack the credibility to pass judgment on the quality of polls.
It is time election monitoring missions were overhauled on the continent to give them a clean bill of health and rid them of the mendacious impressions they churn out each time polls are held.
There are no doubts about Africa�s oldest president�s desire to cling on to power no matter what the rest of the world thinks about his crazy megalomania even at this ripe age of 89.
And with personalities such as the old General around to rubber-stamp his electoral thievery as free, fair and credible, he has no cause to feel any apprehension.
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