By Joseph Lamin Kamara
President Barack Obama has ended his latest visit to Africa, in which he delivered a brilliant criticism about the continent’s selfish leaders. The US president had come on a diplomatic mission, to commend the continent’s strides in economic development, to reassure Africa of its great potential and give hope to Africa’s youth. But under the cloak of diplomacy – the extreme of which I have always considered as hypocrisy – the world’s most powerful leader brought with him a cane for corrupt and sit-tight presidents. And he really did torture them in their own home, on Tuesday at the headquarters of the African Union, in Addis Ababa.
“Nobody should be president for life,” he lashed out. “I don’t understand why people want to stay so long, especially when they have got a lot of money.”
This was no diplomacy. And in the statuses of the man who spoke those words and those who listened, there was no equality. It was a father scolding his children after they had consistently misbehaved. It was someone who knew and wanted far more of what he was teaching than those he was teaching.
To me Mr. Obama is an American, not an African as many people have thought. But the character in that Addis Ababa speech was an apparently confident man who felt he was addressing his brothers and sisters. Of course, he had just traveled from Kenya, the homeland of his late father. And perhaps that spirit of gratification that a homecoming offers was merged with the decent background of the man whose ultimate value is to preserve a free and equal universe for even a “little girl born into the bleakest poverty [who] knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else…”
“Sometimes you will hear leaders say ‘I’m the only person who can hold this nation together.’ If that’s true, then the leader has failed to truly build their nation,” continued the US president.
True! They may not say those words exactly, but they say the same meaning.
The relationship between Nicolas Sarkozy and Laurent Gbagbo did not start on the note on which it ended. It became strained when Gbagbo felt he was the only person who could hold Ivory Coast together. Although it was gainsaid that the former French president had a direct affair with rooting out the sit-tight West African leader, reports stated that French troops assisted the rebels.
In like manner, Obama did not seek the elimination of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi at the start of their relationship. It was after the Libyan leader circumspectly acted more powerfully than the Constitution, if ever there was one.
Just a few days ago, in the East African nation of Burundi, President Pierre Nkurunziza disregarded the public will and forced himself to remain in power.
Here in Sierra Leone, politicians have tested our stance against an extension of a second term or a third term bid. Albeit reports say President Ernest Bai Koroma has denied attempting to extend his stay in office, our voice is loud and clear: LEAVE OFFICE AFTER YOUR SECOND TERM. We know in no other leader again in Africa will we have a find as that spirit of content in Nelson Mandela.
The US president also touched on the muzzling of the press and oppression of the civil society by African leaders.
“When journalists are put behind bars for doing their jobs or activists are threatened as governments crack down on civil society then you may have democracy in name, but not in substance,” he condemned.
I will not go out of Sierra Leone to illustrate how the press has been muzzled. Several journalists including, David Tam Baryoh, have been jailed for reporting on issues controversial. Politicians and legislators have even attempted to prevent journalists from reporting on the Ebola audit report. Similarly, the Supreme Court has warned against expression of opinions on the sacking of Samuel Sam-Sumana as vice president.
One of Africa’s greatest problems is inherent corruption. And Obama also hit our leaders in that regard.
The continent is suffering from the “cancer of corruption,” he indicated, adding that: “Only Africans can end corruption in their countries.”
There are institutions in our countries, in the name of fighting corruption. But when corrupt leaders appoint the heads and other members of the so called anti-corruption commissions to curb what they themselves are indulged in, it does not only become hazy and confusing, it all means that corruption is and will always be part of Africa. It means that the leaders are not ready to end it, and until they are ready, it will always remain.
So I think Mr. Obama could well have wasted that precious time of his to warn against overstay in presidential office, press and civil society oppression and corruption.
Africa is under black democracy. Even if it was, in reality, it is now clear that democracy is not an original part of the continent. While most Africans have been quick to adopt western languages and education, most of the continent’s have grappled to adopt democracy. Yet our presidents have said we have a democracy, perhaps, because we conduct elections and there are empty structures in the name of the media and civil society. Like Obama said, democracy goes beyond holding formal elections and declaring a winner.
We are in a democracy in which the judiciary is poorly funded and hugely politicized. We are in a democracy in which education is circumspectly neglected. We are in a democracy in which governance is self-enrichment – the proceeds of our natural resources and donor funds go directly into the pockets of our leaders.
Under black democracy the president is supreme, not the Constitution. Under black democracy politics is fighting with any means to rob the nation of its riches. Under black democracy parliament is the house of representatives of political parties, not the people. Under black democracy civil servants are bootlickers. Under black democracy the anti-corruption commission is a façade of corruption itself. Under black democracy the police force is corruption protecting corruption. Under black democracy the media is a mass of poor beggars who are often jailed at will. Under black democracy the civil society is struggling for survival. Under black democracy foreign aid is just a name. Under black democracy being a lawyer is having a higher status in society. Under black democracy the opposition is a composition of desperadoes waiting to steal national wealth.
(C) Politico 30/07/15
