Prime
When African strongmen talk about unity, I get confused
Author: Nkwazi Mhango
What you need to know:
On the said occasion, almost every speaker regurgitated the words such as liberation, unity of Africa, development, sovereignty, among others. But I asked myself, what do they mean? That’s because despite these words, Africa has never been united.
African unity is a statement many African rulers like to make whenever they appear before the masses or in front of cameras, like I recently heard from some African ruler who attended the funeral of fallen Chadian dictator Idris Derby Itno. Derby was killed recently while fighting off rebels who were coming for him.
On the said occasion, almost every speaker regurgitated the words such as liberation, unity of Africa, development, sovereignty, among others. But I asked myself, what do they mean? That’s because despite these words, Africa has never been united.
If they truly mean what they say, then why is Africa still disunited as the colonialist moulded it? Africa must unite or perish, I told myself sadly and sarcastically.
What did Derby personify in the first place, if not despotism and nepotism? Like other strongmen such as Idi Amin, Jean-Bedel Bokassa and Mobutu Sese Seko, Derby was a marshal.
How many do we still have in the upper echelons of power replicating the same sin of arresting Africa’s development and unity because of the greed for presidency?
Who has stopped them from reclaiming African unity that was felled in the 1884 Berlin Conference that divided Africa into modern feeble and fickle states; begging states that have failed to utilise abundant resources that God endowed them with.
They talk about democracy but rule undemocratically through rigging elections, tampering with and changing constitutions to remain in power. Despite that, they shed crocodile tears when they talk about the miseries of Africa as if they aren’t part of the problem.
Alas, they don’t only talk about Africa’s unity but also about liberation of Africa. Who held Africa at ransom, delayed true liberation and who stood in the way of the true liberation and unification of Africa if not they?
To make matters worse, such rulers talk about development and equality as if they deem themselves to be equal to those they lord it over.
They talk about peace while they use their private and public armies to create chaos in their countries. They talk about justice while they use injustices to cling onto power. They talk about accountability while they rule unaccountably and irresponsibly.
They condemn corruption and vow to fight it while they’re corrupt through and through. They condemn tribalism while they use the same to divide and illegally rule their people.
Africa’s modern-day colonisers talk about sovereignty while they are always controlled by their former and emerging colonial masters.
They talk about cooperation while they’ve totally refused to integrate Africa by abolishing their colonial borders, passports and visas. They trade with foreign countries by avoiding their neighbours.
They congregate at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, annually to do the same thing over and over again, yet expecting different results. They thump their chests that Africa is moving forward, while it’s instead moving backwards.
They’ve internalised and institutionalised their greed and myopia as if they’ll live forever. If Derby had relinquished power in time, he’d have enjoyed life in retirement with his young wife. But his greed and myopia became his source of demise.
How many rulers view this greed like I see it? How many’ll get a lesson from such a tragedy that befell Derby?
Mhango is a lifetime member of the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador [email protected].
