Swaziland@Newsletter 79

Published by Africa Contact (Denmark)

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_______________________________

1. Norman Mokoena, COSATU to stage protest action at the Oshoek
border gate in solidarity with the people of Swaziland: 18 September
2008.

2. Swazi mediation on the cards. Mandy Rossouw, Johannesburg (South
Africa), September 15, 2008.

3. Musa Hlophe, Political Triumphs or the Triumph of Politics? The
Times Sunday, 14 September 2008.

4. Celebration speech of the king. The Swazi Observer, September 12, 2008.

5. All men are created equal so let them eat cake. Matthew D'Arcy,
Public Service Review: International Development Online, September 10,
2008.

6. Civil society gains strength at African Union ECOSOCC meeting. IPS,
Dar es Salaam. September 10, 2008.


_______________________________

Dear readers

On the present situation and task in Swaziland, I wish simply to quote
a letter. Written by Thobile Maso on the needs and the demands of the
people. In many ways, it could also be addressed to all throughout the
world who attempt to create a better future under similar circumstances.

- Peace is incontestably needed in all nations and by all peoples of
the world. I think it must be fully understandable that to deny and
deprive the democratic rights of the people you have violated their
integrity, the dignity of their humanity. In fact you have dehumanised
and raped their humanity.

Every revolutionary fighter is a revolutionary lover because s/he
loves the life of the people and has to fight and defend the people.
In the process of the conflict, violence will occur because of the
resistance of the autocratic regime which wishes to maintain its power
over people.

Revolutionaries are defenders of the rights of the people. They have
to advance the interests, needs and happiness of the people at all
costs. That is the duty of each and every revolutionary.

Revolutionaries are not bandits, not adventurists or reckless people,
but are radical and militant people for the course of democracy, for peace
and justice as a corner stone for all peoples of the world.-

It cannot be better said.

Yours sincerely

Swaziland@Newsletter
Editor

_______________________________

1. Norman Mokoena, COSATU to stage protest action at the Oshoek
border gate in solidarity with the people of Swaziland: 18 September
2008.


On 18 September 2008 COSATU members in Mpumalanga will embark on a
protest action in solidarity with the struggling masses of Swaziland
for democracy in that country.

COSATU is consistent in its support for the workers and the people of
Swaziland, as nearly every year COSATU members have staged border
blockades at all the borders between South Africa and Swaziland to
call for democracy and the rule of law in that country.

On 19 September 2008 the people of Swaziland will be forced to observe
and participate in an illegitimate and undemocratic lections which are
run and controlled by the Tinkhundla regime. These elections takes
place under conditions where political parties are banned, where the
freedom of association is denied, where the constitution of the
country has been imposed unto the people, where political activists
are harassed and tortured by the Swaziland Defence Force and police on
daily basis, where young men and women have fled the country and are
exiled because of their activism.

The Tinkhundla regime has politically failed the people of Swaziland,
it is a neo-colonial and semi-feudal system founded on the exclusion
of the overwhelming majority of the people of Swaziland. The economy
of Swaziland is today characterized by the following:


- HIV/AIDS prevalence at 40%

- Highest levels of inequalities between the rich and the poor

- The economy not growing but stagnating

- Women abuse is dressed in nice gown called tradition

- About 70% of the population live below the $1 a day and over 300
000 of the around 1 million citizens depend on food aids.

- Unemployment rate is amongst the highest in the SADC Region .

COSATU in Mpumalanga calls upon all peace-loving people of Mpumalanga,
the Alliance, the Mass Democratic Movement, the NGOs and CBOs,
members of the community to join us in the protest action to liberate
the people of Swaziland from the yoke of oppression .


____________________________________

2. Swazi mediation on the cards. Mandy Rossouw, Johannesburg (South
Africa), September 15, 2008.

Mediation between the Swazi government and labour movements and
opposition parties is due to start within weeks in an attempt to
resolve the country's growing political crisis.

Jan Sithole, the general secretary of the Swaziland Federation of
Trade Unions (SFTU), said the country's labour advisory board had
acquired the services of the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the
University of Cape Town to mediate.

This is the first time that political mediation will take place in the
kingdom of Swaziland, where parliamentary elections are held
regularly, but the reigning monarch, King Mswati III, governs
absolutely.

