Africa – Not nearly enough

In order to save myself I must first destroy the me I was told to be.

Dejection when I look at what is going on in Africa, If in this day and age we are still fighting, divided over the identities given to us by the colonial powers we so detested then there is something very wrong with us as a people, my brothers in Cameroon that fronco-Anglofone stigma is total bullshit.

Africa what happened? Where is the dream of kwame Nkurumah? The sacrifice of Nelson Mandella? During apartheid Africa united in unison against the racial victimizations and segregation of the black people. Today South Africans are pathetic xenophobes killing and maiming their brothers whom they use as an excuse for their laziness.

In Nigeria the long standing Biafra problem has not been solved, gaining momentum the separatist with valid claims by the way threaten to divide the country not to mention “boko haram”. In Zimbabwe Mugabe is set to die in power, old and quivering I fear he might need a pamper change during the next state of the nation address. Uganda’s strongman Museveni is hell bent on undoing all the good he has done in the last 31 years he has been in power, once looked at as a young, charismatic and forward thinking revolutionary he is  now a greedy, grumpy old man with dictatorial tendencies. This year Museveni is attempting to change the constitution for the second time so as to enable him rule for life by removing the presidential age limit, the first time was in 2005 when through his party he altered the constitution removing the cap on presidential term limits. I guess it’s true what they say once a rebel always a rebel better still power corrupts.

You would think African leaders would learn from what happened to the high and mighty Gaddafi but no, our African heads come thick as coconut, our leaders are experts at selective hearing, words go in one ear and out the other only keeping the bullshit they want to hear, the shallow words and praises of parasitic hand-shakers. In his own words Museveni thinks and believe he is the only one that has the brain and potential to be president in the entire country, I guess the rest of us are idiots.

So unfortunate the situation it makes one want to shed tears. How can you be so rich and yet so poor? Some say it is a western conspiracy to keep Africa poor, I say it is a self-inflicted reality a consequence of poor decisions and sheer stupidity on our part from as far back as our history has been written. The chiefs and kings of the 18th and early 19th centuries collaborated to sell their brothers into slavery! Remember only strong and able  well-built men and women were sold leaving behind weaklings in fact one could argue Africa’ s problems can be traced back to this point because right now we have a generation of weakling offspring. I bet the problem is culturally ingrained, African children are forced not to be independent in thought and action, there is a serious problem with parenting in Africa, when a child is outspoken or has diverging views it is a bad child and the rod comes out, no wonder Africans we are complacent, same problems for an entire millennia!

The aforementioned collaborators, kings and chiefs sold their territories to colonialists for cheap through near-sighted, self-serving agreements, today the Musevenis are selling  their countries by getting endless loans from the world bank, IMF and courting favors from China, USA and other world powers. By the time Uganda’s oil starts flowing not only is it a fact that the value per barrel of the resource will have depreciated to almost half the price it is now, the country would have spent nearly three quarters of the total prospected revenue from the entire resource bulk pre exploitation through surety loans.

Kagame with all the economic gains he has achieved in Rwanda has choked his people of social rights and liberties, fresh out of a disputed election Kenya is facing a political crisis, Egypt is under military rule while Somalia is forever a failed state. The DRC despite being endowed with almost every mineral known to man ranks as one of the lowest in the United Nations Human development index. To sum it up every corner of the rich continent has REAL problems, poverty, corruption, disease, war it is as though we are constantly striving to fit the stereotype the west has painted of us.

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery non but ourselves can free our minds.” Bob Marley

 

Mind Over Matter

“All war is an indicator of man’s failure as a thinking Animal.” John Steinbeck.

Chinese author and CEO Zhang Ruimin in his publication Wolf Totem (狼图腾) demystifies wolf culture as fierce, astute, suspicious and rapacious. Wolves are astute and ready to pounce on any weakness. Rapacious and barbaric, they attack in packs cooperating with one another with a regiment spirit. This culture is not gentle and all extremes are acceptable to achieve an objective. In a world where oligarchs are in control, world governments today have adopted wolf culture preying on the weak and vulnerable, using any means necessary to drive their agenda.

On the other hand, the lamb is the absolute contrast of the wolf, gentle and obedient, characteristic of trust and sincerity. Zhang puts it as the “I die, you live” mentality while a Christian would say “turn the other cheek” Sheep are meek, always quick to hear and obey the shepherd’s voice. Unfortunately like the naive in the political realm the lamb’s most useful purpose is to be sacrificed. With all due respect if you have no political affiliation and are indifferent to politics you are a sheep.

