D.Tinashe Hofisi: Reflections

In the last blog, I made the claim that the rise in juristocracy was at the expense of the more representative arms of the State and thus inimical to representative democracy. In this instalment, I make the claim that the masses have been complicit in and actively sanctioned the amassing and sustenance of imperial powers by the executive branch.  Professor H.Kwasi Prempeh   According to renowned author and academic Kwasi Prempeh, the huge burden placed on the judiciary to promote and sustain constitutionalism is demonstrative of the failure to build credible checks and balances into the “political half of the state.” [2] In other words, excess power within the executive leaves people with no option but to approach the courts to level the playing field. In fact, African leaders’ preference for an authoritarian State model has its roots in the colonial state and its indelible features of “…a unitary and internally unaccountable executive (the colonial governor), posses...

In this blog post, I make the claim that insistence on litigation has unduly given prominence to the judicial branch of government at the expense of the representative arms of the State; thereby disempowering the masses. The putative father of the Constitution, James Madison, thought the legislative branch of government would emerge as the government’s strongest arm; “ In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates.” [1]   He posited that as the branch of most proximate to the people, coupled with its law making ability, it would emerge the most powerful. [2] However, with the post-World War II emergence of global constitutionalism and its features of written constitutions with declarations of fundamental freedoms, judicial review and rejection of legislative sovereignty, the power of courts, particularly Constitutional Courts, has grown exponentially. [3] It has long been understood why policy makers would rat...

In this blogpost, I make the claim that the Olympic Games show  the benefits of ethno-diversity and citizen empowerment  The United States of America (USA) extended its dominance in the medals count at the Rio 2016 Olympics. It remains the country with the most gold medals and overall medals tally in the Summer Games. There are many possible reasons to explain American supremacy in the summer games, from superiority of resources and training regimes to identification of children with specific physical attributes to excel in particular fields. In this blog, I make the claim that the all these factors are enhanced by the USA’s ethnic diversity and citizen empowerment. Whilst the USA is not even close to being the most ethnically diverse country in the world, their ability to make use of their ethnic diversity in the context having the third biggest population in the world accounts for their superiority. Further, they are able to empower their citizens, from an early age...

This blog post links the treatment of the Zimbabwean female football team, the Mighty Warriors, to the power of sport as an indicator of moral, cultural and State failures in the treatment of its citizens. This last week the country was understandably apoplectic over the treatment of the Mighty Warriors on their return from the Rio Olympics. Their spirited performances and dogged determination (leading them to score in each of their games) was a source of deserved pride and credit. It is fair to say that without winning a single match, they won over millions of hearts (even Manchester City Captain Vincent Kompany twee ted in their favour). Thus the nation was horrified by images of the Mighty Warriors being ferried from the airport in a school bus and claims that they were offered US$5 (or US$1 depending on what you read) and told to be on their way home. Whilst this is disgraceful, it is not, in my view, surprising. Sport is a unique way of assessing the status of the c...