0 THE DILEMMA OF LEADERSHIP AND DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA: A REFLECTION ON GENERAL ELECTIONS IN BURUNDI By ERNEST NKUNZIMANA A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Commerce Degree in Leadership Studies, School of Law and Management, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westerville Campus, South Africa Supervisor: Prof R G TAYLOR 2014 1 Dedication This work is dedicated to AHMIRADO,whom God has given power to guide, inspire and empower the poor; and to late Denyse Reinker and Ahrim Reinker, who in their virtuousness and loving kindness dedicated their lives to working for and helping the poor and the disadvantaged. Their missionaries work in Africa will be a living legacy. This work is also dedicated to my parents, brothers and sisters, and all Burundian victims of 1993 civil war. 2 Declaration I declare this work to be entirely my own. All citations and information obtained from the works and publications of others have been acknowledged accordingly. It is being submitted for the degree of Masters of Commerce in the school of Law and Management, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westerville Campus, South Africa. No part of this work has been submitted for any other degree in another University. Student Name Student Number Date Signature Ernest NKUNZIMANA 210527374 2014 ---------------------- 3 Acknowledgement I begin by acknowledging and thanking God for holding my hands and walking this journey of achievement with me. To my supervisor Prof R Taylor, accept my gratitude for your constant guidance and encouragement. I am immensely grateful to my lovely wife Esperande Bigirimana. You showed me invaluable love and support, and worked so hard to keep our three children Mandela Nduwimana James, Sun Nkunzimana Joel and my lovely daughter, Ishimwe Jordan Louise happy, making them understands why daddy was not there sometimes. How I appreciate your sacrifices and can only promise to be a better husband to you and a good and exemplary father to our children. I am also very grateful to the Reinker family, especially Conrad Reinker, Dieter Reinker and their respective families for their constant sacrifices to sustain my family financially. To Father John Louis Dimba, no words can describe the immense support you brought to my family, may the Lord guides, and protect you. My special thanks also go to the “Sainte Famille Community” and “Church on the ridge” for their prayers and for being my source of inspiration and energy. May the good Lord continue to guide and protect you all. To the Nyirimana Eraste family, and my sister Dr Penine Uwimbabazi for her great insight and contribution to my work, I say thank you all for your support and encouragement. To all those I have not mentioned, but who assisted me in one way or another, accept my gratitude, for this work would not have been completed without your kind support. 4 “Just like the king of Egypt, he hardened his heart against the will of God; Burundian leaders like many of the rest of African countries also sealed their hearts from the cries of their people. They refused to let people go under normal procedures of ballot. Bullets and breakout storm of war are expected to make change of leadership”. 5 Abstract This study investigates leaders as source of conflicts in a polarized Burundi society. The study adopted a qualitative-interpretative methodology in which social actors like politicians, journalists, members of civil society were interviewed, the outcome of which was matched with relevant literature on democracy, governance, and peace building in Burundi in order to answer the study’s critical questions. Eighteen respondents were purposively selected six from each social actor’s group were interviewed such that data was generated through face- to-face interviews. The data collected was manually analyzed and interpreted using an open coding. Burundian leadership system was grossly hampered from pre-colonial era when the colonizer, who was more interested on self-enrichment than developing the local citizens, hijacked and extinguished the monarch of “Ganwa”. The African leaders who took over leadership after the independence unfortunately adopted the colonizer’s egotistic leadership style. The situation was further exacerbated by excessive hunger for and desire to stay in power of post- colonial African leaders. The long lived divine appointment to leadership was forgotten; new local leaders instead impatiently adopted self-appointment system. This gave birth to the systems of coup d’état that was replaced by democratization of 1990. The study further showed that even in so-called democratic regime, the authoritarian African perpetrate elections manipulation using violence to seize or remain in power against the craving of electorates. Thus the use of arms becomes the only tool to drive successful candidates to elections. Contrary to common opinion the “Arusha” negotiations of Burundi power sharing was revealed to be another source of conflicts than ethnic diversity. Corporation of Hutu and Tutsi political leaders for their common interest as elites suggested a new ethnic group as source of war, “ethiny of leaders” who are ready to sacrifice anything to protect their power-intoxicated selfish interests. To adequately assess the leaders’ behavior and their leadership system, the study has adopted the authentic theory of leadership which stress on living examples of leaders who respected the needs of their followers. Findings confirm that leaders are the source of all problems that Burundi has experienced since the beginning of the transition process. Through the disguise of democracy, elites make war for positions of leadership and in the process people suffer tortures, arbitrarily arrest, and 6 killings while others run into exile. The study concludes that Burundians are under bondage of politicians and need liberation from their own leaders. The study recommends strong institutions, unity and decentralization of power. These three elements would restore the power of the state yet bringing back dignity to the people as citizens who hold power to vote in or out their leaders without interference of elites. 7 LIST OF ACRONYMS CNDD-FDD: Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie -Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie. National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy CENI: Commission Electorale Nationale Indépendante. Independent National Electoral Commission FNL: Forces Nationales de Libération” – “National Liberation Forces FRODEBU: Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi. Front for Democracy in Burundi G7: Hutu Group of political parties that signed the Arusha Agreement G10: Tutsi Group of political parties that signed the Arusha Agreement PDC: Parti Democratic Chretient. “Christian Democratic Party”, this party Was among contenders in the period of independence. P P: Parti du Peuple. “ Peoples Party, UPRONA: Union Nationale pour le Progrès. National Union for Progress 8 Table of Contents STUDY ORIENTATION ................................................................................................................... 13 1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 13 1.2. Background of the Study ................................................................................................................ 13 1.3. Brief Historical Overview of Burundi Politics ................................................................................. 15 1.3.1. Burundi under the colonial administration............................................................................. 16 1.3.2. Ethnic split-up as elites’ strategy to power. ........................................................................ 18 1.4. Rationale of the Study .................................................................................................................... 19 1.4. Main Objective ............................................................................................................................... 20 1.4.1. Sub- objectives ........................................................................................................................ 21 1.5. Research Questions ....................................................................................................................... 21 1.5. Research Design ........................................................................................................................... 21 1.6. Sequence of Chapters ............................................................................................................... 25 1.7. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 26 THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP IN BURUNDI ........................................................ 27 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 27 2.2. The Background of African Traditional leadership ........................................................................ 27 2.3. Traditional Leadership and Divine kingship in Burundi. ........................................................ 28 2.4. The Impact of Western ideologies and Religion ........................................................................ 31 2.4.1 The birth and impact of division and disunity in Burundi..............................................