Our curse is poor leaders, says Maathai’s new book

By John Mwazemba

Ancient Greeks had gods to ensure their ultimate destruction. We have political leaders. That’s the thrust of Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai’s new book, The Challenge for Africa.

In Africa, no matter how bad things are, they can worsen thus the many civil unrest, violent seizure of power and border disputes (the latest border dispute is the standoff between Kenya and Uganda over Migingo Island). The result: life on the continent is nasty, brutish and short.

Why can’t African leaders live in peace? It seems like someone is always itching for a fight. If an African president is not ordering the shooting of innocent civilians, he is incarcerating or beheading opposition leaders or invading a neighbouring country. But the common ritual is that blood must be shed, somehow.

President Yoweri Museveni, who shot his way into power, is poking Kenya on the nose and probably hoping for a fight (and we have fumbled in our response, making us appear weak, impotent and toothless).

Are Africans bewitched or cursed with war and unrest? We have many generals to lead us into wars to destroy each other but seem to have only a handful of leaders to lead us into the promised land of milk and honey. We are a continent that self-destructs.

Colonial Masters

As Kofi Osei wonders: "How come after all these years we are resigned to this pathetic need to be saved by our colonial masters? The answer is six words: poor leadership, poor leadership, poor leadership. It’s not the bogey of poverty, or lack of resources, innovation or enterprise… Africa has been unfortunate to have been landed with exceptionally poor leaders. Be they presidents, prime ministers or MPs, they seem to have been hewn from the same diseased branch… Too many among Africa’s leaders since independence have been corrupt, predatory, venal, selfish, warmongering, clueless, ignorant, talentless, senile (in glaring cases), spent and tired..."

In Challenge for Africa, Maathai writes: "For thirty years, I have worked in the trenches with others to find ways to break the wall that separates the people of Africa from justice, wealth, peace and respect… In the three decades since the Green Belt Movement began its work, some Africans have left the trenches to pursue their own interests and ambitions; others have become disappointed and tired. Some are languishing in their homes or jails; others are homeless or in refugee camps. Some are hoping for leadership to deliver them; others are waiting until it is clear to them they must save themselves, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, being the change they wish to see in the world…"

Chapter Six is not to shame or blame, but to challenge African society, especially its leadership, to break free of corruption and selfishness. Every African, from the Head of State to the subsistence farmer, needs to embrace cultures of honesty, hard work, fairness, and justice, as well as the riches of their continent."

Africa’s resources

Being the ardent environmentalist that she is, Maathai draws convincing relationships between the environment, resources and peace. In an interview with American journalist Amy Goodman at Ohio University, Maathai explained how most wars in Africa are about resources.

She talked of what inspired her to become an environmentalist, "I must say in the very beginning I was inspired by the failed needs of the women from the countryside, who said they needed firewood, food, clean drinking water, very basic needs. And when I started, I did not have an idea of a movement, let alone of an issue that would eventually become a global issue.

"But once I started, I was… it’s like I opened a box… a Pandora’s box that showed me the interrelationship between how we manage resources and environment, how we share those resources, and whether we live in peace or in conflict with each other. And that opened up a completely different way of looking at the conflicts, whether within the national borders or global. Whenever you look at these conflicts, we are fighting over resources. It is either water, land, minerals or something else. Somebody wants to control them. Some people are being excluded.

"And people, sooner or later, if they’re excluded, they seek justice, an economic justice, social justice, environmental justice. These are important rights and issues that need to be addressed if we need—or if we want to live in peace with each other, whether it is within our own communities or across the globe."

That is a convincing narrative as many of the conflicts in Africa are about oil (Sudan and Nigeria), gemstones (Congo’s ‘blood diamond’) and maybe even fish breeding grounds (Migingo Island).

Challenge for Africa is a book every African and especially the leadership should read.

The writer is the publishing manager of Macmillan Kenya Publishers