Bloody Independence – we wuz robbed! – Part 2

A smiling African child — representing hope…!

1. Samuel Smiles writes in his book, Self-Help, “Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness; but fortune is not so blind as men are. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the best navigators. In the pursuit of even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities are found the most useful — such as common sense, attention, application, and perseverance. Genius may not be necessary, though even genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of these ordinary qualities.” I believe this down-to-earth wisdom would be of benefit to Africa today; for the issue in Africa is not one of fortune per se, but the want of the commoner qualities; that is, common-sense, attention, application, and perseverance.

2. Allow me to show you how these commoner qualities may be applicable reference to our debate. In the Latin, it is said, “opportunity has hair in front, behind she is bald; if you seize her by the forelock you may hold her, but, if suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again.” We left off Part 1, with the Democratic People’s Republic of Mara in dire straits. May I suggest that desperate times such as those clearly manifest in the Pearl of Africa, present a great opportunity for right thinking people to exercise the said commoner qualities; that is, it is a great opportunity for right thinking people to take a step back to see and observe what makes for them, as well as what makes against them. A careful analysis of a basket of evidences respecting post-independence Africa and everything appertaining thereunto, suggests that the wily freedom fighter and his ilk, however loathsome they may appear to us, may, after all, not be Africa’s most urgent problem. We are therefore left with a difficult question, namely, what really is the problem in Africa? To which I must answer: ignorance.

Wilful ignorance

3. Ignorance, in my view, is by far and away the biggest mischief in modern Africa. And, by ignorance I mean specifically, wilful ignorance. Let us consider one singular instance: whereas it may be considered a presumption on the part of ordinary citizens to pry into the mysteries of government, and yet, it must surely be legitimate for ordinary citizens to expect those who are engaged in public affairs, to exercise the commoner qualities mentioned above, that is, to see with their own eyes; and, not to be satisfied with mere reports and representations prepared by others. Accepting that hard times and hard hearts make the poor miserable; for it is impossible to miss the tears of the oppressed in Africa and the great hardships which those in power visit upon them. Many African lives are wretched and are pinched by poverty. The real reason these hardships go apparently unnoticed is because at the heart of the said mischief is the fact that those in public office do not consider what they see, not because they cannot, but because they will not.

4. While we must accept that not all well-educated African elites are wilfully ignorant, and yet, the sad fact is that a considerable number of them are, hence the controversy. The controversy here is the appearance of the educated elite aiding and abetting dictatorship, that is, if we take the Democratic People’s Republic of Mara as a specific instance, they are actively perverting justice both in the letter and spirit that we may wittingly conclude that they have helped create a government of the corrupt, by the corrupt, and for the corrupt. And here is the disturbing reality: if a few sums of monies can win such as these that are corrupt, a little more will surely lose them; for what is to hold those that have made a shipwreck of a good conscience on the altar of corruption? Surely it must stand to reason that the hireling flees because he is a mere hireling; for they will fail even the wily freedom fighter himself if the price is right, in the same way they continually fail the citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Mara for a fee.

5. Moreover, if, for arguments’ sake, we accept that knowledge is power, a close examination of the fortunes of the Democratic People’s Republic of Mara, will clearly show that many well-educated African elites cut a shameful figure as they openly jostle each other for preferment; aligning, as it were, their interests with those of the wily freedom fighter. They are, some might even say of them, hangers on; who take hold of the coat-tails of the wily freedom fighter, and would go with him only because they do not know how to make it in the real world (both at home and abroad) on their own, and are disposed to seek their fortunes through the good offices (if we may call them such) of the wily freedom fighter. We may properly say of them that they are accessory to all the evil outcomes of the wily freedom fighter’s dictatorship. They acquiesce in the plundering of the national treasury; the diminution of public services; the corrupting of the three great pillars of state to serve their own interests; the destruction of the vital infrastructure, and we know not what.

