Often times, the most complicated peace is better than the simplest war. Both Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara are losers and both led the Ivorian people towards a losing path. I pity them both, because I think there is a nucleus of goodness in their souls.
There are tons of lessons to learn from the decade old Ivorian quagmire that ultimately led to the humiliation of a naïve Gbagbo and the crippled ascension to power of Ouattara; one of which is that the arena of African power play or politics is a battle ground of ancient Greek classic proportions, like "The Iliad", where the warriors reel in their bravado, unconscious of the external influences of the greater powers (the gods) in their victories, defeats, survivals or escapes. The Parlement generation of Cameroon
Countries like Cameroon will never be free unless France
I won't comment deeply on this Ivorian problem. We will face it again in Cameroon ; and the rest of Central Africa will be gripped by similar deceptions in the next couple of years. But one thing for sure is that this French pattern has been in application for close to a century in Africa .
The job of the post-independence advocates of change is to study the methods keeping Africans under perpetual helplessness and chaos to the point where the organizers of the chaos end up looking like the saviors. Africans should understand their history, master the levers of power and understand that their salvation rests only in them sticking together and accepting one another as indispensable contributors in a future, prosperous and free country and continent.
I say so with sadness because two days ago, I talked with ex-Zairois who blamed Lumumba for the deplorable state of The Democratic Republic of Congo today; accusing him of taking Congo to independence when they were not ready, of bringing Mobuto to power and for not sharing his vision with the other politicians. It is like blaming Jesus Christ for his betrayal by Judas. And Congo , the sick heart of Africa will find itself trapped for eternity in incomprehension if it does not reconcile itself to its paralyzing history inflicted on the infant nation by the powers that plotted Lumumba's ouster and death.
Equally, in a three way discourse with a Dutch professor in Amsterdam in 2003, a fellow compatriot argued forcefully that there has never been a war in Cameroon, that no massacres were carried out by French and Ahidjo forces, that Biya is a great leader and that Cameroon was doing great, which is why it is better off than most African countries. A fool’s paradise I called it. Or was he gripped by the Potemkin syndrome at the time? Not until the young man read Triple Agent, Double Cross afterwards, not until after having had his curiosity aroused, and after doing some research of his own did he lament the degree of brainwashing he and most Cameroonians had been subjected to. He was still brainwashed while studying and living in Europe ’s most liberal country.
Africans need to emancipate themselves from the mental slavery that still has most of Africa trapped in incomprehension and suffering from a lack of sense of direction. The lucky ones, especially those in the Diaspora, should be leading the effort of emancipation.
April 13, 2011
Culled by Janvier T. Chando, author
of “FALLEN HEROES: African Leaders Whose Assassinations Disarrayed the
Continent and Benefitted Foreign Interests”
https://amazon.com/dp/B07CTCLF3M/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_9rgEBbAJ2STZ4
The Union Moujik
by Janvier Chando,
The Girl on the Trail
by Janvier Chouteu-Chando
No comments:
Post a Comment