The proposed mediation is due to start in Mbabane after the
parliamentary elections on September 19.

A South African expert on Swaziland, who prefers to remain anonymous
says the situation in the country is volatile.

"It is worse than Zimbabwe, any small thing can just trigger it; we
have to be careful."

The elections next Friday will cost R22-million. International bodies
such as the United Nations and the European Union declined to observe
this year's poll because the Swazi elections are perceived as
undemocratic since the Constitution does not allow opposition parties.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Commonwealth
will be sending observer teams.

"In practice, they [the king and his family] are the government, a
government which the people cannot change, even though there are
direct elections," the Commonwealth observer mission said in a 2003
report.

The mediation efforts among government, civil society and the
political opposition come after the recent mass demonstrations and
bomb blasts which accompanied the country's 40th anniversary
celebrations in Mbabane which doubled as King Mswati's 40th birthday
party.

Despite the high HIV rate -- 43% of pregnant women were HIV positive
in 2005 -- and poverty, Mswati treated his 13 wives and their
children, servants and bodyguards to a shopping trip in Dubai,
sparking widespread criticism.

The celebrations were marred by two car-bomb blasts at the stadium
where the celebrations were held. No-one was injured or took responsibility.

Before the celebrations the People's United Democratic Movement
(Pudemo) had threatened to make the country "ungovernable" if the king
did not agree to change.

Although he denied that his party was involved, Pudemo President Mario
Masuku said the bombings were not "the work of anyone outside of
Swaziland. Nobody came from the United Kingdom or from America to
effect the bombing, it was done by the people of Swaziland," he said.

Masuku said that despite dissatisfaction with the king, Swazis will
vote next Friday.

"It is the culture and nature of the regime; people are told that if
you don't go to the elections, you are not a Swazi."

Masuku said candidates are campaigning because being an MP provides a
regular income and the prospect of a good life: "If you are an MP you
are closer to the king and have a chance to be in Cabinet."

The SFTU is planning mass demonstrations in the run-up to the
elections, setting up border blockades with South Africa's Cosatu.

According to Masuku, they have appealed to the SADC for help.

"SADC likes quiet diplomacy. We know that there are engagements
between the government and SADC leadership but we were not invited to
that. Leaders know that if Swaziland is unstable, South Africa and
Mozambique are unstable, so they can't just sit back."
_______________________________

3. Musa Hlophe, Political Triumphs or the Triumph of Politics? The
Times Sunday, 14 September 2008.

As I write this we are hearing that the long - quiet diplomacy - of
President Thabo Mbeki has produced a settlement in the ongoing crisis
in Zimbabwe. Of course, in the strange world of the southern African
politician, an economy that is running inflation at millions of
percent, is not in crisis, an election process that has ripped up
African Union and SADC guidelines on elections and common sense to
manipulate a result to keep Mugabe in power is not in crisis
and a society that tolerates political killings and violence including
rape to intimidate opposition supporters, is not a crisis. This
leaves us with the question - what does it take for you to call a
situation a crisis?

Political, rather than legal theory shows that a state is sovereign
when it is recognised as sovereign by other states and when it can
control the monopoly on violence within the country. Mugabe made sure
through his manipulation of Zimbabwe?s security forces and the use of
violent repressive tactics by his party, ZANU-PF, that he retained the
monopoly on violence, especially when it is directed towards political
ends. These are the only terms that one can conceive that Zimbabwe is
not in crisis. The ruling elite retains its ability to dominate and
control the country and its people through violence, the threat of
violence and the violent suppression of resistance. It is a brutally
effective strategy that rips up the idea of the social contract where
the leaders of a country are part of a broader agreement that they
rule with the consent of the people.

It is often said that there cannot be humanitarian solutions to
humanitarian crises. It is also probably true that there cannot be
effective legal responses to crises of legitimacy but that cannot mean
that the only game in town is politics. I have said before that it is
dangerous to leave politics to the politicians, we, the people must
speak, we must stand up and make our voice, the voice of common sense
in its truest and most democratic form, speak. Democracy is government
of the people, by the people, for the people, not the politicians.