The world today has way too many sheep, 7.5 billion People on the planet as of 2017 and a global population growth rate 1.11 % that is an approximately 80 million people increase per year and three quarters of these are sheep. Sheep will follow their master unequivocally because they have no ambition and are satisfied to eat grass however, while sheep are humble, they are also impressionable, easy to be influenced and manipulated making them incapable of loyalty. Sheep have no backbone, they are somewhat dull and are not themselves principled but adopt those of their shepherd (king, president or ruler). They tend follow without asking questions and believe their shepherd’s ideology more than he does, they are everything wrong with the world today.

Understanding the different types of people in the world we live in gives insight into world events today. When a shepherd realizes his stocks are growing out of control he /she sells off some, slaughters a few and introduces reproductive measures to control numbers. When oligarchs realize the masses are increasing out of control they introduce birth control, or start a small war and when they realize masses are getting enlightened, they give you democracy an effective blinder that gives the commoner the illusion of having power.

However, every strong nation needs a steady work force, sheep are vital as a source of labor and hence a considerable number of sheep is necessary.  Begs the question, apart from the illusion democracy, how do you effectively control the necessary mass of sheep necessary to ensure a working economy? Well the answer is cultural dilution. America is a good example of a nation effectively using cultural dilution. The Indians were too attached, were too sentimental and so apart from a few survivors, they were systematically erased. Today America is a mixture of everything. Americans are too confused to be a threat to real power and America is flourishing.

To address inequality, injustice, poverty and other problems the world needs a sheep uprising, not the foolish bloody or military revolutions like the Arab spring that are destructive but a global mental uprising characteristic of acute reasoning and manipulation, we need to adopt and beat the man at his game. War is not an option, does more harm than good. An active mind, a plan, food, security, education and shelter are all the guns a people needs.

Strategy is about tradeoffs, making choices it’s about deliberately choosing to be different and remember, hope is not a strategy. “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move fall like a thunderbolt” Sun Tzu.

BEFORE THE SPRING

Pathetic, the only word I can think of to describe the events that unfolded starting late December 2010 through 2011 in North Africa and the middle East. Historians record these events were sparked by a suicide act of a young Tunisian Bouazizi who set himself ablaze in protest of his refusal to hawk in a restricted area, if that is not preposterous I do not know what is. As for the status quo in Tunisia, with pessimism surrounding the economy at its peak, a recent opinion survey by the International Republican institute revealed that 83% of Tunisians believe their country is headed in the wrong direction with increasing unemployment and living standards.[1]

Anywhere they occured, the so called revolutions were only successful, in promoting terrorism, Islamism (not confuse these fanatics with the perfect religion of Islam) and creating deep divisions in receipting countries, wounds that will take generations to reconcile. I challenge you (reader) to name one country that is better off after the spring of death.

The problem with the world today is there is a lack of accountability, we either care less or are powerless to hold the powerful accountable, unless we stand to benefit from a course of action we look the other way. Totally disregarding the African Union, the UN pressured by the “west” France, USA and NATO allies was quick to impose a no fly zone on Libya. Where are they now to help the poor people of the country who are being terrorized and killed every day by the militias they armed? Libya had the best standard of living in Africa, better than some countries in Europe during Gaddafi’s regime today it is a failed state! Recently the British parliament published a report condemning England’s intervention is Libya after concluding that the war was based on erroneous assumptions.[2] Who was held accountable for the crimes in Libya? Let’s blame it all on Gaddafi even though he died six years ago, those killed yesterday in Benghazi are his fault too. Oh wait the migrant crisis is also the dead man’s fault the thousands that have drowned at sea while being smuggled to Europe in ramshackle boats are his responsivity.

Has the UN failed the rest of the world? The United Nations as the name suggests was formed to unify all states so that the weak and powerful can have a common voice in world issues, to promote peace and dialog so as to prevent another great war. Today the UN has been politicized serving specific interests of the G8 or G20 for that matter. Apart from a few successful peacekeeping missions in Africa, the UN has not been able to stop any significant wars since inception. Commentators commend the UN for limiting and keeping wars from expanding case and point the Korean war when North invaded south in 1950 however, by then the Korean peninsula was part of the developing world hence it is safe to say that the UN has only been successful against the weaker nations. The UN has done nothing to sort out the Ukraine issue with Russia and of course did nothing when the USA invaded Iraq in the pretext of biological weapons, can’t the strong be held accountable?

