Africa Outdoes Itself
Or perhaps that should read Africa undoes itself, or does itself a grave injustice, or meets world expectations, simply because, given that continent's ongoing dark record on human rights abuses and grossly overt instances of national dysfunction the expectations are so abysmally low to begin with. There is so much human potential, there are so many raw resources, so many opportunities to become what African nations might aspire to for the sake of her people. Yet time and again one nation after another fails.
The ongoing resorting to a primitive tribal mindset, eschewing advanced and enlightened thought to lead to a working cohesion remains stubbornly resistant to change. Those dictatorial rulers who have assumed power through military means amply demonstrate that their sole interest is to advance their own economic well being. Without any kind of social conscience they happily liberate funds which Western countries donate in the hope of alleviating some of the social imbalance leading to mass malnutrition and endemic diseases which afflict those countries.
Zimbabwe's slow dissolution into dire national poverty with a stunning inflation rate that beggars the state and its people was a result of a tyrant whose ascension to power had been celebrated by the West in its hopes for the future. In its 27 years of independence, misrule has seen the former breadbasket of the continent slide into corruption, anarchy and chaos. Robert Mugabe's defiance of world opinion, his crippling of his country's economy, his persecution of his own debilitated population has earned the scorn of the West and the support of other African nations, most notably South Africa for whom great hopes for the future also appear to have been misplaced.
The wars in Sudan, Somalia and Sierra Leone and elsewhere in that benighted region have only served to enhance the already blighted opinion the world has of the continent. In some of these countries oil wealth has enriched the country while their population remains destitute, deprived of the nutrition and shelter, safety and medical needs any society requires for success. Those countries elsewhere on the globe who become energy clients of these failures hesitate to dilute their friendship born of energy greed with the conscience born of abuse of humanity.
Now the world's attention is momentarily brought to Nigeria, a huge and populous country with the world's seventh-largest oil reserves. Still under military rule posing as a quasi parliamentary system whose latest election it was hoped would lead to a civilian, democratic type of governance, those who rule Nigeria have gone out of their way to elevate corruption and greed, disregard for the needs of the nation and its 140 million people for their own purposes.
Villages in the country comprised of thousands of Nigerians are being taught a life-lesson in survival; violent deaths are meted out to ensure the lesson strikes home, and those residents understand they are not, on pain of death, to venture to voting booths. Which might be difficult under any circumstances, since thugs have been dispatched also to ensure that the ballot boxes, papers and other materials disappear; if they're not high-jacking the stuff by which elections are conducted, they're murdering those who would seek to cast their ballot.
And vote-rigging hasn't been overlooked, either, nor has the salubrious function of false accusations leading to imprisonment for adversaries of the current government led by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Whose intention it was to have a third mandate, denied him by law and by the lack of acquiescence by his vice-president, whom Obasanjo then turned around and accused of misappropriating over $100 million from the state treasury.
The ruling People's Democratic Party will be victorious; their candidate, hand-picked by Obasanjo to continue his governing policies will be handily voted into power by a population thoroughly besotted with their good fortune in living in such a wealthy country, administered by politicians who place love of country first and foremost.
"The money has been paid, everything is rigged out already," according to a police officer outside the remains of his office, burned to the ground last week by a mob.
The ongoing resorting to a primitive tribal mindset, eschewing advanced and enlightened thought to lead to a working cohesion remains stubbornly resistant to change. Those dictatorial rulers who have assumed power through military means amply demonstrate that their sole interest is to advance their own economic well being. Without any kind of social conscience they happily liberate funds which Western countries donate in the hope of alleviating some of the social imbalance leading to mass malnutrition and endemic diseases which afflict those countries.
Zimbabwe's slow dissolution into dire national poverty with a stunning inflation rate that beggars the state and its people was a result of a tyrant whose ascension to power had been celebrated by the West in its hopes for the future. In its 27 years of independence, misrule has seen the former breadbasket of the continent slide into corruption, anarchy and chaos. Robert Mugabe's defiance of world opinion, his crippling of his country's economy, his persecution of his own debilitated population has earned the scorn of the West and the support of other African nations, most notably South Africa for whom great hopes for the future also appear to have been misplaced.
The wars in Sudan, Somalia and Sierra Leone and elsewhere in that benighted region have only served to enhance the already blighted opinion the world has of the continent. In some of these countries oil wealth has enriched the country while their population remains destitute, deprived of the nutrition and shelter, safety and medical needs any society requires for success. Those countries elsewhere on the globe who become energy clients of these failures hesitate to dilute their friendship born of energy greed with the conscience born of abuse of humanity.
Now the world's attention is momentarily brought to Nigeria, a huge and populous country with the world's seventh-largest oil reserves. Still under military rule posing as a quasi parliamentary system whose latest election it was hoped would lead to a civilian, democratic type of governance, those who rule Nigeria have gone out of their way to elevate corruption and greed, disregard for the needs of the nation and its 140 million people for their own purposes.
Villages in the country comprised of thousands of Nigerians are being taught a life-lesson in survival; violent deaths are meted out to ensure the lesson strikes home, and those residents understand they are not, on pain of death, to venture to voting booths. Which might be difficult under any circumstances, since thugs have been dispatched also to ensure that the ballot boxes, papers and other materials disappear; if they're not high-jacking the stuff by which elections are conducted, they're murdering those who would seek to cast their ballot.
And vote-rigging hasn't been overlooked, either, nor has the salubrious function of false accusations leading to imprisonment for adversaries of the current government led by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Whose intention it was to have a third mandate, denied him by law and by the lack of acquiescence by his vice-president, whom Obasanjo then turned around and accused of misappropriating over $100 million from the state treasury.
The ruling People's Democratic Party will be victorious; their candidate, hand-picked by Obasanjo to continue his governing policies will be handily voted into power by a population thoroughly besotted with their good fortune in living in such a wealthy country, administered by politicians who place love of country first and foremost.
"The money has been paid, everything is rigged out already," according to a police officer outside the remains of his office, burned to the ground last week by a mob.
Labels: Crisis Politics
posted by Pieface | 2:07 PM
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