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| Africa: Waiting for Redeemers |
One of the reasons why Africa remains underdeveloped is the comical patronizing proclivities of its leaders. The self-serving behaviors of these leaders are characterized by anachronistic buffoonery that would have been laughable but for the fact that they are insidious maladies that have stifled Africa's development. In an ideal democracy, the legitimacy or right to government power should depend on the choices made by informed citizens of a country. In Africa, today, and despite the fact that military dictatorships have become rather unfashionable, the quality of the electoral process and democratic leadership are still far from ideal. Instead of urgent revolutions in governance and developmental strategies, we have painful rotations of colonial minded political jobbers. The same traitorous line of ineffective local tyrants who were responsible for the abortion of the nascent push for intra-African unity at independence is responsible for the internal colonization of most countries in Africa today. These leaders have turned the "flag independence" instituted by European powers into a personally profitable heist of each country's commonwealth. They murderously discount accountability while suppressing the emergence of progressive emancipatory forces.
In order to protect their political and economic interests, the departing colonial powers ensured that the power dynamics of each African country was controlled or dominated by the military. Africa's modern military forces were formed, trained and equipped by European colonial governments. The military forces bequeathed to African countries, for the most part, assumed as their raison d'être, neo-colonial imposition, personal aggrandizement and internal pacification of their respective countries for continuous exploitation by the metropoles. The innate predatory tendencies of Africa's military were effectively utilized to stymie all pretense of independence, except in few cases. Before independence, the colonists used the core of the military establishment for coercion, territorial expansion and as common mercenaries during Europe's civil wars (so-called World Wars). After independence, Africa's military were easily induced to perform the same roles under the new African leaders. Because of their possession of the instruments of coercion and colonial training, Africa's military, for the most part, became "sleeper cells" for internal destabilization at the behest of the colonial masters who still dictated the affairs of their former "possessions". Coups and countercoups against civilian or military governments became common after independence, depending on what former colonial authorities considered "good" or "bad" leaders. To this day, former military men, as in the case of Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, Egypt etc, still lead African countries.
Some of the instabilities experienced by African countries since "independence" are traceable to externally induced take-over of power through military coups against civilian governments. When you add the tribal, ethnic and religious idiosyncrasies in Africa, a cauldron of instability becomes existential. Patrice Lumumba of Zaire and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana were prime examples of Africa-minded nationalists who were removed from power by the military and Neo-colonial intrigues. In Zaire, the elimination of Lumumba led to the rise of a kleptomaniacal, retrogressive and oppressive militocracy under Mobutu who ruled the hapless country for more than three decades. The moment Lumumba announced the new direction he was willing to take Zaire after independence, he became public enemy as far as the colonial Belgium was concerned. Mobutu was preferred by Western powers because he was a willing conspirator in the continued rape and pillage of his country by foreign powers in exchange for personal wealth.
The Pan-Africanist movement led by the late Ghanaian President (Nkrumah) at independence was thwarted in its efforts to unite African countries into a formidable economic and political entity, capable of confronting Neo-colonial brigandage. The former colonial powers became uncomfortable, when they rightly sensed the existential danger of allowing Africa to unite and become a regional, and by extension, a powerful player in world affairs. Through devious political and economic strategies, the colonial powers ensured the disunity of African nations then, and now. From Africa's staggered "independence" to this day, there have been a deliberate balkanization and economic enslavement of the countries on the African continent. Unjust trade and financial laws, coupled with deliberate deceptions and imposition of traitorous, sit-tight leadership hierarchies has ensured neo-colonial domination and exploitation for the benefit of the metropoles.
The failure of African leaders to present a united front in the post-colonial development and integration of Africa during the last six decades has led to economic and political stagnation in comparison to other parts of the world. Traditionally, or by inducement, African leaders were encouraged to open their country's natural resources for exploitation and provision of raw materials to advanced economies while importing finished goods. This exploitative relationship has confused the average African who thinks westernization is modernity. Africans became westernized in taste, but failed to assimilate or copy Western productivity, scientific methods and economic strategies. Leadership in Africa became avenues for self-aggrandizement, self-importance, cronyism and the further entrenchment of divisions amongst citizens. For the love of power and assurance of support from former colonial powers these leaders, using pre-independence tactics of divide and rule, have devalued the worth and rights of their country's citizens. Civil wars, ethnic cleansing, religious intolerance and extra judicial killings are rife on the African continent and it is one of the places on earth where human life and potential are least valued.
Instead of addressing and working towards Africa's renaissance, its leaders prefer to seat with the rest of the world at international conferences to make empty threats and dreary rhetoric with a retinue the size of a small invading army. The main concern of African leaders is getting and retaining power by any means, in a sickening royalist way. Power is maintained by distributing favours while service and accountability are tokenized or completely abandoned. They go through the motions of governance, making empty inconsequential speeches at allotted times under the micromanagement of self-serving cabals. This trend is encouraged by the so-called "international community", especially when the country can be held down for corporate rape, through resource control, exploitation and financial emasculation. Howard Nicholas, an economist, based in Sweden has suggested that Africa's underdevelopment is a deliberate strategy to keep the continent in a perpetual exploitable state by the "developed" world. In this well orchestrated enterprise, our traitorous leaders, awash with all sorts of external inducements and power guarantees become common errand boys of international corporatocracy .
The overarching tragedy is that Africa's underdevelopment and visionless leaders will continue to aid the concretization of racism and the oppression of blacks on the planet. Our borrowed or imposed socio-political, educational, religious and Eurocentric/Arabic thinking must be relinquished, in order to evolve a truly African renaissance. We must reach into history to find the common bond that unites Africans. After giving so much to the world, it will be sad if we fail to give to ourselves in a world where the dominant ethos is the negation of our very existence.
Jrotimibgood@gmail.com
