By Wilbert Mukori- Poor, poor Africa each time we take one step forward it is, more often than not, followed by two or three steps backwards. It is little wonder therefore that Africa, save for the golden age of the Pharaohs of Egypt and South Africa’s all too brief moments in the sun Nelson Mandela years, has remained the most backward continent in the world.
Yes the rest of the world have taken it in turns to exploit and oppress the Africans, first the Arabs in their Dhow, followed by the European slave traders, no sooner was slave trade abolished the Europeans were back in the scrabble for Africa and, before the dust had settled marking the end of white colonial rule, we have new colonial masters in all but name – the Chinese!
Africa is not the only continent that has been colonised, true; but it is the only continent to suffer wholesale colonial rule and, worst of all, to be milked without mercy.
“The white colonialist used divide and rule tactics!” some African apologists have argued. What they will never admit to is it is easy to divide what is already divided and fragmented!
Throughout human history nations and empires have thrived and prospered when the individuals within were united over a common value be it rule of law, religion, share destiny, etc. and everyone felt valued.
It is near impossible to unite people who do not trust each other one bit! In Africa our relationship with each other has been underwritten by the desire to dominate the other or they will dominate you!
We should have learned from the history of others and our own past mistakes by now but we have not. To learn from the past one must be willing to look in the past, look in the mirror, and be brutal honest with what is there. We are not!
Nigerian Journalist, Caleb Okereke, did not take kindly to people comparing President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that the 3rd November US elections were rigged but without producing any evidence to Robert Mugabe’s ranting Zimbabwe elections were free and fair ignoring the mountain of evidence of the blatant cheating and wanton violence.
“Such comparisons may appear harmless on the surface, but they have problematic real world consequences,” argued Okereke in the article “Why it is wrong to draw parallels between Trump and Mugabe” in Al Jazeera and Bulawayo24.
“This is problematic for multiple reasons. First of all, it is an argument built on the false assumption that American democracy is not vulnerable to authoritarian interventions and power grabs like “lesser” democracies elsewhere in the world, and especially in Africa. It is an argument born out of America’s belief in its own moral superiority and its political class’s inherent racial biases.”
The Greeks, the nation that gave the world democracy as a system of government, were painfully aware that for democracy to work the people must be educated and hence the reason they laid so much emphasis on freedom of expression and individual freedoms. There it is 2 500 years ago and already the appreciated free of expression.
The education of the people is an on going process that never stops and hence the reason all healthy and functioning democracy value freedom of expression and a free and independent media.
It is therefore foolish for anyone, anyone at all, to assume American or any other democracy out there “is not vulnerable to authoritarian interventions and power grabs”. There is nothing to guarantee the people will always be well informed and will never ever elect a tyrant. Nothing. Caleb Okereke not only makes the foolish assumption but is trying to foster it on others.
Zimbabwe’s democracy, if one dare to call the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship that, is weak and feeble; poison and food compared to America’s democracy. I am a black Zimbabwean and I am proud to say this but say it because it is the truth.
I just don’t get, what exactly is Okereke is wittering about! As far as I am concerned, Mugabe and Trump are two human beings who love of power knew no bounds. The former was able to stay in power for 37 years because the country’s democratic institutions are weak the latter lasted 4 years and the people booted him out of office. Why should comparing the two individuals be such a racially charged matter?
Okereke, who is racially superior than the other here; Robert Mugabe or Donald Trump? And superior in what way?
In my view, Caleb Okereke has looked in the mirror and seen the full portrait of Robert Gabriel Mugabe, a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous tyrant. Mugabe is just one representative sample of many other African despots.
People comparing Mugabe to Trump have reminded Caleb of Mugabe. But instead of confront and confounding Africa’s curse of despotic tyrant Okereke is seeking to silence all those critical of Africa’s failed leaders by playing the race card.
“On the surface, these may seem like harmless comparisons between political leaders with similar dictatorial tendencies,” continue Okereke.
“But why do so many choose to draw parallels between Donald Trump and African leaders when the recent history of the West itself is full of political leaders who have been as autocratic, as power hungry, and as willing to undermine democratic procedures as their African counterparts? Was it not Western colonialism that paved the way for many of Africa’s democratic failures in the first place, anyway?”
And are Africans so corrupt, incompetent and inept they cannot not pave their own way out of the mess?
It is a crying shame many Zimbabweans now look at the white colonial days with nostalgia as the golden years compared to the hell-on-earth Mugabe years!
The number one reason the country is in this mess is because for decades many Zimbabweans would not accept Mugabe was a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous tyrant. By the time the penny finally dropped, Mugabe and the dictatorship was well established and it has not been easy to dismantle it.
Of course, there are many Zimbabweans who still refuse to condemn tyrants like Mugabe. Like Caleb Okereke, they see it as their patriotic duty as an Africa to defend a fellow African, even a proven corrupt and murderous tyrant! Worse still, they expect the rest of Africa to unite in support of such nonsense!
How ironic that so much time, energy and treasure is spent defending the indefensible, Africa’s corrupt and murderous despots, when it should be spent giving Africa sometime to be proud of – a healthy and functioning a prosperous nation and continent.
