Thursday, July 16, 2009

What an eventful week!

By Sunday Air-Force One had left a trail of choking fumes across the cool Accra skies. Obama had come, seen, spoke, and left.

On Monday Mugabe yet again hit the headlines, for yet again the wrong reasons. In a constitutional reform exercise taking place in Zim, Mugabe and his goons are insisting on a draft they hastily crafted last year at the expense of a consultative process where the people give their views on what the Zim constitution should contain. So in the first consultative meet on Monday, Mugabe hired thugs who disrupted the whole process by drowning the speaker of Parliament in an effort to thwart the process. I would like to invite those who see a hero in this man to seriously give me their thoughts on this one. Barbaric means to stiffle the will of the people.

On Tuesday we tootled off to the Hague where Charles Taylor was standing trial for eleven counts of various crimes of killings and war crimes. Ever so eloquent, the man vehemently denied that he used to rip out the organs of opponents and eat them. He appeared human, and appealed to the courts human side. It was a very good show, and I am sure his lawyers are thoroughly happy. Except of course, the graves are still there in his home country, and quiet a few people still have short arms because their hands were chopped off. Torture and rape victims still roam the streets, and honestly, someone was responsible for this. Someone has to pay. Let the encumbent rulers take note. The Al Bashir indictment and subsequent madness from fellow Africa dictators will not outrun justice!

On Wednesday, the space shuttle Endevour finally blasted off. Its a race against time, the US government wishes to retire the shuttle fleet by next year. The Obama administration will also sign authorizations for the deployment of people on the moon, much like what they have done with the artic. So before you know it, there is going to be a permanent presence on the moon. I remember my late uncle was always pertubed by these excursions, and he would almost always ask..." And what is it that they are looking for up there which they cannot find here?" He died a miserable man, no one answered him.

We woke up today to the news that the ICJ prosecutor will receive an envelope containing names of the perpetrators of post election violence in Kenya. Oh! I can hear you gasp, and you are not all alone. We all thought it was water under the bridge. But hell no. The Kenyans deliberately forgot to tell us that they were given an ultimatum to investigate all the post elections violence and bring the perpetrators to book. In Kibaki`s infinite wisdom, they hastily assembled a commission of inquiry which they hoped would die a natural death. Kofi Anan had the uneviable task of ensuring this would go smoothly. Sensing that he and the rest of the world were about to be, yet again, get duped by African political murderers, Anan cried wolf. The ICJ Prosecutor sprang into action and Anan will be making available the names of all known perpetrators. This will be a very interesting ball game as it plays out.

So what can we learn this week. The days of wanton disregard for human rights and mass political killing are over. The world is changing, and for the better. You can no longer kill political opponents like flies and get away with it. The days of Idi Aminiism are over!

9 comments:

  1. I am wondering when Africa will really achieve real democracy, peace and prosperity...

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  2. The days of Idi Amin is definitely over. You asked when Africa can achieve real democracy. The answer is simple. When Africans can bring their own to book and not wait upon the ICC, whose purpose of establishment, in their own words, is to caw leaders. According to Robin Cooke, the ICC cannot charge Blair or Bush or any other leader in the so-called developed countries. Charles Taylor is a tyrant and I have labelled him so in some of my works but so is Bush and Blair whose actions have caused more deaths than Taylor and Mugabe combined. Everyday we hear people die in Iraq...who are the perpetrators. Al Bashir is bad but so are the French and the Belgians whose continued presence in the DR Congo is fueling the crises. By the way who manufactured those guns Taylor used and who sold it to him? Who purchased the diamonds he is accused of stealing? Why is he not being tried of the atrocities he committed in Liberia, or was it because back then he was being supported by America? Let's be realistic. Africa's problem are for Africans to solve and unless we break ourselves including our thinking from these things we would never achieve anything. Dutch Shell has recently been found guilty for instigating the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a human right activist killed in a firing-squad by the Sani Abacha government. The resources in DR Congo are being scrambled by the big gangs of world politics so even if Africa is ready to put an end to the wars, these people won't allow it to stop. Real democracy would come about when Africans would think with an African mind and not make our decisions based on what some western media have said. Taylor's problem was solved using home-grown solution but did the 'Whites' listen? Did they even respect those by whose effort the deal was made? Wasn't it Africans who were able to convince this man to give up power and seek political asylum in Nigeria? Why didn't they come to do it? Let's face it...anybody who pick up guns to kill is a murderer but so are those who instigate and provide the guns and those who sit idle and do nothing. Do you believe that Bush would ever be tried? Most African countries have signed a non-surrender treaty with Americans that prevents us from handing over the CITIZENS to the ICC when they commit human right but they have the audacity to take our LEADERS whether bad or alleged to be bad to the ICC. Read between the lines and tell me what you think of these. We are far behind and like Obama said we can't blame the past for our slow progress...but what about the present? what about their actions now?

