Oh! African Leaders!!!

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Blaise Compaore
Blaise Compaore

There are times when some of our African leaders really try hard to embarrass some of us.

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But, to let you understand my point let me make it very clear that LEADERSHIP is not by compulsion.

Nobody forces a man to become a politician. The reason is because every human being is entitled to his privacy.

If am doing my own work and I decide to sleep at 4pm or 10pm or whatever time, it is NOBODY?S business. If I decide to eat banku or jollof rice, who cares? If I decide to marry a second wife, is it your matter?

But, reader, immediately I decide to enter politics, to become a LEADER, sorry, the paradigm changes, straight away.

The dress you wear, the car you drive, the food you eat, the place you sleep ? all become public affairs. Sorry, but if you cannot stomach public scrutiny of things of and about you, then don?t enter politics, period.

I am talking like this because leadership is a position of TRUST ? the people see you as the personification of their hopes, their fears, their wishes, their norm, so if you mess around, they will NOT tolerate it.

And, seriously, if you are doing the work, as it ought to be done, if you are constantly reflecting on the issues, balancing the options, regularly, reader, after a while, you will be TIRED, you will be EXHAUSTED, you will reach diminishing returns.

Look at the USA ? their local government is so strong that the US President does not bother himself as to who should be appointed as State Governor or City Mayors or who should be chairman of Electricity Corporation or such issues.

The US President bothers about the economy, defence and mega issues ? even so, look at the faces of US Presidents ? they come to office looking fresh, young, dashing ? by the fifth year in office, they look like eighty year old men ? I look at Barrack Obama?s face and I wonder whether he sleeps at all.

Compare them to African leaders.

Sudanese leader Al Bashir, an army General came to power through a coup-he has been there for over ten years, and he still looks like wanting to stay for another decade!!!

What conceivable new ideas does he have to introduce? Or without him Sudan will collapse?

Look at Yaya Jammeh of Gambia.

This man has been in power for over 20 years and is still counting, not behaving as if he wants to quit office. What conceivable new ideas has he got to offer Gambia or without him the state will collapse?

Look at Paul Biya of Cameroon, or the age old now proverbial Mugabe of Zimbabwe ? the list is endless.

What is it that makes them want to continue staying in power for so long?

The latest in the melodrama is the case of Burkina Faso, across our borders in the north.

How can I forget those golden years when young dashing Captain Thomas Sankua came to power with his best friend, Captain Blaise Compaore ? less than two years, Captain Thomas Sankara was shot dead in a Palace Coup, and Compaore took over.

That was 27 years ago.

The man has dominated Burkina Faso almost like a demi god, winning civilian elections every five years, as if nobody matters except him.

Reader, tell me, after 27 years in office, what conceivable new ideas has he got to modernise his country and lift it from the doldrums of economic malaise and breach the dependency syndrome?

Or, without Blaise Compaore, Burkina Fase surely will collapse? Or cease to exist?

Latest reports from the Burkinabe capital say that the city has been paralysed by mass demonstrations, because Compaore wants to change Article 31 of their Constitution so that he can run again for President in the years 2017!!!!

The Akans have a proverb that if water stays in the pot for too long it starts giving a foul smell ? it is true.

In 1987 or so when Sankara was killed, all those who were in their mid forties are now old men of seventy something years. Due to poverty most of them are dead or are irrelevant in the society any more.

All those who were minors and infants are now in their forties and fifties and asking questions ? why must one man dominate our society like that?

All those who were born after 1987 are now the youth of Burkina Faso and the only leader they have heard of and known is Blaise Compaore, the personification of Burkina Faso ? why can?t things change?

What is the problem?

No wonder tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, marching, carrying placards, protesting ? without Blaise Compaore, will Burkina collapse? NO!!!

But you know why most leaders try to stay in power for as long as possible? It is because they are afraid of too many skeletons in their cupboards!!!

Out of power, no longer protected by State Security, the law will chase them, for heinous crimes committed while in office, State Coffers they looted for personal gain, political opponents they murdered, excesses by their bodyguards and??..reader, it is interesting.

But you see, reader, read Psalm 49. No matter what you do, even if you live to 90 years, and still counting, one day, you will pass on, and the judgment of history is merciless???reader, history is merciless.

You will either be written off as a ghastly failure, a shame and a blot on the continent, like Idi Amin or Mobutu, or you will be glorified as President Nkrumah of Blessed memory or Nelson Mandela ? the symbol of the Black Race.

What do you think will be the judgment of history on JJ Rawlings? He was in power for 20 odd years in Ghana.

Was he a good man? A successful revolutionary?Or????????.what?

Source: Nkrabeah Effah Darteh

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