|
|
Africa: Dictatorships Overwhelm Democracy
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Zimbabwe Guardian (London)
OPINION
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Tanonoka Joseph Whande
ZIMBABWE is holding important elections tomorrow but that Libyan tyrant, Muammar al-Gaddafi, president of "the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya", whatever that is, does not want Mugabe "to be bothered with elections" because "Mugabe should just rule until he dies."
Gaddafi did not say if he wanted Mugabe to rule the United States of Africa until he drops dead. We have no idea if Gaddafi himself would want to submit himself to Mugabe's rule.
The Libyan autocrat made this startling statement as he was being hosted and feasted in Uganda during something called the Afro-Arab Festival last week.
One wonders why Africans always form so many useless organisations to deal with the most minute of issues which are already covered by other multitudes of African organisations.
It is tempting to applaud Gaddafi for attending such a 'festival' because, at least, he knows that he is not an African. To that extent, therefore, Gaddafi should talk about his fellow Arab despots in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and elsewhere and leave Africans to talk about Zimbabwe.
Gaddafi has no right to talk on our behalf; Arab governments in Africa only want our support and camaraderie to promote their exploitative designs. They duplicitously and hypocritically belong to both the Arab League and the African Union while, in the case of Morocco, they are busy pursuing membership in the European Union.
Gaddaffi, who was attending the Afro-Arab Festival in Uganda last week, said President Mugabe and Ugandan dictator, Yoweri Museveni, "should stay in power until they have solved all the problems in their countries or die while still in power."
Gaddaffi is so dead to the world that he is not aware that "all the problems in their countries" are caused by these bad sons of Africa not by former colonial powers.
"They should not be disturbed by elections," the Zimbabwe Guardian quotes Gaddaffi as saying, "because former colonial states want Africa to adopt their system of governance which is not viable here."
It is pathetic how unsuccessful leaders always blame former colonial powers for their failures, greed, corruption and inability to govern.
Twenty-eight years after independence, what excuse does Mugabe have for plunging the nation into such a dismal abyss?
Can Botswana, more than 40 years later, still blame their failures on the British? And who gets the credit for the good things that happened?
The Gaddaffi mentality of viewing elections as "disturbing" the tyranny of murderous dictators should warn the likes of Ian Khama, Jacob Zuma and the new crop of aspiring and emerging African leaders that despots have had their time.
And only three days after Zimbabwe holds its elections, Botswana inaugurates its fourth president in a rather controversial but, more importantly, a smooth transition.
No matter how much incoming president Ian Khama might want to duck it, his ascendancy signals a new chapter in African presidential politics. Hopefully, he can exploit it.
His youth and the system that brought him the presidency in such a peaceful way demands of him to promote democracy even beyond the borders of Botswana. Khama benefited from democracy; will he, like Mugabe did, turn his back on democracy?
It will be interesting to see how the young man walks the tight rope that is African diplomacy, an area overcrowded with notorious dictators. Unless, of course, he finds solace in the political vermin spouted and practiced by the likes of Gaddafi, Museveni, Mugabe and their ilk.
Khama comes to the presidency a clean man and he will need to choose his friends very carefully for we are read from the kind of friends we keep. He has the opportunity to lead the country in a new direction and even adopt changes that others would otherwise be reluctant to make. Africa will be watching and Africa needs inspiration from new leaders not those who join "the trade union of despots."
|
Africa's dictators have always dominated Africa and ran the continent into the ground. It really is time for the emerging African leaders to show that Africa can, indeed, produce brilliant, caring presidents.
We must now move away from the so-called champions of African independence like Nkrumah, Nyerere, Mugabe, Mandela, Kenyatta, Kaunda, Seretse Khama, etc.
They did their part, for better or worse, and it is time to move on.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
