A Brain Child of External Forces or Internal Crisis: The Formation and Rise of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, 1999-2013 (Review Completed - Accepted)
The article is mainly concerned about analyzing the factors behind the formation and rise of MDC
in Zimbabwe body politic. Some scholars and ZANU-PF political elite view MDC as a foreign
project sponsored by the Americans and the British. Therefore, they largely believe that MDC is a
party without African interests at heart. Other scholars believed that MDC is simply an internal
creation that was consummated as a result of ZANU-PF’s complete failure in regard to economic
management and governance crisis. However, in the end MDC was as a result of both internal and
external factors. Among the factors considered in this paper they range from political, economic,
social as well as international forces. However, it is the contention of this paper that the democratic
and human rights abuses by the state as well as internal economic crisis in Zimbabwe contributed
much to the emergence and rise of MDC in Zimbabwe
Keywords: Democracy, MDC, Opposition politics, ZANU-PF, political party, ruling party
JUDICIARY AND DEMOCRACY, ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN SOCIETY (Published)
The judiciary has come under a severe criticism in recent times due to its untimely disposal of electoral case in free and fair manner. Marxist theoretical perspective is hereby adopted to ascertain the problem under consideration. The need for the theory arose because the judiciary with its powers is required by the capitalist to enforce unequal distribution of social and material rewards in order to preserve their position to oppress less privileged class in the society. It was discovered that the capitalist class in Nigeria normally muster financial resources not just to perpetuate electoral fraud but also bribe their way in the election petition tribunal which aim at correcting the abnormality in the electoral system thereby denying the masses access to justice in Nigeria. It was recommended that various punishments and sanctions should be awarded to erring judges who indulge in corrupt practices, such punishment like death sentence, dismissal from service, public humiliation by sending them to prisons to serve jail term. On the side of politicians who bribe judges to see their way through, they should equally trial and convict them for bribing public officers. Also they should be disqualified from whatever political position they are contesting for, this will help in reducing the corruption in the judiciary that does not allow Nigerian democracy to grow.
Keywords: Contemporary Nigerian Society, Democracy, Judiciary