Is Burundi on the road to their downfall?

The smallest and poorest nation in East Africa. Burundi, is showing all the signs of going bananas. President Pierre Nkurunziza is determined to have his way to a third term against reasonable interpretation of his country’s constitution. Looking at the East African region, I admire Kenya.

One may mention Tanzania for her stable politics but I see the shortcomings of one party domination that you can always predict who will become President. All you need is to be nominated by CCM party as their presidential candidate. It mirrors South Africa and ANC. In Kenya at least there is competition notwithstanding the regularly mutation of parties, our unreliable systems and corruption even in the political sphere. But in East Africa there are huge political challenges. Burundi is proving to be the worst at the moment.

A reminder that Africa has enough political problems that curse the poorest continent. Very few countries in this rich continent have a fair reasonable political system, Kenya being one of them. One of the challenges in Africa is the people that surround the leaders (or who the leaders surround themselves with) and obviously the tribal nature of political competition. The people that surround our leaders feed them with lies making them so blind such that they cannot see when the nation is on fire.

The reasons are myriad. But the main one is that the sycophants surrounding them want to eat or extend their eating time. At the same time the African leaders themselves get the imagination that they are the only ones chosen by God to lead. Moreover, these leaders believe that when they acquire power, they will be the most important creatures on earth.

Can Africa really deliver itself against self-destruction that now seems to be a hobby? Can we mind our own affairs in a continent where we make five strides forward and then work hard to get ten backwards? Who in Africa is telling Nkurunziza that he can have his way yet Burundi is likely to slide into self-inflicted political quagmire? Who will tell him that retiring honourably is so precious ?

We blame colonialism (which I agree was an evil programme) and Western neo-colonialism (which is also bad) but we offer no better alternative. We are our own worst enemies as Africa. Do we feel ashamed when we are dotted with more failed states than any other continent? Do we feel ashamed when our own routinely die trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe (whom we blame as colonisers) to escape monumental and biting poverty? Do we feel ashamed that despite the massive natural wealth, it only serves as a source of conflict, fraud, theft and blood spillage?

Can we be trusted to stand and tell our brothers and sisters in power that they are wrong when they misbehave? What does African Union (AU) do to drive the continent to progress? Anyway, as we stand unless an external hand, pressure and change of heart happens, Burundi is not promising her citizens a future.