Why the solution to Africa’s leadership crisis is bloodshed
More than 200 years ago, men who had gotten tired of being milked dry by the British Empire asked for either liberty or death. These were the great men and women who created the United States as we know it today. It is true that these men later enslaved others, thus subjecting to others the same or even a worse form of oppression. But they nevertheless resorted to bloodshed to win their God-given liberty. Closer home, great men, men of good-will, men whose hearts bled with love and worship of the fatherland, used the crudest of weapons to demand for liberty from the heartless colonial masters.Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Dedan Kimathi of Kenya belong to this class. Africa once again finds itself engulfed in the poisonous fangs of a different crop of colonizers. Influenced by Western appetites and schooled in the mannerless Western academies of self-gratification even at the expense of a brother or a sister, the black masters resort to all manner of tricks to not only cling to power, but also squander public resources as the rest of the population lives in squalor. Read along for some painful examples:
In Nigeria, the people have never enjoyed anything since independence. Election after election, a group of thieves are sworn in for a period of shameless embezzlement. A country blessed with oil and an impressive spectrum of human resources, it brings tears to my eyes when I witness the poverty afflicting the ordinary Nigerian. Ragtag militias have sprung up in different parts of the country, and the leaders are quick to point to religion or global terrorism. Well, the truth is that as great Nigerians such as Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, and lately Adichie Ngozi, have sung time and again, corruption is killing Nigeria.
Let’s move down to Kenya. A medium-sized country in East Africa, Kenya has the potential to beat Malaysia, Singapore, Chile, and even South Korea in economic terms. But make no mistake; it will take Kenya 100 light years to catch up with South Korea with the rampart corruption in the country. The latest scandal involves a cabinet secretary who worked in cahoots with her hairdresser to steal close to Kshs. 2 billion. After a devoted cover-up by the country’s anti-corruption authority and the intelligence services, the hairdresser said it all in a sworn affidavit that disclosed the location of the money and those behind it. The president, who had all along claimed that no money was stolen, is predictably silent. It is in Kenya where hungry children die in the arid parts of the country’s Northern frontier and their remains are eaten by vultures and hyenas. This is the same country where floods kill people in some area only for a dry spell to kill others in the same area, when the investment needed to tap the flood waters is a meager percentage of the looted money. Kenya gave birth to other economy-crushing scams such as Goldenberg and Anglo-leasing. It is a steamy little pot of tribalism where 1,000+ souls lost their lives in tribally instigated electoral violence in 2007. In Kenya, stealing continues, and the future looks bleaker than ever before.
In Uganda, Museveni, a clown of a leader who rode a tank to power is not willing to let go. Cursed with a hapless opposition, the people of Uganda seem stuck between a hungry and ugly laughing hyena and a hungry and emaciated gazelle. Whenever the hyena crushes the masses, it gets to the opposition and consumes them up. Museveni looks poised to lead Uganda till he dies. But his day will come.
South African voters are funny. A man stands in court and agrees that he raped a woman suffering from AIDS without protection but argues that he took a shower immediately after this heinous act to make sure he would not get infected. Then this man or a beast of a man goes ahead to be rewarded with the highest office in the land. And then you wonder why South Africa has sunk, never to be heard again.
File Photo: South African leader Jacob Zuma. He is one of the eyesores of leadership the continent has to stomach, at least for the moment.
The spirit of Nelson Mandela must be crying for the fatherland.
In Libya, thugs and hooligans were sponsored by the CIA and MI6 to topple Gaddafi as soon as he was heard of bringing Africans together. With Libya’s oil resources, Libyans were quite comfortable and some African countries were always benefiting from cheap loans from Libya. Now Libya is a wasteland smelling of death and wails from the dying, the hungry, the maimed, and the disinherited.
File Photo: Libya leader Moammar Gaddaffi. His death ushered a violent period in Libya.
Rwanda is the gravestone of the continent. Kigali has been groomed excellently to hoodwink foreigners who never move beyond the capital. The country is still poor, relying on foreigners for up to 90% of its budget. Kagame is busy hounding opponents who are mainly Hutu. If there is a country that requires Africa Union forces, then it is Rwanda.
Solutions
The corrupt in Nigeria will not let go of power. The blood of patriots will eventually push them out. Until then, have a good day. In Kenya, property is quickly being gathered into the hands of the top 1%. In the US, the masses have a way of democratically changing leadership. In Kenya, the blood of patriots will cause the thieves at the top to flee, and then there will be redistribution of wealth with an eye to remedying historical injustices where the land of some groups was stolen by some individuals. Until then, Kenya’s rot will continue ascending to the heavens.
Uganda’s story is a sad one. I am not even suggesting a military solution because those fellows work like brainwashed little men. A robot can stage some rebellion compared to a Ugandan soldier. It will take external intervention or invasion to kick Museveni’s ass out of power. Raila would have done. But he has to be Kenyan president before he can do that. But I am also not underestimating the will of the Ugandan people and the intervention of God, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
Rwanda should be a Kenyan Province and Kagame jailed for crimes against humanity. But he who comes to equity must come with clean hands, and before Kenya can try to clean Rwanda, it must put its own house in order.
I Believe South Africans have what it takes to kick Zuma out of power, add him 1000 wives and 300 concubines, and then elect a leader with the ability to manage a powerhouse like Azania. By hook or crook, this must happen. If not, Africa will forever follow, always witnessing high infant mortality rates, high maternal death rates, poor education standards, skewed poverty, and predation on underage girls by white pedophiles and octogenarians. All these are due to a broken system.
The above examples offer a glimpse of the sorry state of African leadership. Nearly all countries are messed up. The citizens are scared to death, the militaries are complacent, the civil society is part of the mess, and the media is a bunch of spineless cheerleaders. In this digital age, a scared media that dances to the tune of the devil is the ultimate murder weapon to smother the masses. But remember when all is said and done, good wins.
By Prof. Ismelda Okechukwu
Lagos, Nigeria.