There is no justification of strongman rule in Africa

STRONGMAN MALAISE

The wisdom of African strongmen rule in Africa is an utter contradiction with no justification whatsoever over 60 years of post-colonial profligacy. Does any nation need a strongman ruler, given the history of their dismal performances thus far?

Consistent evidence show that when dictators establish themselves over their gullible populations, they rule uninterrupted by internal opposing forces. With few exceptions, (eg Ghadafi), all dictators drive their nations to economic downfall and over dependency on foreign aid. By the inherent nature of dictatorship, human suffering follows a steady environmental degradation, low economic productivity, decline in human conditions, unfettered expropriation of resources by foreign interests, and inexorable alienation of citizens from the state. Many unpleasant traits of dictatorships makes strongmen rule in Africa unjustifiable.

Mobutu  of Zaire ruled the vast African country for 31 years.  By the time he was deposed, the entire Zaire had barely 1000 km of road into the countryside with a huge part of the mineral rich countryside inaccessible and isolated. Nearly 92% of Congolese lived under the poverty line of US$2 a day. By not investing in infrastructure, Mobutu perpetuated under-development and the haemorrhaging of Congo’s resources by foreign interests. It took a combination of foreign forces in tow of malignant internal insurgents to kick Mobutu out.

Back home, Idi Amin ruled Uganda with an iron fist and presided over economic collapse and immense human suffering. Like under Mobutu, internal dissent attracted a death sentence under Amin. Only with an external force of arms by Tanzanian People’s Defence Forces were Ugandans able to rid itself of a vicious rule of tyranny and economic collapse in 1979.

Recently, ECOWAs forced out the deranged Gambian dictator, Yahya Jammeh with the combination of diplomacy and potential for external force. There are many strongmen buttressed all over Africa such that to depose them, only an external force may suffice. Internal opposition has proven insufficient to galvanise the critical masses needed for change. Strongmen are vicious, employing corruption, and collaboration with external capitalists to exploit Africa.

Moreover, terrorism charge is strategically employed as a weapon against internal dissent and armed insurrection.

The young Joseph Kabila in DRC, himself a trainee dictator, seems to have graduated given his clutch on power. Soon he will join the regional club of full time dictators armed with strongmen ambitions run their countries down. Nearly every African country where strongmen rule, they have lurked and disabled internal dissent.

The lessons are there for us to draw from in order to realise the potentials of good governance and development.

African scholars should increasingly interpret the terms “good governance” and “development” correctly. These terms exists in situations where western capitalist interests of exploitation are guaranteed. Clearly, good governance and development are interpreted differently for Africa.

Even those who claim to value democracy and good governance as a pretext for development, support the entrenchment of dictatorship in Africa in as far as their interests are guaranteed.

We have to only look at the 2015 report “How the world profit from Africa’s wealth” which highlights the exploitation of Africa. According to the report, African nations received $162 billion in aid, loans, and remittances in 2015. At the same time, Africa lost $203 billion through resource extraction, debt payments, and illegal logging and fishing.

In Uganda’s 2017/18 budget, about 52% was allocated to debt repayment and government is reported to have paid taxes for several investment companies to keep them afloat! Indeed, Strongmen rule is akin to steady decline of Africa.

Nevertheless, not all love is lost with strongmen of Africa. Decisions by Rais Arap Moi of Kenya and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania to relinquish power demonstrated that when strongmen hands over power peacefully, their countries tended to harness the potential of transformation into a form of democracy quite quickly. Further analyses and theorising of this phenomenon may be of scholarly interest to academics.

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