Strongmen on way out may be swallows of an African summer

AFRICANS always complain, often with good reason, that the sins or transgressions of one country are visited on the entire continent; that we get tarred with the same brush, irrespective of who or where the culprit may be.

But it is also true that we tend to rejoice at every success, however insignificant, achieved anywhere on the continent or its diaspora. We want the world to see it, acknowledge it and celebrate with us. We should, I guess, learn to take the rough with the smooth.

The good news this week came from The Gambia, a small West African country (size: 10 000km², population: 1.8 million). Whoever drew its boundaries must have had a sense of humour. Or maybe he was simply bored. The country is more like an elongated appendix jutting into the belly of Senegal.

The relief in The Gambia was not only that it held free and fair elections, but that its strongman Yahya Jammeh, who had been in power for 22 years, initially accepted the outcome. People came onto the streets in their numbers to celebrate. In a country that had little to enthuse about, it was a beautiful sight to behold. It was a day they never thought would arrive.

Jammeh epitomises everything that is wrong about the continent. A ruthless dictator who came to power in a military coup in 1994, he was intolerant of dissent. He enforced strict press laws and jailed journalists and opposition leaders. Some simply disappeared. Homosexuals, he said, were vermin. The country had regular elections, but the winner was never in doubt.

Jammeh, using his position to enrich himself, was reputed to be worth more than his tiny country. And probably to augment his wealth, he sold a concoction to the public which he claimed could cure myriad diseases, including HIV/Aids.

He was a truly awful individual to have ever exercised power over people. He didn’t kill as many people as Idi Amin did, but he was of that ilk. He held an entire population hostage. The release of pent-up emotions in the streets of Banjul and other towns was therefore understandable. They were simply glad to see the back of their tormentor.

And it seems Africa is about to rid itself of another plunderous dictator. Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, who has generously helped himself to his country’s rich mineral resources for the 37 years he’s been in power, said this week that he would be stepping down. One swallow doesn’t make a summer but Dos Santos’s exit, as Jammeh’s defeat, will help chisel away at Africa’s culture of impunity. Hopefully the continent’s ageing dictators will start falling like dominoes.

Africa’s problem has always been a lack of a self-correcting or remedial mechanism.

Organisations such as the AU have tended to act more as a fellowship than an instrument to keep offending states in check. Outside interference is unwelcome and often leads to the closing of ranks.

There is, for instance, no guarantee that those who take over from Jammeh and Dos Santos will behave in a more commendable fashion than their predecessors. The incentive for leaders to act in a desirable way is often sparse if not non-existent. There’s often more inducement for a leader to revert to type.

After leading a guerrilla takeover of Uganda in 1986, Yoweri Museveni went to his first Organisation of African Unity summit to scold African leaders for standing by while Idi Amin butchered his people. They not only did nothing, he said, they had rewarded him with the chairmanship of the organisation. It was heartfelt and brutally honest.

Museveni has now been in power for three decades, his regime as intolerant as any on the continent. Opponents are often harassed and jailed. Homosexuality is punishable with life imprisonment, which is in fact an improvement. The original piece of legislation, dubbed “Kill the Gays bill” had called for the death penalty. Museveni is walking in the footsteps of his predecessors. It’s a vicious circle.

Although African countries detested interference by the West in their internal affairs, they could not afford to ignore it. Western countries often paid the bills or fed the hungry. Their support in forums like the IMF and the World Bank was also critical.

The emergence of China as a serious player in world affairs and a dispenser of aid has come as a godsend for Africa. China, unlike Western countries, dishes out the aid without asking too many inconvenient questions.

But as Donald Trump takes over as the leader of the free world, African despots can sit back and relax. He’s unlikely to quibble with the breaking of a few innocent bones. He is of a similar mould. He — with Vladimir Putin in tow — will corrupt the world.

There was a time, of course, when South Africa was seen as a beacon on the continent. Our new dispensation, with its strong humanrights culture, would act as a shining city upon a hill.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be. But in failing to live up to our values, we have not only disappointed ourselves; we have let down the rest of the continent.

As Donald Trump takes over, African despots can sit back and relax