WHEN OUR THINKING IS
ONLY LIMITED TO POWER AND FAME, EXPECT POLITICAL CANNIBALISM.
BY: DENIS ANDABAN.
It is always heart bleeding to hear of the land you love, the
land you belong, the land of your grandfather and the land where your
generations begin and end, being mentioned everywhere not for anything positive
but conflicts, war, poverty, epidemics, famine and many more. I wonder why a
land with abundant resources still remains a breeding ground for such cankers.
Is Africa under a curse? I absolutely
disagree that we leave under any curse. No, not even the curse of the white
man who was forced out of our land and resources they came to plunder.
If there is any curse, it is probably the curse from our own attitude. We are
simply the engineers of our woes. Today I write in tears to admonish all
African leaders to think beyond political power, fame and wealth. The insatiable quest for power and fame are
only vanity that shall end in the grave one day.
There is no gainsaying that the attitude of African leaders
is a mockery to us elsewhere in the world yet they parade themselves around as
good leaders and branding all sorts of accolades for themselves. Pardon me if
am too harsh with my piece but let the truth be told that the difference
between some Africans and some animals are quite insignificant. To be greedy,
power conscious and power drunk should not take away your natural conscience
unless we have substandard intelligence as a people.
The hypocrisy is
conspicuous in our claims that we largely believe in democracy. The wisdom of
the continent in copying democracy from the “West” was to ensure fairness, equity, justice and respect for
fundamental human rights through constitutional law. No individual,
irrespective of their status, origin, religion and sex is above the law. Nobody
forced democracy on us. We saw sense in it and learnt it and if it does not
meet our aspirations, we make amendments but not to establish to ourselves what
I call “conditional laws”. This means we consider it law only when it
is in our favor or when we can manipulate it to suit our whims and caprices.
Can this be constitutionalism?
Let’s reflect our post-colonial history as a continent. After
we have fought and defeated the white man’s rule. Indeed, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of
blessed memory and his colleagues told the word that the black man is capable
of managing his own affairs. We have recorded almost uncountable number of
military takeovers and political instabilities in this continent where innocent
souls were loss. Isn’t this enough a lesson? We keep on pointing fingers at the
“WEST” as the cause of our political
instabilities and conflicts but I vehemently disagree. It is our own hypocrisy,
insatiable quest for power and fame. Don’t blame anybody.
A careful look at the events that are causing atrocities and
agonies to our people, one should reflect on the western democratic principles
and whether they fit well into our cultures. I am saying this because many
countries in Africa have experienced constitutional upheaval being precipitated
by political instability. Look at what happened in Libya, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Burkina
Faso, Rwanda, Sudan and many others in recent times. Look growing rate of
military insurgency yet we fertilize the grounds for such to be repeated? The
case of Gambia is just an example. I can’t fathom why only one individual who
have ruled his country for about twenty one years and still cannot forfeit his
unrepentant quest for power and fame. The elections were conducted by an electoral
mandated body and declared you opponent the president elect. If you have any
issues, why don’t you first handover power and pursue your case to a logical
conclusion? I thought Yahya Jemmeh was in power for the welfare of the people
so why can’t he consider the welfare of his people and Africa now? I will blame
Yahya Jemmeh should there be any war in Gambia.
Unfortunately ECOWAS and AU in my view are very poor in
conflict resolutions because in my view, they lack the courage and the will to
intervene when coercion is required. When UN come in too, we then sit aloof and
blame the “WEST” for their influence
in our continental affairs. That is extreme absurdity. My elementary history
informs me that civilization started in Africa but I don’t feel proud saying
it. It does appear that we enjoy when we see people being killed, punished and
brutalized just for some few to enjoy political power. The greedy power seekers,
who do not respect the sovereign will of the people, indirectly eat our flesh
and drink our blood. Let me tell them if they don’t know. I call that political
cannibalism.
According to Fischer (1954) as cited
in the book titled the power of nonviolent resistance by Michael J Nojeim “he who
is ever brooding over results often loses nerve in performance of duty. He
becomes impatient and then gives vent to doing unworthy things: he jumps from
action to action, never remaining faithful to any. He who broods over results
is like a man given to the objects of senses: he is ever distracted, he says
goodbye to all scruples…” A word to the wise, they say is enough. African
leaders must solve this situation for once. The mere rhetoric is not enough a
lasting remedy. Tell the world that you are not toothless dogs my dear ECOWAS
and AU.
There is a common saying that “when
persuasion fails, force must apply”.
Shall return………………………………………….
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