The continent we love

The problem engulfing Africa continent are so many that sometime I sit back and wonder what really went wrong! Why after decades of self rule we are still this pathetic? They are countless ranging from diseases, endless wars, lack of basic needs like food, fresh water and all these wrap themselves in a good package called dark continent. At the same time we seem to enjoy cheering old octogenarian leaders who think they are the God send messiahs to rule their country and without them the good citizens will perish. They ruin their country through rampant corruption, selective development agenda which basically means divide and rule as well stash large sums of money abroad.

Some of these guys are true and genuine Africa heroes but they have been overtaken by time or they forgot why they are being called leaders. In this category we have the great comrade Mugabe down south. Even with the inflation hitting past 10000% level and the economy shrinking at rate never seen before he still believe he is the only one. I mean the Western powers have their own interest in case of Zimbabwe but should the citizens of a country die because one old man wants to prove a point to the West?

Next door we have Yoweri Mseveni a man who had to change the constitution to continue ruling as long he is popular, actually that is what Colonel Mumar Gadaffi told him recently. Now woe unto to any opposition figure in Uganda, the reason why the world scream to Mugabe but not Mseveni is coz in Zimbabwe the whites are involved while in Uganda it is black man eat black man society.

Even some leaders who came to power with great credentials end up perpetuating the notion that in Africa you have to rule for life or else the highway. Look at Abdulaye Wake of Senegal, a man who came to power with great ideas on how to help Africa from itself, him together with Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and others engineered the Nepad concept. But after being there for sometime we are back to usual, he is now cracking any dissenting voices from Senegal. He is even contemplating changing constitution to rule for life. Sound familiar? What about Kenya situation? Well somebody couldn’t loose as you know it is unthinkable in Africa for a sitting president to loose an election and so when that reality dawned then the army was deployed to do what they do best. Protect the strong men of Africa.

Now the question is does it have to be like this in Africa? Can we change this mentality of what constitute leadership and the responsibilities?