Abuse of the public purse

6. And that is not the worst of it: much treasure is apparently spent on building up an elite army and it is true there is no arguing with him that has an army at his beck and call; and yet, we also know that building up the country’s elite army ever so strong, so powerful, so mighty, is no protection from a fatal overthrow as long as the scandalously poor citizens of Mara continue to cry out for justice, and for a chance to eat their fill. What a dreadful thing it is to have the miserable poor cry against the educated African elites! While it is accepted that there is nothing new for those in public life to seek their own personal interests more than the public welfare, and to serve themselves at the public expense; yet, it is equally unconscionable to eat the bread of public office when the country at large is on her knees, as the Democratic People’s Republic of Mara clearly is.

7. And, knowing as we do, that dictators the world over are not always wise, and that it is normal for them to take pride in being careless and unconcerned about the plight of the little people and ignorant of their true circumstances; it is all the more shocking that the educated African elites, fail to speak up, that is, fail to prevent the worst excesses or even reform the wily freedom fighter, and are therefore charged with a high crime. For all their great education, they stand accused for failing their people. What is a good education for, but that it should enable a man to do so much the more good in his generation, and especially to those of his own country, if he have the heart to use it so!

Base ingratitude

8. But there is more: the above crime is aggravated by the fact that, many educated African elites are the recipients of coveted scholarships and bursaries designed to equip their African countries with the wherewithal to help themselves; instead, we have a people that have an exaggerated sense of their own importance. They are, how shall I put it, an entitled people; a people who rather than make themselves serviceable for the good of the commonwealth of their African countries, show an extreme eagerness to become rich — getting rich by fair means or by foul means; careless of principle, merely intent on making money only. They are like the horse-leech: they cry, “Give, give.” Therefore, if the educated African elites are thus accused of this mischief, as here charged, it is because of the extraordinary influence their example have on the unthinking masses, of whom many, alas, follow in their pernicious ways. If, however, this charge of wilful ignorance is misconceived by me, and I am wrong to call it as such, let them protest and disprove the charge, and declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and I myself will be happy to stand corrected.

Am I unfair?

9. Now let’s face it, the charge which is drawn up in this post is very high indeed. But I am by no means proposing to play of counsel for the wily freedom fighter on that great day when he will be called to the bar to answer charges against him; we should let dictators plead for themselves if they must, but far be it from us that we should answer for them, or say anything in their favour. At any rate, they have the wherewithal to employ the best counsel money can buy. But it seems to me others are equally to blame, if not more. We should indeed think it possible that the wily freedom fighter, though in office, and rightly accountable for it, and may yet be hampered in the use of the power his office is entitled to. In other words, he is in office in name only, and others though not in office, are in fact the ones who are in power — the real power behind the presidential chair — after the manner of the power behind the throne.

10. Now, I readily accept that many educated African elites are better educated than me and know as much as I do, and perhaps much more and to a better purpose. I acknowledge further, that many educated elites in Africa have understanding as well as I, a capacity of judging, and a right of judging these things for themselves; and yes, perhaps they are not inferior to me, but superior, and it is possible that they may be right and I in the wrong; and therefore I ought not to judge or despise them, nor pretend to be above them, while we are all Africans. But we must question what use is education if it is not for the mainstay of the commonwealth to which we all as Africans belong?

11. In my experience, I have found that great education without grace often makes men proud, which makes them careless of the poor and the weak. So in raising this controversy I am not in any way mocking anyone. But if I am mocking, then, it must be accepted that, I too am as one mocked. But it would be folly to think so: because faced as we are with unprecedented challenges which now exist in our world and more specifically on the African continent, these criticisms seem warranted. I would be doing a great injustice to myself, to the memory of my dead father and his generation, and to all Africans if I failed to speak up knowing what I do know. We must not suppress the truth, however painful.

Questions we must ask

12. So with regard to the Democratic People’s Republic of Mara, we have an instance in which education makes bad people more dangerous, that is, the wily freedom fighter is made all the more dangerous because the educated African elites provide his dictatorship legitimacy, a fig leaf with which to cover his nakedness, casting a veil upon the truth. It therefore behooves all of us to ask uncomfortable and searching questions. For example: must the educated African elites be remiss in the great work which is crying out to be undertaken, which is, the building up of viable and credible institutions in Africa when foreigners never seem to tire supporting us?

