First, there are elected leaders; these
are leaders chosen by the people to be their representatives in government.
Second, there are the selected leaders;
they forcefully select and elect themselves into power. Third, there are
the Kings of Kings; these are the leaders
who might have come to power by the vote of the people or forcefully through
violence but then, after testing their power for a few years, pronounce themselves
“Leader for Life”, “President for Life”, “King of Kings”, or some such title. Even
in modern times of information and global education, African leaders find a way
to ignore their people, destroy free speech, and lust over power.
Today, however, Africa is left with only two
types of leaders: The political leaders who bribe or force (or both) their way into
power, who are the puppets of the West, waiting for a handout every time they
sell their own national resources, destroy national assets and devastate the
culture of their people, and those who have knighted themselves the “divine
leaders” for life, who are the darlings of Western nations and are disconnected
from their people, investing in Western companies while their economy suffers,
stealing everything and anything they can and through their selfishness and
hypocrisy, unknowingly allowing the West to manipulate them into thinking they
are untouchable.
But there is one characteristic they all
posses, which has been neglected for far too long when questioning the legacy
of African leaders: They are bad actors
and great pretenders, which is why
they are easy to manipulate and overthrow given the right circumstances. When
they come into power, they use brutal force; they destroy all opposition,
especially intellectual opponents. They control the armed forces and brainwash
the masses by convincing them that without their leadership the nation will
ascend into social destruction, and they are the only hope. They destroy any
type of educational structure the nation might have had while they educate
their own kids overseas and brainwash the youth of the nation.
They pretend to be democratic but oppress their
own people. They pretend to be socialists but accumulate all the wealth they
can. They knight themselves kings for life, and steal everything from their own
people. They are even unable to think for themselves, so they enlist Western
institutions and corporations to ideologically and physically construct the
country, while they pretend to rule. Some leaders have come and gone without
learning and bettering themselves, let alone the nation.
The problem is they don’t want to do the work
of building a nation. They wouldn’t know how. We need Ethiopian solutions to
Ethiopia’s problems, Kenyan solutions to Kenya’s problems, and so on, in turn
building a continental solution. We will never solve African’s problems with Western
solutions. Political, social, or economic Western ideals are not for Africa.
These leaders don’t have the mind, the heart, or the will to bring the people
of their respective nations together to solveproblems
because they are only pretending to
rule. Real problems are the enemy of pretenders; they don’t know what to do—which
leads to their eventual catastrophic end.
When a new dawn rises and the populous realizes
the scheme, these leaders have no choice but to use the army as their own
personal cavalry or arm their paid supporters. If all else fails and they are
still alive after a civil war, for which they alone are responsible, they and
their family, with their billion dollars’ worth of assets and foreign
investments, head to a neighbouring dictator’s palace.
African leaders are rarely remembered for the
good they have done—because when it’s all over, they themselves don’t know what
they did. They copied a political system from a different country and tried to
shove it into the minds of the people. When the people did not understand, these
leaders used force. When force did not work, they manipulated, lied, and, if
that didn’t work, they killed those who opposed their ideas. They paid off
those who were selfish and brain dead. They did not need a plan B or problem
solving mechanisms because they themselves were the problem.Those who followed these dictators tried a
new system with a different political belief, but the outcome was the same: They
were left in chaos. Every African nation has at least two leaders who have
followed in this system of trying to copy a Western political manifest only to turn
the nation into a totalitarian state.
Our
dawn!
As our ancestors have told us, “It is darkest
just before the dawn”, and we are witnessing a dawn as we awake to new ideas
and a new realization of our nation. I understand our unity and urgency for a
revolution. I wish for it, far more than my own existence. But we must also
acknowledge the realities and outcomes of the current uprisings in other
countries. We must not simply follow a trend but set our own goals and
plan our own agenda for the unknowns of CHANGE, to follow. Uprisings and the change
of this administration are not all that are needed. The revolution must be to
change the system and start a new system of governance and social interactions
within the country. We must begin the conversation with the word WE
to include the people of the entire nation and not just a few who belong to a
certain tribe, group, or background.
Anger is not a resolution, but a means to ignite
the fire of revolution.
I see the anger and urgency for change in
most of our community. Do not have me mistaken; I am as angry, as furious, and as
ready for change as any one of my brothers and sisters. But we must not speak carelessly
and instigate rebellion without proactively evaluating the sacrifice and
outcome for each individual. Asking for unity is simply a question; actually uniting
is progress towards a solution. Let us begin to lookout for one another so that
the new dawn is not wasted in the name of hatred and divisiveness.
