By Lucas Owako,
Nairobi,Kenya:The African Union is celebrating its 50th anniversary under the theme: “Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance.” As they look back and then ahead, our leaders should be advised to remember the words of Wole Soyinka, one of Africa’s most celebrated writers. At a time when there was a push for an African renaissance after the end of colonial rule, Soyinka said: A tiger does not need to boast about his tigritude, he pounces!
While the frequent the demand by African leaders for respect from the West is warranted, it is nevertheless, a wrong prescription for an ailment that has been wrongly diagnosed. A casual look at the context of such demands brings this out clearly. Recently, this agitation has revolved around the International Criminal Court (ICC). As African leaders meet in Ethiopia, this court is certainly in their minds. They accuse the court of being a tool of Western imperialism which targets African leaders. The President of South Sudan has been quoted saying that the ICC is a Western tool to humiliate African leaders.
Similar sentiments have been aired by other African leaders, and have been canvassed significantly by sections of the Kenyan public. Similarly, Western governments have been accused of interference and disrespect whenever they entangle themselves in local matters. A good example is when the Free Primary Education scandal was exposed. Britain, that had funded the programme, censured the Government and demanded back their money. They were told off by some Kenyans, who reminded them that we were no longer a colony.
While it is true that the West is often guilty of undue interference in local matters, African leaders must ask themselves why they are a soft target. We should be concerned that often, this interference has to do with corruption and other crimes among us. We cannot plausibly deny that corruption is a reality, and that many African leaders have swindled their countries much of their wealth, while majority of the population remains in abject poverty. We cannot deny that violence, internal conflict, and abuse of the rights of the citizens by the State are an ever present reality in Africa. And we cannot deny that our governments and systems have failed to deal with these issues satisfactorily.
Contrast this with the Western countries. Although some of them are guilty of gross crimes for which they should be held accountable, their internal systems appear to work. Corruption has been reported in the USA and in European countries, but these are always dealt with ruthlessly and swiftly. The same applies to violence and other crimes. These governments protect their citizens.
Instead of whining about disrespect, our ambition should be to move up and occupy the moral high ground. We should work on our economies and cease to be beggars. We should ensure integrity in our governance, so that no one accuses us of corruption. In matters of corruption, we should aim at being ‘whiter’ than the Europeans and Americans. We should deal with our own criminals, fairly, justly and swiftly. If we do these, then we shall stand on the world scene with dignity, and stand tall.
{Lucas Owako, Nairobi}
