Mr Charles Onyango-Obbo
US President Joe Biden on the weekend dropped a bombshell, announcing he was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing his deputy Kamala Harris.
It waits to be seen if the Democratic Party in early August picks her as their candidate, but she looks far out the favourite at this point.
Last month Mr Joe Biden, 81, had a disastrous debate performance against Republican party presidential candidate former President Donald Trump candidate which, combined with visible signs of physical frailty and glimpses of cognitive difficulties, unleashed an avalanche demanding that he leave the race, although he had won the primaries.
Mr Biden’s exit sent shock waves in the USA and around the world.
In Africa, two veteran leaders recognised immediately that the US president’s action had sent subversive signals and could encourage some “enemies of development” to demand they follow President Biden’s example.
The two, one in Greater East Africa (we will call him GEA to protect his identity), and the other in West Africa-Gulf of Guinea (we will call him WAGG), immediately jumped on the phone to discuss the unfolding drama in America.
We have got what a source claims is a leaked transcript on the conversation, which is produced here in edited form (tongue-in-cheek):
President GEA: What is the meaning of this? Biden is fleeing from the presidential race, condemning himself to being a one-term president by choice, just because he is 81, and struggled to climb the stairs of Airforce One because he had COVID? For Christ’s sake, 81, he is still young. Look at Dear Comrade Paul Biya, he’s still vibrant at 91, and I was really delighted to hear him announce recently that he will stand in 2026 at the age of 93. When they say ‘black don’t crack’, brother Biya is the best example. Great African resilience. The Americans don’t have it, they have lost their way.
President WAGG: You took the words out of my mouth. So what if Biden slipped on stairs, and was weakened by COVID? That is discrimination against the less abled, and stigmatising the sick. Do you remember comrade Abdelaziz Bouteflika, he led Algeria ably in his last five years ill in a wheelchair. And Dear Brother Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe fell on several occasions, was asleep three quarters of the time, but he still had revolutionary fire in his belly. Comrade Bob had Grace (Mugabe) who pampered him and kept his spirits up. I think Jill Biden is to blame for Joe. If she had ensured that he drank strong soup and took his vitamins, none of this would have happened.
GEA: Exactly, but I also think this mzungu food is a problem. If Biden was eating cassava, yams, our millet, fresh fruit, Congolese cassava leaves, our peas, and smoked fish, he would be sprightly. In fact, when I look at Trump, I think he needs to come to you people there in West Africa and you feed him with fufu, egusi soup, and jollof rice, otherwise he won’t last.
WAGG: I think Biden also opened himself to attack. To begin with, he made a bad choice for vice president. I mean, she is 59, 22 years younger than him. That invited unfavourable comparisons, and gave people wrong ideas about a clear youthful alternative. Then, she is also good looking. Well, she is passable. If you pick a woman as your VP, never pick an attractive one, especially if you have thinning hair. That is asking to be eclipsed. These Americans boast that their democracy is over 200 years old; it seems they have learnt nothing at all for two centuries.
GEA: The other thing that confused me, was to see members of Biden’s Democratic party calling on him to drop out of the race, how? First, whose party is it? Even if he found it there, he should have purged it and ensured that all MPs (Congressmen/women and Senators) are his people. Secondly, doesn’t he have the Police? If any MPs of my party asked me to quit, they wouldn’t sleep in their beds that night. Or if they did, they would wake up in the morning when they were ex-members. I wouldn’t stand for that level of indiscipline.
WAGG: Absolutely, I would tell them to go and form their party. What is the use of taking power if you can’t wield it? But, my brother, I am worried, this could still give our people ideas. We could crack down and end the nonsense, but this idea that one is too old at 81 to be president, could gain currency again and destabilise us. At least Trump is 78. I wasn’t decided about him or Biden. Now I desperately need Trump to win.
Mr Onyango-Obbo is a journalist, writer and curator of the “Wall of Great Africans”. X: @cobbo3