13. Is it really possible for the educated African elites to continue receiving without ever feeling any sense of obligation to do right by their own people? Should the native educated African elites grudge the pain and care about the continent while strangers, mostly foreign tax payers in the form of ‘International Foreign Aid’, grudge not the expense, be it in blood or treasure? Surely the suffering of others for our sakes ought to trouble us! Must the African, much to the shame of Africa, for ever go to foreign capitals, begging cap in hand, pleading for special favours? Must dictatorship, continually be the dead fly that spoils all that is good in the African pot stew of precious independence? Was independence in many an African country, after all a hasty fruit before the summer? Is independence in Africa like a moth-eaten cloth, which becomes continually worse and worse?

14. Must we continually suffer to see the cream of our youth hazard their lives in foreign lands, doing dirty jobs no one else is willing to do, for a pittance in order to support their families back home? Must we give the cream of our flower an impossible choice to make, which is, to choose between run-down ‘hazardous social housing in European cities with very little prospect of a meaningful future on the one hand, and joblessness, poverty and hopelessness in their own African countries on the other? Is it fair on some of our parents to suffer agonies unimaginable; to see their beloved children, who incidentally often tend to be in the prime of their lives, drown in the Mediterranean Sea in a desperate hope of reaching Europe? Should our kith and kin continually languish in foreign gaols or immigration dentation centres, on a slim chance of a better life? What a shame that the best in Africa should fail to answer the high call to lead their compatriots, for want of courage!

15. What a pity, that we the Africans should need courage in the first place, and, if we do, what a pity that we should be without it! Never was a true word said than “a people without a vision, perish.” Africa is at a cross road, at which a decision must be formed by her right now; a little later, and she may have to groan within the tomb of slavery which she herself has dug, without the power of rolling away the stone. Unless there is an earnest change of attitude among the educated African elites, in all likelihood, and it grieves me to put it on record, that some Africans countries are on the cusp of losing their precious independence. It is highly possible that, in a not too distant a future, some African countries may indeed become colonies for a second time in modern history — colonies of a rising new power on the prowl searching for vulnerable prey rich in natural resources.

Forewarned is forearmed

16. Coming events, they say, cast their long shadow before them: the election of Donald Trump in the United States of American; the chaotic process of departure of Great Britain from the European Union; the reordering of European political centres of influence; the resurgence of Russian hegemony in Eastern Europe; the emerging power of China to the East; and to top it all, the recent outrageous calamity in Aleppo, Syria; all point to a reordering of the world as we know it — to a more dangerous world; and therefore, must stand as an ill omen to all of us. Aleppo is now a member of those melancholies of clubs: Rwanda, Srebrenica, Guernica, Oradour-sur-Glane, Warsaw, Lidice and, yes, the Nazi death camps in Europe; a club of places where the world looked the other way, failed to prevent monumental destruction and slaughter, where it cried out ‘never again’, only to await the next failure, and the next slaughter.

17. Let Aleppo stand as a monument of warning; for the message is loud and clear: trifling with a dictator who enjoys the support of one superpower or other, is a desperately hazardous enterprise; for those who do so, shall be the unspeakable losers. A sponsored dictator now has a free rein to slaughter the infirm, women, and children at will; there is none to stop him, it is the new normal in world affairs. This new normal world order bodes ill for Africa in particular. The implications for Africa are stark. It means that unless a dictator is cast in the mould of a Hitler, that is, intent upon world domination, there are circumstances in which it may be wiser to endure him with grace. If we cannot bear the dictator who is here today but gone tomorrow, which is but running with the footmen, how then will we cope with the terrors which are to come after the dictator has on a sudden vacated the presidency, which is the equivalent to contending with the horses?

