Walk into the Forest of Death (Why it has been difficult to unseat African Dictators)

By  FR TATAH HUMPHREY MBUY

Introduction
A few weeks ago, the US Ambassador in Cameroon, called on Cameroonians to gain control over their fatherland and property. The G8 meeting in the Italian earthquake-striken town of Aquila (Wed 8-Fri 10 July 2009) made a similar call when they came to discuss the dreadful situation in most of Africa, given their Millennium goal which they stressed so much in the 2007 Summit in Germany. While on his maiden visit to Accra, Ghana, the American President, Barack Obama was even more explicit in this call on Africans to gain control over their fatherland. He particularly called on YOUNG Africans to stand up to the challenge. Indeed,every common sense observer would make the same call to Africans who have already written the new COMPLAINT Psalm of the New new Testament Bible.

These calls are genuine and the worries they translate are legitimate. The assumption is correct that at the moment Africans in their overwhelming majority are strangers in their own motherland. And this is distressful to those who have felt discriminated in the West, side-tracked by those who matter and then frustrated in their own countries. Where do they really belong? A greater part of the cause of this situation lies in the leadership styles and management that we have. We have moved from when we suffered under white colonial barons to when we are raped, maimed, brainwashed and killed by our own brothers and sisters. And this is the modern tragedy of contemporary Africa.
 
How do we ever get out of this quagmire? The situation is as bad in one state as in the other. So the continent has truly become a land of bad news. In fact, apart from sports and music (where no one can control personal talent), every other information we get from Africa is bad enough to make our ancestors turn in their graves.
 
This paper is provoked by the belief that we have probably not understood where and why things are going badly. Even when it seems too obvious that mistakes have been made, there are always people ready to dance to the kings. This paper has no  solutions  to offer immediately but we are convinced that if all of us understood why we have so far not succeeded in unseating the dictators of Africa, we may begin to know what not to do and what to do in a more organised and peaceful manner.  One thing is clear and it must be stated right from the outset: armed conflicts and war, are not the answer. I believe in these words of Winston Churchill:

Let us learn our lessons. Never , never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The Statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable  events. Antiquated War Offices, weal, incompetent or arrogant commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant Fortune, ugly surprises, awful miscalculations- all take their seats at the Council Board on the morrow of a declaration of war. (cf. Churchill, My early life, 1930).

Our worry should be to know why, despite all the talk and opposition we have not succeeded in sending all the dictators into the thrash can of history. I make a 7 point observation. These by no means represent the whole matter but it gives us an insight into what we are actually living.
 
I. A bad construction of our social problem
Most Africans can easily reel off a list of reasons why we have not been able to gain a foothold in our fatherland and why a few people have clung to power for years, as if the countries were their private propriety. Sociologists agree that the solution or even awareness to  every social problem depends very much on whether the people are aware that a problem exists and that the solution is within their reach. So far we have not cast the problem of leadership in such a way that the ordinary people accept the relevance of the problem. Most of us are acidic in our criticism of those in power. Common psychology teaches us that once a person is much criticised, he becomes insulated to every abuse and considers every other person as his enemy. At such a moment, the person is even more dangerous. He acts the enraged "Rambo".This has been our first mistake. We must be able to make a balance assessment of our leadership and not only see either just the BAD side or only the GOOD. These two extremes have tended to neutralise each other and we seem to have no problem whereas there is a genuine problem. So, why would anyone not see an obvious problems?
 
2. Money and the politics of the stomach
In a world where money has become god; in a continent where everyone wants to be rich overnight; in a society where the rich can make and unmake, there is every temptation that even the most morally upright would need angelic sanctity to avoid been soiled. And this is the beginning and end of our story. Money talks; money controls the minds and consciences of many. And so we have seen university professors go acrobatic in the shrine of unlettered feymen just to get cash from these men of the underworld. It is not important in many African countries HOW and from WHERE one gets money. All people want is money, at all cost. Poverty is a horrible illness! There are good ways by which normal and honest citizens can get rich but these are so taxed that few ever get off the start. NGOs which could have helped the common man are now in the vicious circle of the rich. Same with moneys that come in as foreign "AIDS"! Those who want development and their business easily registered must sing to the chorus. So we now have people who yesterday were die-hard opposition leaders, singing the same chorus that they objected to yesterday. At the end of the day, everyone wants to be sure of food for himself and his family. And here begins and ends the compromise of values. So where are all the opposition parties?
 
3. Opposition and the balkanization of the continent
In the early 90s when the wind of democratization blew throughout the world African lost its chance. Today most of what we are calling "opposition parties" are no more than satelites of the ruling parties or a ploy carefully put in place by those in power to balkanize and further divide public opinion and attention. And so there are political parties today that have no offices, no adherents, yet they get a hearing. That explains why many African presidents will frown at the suggestion that opposition parties be limited by certain parameters. The more parties, the better the manipulation and the divide-and-rule game can work. And hungry people have understood this, so they stage political parties and get the fallouts from the national cake, and the celebration continues!
 
