The Observer (Kampala)
James Magode Ikuya
17 June 2009
opinion
The deference to President Omar Bongo of Gabon was bizarre. Even when French media agencies were bristling with the news of his death in a Spanish clinic, there was a flat denial by Gabon's authorities. The 73-year-old man who had ruled the country for 42 years could not be imagined dead.
But in the end, the death had to be relayed. A communiqué by Gabon's Minister of Defense followed, announcing that, in the interest of the country, army deployment had been ordered to secure public institutions and close all maritime and land borders. It appealed to Gabonese people to show maximum civility and patriotism.
One could not be sure if the Gabonese people really understood what they were supposed to be doing by way of this communiqué. The measures imposed were visibly not part of a funeral programme for a departed hero. President Omar Bongo had been one of the richest Africans on earth. He had splurged the huge mineral and oil resources of his country for himself and his family, leaving the one million people of Gabon stricken by poverty. He owned vast properties in France. Under candid normal practice, Omar Bongo ought to have been regarded and interdicted as a thief. But in Africa, he was a respected President and member of the AU.
During his illustrious service to his country, cast in fashion, style and high-living, he had laid elaborate plans. The Minister of Defence was his son. The Minister of Health was his uncle. His daughter had been Foreign Affairs Minister, serving at the time of his demise, in a prestigious position of Chief of Cabinet Affairs in the Presidential Palace. Omar Bongo had shared pleasantries and photographs with the biggest number of French state figures; from President De Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Francois Mitterand, Jacques Chirac, up to Nicolas Sarkozy.
For his outstanding experience, he had become the de-facto Vice President for France in Africa, leading the brokering of French interests on the continent. He fervently believed that Gabon's interests were intertwined with those of France, maintaining that Gabon without France was a car without a driver and France without Gabon was a car without petrol!
How Gabon could fortify itself for this long on such misanthropy, and with no sight to the end of her trepidations despite the death of the autocrat, may leave many people deeply astounded. But there is no mystery to this phenomenon. Because chickens have lost the bird instinct of making nests for themselves; they always return for their safety to the abode of our homes, without fearing how promptly and regularly they are slaughtered for our supper.
The consequences of social domination always turn it into a birth-right. Those who are denied and downtrodden by the load of such domination sometimes end up believing that their misery is a privilege kindly bestowed on them to be savoured.
For this reason, the apparent iniquity of Omar Bongo in lording it over the Gabonese people cannot be attributed solely to himself.
It is the political opportunism of the elite which led the Gabonese people to their shameful submission. In human history, rights are not given or offered by rulers; they are won in the crucible of a furious struggle by those who are deprived.
Although there are world conventions and protocols in such bodies as the UN declaring and stipulating universal rights to life, liberty, freedom from hunger, etc, these are codified only because peoples have already wrested them in their hands.
Declaration of freedom from hunger does not confer food; the food must be striven for. A right is what society has for itself. A slave who does not struggle against his slavery remains and deserves to be a slave.
We, in Uganda, have already undergone many great moments of struggles to redeem our country from abuse by its rulers. We are well placed to know that our country's longing to gain liberty, national prosperity and social dignity has been possible principally by their determined will which brought the victory of the NRM in 1986.
But, the outcome of that victory should never be taken for granted. The hopes of our people will be alive only if they do not slacken in their organised strength to hold the fruits of their sacrifices.
Presently, our NRM which hitherto was the acknowledged champion of our people's aspirations, is getting overcome by a virulent pandemic.
The principles of the ideas that made us NRM are being steadily eroded. In their place is the swirl of petty schemers whose main mission in life is to scavenge for themselves out of the misery of our people.
There is no guessing to what extent such forces may wish our country to slide back to enable them perpetuate their harm to our society.
This is why we must send an insistent message to all our NRM ranks: Gabon should not befall Uganda!
The author is a member of NEC (NRM) representing historicals
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