Why is Africa in such a mess?
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/1071802/-/view/printVersion/-/156btsfz/-/index.html

By Harold Acemah

 Posted Tuesday, December 14 2010 at 00:00

In October 1993, I bought a little book titled, Tiny Roland: the ugly face
of Neo-colonialism in Africa by an EIR Investigative Team. EIR stands for
Executive Intelligence Review, based in Washington DC, USA.

The thesis of the book, which at that time I found outrageous, but which I
am now more sympathetic to, was that Africa is on its deathbed, its people
relentlessly mowed down by starvation and disease. Among the perpetrators of
this holocaust are the International Monetary Fund, the former colonial
powers, the transnational corporations and commodity cartels such as the
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

On this list, one should add African leaders and the elite. Increasingly, I
believe we, the elite of Africa, are the primary enemies of ordinary
Africans. We, and especially our leaders, have let Africa down, very badly.
Current events in Ivory Coast confirm the tragic role African leaders have
and continue to play in the destruction of Africa. I fear Uganda is next.

According to EIR, one man above all the rest, bears special personal
responsibility for turning the 1960s dreams of independence into a
nightmare. His name is Roland Walter “Tiny” Roland, boss of a British
Transnational Corporation, LONRHO. LONRHO is acronym for the London Rhodesia
Company. For decades this shrewd fellow was the most powerful Western
businessman in Africa. He had access to all African Heads of State and
government as well as African freedom fighters, guerrillas and even bandits.

He would do business with African leaders, while funding guerrillas fighting
the very leaders he was wining and dining with. He was a practitioner of the
dictum: Never put all your eggs in one basket.

The introduction to the EIR book on Tiny Roland is prophetic. It begins with
a short three-word sentence: “Africa is dying”. It denounces Tiny Roland and
asserts that “the list of African leaders and guerrilla leaders with whom
Tiny Roland has had intimate financial dealings reads so much like a Who is
Who of modern African history. It includes past and present leaders of
Uganda and Kenya. Like all devious types, Tiny Roland had a tragic end and
is no more.

Aside from the treacherous behaviour of African leaders, Sub-Saharan Africa
is simply poorly led, by mediocres, conmen, frauds and drop-outs. Since the
advent of independence in the 1960s, Africa has had far too many tyrants and
gangsters as leaders, far too few statesmen, let alone merely competent
office holders at political and bureaucratic level. Too often African
leaders reject sound policy advice and refuse to take the long or broad view
of their job.

For example, how can anybody justify and rationalise the sale of Uganda
Commercial Bank (UCB), Apollo Hotel, Uganda Hotels and Uganda Electricity
Board, to mention but a few, under the guise of liberalisation and
privatisation. All these parastatals were making profit, but more important,
they were owned by the people of Uganda. UCB was fondly and rightly called
“The People’s Bank”. UEB was sold to ESKOM, a company owned by the
government of South Africa. It defies logic and one does not need a PhD in
Economics to see through the absurdity of the actions of African leaders.

The few African leaders who seem to be progressive at the beginning of their
tenure of office soon revert to the familiar form of autocratic one-man
rule. Some are literally insane and remind me of the Roman Emperor Caligula.
Take the example, Master Sgt. Samuel Doe and Sgt Jean Bedel Bokassa. The
former became a General and Life President of Liberia while Bokassa crowned
himself Emperor of the Central African Republic. He was following the
footsteps of his hero, Napoleon Bonaparte of France.

Today, another crazy young man called Yahya Jammeh who has terrorised tiny
Gambia for years, now wants to be crowned “King of Gambia” and establish a
dynastic rule in that ruined and impoverished strip of land which is too
small as a runway for the airbus 380 Jumbo Jet. And the international
community is just watching. For the enemies of Africa it confirms their
worst fears and prejudices about Africans. During the 1960s many of these
types used to patronisingly argue that Africans are barbarians and not yet
ready for self-government, let alone independence.

When one looks at the map of Africa from Zimbabwe to Somalia to Eritrea and
Gambia and in between, it is painful for me as pan-Africanist to nod my head
and in silence admit that these enemies of Africa were perhaps partly right.
We Africans are our own worst enemies. Let us stop blaming colonialism, the
slave trade, imperialism, etc for our own self-made tragedy.

Our education has failed to remove the village mentality in most of our
leaders. All we think and talk about is “eating” or “manger” in French. Some
allege they have killed an animal and must be given eternity to feast on the
carcass. With such mind-sets Africa may indeed sooner, rather than later,
die. Yes, Africa is dying. Our primary challenge is to save Africa from
imminent death and keep the hopes of our people alive.

*Mr Achema is a political scientist, consultant and a retired ambassador
based in Arua*
*[log in to unmask]*


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