To make a bad case worse, Africans are still too tied to their regional, tribal and ethnic sentiments that it suffices for a good speaker to recognise where the dance is tilting towards and scream foul by coughing up tribal, regional or ethnic sentiments. Did St Paul  not do a similar thing to divide the Jewish Sanhedrin made up of Pharisees and Sadduccees? The 1994 genocide in Rwanda and Burundi is a painful case in point to show the frensic level to which these feelings can lead Africans. But are we not becoming more democratic today in our continent?
 
4. Pseudo democracies
Wish one could dig up the great medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer and bring him to write the African Tales. He would have material for much tongue-in-cheek. We know very well how to fool ourselves that we are becoming democratic. Plato, the father of politics would probably go mental if what we are doing is supposed to resemble what he described so well  in The Republic. In simple language, a democracy is supposed to be a government where the will of the majority prevails. The majority in Africa is a very fluid term. Real democracy begins with a general census of the population and a clear demographic map of each country. Unfortunately, not even the best of our demographers know how many human beings live in any given African country. We have learned to conjecture!  And this is where the muddling of the waters begin in our democratic race. Furthermore, in every democracy, there is an independent body that runs transparent elections. In most of Africa, the same people are both players, referees and the homologation team. Acknowledge a "few" irregularities here and there; fail here and there but in the end WIN. This is good sport!! Who could ever lose if he were judge in his own case? Why not seek the help of the international community?
 
5. Diplomacy and the politics of snakes
Diplomacy is a very interesting dynamic. As we all know, in the world of philosophy these days, there is a gruelling conflict about whether anyone has the right to move from WHAT IS to WHAT SHOULD BE. Diplomacy seems to suffer the same conflict. It is one thing a diplomat of one country joining complaining Africans to publicly condemn our rulers. This makes us feel comfortable. But we forget that each diplomat in each country is there to work for the interest of HIS nation. So if our bad leaders are good stuff for the advancement of the diplomat's country, common sense would dictate that the backstage management of affairs be different from the open scenario. It would be exciting to carefully analyse the role of each Western country in the events going on, in their former colonies. What about educating Africans to see what is under the carpet?
 
6. Education for critical consciousness?
If you sincerely love anyone, you would teach him how to catch fish, not give him the fish that he wants. President Obama was blunt when he indicated with deep satisfaction that there is a saturation of African talent and technical know-how in the diaspora. This is a sad statement of fact. The braindrain from Africa today can tempt even a catholic  priest to consult a village witchdoctor in Wasi.
 
We have the brains and the talents. But we have an atmosphere which does not recognise merit. And our youngsters have unfortunately learnt the bad lesson that one does not need to be intelligent to pass an exam. Girls know that even if they do not study, they could always get the marks they want. Never mind how these marks are induced! The children of the rich understand too soon that their money can get them far. So whither the education for critical consciousness? We have not only politicized education in most African countries, there are hardly any systems that would help the budding talents to aspire within the continent. So every young African lives with the dream of "falling bush", by whatever means. And this breaks the heart of any conscientious observer. Can't the military help?
 
7. The brutality of the military
NO, NO, and NOO....The face of the military in Africa commands fear rather than hope or security. And it couldnt be otherwise because most of those in the lower ranks of the military got very little education to tame the instinctive animal brutality that we all have.  If one made a careful study of most of the youngsters in the military, a good number were young men who had become problematic for their village communities and people were just happy they left. Now they have lethal weapons in their hands. If you make a mad man drunk, you can wait for the fireworks...
 
African leaders use this to their advantage. Since everyone wants a good life and since money gives power in our continent, the military are among the best paid in almost all countries in Africa. Why would anyone earning so much and having what commands respect, risk to loose it? If anything our young non-commissioned recruits look for opportunities to test their skills and settle scores with those who were their betters in school. As the German atheistic philosopher Frederich Neitzsche was  wont to say, there is in each of us the will to power. 
 
Conclusion
The picture we paint may look very bleak but unfortunately, our situation is that bleak. Unless we accept that fact and begin to re-think our future, history will judge us very badly, if it has not yet done so. We seem to live for the moment and forget that our forefathers toiled hard to leave behind what we are destroying with such impunity. Everyone has a right to belong somewhere; everyone has a right to enjoy the resources that nature has given all of us but everyone also has a right to MERIT what he has and is. The times for favoritism and nepotism or every other -ism is fading away. As the world becomes more connected and digitalization becomes a reality, most of us will be caught off guard. In and through this difficult walk into the forest of death, I see hope. Like Martin Luther King Jr, I have a dream that one day...... just one day... Like Barack Obama, I believe in the audacity of hope: YES WE CAN....
 
I mean none ill and want ill for none...
For the greater glory and honour of God.
 
Tatah Mbuy,SD
Via Monte Altissimo, 23
Viale Tireno 38
00141, Roma, Italia

Comments

[damike]

Well assembled piece. It is high time we took our destiny in our hands.

[petersen]

Good article!!.Keep up.