    In the end Bush, Blair and all those who have a hand in the wars in Africa are as bad and worse as those rebel leaders themselves. I hope you know Jonas Savimbe was supported by Americans and provided with weapons to kill. They are not God and their actions would never be angelic.

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  3. I Agree! But let me take your attention to these salient points:

    Africa is for Africans, Yes?

    We need stronger institutions rather than strongmen?

    I think you agree totally with the first point. This piece of big black earth with a an egg head shape is our homeland, and we must take responsibility for every ounce of action or inaction that happens there.

    Secondly, the west has not been fair, or kind towards us, I agree. But they have made one thing clear, they serve their own purpose, and safeguard their own interests? Whose interests was Savimbi, Taylor, Abacha, Mugabe, Al Bashir serving? Who?

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  4. No Pen Powder, I do not think the days of genocide and cruel dictatorship are over. I think what days are over are the days of impunity.

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  5. The days of genocide are not over. In fact there is a genocide going on right now in Sudan while the world watches. Having said that, I do think humanity is moving forward, but the progress is agonizingly slow.

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  6. Pen Power, that is what I am saying. The West are taking us for a fool. Savimbe, Taylor, Abacha (I don't agree on Mugabe) serve the interest of the West! So should it be the West to try him or us, who have been cheated out of our resources, out of our lives? This is what I would call emancipation or freedom. It is just like coming to your house and equipping your first born to fight you, then later I come in to soothe your wounds and tell you I am taking your son with me to punish him for you. Does this makes sense. These thugs of Africa (again I wouldn't count Mugabe, though he isn't my hero as you alluded to) must be punished by Africans. Any leader who doesn't serve the interest of Africa should be tried by Africans, not some western mammoth court established to do ridicule our predicament. Until the West are charged and brought to the ICC I wouldn't recognise that court. We must take control of our lives, our destinies and our all. More Africans died in the slave trade than the holocaust but what has happened to Africans? These court-nonsense doesn't serve anybody's interest. The West don't love us and they are not punishing Taylor because they love us...if they love us then they should stop the looting of the Congo. Below I quote from BUSINESS IN AFRICA, the August 2006 edition, the title of the article is SUFFERING IN THE DRC, BEHIND THE NUMBERS...

    "Several Multinational mining companies have rarely if ever been mentioned in any human rights report. One is Barrick Gold, which operates in the town of Watsa, northwest of the town of Bunia, located in the most violent corner of Congo. The Ugandan People's Defense Force (UPDF) controlled the mines intermittently during the war, Officials in Bunia claim that Barrick executives flew into the region with UPDF and RPF (Rwanda Patriotic Front) escorts to survey and inspect their mining interests.

    "George H.W. Bush served as a paid advisor for Barrick Gold. Barrick directors include: Brian Mulroney, for PM of Canada; Edward Neys, former US ambassador to Canada and chair of the private PR firm Burston-Marstellar; former US Senator Howard Baker; J. Trevor Eyton, a member of the Canadian Senate; and Vernon Jordan, one of Bill Clinton's lawyers.

    "Barrick Gold is one of the client companies of Andrew Young's Goodworks International lobbying firm. Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta, is a key organiser of the U.S.-Uganda Friendship Council. Young was chosen by President Clinton to chair the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund in October 1994. Goodworks' clients-or business partners in some cases-include Coke, Chevron-Texaco, Monsanto, and the governments of Angola and Nigeria..."

    I can go on and on but get a copy and read for yourself. The article goes on to show the powerful hands behind all the wars in Africa, sitting presidents included. Let's not hide behind this. Before they would try Taylor they have another Taylor in the making who would see to their interest. That's why I am not happy with the Taylor trial. Let us try Taylor. Okay why not the ICC in Sierra Leone...talking about security is bullshit what about Sadam Hussein, wasn't he tried in Iraq where he had a lot of supporters?

    I can tell for a fact that after Sam Jonah, the head of Ghana's Anglogold Ashanti, then Ashanti Goldfields, saw to the merger of the Anglogold company and the latter, he was made a non-voting executive and he alone represented Ghana's interest albeit without a vote. Later he was Knighted by the queen and he resigned. In Ghana, people clap for him, listen to him make speeches. I don't see him that way...I see him as the one who supervised the selling of our gold.

    So you see why I am passionate? We Africans must not accede to the West. We must be Africans and behave like one.

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  7. Pen Powder, I would want to formally invite you to my blog...would you?

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  8. I accept the invitation sir, thank you.

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  9. thanks for your acceptance...with these conversations I know we would get far with our Africa....

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