The
New Leaders of Ethiopia [Africa]
History is the greatest teacher.We must learn from the mistakes of those who
came before us. We must use their mistakes to better our decisions going
forward. The interest of the people has to be the nation’s interest and the
nation’s interest has to be that of the people. We have the minds and the physical
ability to construct a nation for the people. We must first study the
conditions and realities of the nation to socially and economically reform the
nation to benefit the majority.We must
not emulate or pretend to emulate what has already been done. We do not have to
pretend to look like a different nation or live up to the expectations of an international
entity. We must rid ourselves of our inferiority complex and begin to build an
inclusive stage for a nation of the people rather than of foreign
interests.
The
American Influence
Americans love actors, as exemplified by
their presidential popularity contest every four years. They also have a thirst
for pretenders, especially in the Third
World. Pretenders follow; they are
not leaders. Americans don’t want leaders in the nations they exploit; it’s too
much work. I am not proposing that the next group of leaders shut down the
American Embassy and expel all American citizens. I am, however, warning that
if we continue to construct our nation on the advice and recommendations of Western
institutions and corporations, we will fall prey to the trap that holds the
continent in its shackles. We need African thinkers and African ideas for African
nations.
American Foreign Policy and Those Who Fall Prey
[Interest for the Nation]
Although it is morally artificial and
socially venomous, there is something to be learned and admired from the
American foreign policy. The nation’s foreign policy is driven by one
ideological mantra, “The American interest”. Even if you have done nothing
wrong to affect their interest, they will use “the interest” to take what they
want (e.g., Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, many African and South American nations).
“The American interest” is a free worldwide visa, a license to kill
civilians, destroy communities, and exchange good leaders for corrupt
dictators.
Where is Ethiopia on the lists of “foreign
policy” and “American interests”? Ethiopia is in the top half of the first list
and somewhere in the middle of the other. But there is an interesting
case to be made by Americans when looking at their foreign policy towards
Ethiopia. They fear one thing: An Ethiopian leader who stands for the people.
In the eyes of American foreign policy, Geographically Ethiopia is considered
a great ally and friend in a troubled region, with a corrupt leader—one America
can influence and manipulate. On the other hand, a leader whose priority is the
nation and its people would become a problem. This leader or group would not
let Ethiopian soldiers be used in neighbouring
countries to advance the American agenda, or use our airports as landing strips
for American war jets, or use our land to torture and kill our brothers and
sisters from neighbouring countries; this would be a problem for the continuation
of the current American foreign policy.
If they wanted Meles
out, it wouldn’t have taken long. He is what they want. A leader who believes
he is a politician, an economist, a man of the people, “a leader of the times”,
etc. Individuals who think of themselves
that arrogantly are psychologically weak and easy to manipulate. Leaders like Meles do not understand the power, the strength of a people
because they are not intellectually capable of modernizing their ideas. They
use old ideas to invoke new systems. They are old dogs, trying to teach a
trick, which they themselves are unable to grasp. Hence, the country is in shambles,
without effective governance, adequate social infrastructure, or a functioning
economy. Isn’t it funny that, in country, which grew 11% in the last fiscal
year (and in double digits annually), we have commodity price caps, constant power
shortages in major cities, inadequate telephone service through out the entire
nation and most of all hunger and famine the administration continues to reject.
Meles
is the American dream—a man who pays his enforcers well and silences the people
(with American supplied weapons); a man who believes in globalization, sells
everything in the country but buys nothing in return; a power-hungry, self-loving
dictator. If you were America, would you just give him up easily? Be
honest.
Americans believe they must continue their
presence in the zone. If the leaders, who follow this regime, disturb current
arrangements, they better have the support of the people, because the Americans
are ready to put another leader like MelesZenawi. You can kill the people, destroy their resources
and steal from them; the one thing you cannot destroy is the will of the
people. They will stand up and defend the country if they are led by true
leaders who believe in the country as much as the people. We need the people,
not America. America or American politicians don’t care about Ethiopia or
Ethiopian lives—at least, not until the event affects American interests.
This
is what we must not become.
We have started the national development race
a bit late, but no one runs long distance like Ethiopians. Let us not be afraid
to actually think, debate, and construct our nation from within. Ethiopia is
ours to save, not theirs to destroy. There is no better time than now to begin the dialogue of Ethiopian ideas
and continue with national constructive action. Let us stop pretending and
become a society built on action. We have pretended for far too long, and look
where it has gotten us: Nowhere.
— The writer can be reached for comments at [email protected]