Governments of National Unity are a triumph of politics over the
people, and their common sense. This is where this dangerous, short
sighted idea of a government of national unity (GNU) panders to the
politically aware who are concerned about the control of the levers of
power rather than representing the will of the people and respecting
the diversity of views within it. Seven months into the GNU in
Kenya, we still see politically motivated brutality on the streets of
Nairobi, we see the loser of the election remaining as President and
head of state and appointing the winner of the election as Prime
Minister with undefined executive powers. We see the stunted Truth
and Reconciliation Commission and other Commissions that are never
going to get to the real causes of the crisis because the people who
appointed them are the people that the Commissions must investigate.
We see the will of the people ignored by the political elite and the
important role of the opposition parties as the expressed will of the
minorities and as a check and balance on power, left behind. A
triumph of politics over democracy.

The Zimbabwian economic crisis stems not from the economic sanctions
imposed by the west, (they were directed at less than 100 people
within the country) but by the politicians thinking that they can
order the printing of more monetary notes when there aren?t enough to
buy what they want. This attempt by politics to triumph over
economics was always doomed to failure.

On Thursday, the day before the, still secret, deal was announced,
there were credible reports of ZANU-PF activists beating and raping
opposition supporters. These are not the actions of democrats.

ZANU-PF are not democratic - they are politicians who have gained
power through the barrel of the gun and cannot envisage that power can
be taken from them in any other way. Mugabe said so before the June
29 run-off, his words were: how can a cross on a piece of paper mean
more than a rifle? While we respect Comrade Mugabes proud history as
the scourge of the colonialists, however we must acknowledge that he
has squandered his fine reputation by acting in exactly the same ways
as his colonialist oppressors did. The takeover of the white farms
had nothing to do with giving back the land to Zimabweans, as his high
flown and emotionally charged rhetoric states. Farms were selected
for repatriation by those who stopped paying bribes to ZANU-PF. The
fact that the farms were then given to party leaders who couldnt farm
is one of the great tradgedies of Zimbabwe. And so we witness the
triumph of politics over biology. The farms can be barren and the
people can starve so long as those farms are owned by the powerful.

Back at home, in Swaziland, this week is, of course, elections week.
Let us not be under any illusion, under this tinkhundla system your
opinion on how the country should be governed, and who should govern
it, counts for nothing. Your vote is for an MP that has no say in who
is in government nor what the policies of that government should be.
That is the reserve of His Majesty and his advisors. This is another
triumph of politics over democracy.

We saw on Wednesday the belated arrival of the SADC elections
observation advance team. By their own standards, they are supposed
to be in country at least fifteen days before the elections but like
our Elections Commission they will be trying to do too little, too
late. In explaining their lateness the observers stated that Swazi
Elections and Boundaries Commission had not invited them for the
nominations and the primary elections. We all know the reasons why.

The nominations are the arenas where the real work of the Tinkhundla
system is carried out. When the elections and boundaries staff
collude with the local chief to ensure that certain people are, as our
constitution states, invited to stand and more importantly for the
tinkhudla system not invited to stand. Many people were not
recognised for nomination if their face did not fit. We know that there
must be between 4 and 10 candidates for each chiefdom but we do not
know the criteria that the elections officials use to decide how many
people should be invited to stand. This system is corruptible and it
is corrupt.

The Commonwealth Elections Observation Team got it right
in 2003 when they said that it was of no consequence if the elections
were free or fair since they were not credible. These elections and
this Constitution do not allow for change, they do not allow for
development.

And as in Kenya and Zimbabwe so it is in Swaziland, elections now mean
nothing, those in power stay there in spite of the will of the people.
Nothing changes. In George Orwells novel 1984 the final image of
government was as a boot stamping on a human face, forever. When you
cannot change your government that is the system that you get. The
triumph of politics but by no means a political triumph.

_______________________________

4. Celebration speech of the king. The Swazi Observer, September 12, 2008.

I wish to take this opportunity, on behalf of the entire Swazi nation
to pass our profound condolences to the government and people of
Zambia on the passing on of their president.

Interestingly, I was four months old when King Sobhuza II received the
instruments of independence and I have no doubt that there was joy and
ululation on that great day of 6th September 1968. Naturally, I was
happy since I was in the warm hands of a happy mother on that historic
day.

The Swazi Nation pays tribute to and salutes all the heroes and
heroines of our Independence who were led by the gallant King Sobhuza
II. These men and women worked very hard to bring the country to where
it is today. It is our turn today to take Swaziland forward to greater
heights and raise the standard of living of all our people.