Getting back to the spring of death Egypt is more authoritarian than ever before, terrorism and insecurity hamper parts of the country and a serious drop in tourism has left many people with no source of income. Syria is a lost case, the bigwigs influencing the state of affairs in that part of the world where they are not from are stuck dick measuring while the country is reduced to rubble. Of course the UN cannot do anything before America and Russia are done with their penis competition and so in the meantime people will just keep dying. Who cares right!

But who really is to blame for the status quo, should we blame suicidal Bouazizi who dramatized his suicide? Or maybe we should blame the people in those countries after all they wanted change and change is what they got. Maybe we should blame the western countries that took part in the wars agitating protesters to oust their leaders. What about the media that spread the wild fire that propagated the erroneous assumptions the British government came to a conclusion of. Indeed, Arab countries have blockaded Qatar accusing the country of supporting terrorism through biased media and other avenues.

[1] International Republican Institute (January 13, 2016) Tunisians Believe Country Is Headed in Wrong Direction; Pessimistic on Economy, Concerned over Terrorism.

[2] House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (September 14, 2016) Libya: Examination of intervention and collapse and the UK’s future policy options, Retrieved from, https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmfaff/119/119.pdf

 

 

Africa and the Leadership Problem

Leadership can been described as “a process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.”  A leader therefore is  someone whom people follow, or somebody who inspires guides or directs others.

The importance of leadership cannot be overstated. As an African I come from a place which has paid a great cost due to poor leadership. In Africa leadership is often confused with “power”, apart from a few exceptions, African leaders have a tendency to be corrupted by the power at their disposal after assuming office. Consequently most of them abandon the objectives and goals that put them in their position and concentrate on strategies that will help them consolidate and remain in power. Since independence in 1962 Uganda has had a total of eight presidents, three of whom assumed office through military coups. The current head of state Yoweri Kaguta Museveni assumed office on 29^th January 1986, after over four years of guerilla warfare. In his inauguration speech President Museveni made a famous quote “….this is a fundamental change….the major problem with African leaders is they do not want to leave power.” 28 years later Mr. Museveni is still the president. In 2005 his government amended the constitution – abolishing term limits to ensure that he does not leave office.

Of course Museveni is not alone in this boat. African leaders like: Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, Paul Biya of Cameroon, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, Idriss Déby of Chad, Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and of course the charismatic Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe have all failed to relinquish power some holding on for as long as over three decades! While others even have arrest warrants issued against them by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Apart from their obvious hunger for power, a common misconception among African leaders today is the misguided belief that they are the only ones with a vison to lead their countries. Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of the great leaders the world has seen once quoted “A good leader can’t get too far ahead of his followers.”

Indicators of poor leadership in Africa include Political Instability and slow Economic and Social development, among others. A more robust example of poor leadership was in Uganda during Idi Amin Dada’s regime between 1971 and 1979. In 1976 Amin expelled Asians from Uganda and with them went the economy. This uninformed act of Nationalism set Uganda’s economy back at least two decades, one can argue that 39 years later the economy has not quite recovered.

It is a fact, effects of poor leadership on the part of top African government officials trickle down to lower levels of governance. The administrative bottlenecks of rampant corruption and embezzlement of government funds which are characteristic of many African countries, are largely as a result of poor leadership at the top. However, poor leadership in Africa is also due to lack of administrative knowledge and skills in the strategies, tools and systems necessary for the effective implementation of government policies on the part of public workers. To consolidate power African leaders appoint and promote officials not on merit but for political reasons like loyalty to the ruling parties.

Examples of total decay in African leadership include; Liberia during the time of Charles Taylor, who  was accused and successfully prosecuted of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his involvement in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). Another example not far away from home is Rwanda where a few individuals in power premeditated a genocide where an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed. More recently in 2013 the armed power struggle between Riek Machar and Salva Kiir in South Sudan has led to the death of over 50,000 people and still counting.

I reminisce on the times of great Africans like Nelson Mandela, Haile Selassie, Ahmed Sekou Toure, Kwame Nkrumah among others, whose genuine love for their people exemplified in their doctrines on African Solidarity and unity were vital for the, economic, social, and political independence of African Nations  in the 20^th century.