18. Events in the Middle East reinforce the new reality that the 21stcentury is a tempestuous and politically unstable age; it means that we should be prudent to submit to the temper of our age. This requires us to be a discerning people; to have an understanding of the political times, public affairs, and the tendencies of present events. Moreover; it is worth remembering that foreign powers, as clearly demonstrated in Syria, invariably act upon their own selfish interests rather than the interests of the people of other countries. That is why it is time we viewed dictators in much the same way we look upon mosquitoes; for we gain nothing by struggling with the net as it were, but to entangle ourselves the more.

19. Indeed, it is very sensible to suffer the dictator that is already upon a country, and let him suck his fill if he pleases; for if you drive him off in a hurry, a fresh new dictator that succeeds him is more likely to be a lot hungrier than him who is there now. Therefore, the harsh lesson from Iraq, Libya and Syria, is that it is sometimes better to be content with the tyrant you have, than seek a new one. The reason is very simple. Dear fellow Africans, expect no help from the Americans, or from the Europeans; most certainly expect no help from the Russians or the Chinese; we are on our own. But thank God change comes to all of us — dictators included.

Dictators are mere flesh and blood

20. Many will recall the humiliating spectacle of the despoiling of that great African king of kings, Gadhafi, in 2011; how he was chased, harried, and dragged away by the angels of death, much against his will; how he pleaded for his life; how he was loath to depart, but go he did; all of Libya was weary of him, and therefore was chased, as glad to get rid of him. Not that we should in any way revel in the death of a dictator, any dictator, but Gadhafi’s bloody demise, if anything, should be a sobering reminder that all oppressors are mere flesh and blood. Justice is debased when it is administered with wrath and bitterness, even wrath heaped upon such a one as Gadhafi. All his pomp, power, billions of US dollars, and policy, did not free him from the cold hand of death, nor save him from the ignominy of an unmarked grave in the middle of nowhere.

21. Indeed, it may be said of Gadhafi, the great African king of kings that he came in like a fox, ruled like a lion, and died like a dog. The dictators’ dust is not distinguishable from the common dust of any other grave. Death is, in the circumstances, an irresistible leveller: for what is man — whose days are like grass, flourishing like a flower in the field, but in a short while is gone, to be remembered no more. Truly none are more abject in themselves, or more abused by others when they are down in the dust, than those who were proud and shameless when they were in power. So we should not fear dictators: for fear blindfolds judgment and makes fools of all of us. It is far better to open the eyes of the educated African elites to the folly of wilful ignorance; that they may at the very least, reform or ameliorate the wicked influences of dictators now in place.

What we must do

22. Allow me to clench the nail with just one more thought, which should stand by itself here as the application of the whole: we must not fear the dictators’ power, that is, we should not unduly observe the political winds as we may not sow; neither will we reap, if we regard the political clouds excessively. It means that it is much better to prepare for that day when the dictator may unexpectedly vacate the presidential chair for some reason or other. Else, we risk running around like chickens with the shell still on their heads, just as the Libyans and the Iraqis did, following the sudden fall from power of their respective dictators.

23. I have heard it said that an opportunity is a golden gift. A golden gift of liberty fell into the collective lap of both the Libyans and Iraqis, and they did not see it for what it was worth, because they were not prepared. It cannot be emphasized enough that the future of Africa does not lie in the hands of Americans, Europeans, Russians or the Chinese, but in the hands of the African people themselves. It is the responsibility of all Africans to put the glitter back into the gold in the presidential chair, including removing thorns from the upholstery.

24. Suppose I were to play a prudent general but this once: I would, if permitted, recommend that now is not the time to draw the sword of war, but to sheath it. We should, if possible, and in so far as it depends on us, resist the temptation to resort to violence; for anarchy is worse than any government, even a government presided over by the wily freedom fighter. By so recommending I am in no wise suggesting that we should beat a parley with dictatorship, and make a treaty with a view of surrendering upon terms. But rather, we should make it our business to urge all educated African elites to be of good courage; and get to work cheerfully and patiently. It is needful to sacrifice private interests to the public welfare, and to lay aside all animosities among ourselves, that we may cordially unite against a common enemy, dictatorship. We should, however, not work confusedly, or in a hurry; but rather, we should take our time, and we shall be done the sooner or at least we shall have done the better; for if we work in a hurry, we shall do the work by halves.