I know the world might be wondering as to why we are so excited in
celebrating 40 years of our Independence.

The answer is simple: We are celebrating our nationhood and also
thanking God Almighty for preserving us as a nation. We are
celebrating the unity, peace, stability and progress that we have
enjoyed for the past 40 years.

We are telling a world full of turbulences that we are a happy nation
inspite of all the challenges that we might face. We are saying to
potential investors and tourists: There is a Kingdom where they too
can come and enjoy prosperity and peace, safety and tranquility and
our cultural heritage. The past 40 years has seen the Swazi nation
grow from humble beginnings to where it is now. We have indeed made
tremendous achievements in infrastructure development, improved social
services, education, economic development, telecommunications network
and tourism, to name but a few.

We have also seen the Kingdom of Swaziland take its rightful place
amongst the nations of the world.

Different challenges

As the world battles with different challenges, our country is no
exception. We continue to face multiple challenges which include
poverty, hunger persistent drought, unemployment, chronic diseases
like HIV and AIDS epidemic and tuberculosis.

It is clear that the HIV and AIDS epidemic in duet with TB have
reversed most of our gains in the health system. The situation has
since been worsened by the increase in the international price of
fuel, food and related commodities.

I wish to assure the nation that their contributions at the National
Agricultural meeting and the recent Sibaya gave us the opportunity to
analyse and address these challenges and a practical action plan is
being developed in line with our National Development Strategy.

I now challenge all of us to celebrate this 40th Anniversary by
unleashing our development potential to tackle these challenges head-on.

Today, I would like to emphasise that each one of us has a role to
play in making Swaziland a better place for all of us in the next 40
years. I am convinced that each one of us has something to contribute
towards the development of our country.

Capacity building

Capacity building is key to enabling each one of us to play a part in
nation building and development. In light of the fact that the Swazi
nation has vast untapped potential, the time has come for us to
develop every talent that has been entrusted to individual citizens.
Ultimately, it is our people who are going to make the difference
between us making it or not. So talent identification and nurturing,
preferably at a tender age is critical for our country.

This has to be done through the teaching of life skills, arts and the
virtues of honesty and integrity. Once a child learns the skills and
master their artistic abilities, that child will successfully do
anything in life as they will be alert, innovative, determined and
cooperative for a better Swaziland.

I therefore urge all those responsible for the education and
development of our children from parents, pre-school to tertiary
education to assist our children to know and develop their talents so
that we build a successful nation with a purpose and clear destiny.
Indeed our children, the youth are our future: Labasha Betfu
Bangumliba Loya Embili!

May I remind our youth to always remember that God Almighty has
bestowed one life to each one of us. You must protect this life from
all hazards including drug abuse, HIV and AIDS.

The education of all our children will always remain government?s priority.

We are doing everything possible to make sure that we achieve
universal education by This we shall achieve by building many schools
and making education affordable and accessible to all children
including the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC).

On the economic front, I am confident that we will turn our economy
around and improve the standard of living of all our people within the
next few years. Our emphasis will be on Agriculture where we need to
support our farmers by availing more arable land increasing access to
finance and constructing more dams for irrigation.

We shall also make sure that local and external markets are secure for
our products. Emphasis should therefore be made on competitiveness and
adherence to the high standards that world markets expect. Indeed,
value addition to products for export is key to our success in
creating more jobs and increasing revenue for farmers.

While it is true that we shall continue to avail assistance to
communities that are affected by the persistent drought, we encourage
every citizen to stand up and grow food wherever possible so that we
can feed ourselves as a nation.

The nation is aware that the national parliamentary elections are
currently ongoing. I urge you all to elect people who will be able to
tackle the complex issues the country, and indeed the region, is faced
with. We need leaders who will take their responsibility seriously and
be part of the solution to the challenges faced by the communities.

Great honour

In line with the saying that life begins at 40, I am happy to inform
the Swazi nation that SADC leaders have deemed it fit to appoint our
40 year old Swaziland to be the chair of the SADC Organ on Politics,
Defence and Security Cooperation. I take this opportunity to publicly
thank the SADC Heads of State and Government for conferring upon us
this great honour.