[Emmanuel]

It is a nice piece of writing. Africa as a whole and Cameroonian in particular are way back just t0 meet their basic necessities( Food, clothing and good housing) nd how can we start thinking of more complicated challedges when we have not tey solve these basic one´s. These unscrupolous leaders know this and have takn advantage of it. Just by providing a glass of rice , some cubes of maggi and salt to a rural community in Cameroon, your victory is guarabteed in any elections. People dont even take their time to scrutinize their leaders and when he comes to power and acts brutality on them who is to blame? Cameroonians should firs of find ways to solve these basic challedges while choosing careful their leaders.

[Ras Tuge]

Man, what exactly did our African forebears leave behind that we're destroying with impunity?

Blatant complicity in the fraudulent betrayal of our aspirations?

Shameful acquiescence to enslavement,nonsensical servitude and inexplicable poverty?

Commercializing their pitiful consciences by opting to broker mysterious deals with the devil?

Intoxicating the mind of the African child with unwarranted horror?

Forcing the distraught African child to live under false pretence?

Disabling the spirit of the African child with incapacitating shyness?

Denying the African child the due chance to relish his Jah given resources?

Callously making the African child to shed precious blood for the egregious blunder of his forebears?

Abandoning the African child in the wilderness with absolutely no sense of belonging to Africa?

Frankly, the most cruel enemy to the acrimonious African child is the egocentric and demoniacal creature masquerading as the African parent; that same vicious forebear that left nothing but a mind-numbing and bedevilled legacy that has spattered the bright surface of African dreams with mud, and left the African child indelibly stained as a beggar for eternity.

Quite an inconsistent paper man.

[Ma Mary]

Very powerful, Ras Tuge. But bleak. There has to be hope somewhere, no? Or, lets invent it.

[Totalsuccess]

Ras,

"Very powerful, Ras Tuge. But bleak. There has to be hope somewhere, no? Or, lets invent it."

Thanks Ma Mary.

There is a range of emotions at our disposal at all times. Where we are in this spectrum will determine what we experience. Our mood determines our destiny.

Let us not give up on hope. Let us build on the possibility of a better tomorrow. Let our hope birth in us a passionate desire for change.

The "vicious forbear" is history or will soon be history and we will be left with the task of preparing for tomorrow.

Let us Stay close to the present and ask ourselves what we can do to stir this ship away from the precipice of disaster.

It is my humble opinion that by being hopeful we keep the door of a better tomorrow open.

Now, let us march through that open door with the faith and conviction of "Jah" and we will flip this nightmare in no time.

Won't you agree, Ras?

[Totalsuccess]

Father Tatah,

Very Good piece indeed. Your conclusion says it all.

But please come back home. That is where you are needed.

African elites abandon the continent in droves and dream of change.

In your examples you cite Obama and Martin Luther King.

Obama did not abandon the residents of south side Chicago when he espoused the audacity to hope.

Martin Luther King did not have the audacity to dream in the sacred pulpit of his church but on the common streets and alleyways of America.

And of course Mandela that you know so well made Robin Island his home for twenty something odd years.

All for a cause greater than their own selfish needs. These men left the promise and comfort of an otherwise successful life to practice what they preach.

I have often admired the story of St Paul and his conversion on the road to Damascus. It was an act of bravery to live the comfort, privilege and power of his position to labor through the pain and suffering of his convictions.

We become what we believe...it is found in our own backyard in life.

"I mean none ill and want ill for none...
For the greater glory and honor of God."

You are needed

You are needed now,
more than ever.
To show the way.
To light up the dark crevices and treacherous contours in this tunnel of despair.
To preserve the ray of hope for the many that see none.

You are needed now,
more than ever.
Be the shining star that led the 3 wise ones to the cradle;
of him who came so that man shall have life.

And yes this is the time;
to Live the false comfort of the flesh.
Drink from the deep well of the eternal spring.

Man shall not leave by bread alone...please complete this for me.

The time to act is now.
you are needed;
home, where you belong.

[Hopefullpaisanos]

Hard to follow the underlying point of your post. I don't think it's that bad as you attempt to paint it. Seriously, when did the overthrow of so call dictators become synonymous to the birth of a true democracy? Holy cow! it's not that hopeless, people. Overthrow them and replace them with...what/who ? You already don't trust the education/credentials of African women and the so call rich Africans. I get a lot of that Catholic view of women from your post... maybe i'm wrong.

Seriously, are you blaming multiparty legislatures for the failure to overthrow our dictators too? Has any member of the assembly (case study CAMEROON) ever ran on that platform? Why do we have to consider overthrowing a democratically elected government!? Has it ever occured to you, that these so called DICTATORS are smarter politicians and sometimes more populist than the so call opposition !?

Fr. Maybe the vast majority of Africans are more hopefull than even our governements and especially the "Overthrow side of the aisle". We know our problems, but we also know we have come a long way!! Chill Fr. We definately don't need Chaucer to rewrite the African tales!! We already tried that....