Why we must take our time

25. Cognizant as we are that many African youth are under the influence of Western cultural relativism and therefore are experiencing something akin to acedia; it is critical that we apply our best endeavours not leave the future of Africa to chance. We should start by accepting a simple fact that those of us, of a certain generation and older, our time has probably come and gone. We are now yesterday’s men and women. And, as such it behooves us to support those who will come after us, that is, the next generation.

26. The next generation is young but has no experience. They are liable to make what we might describe as a ‘young person’s mistakes’; they may not apply themselves with sufficient rigour to the small but hugely important business of nation building. Unless we help the next generation to set the wheels in motion, there is a real danger that they will lose a great deal of time and may even repeat our mistakes, the rather because, being young and inexperienced, they may be tempted to put off or even underestimate the difficult undertaking which is before them; whereas, if we enthuse and equip them, and have resources ready to hand, the most challenging part of the work would be over, and this might encourage them to get on with the fiendishly complex work of nation building in the strength of their youth.

27. In preparing the next generation, we should look upon the task rather like building a house. As a school boy, I well remember how during my school holidays I used to be dispatched to some building site or other; my father was in the building industry. One remarkable experience I remember was seeing how sub-contractors would work diligently laying foundations of a house, and how they would carry it up to a certain height; and that was that, they had done their work. The rest of the work fell to another group of sub-contractors; who carried up the wall, and put on the roof, and so forth. I believe we should do likewise. We should be content with preparing the next generation, that is, make it our business to gather the raw materials upon which another shall work. Yes, we may plough and sow; but it must needs fall to another to come and water the seed, and perhaps yet another to gather the harvest. By doing thus we will at least not act like ‘dumb driven cattle’ — driven this way or that way by one circumstance or other; rather, we should seize hold of this opportunity to reset the future of the African continent with a noble purpose, and pursue that purpose with all our might.

Cui Bono — who stands to gain?

28. But for whom is all this work? I answer all the peoples of Africa. If we take the Democratic People’s Republic of Mara as our guide, it is impossible to imagine a better cause; for we work for our family, our clan, our tribe, our race, our country and our continent; and yes, for our children and our children’s children. By whom are these exertions: all of us — we the African people! It is said that even a coward will fight when he is sure to be victorious. Victory is already ours because all that is dear to us in Africa is at stake; it is in this spirit we must rise as one and get to work with courage, else our tragic history may repeats itself; you never know, another chancer, a wily freedom fighter, seven times worse than the one presently in place, may just be waiting in the wings to try his luck!

29. We should look upon all our dictators as a gift; a gift that speaks to us as to what happens when we get things desperately wrong. For avoidance of any doubt, and it is worth restating this point: it is rightly said that the burnt child dreads fire; that the people of Mara with all the resources (both human and material) gifted to them by nature, came short of the wisdom of a child; for though they had more than once been brought low thanks to a number of dictators they have had over the years, yet under a deception of fundamental change to bring about a better future to their country, took no warning of their home-grown chequered history, but foolishly embraced the wily freedom fighter, and this time at a grave cost to themselves and their country.

30. Installing a wily freedom fighter in the presidential chair once, may be regarded by many as unfortunate; but to install a wily freedom fighter in the presidential chair a second time, is downright careless and stupid. If this were ever to happen for a second time in the Democratic People’s Republic of Mara, the citizens of that country may be considered as to have justifiably forfeited the right to cry, “Bloody Independence — we wuz robbed!”

Originally published at thekamugasachallenge.com on July 10, 2017.

Stephen Kamugasa, thekamugasachallenge

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Inspire others to turn challenges into coherent and meaningful solutions – focusing on humanity, leadership and citizenship. http://thekamugasachallenge.com

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