I am confident that with the support of the entire Swazi nation and my
fellow Heads of State and Government we shall be able to execute this
heavy responsibility for the enhancement of the lives of all the
people of our region.

Our mission is simple, yet solid and fundamental: dialogue and
peaceful negotiations are the key to the establishment and
sustainability and of peace, security, stability and prosperity which
happen to be the anchor pillars for sustainable economic development
and trade integration for our region. Sharing our experience in this
area will be our humble contribution to SADC and the continent at large.

Indeed, Africa?s hope to reclaim its rightful place in global affairs
lies in unity, integration and close cooperation with each other.
African countries should continue to work together and support each
other if the continent is to participate effectively in shaping the
future of the world, not as a case for charity, but as equal partners
with all the continents.

We have the natural resources, human capital and expertise that the
rest of the world needs, and the industrialised countries have the
technical know how and financial resources that Africa needs. It is on
that basis that I challenge all African countries to support each
other for mutual growth and security.

Continued commitment

Let me take this opportunity and express the nation?s profound
gratitude to all our international friends and cooperating partners
for their support and assistance in the past 40 years. We look forward
to your continued commitment to the next 40 years as we continue to
make the Kingdom of ESwatini a better place for all.

To the Swazi nation, I wish to say thank you very much for your
continued support and love as you contribute to and participated in
building your country and society.

We have come this far to celebrate our nationhood because you have
preserved our unity and continued to work hard to make Swaziland a
better place for all. The future of Swaziland lies in your hands and I
am happy to know that you will continue to love your country and work
even harder for the common good.

To Her Majesty the Indlovukazi, I wish to thank you for the being
there for me and the Swazi nation and we thank God Almighty who has
kept you to see the nation?s 40th Independence Anniversary as well as
my 40th Birthday.

This is a blessing indeed.

We commend all those who made their preparations for this wonderful
event for a job well done. Thank you for the splendid entertainment
and performance. We have enjoyed everything.

This is a day the Lord has set aside for the Kingdom of ESwatini. Let
us raise our voices and say that as a united nation we stand as a
fortress and we shall together overcome all our challenges and prosper
Swaziland.

_______________________________


5. All men are created equal so let them eat cake. Matthew D'Arcy,
Public Service Review: International Development Online, September 10,
2008.

The gap between rich and poor has long been a contentious issue for
almost every country in the world. Mankind just hasn't yet managed to
evolve beyond material need, and the pursuit of this results in gross
inequalities in wealth. Even practical demonstrations of communist
society have all too often shown to be accurate with Orwell's ideology
of all being equal but some more equal than others.

Last week should be no surprise then, when we saw celebrations in
Swaziland for the 40th birthday of King Mswati III and also the 40th
anniversary of the country's independence. But surely there is nothing
wrong in celebrating such a momentous event? Not according to some
people in Swaziland. Their protest is a practical one ? how can the
state afford to spend £1.4m (or many times that as some have claimed)
on these festivities, inviting dictators like Robert Mugabe to join in
the party, while so many in the country suffer and die in poverty,
with very little food and the highest rate of HIV in the world?
Perhaps the King's speech might as well have said "let them eat cake".

Cases like this are not unique to Swaziland. The aforementioned Mugabe
enjoyed a rather lavish birthday party recently at the expense of his
people.

But then compare this to the developed world. Britain in particular is
witnessing fuel poverty at the moment. Some people are faced with a
tough choice ? do I eat or do I heat the house? A question that should
not be asked in one of the richest countries in the world. This
question is coming as winter draws in, as Britain enters a recession
and at a time when there are soaring fuel and food prices and little
chance of wages moving in sync with the real cost of living.

Yet Britain can still afford to spend vast sums of money maintaining
the lavish lifestyle of the country's leaders, with very nice six
figure salaries for a number of government ministers and plans to
celebrate the 60th birthday of a future monarch later in the year. The
gap between rich and poor certainly isn't limited to poorer countries
in the developing world. If poverty is to be eradicated partly through
the efforts of the developed world, perhaps leaders of those proud
nations need to look at the gap between the rich and poor in their own
countries before they can bolster enough support to properly influence
and tackle the challenge elsewhere.

