allAfrica.com: Cameroon: I, the Emperor (Page 1 of 2)

We know both too much and too little about African leaders to succeed in capturing the whole men.

In externals, we know them in the business of eating, drinking and dressing; in the outward routine of métier du roi, no character, no vision. We cannot, even with the aid of their speeches, penetrate a little of their majestic façade of le grand roi. But when we have done so, we see pompous mediocre blunderers.

Paul Biya, Robert Mugabe, Yoweri Museveni, Mwai Kibaki, Omar Bongo, Obiang Nguema are the new breed of elite cadres; the link to the poor peoples of Africa; the collaborationists, the compradors; neo-colonial agents at their best.

They create unnecessary ministerial posts which require large amounts of money for their running and maintenance; Cameroon has about 60, but Kenya has beaten them to it with 90! They also keep large and redundant armies; unproductive but who acquire quite expensive manners, only to be turned against the taxpayer.

One of the richest and most repressive bums of this breed is Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. In 2004, the Riggs Bank admitted criminal liability for illegally taking his illegal proceeds. A 2004 report by the US Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations, observed that in the late 1990s, "Obiang and his cronies had at least US $700 million in Riggs, while his countrymen were wallowing in abject poverty.

His neighbour and friend, Omar Bongo, has ruled Gabon with an iron hand since 1967. He has made his son the minister of defence and brooks no dissent. Bongo has a lot more money to burn than most other men on the continent.

Myth

The current myth at this time is that the present leaders, some of whom have looted their countries for over two decades, are the king pins that keep their nations in peace. Without them, there would arise chaos. They govern by brute force. Their world is one of humourless arrogance, illusory prestige and primeval stupidity and psychotic superiority.

They see other people as mere objects to exploit; not as humans in symbiotic relationship. The consequences of their abusive power - graft and repression - is often keenly felt in the downscale, seedy slums, jam-packed transport vehicles, cut-throat prices of essential commodities and heaps of smouldering garbage, while those on high are far removed. Those are the trade marks of most African leaders.

Relay Race

William V.S Tubman, who ruled Liberia from 1944 to 1971, is said to have appropriated more "money for ceremonial bands than for public health. He devoted more than one percent of the national budget to the upkeep of his presidential yacht and created a personal cult based on an elaborate network of kinship and patronage, personal loyalty, the manipulation and co-option of tribal chiefs - and force."

He is remembered for "building an extensive secret police network and laying the ground work for much of what was to come under Samuel Doe; a personal autocracy based on weak institutions and contempt of law."

On April 12, 1980, Doe and sixteen collaborators would disembowel William Richard Tolbert Jr. and kill thirteen of his cabinet members in a firing squad. Doe promised to "end corruption and oppressive domination of Americo-Liberian elite and embark on a "more equitable distribution of the nation's wealth."

He also pledged to "return the country to civilian rule in five years." But ten years later, Doe and his lackeys had stolen US $ 300 million. Doe himself stashed away US $ 5.7 million in a London bank (Bank of Credit and Commercial International, BCCI) now liquidated. In no time, inflation set in.

When Charles Taylor took over, he solemnly vowed: "I'll not be a wicked president." But sooner than later, Taylor would be saying that "his enemies would not be able to hide from him, even in the womb." Earlier in 1992, Hastings Banda had told Malawian dissidents in exile: "You'll become meat for crocodiles if you come home."

Foreign businesses from France, Italy, Germany, some Americans and increasingly, Russians, would pay Taylor millions in "taxes" for the right to exploit Liberia's timber, rubber, iron ore, gold and diamond reserves. This helped Taylor to maintain personal bank accounts in Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Switzerland worth millions of dollars while spending more on arms.

All this while, the British firm, African Mining Consortium, Ltd, paid Taylor US $ 10 million a month for permission to ship stockpiled ore. That was one fine bleeding. Somewhere in central Africa, Mobutu Sese Seko was bleeding his own country.

At one time, he responded to accusations levelled at him by Amnesty International: "Why should I feed my prisoners when I don't have enough to feed my peasants? Mobutu made this ironical statement when he was up US$ 100 million; more money to burn than what education, health and other services combined received as their budgets.

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