_________________________________________________________


6. Civil society gains strength at African Union ECOSOCC meeting. IPS,
Dar es Salaam. September 10, 2008.


The launch of the African Union's official Civil Society Council may
strengthen the continent's ability to address human rights violations
and tackle poverty, activists say. The first permanent General
Assembly of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African
Union (ECOSOCC) ended Sep. 9 in Tanzania's biggest city of Dar es
Salaam. The newly formed ECOSOCC is meant to be the "people-powered"
arm of the continental organization. And one that is relatively safe
from political manipulation.

However, some nations will not be fully represented as only about half
of the African Union's member nations -25 - have agreed to take part
in the council.

Participation of some non-governmental organizations may be prohibited
by a rule they can accept no more than 50 percent foreign funding. The
rationale is to prevent donors having undue influence on the council's
work. Yet, many NGOs in Africa rely on outside sources for their
budgets.

ECOSOCC's inaugural three-day meeting this week was mainly bogged down
in bureaucratic minutiae - briefing participants on the mechanics of
the new AU organ to help them come to grips with their new
responsibilities. The real work starts now, said ECOSOCC's incoming
presiding officer, Akere Muna, president of the Pan African Lawyers
Union and vice-chair of the corruption watchdog, Transparency
International. "Civil society will be directly able to address the
African heads of state, without the diplomatic shackles or formalities
we often see in regional bodies," said Muna, a Cameroonian, in an
interview. "We have the ability to speak out of step, diplomatically
speaking, and with a conscience."

The council will rely on the power of grassroots activism to help
build a better future for the world's poorest continent, said Nobel
laureate Wangari Maathai, outgoing presiding office of the interim
ECOSOCC. Membership of the council includes trade unions,
non-governmental organizations, the diaspora, women's groups, human
rights campaigners, anti-poverty activists, the disabled and
businesspeople. The permanent council replaces an interim advisory
body chosen in 2005 to chart the way forward, raise funds and organize
elections for its successor.

With that now in place, ECOSOCC is supposed have direct input into the
policies and programming of the Africa Union and the opportunity to
engage with heads of state as part of annual their summits, according
to the website. The first order of business for ECOSOCC is not yet
clear. In general, the body will try to push its own issues to the top
of the AU agenda, issues such as investigating how foreign money may
fund the weapons trade and fuel war on the continent, Muna said.

Maathai said she hopes the council will explore the expansion of
mining and oil activities in Africa, working to secure more benefits
for local citizens and protect against environmental destruction. "On
this continent there is powerful competition for a limited number of
resources. We as Africans must demand that these are fairly
distributed and that these activities don't lead to environmental
degradation," Maathai, a Kenyan, told reporters. At the same time, the
council will also shi! ne a spotlight on the continent's dire
humanitarian situations including the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe
and civil conflict in Sudan, said Maathai.

The AU has called for a power-sharing deal between Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change to end a post-election crisis that is further
damaging the economy. In Sudan, the AU has deployed troops in a bid to
help resolve a five-year civil conflict in the western Darfur region
in which 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million driven
from their homes. "Civil society needs to show the root causes of the
problems - including Zimbabwe and Sudan. We are doing everything we
can to be effective through this new channel to our political
leaders," said Maathai.

African Union chairman, Jakaya Kikwete, said civil society activists
were now equal partners in influencing daily decision-making at the
AU. "The African Union has gone! beyond the mere process of
consultation that other institutions adhere to," Kikwete said in his
address at the launch ECOSOCC in Dar es Salaam. "Africa has given the
value of democratisation and inclusiveness, a more holistic and
enduring meaning." Action and not warm words are needed to confront
the many challenge facing Africa, said Beatric Nyamoya, president of
the Association of Female Lawyers of Burundi based in the capital
Bujumbura. "This is all very diplomatic and nice today, but our
members are very conscientious of the fact that we have our fight on
our hands," said Nyamoya, who represents the central African nation on
the council. "Our challenge will be to remain independent, which I do
think is possible," she added.

Lee Habasonda, of the Transparency International chapter in Lusaka,
Zambia and a member of ECOSOCC, said creation of the council was
already a small victory for the fledgling civil society in Africa. "In
some ways you could say we're making some small progress already
because we've opened up this space to be partners," said Habasonda.
"I'm going to use it as a platform to talk about corruption, poverty,
and free and fair elections."

_____________________________________

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