Baba, Sorry for inconvienience and thanks that you have got the time to respond to my note.But just one more point,the president is actually a Mansa and his government is also Mansa Kunda.The problem is not the people.The problem is the Mansa using his office to promote his party politics,are you with him/her,no problem with your job,are you not with him you see the door.Take another point,you are teaching at a good univercity in the US,who needs you more,Gambia or the US ?obiviously it is our kids in the Gambia who needs you more,but can you go back to the Gambia,NOt at this present moment,why ? we all know what the Mansa did to you,but the gambian population were surely enjoying your work as a write ( I believe you were a journalist back home ?).The simple point i am struggling to put through is this,it is not the people who need to change their attitude towards poltics,it is the polticians who need to do that so that we can progress. Lastly,there is an alarming amount of "voters fatique" even in western democracies,what do you think might be the cause ? Thanks for your attention. For Freedomsaiks
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 06:09:15 -0700
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [G_L] Kony is only one part of Uganda Crisis
To: [log in to unmask]
Dear Saikou,
Foer starters, please call me Baba. Thanks for your very thoughtful response to my piece. I note your disagreement about the point that most people believe in the divine right of kingship. You perhaps notice that I say 'most Africans' and not all Africans or merely Africans. This, unfortunately, seems to be the reality of the situation. Certainly, me you and many other brothers and sisters do not think that African presidents are God-ordained. This is not to say that anything happens without God's will, if one is a believer in God. But it does mean that African presidents abuse this concept in order to stay perpetually in power. Of course, I did not mean to insult anybody's intelligence. I totally agree that the points you list towards the end of your piece are all valid. But to my mind, Africa's political culture needs to drastically change; people need to stop seeing presidents as Mansa or a government as Mansa Kunda. What we have termed the Mansa Mentality exists in most African societies today and in my opinion, is a major, if not the major obstacle to the end of one-man rule in Africa.
Thanks again for the critique and the additional pointers to where the problem lies. Much appreciated.
Warm regards,
Baba
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:14:35 +0000
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [G_L] Kony is only one part of Uganda Crisis
To: [log in to unmask]
DR Jallow,
Thanks for sharing this article with us, it is a very good article that seems to be dealing with the real problem in Uganda. I agree without any hesitation that the problem of Uganda is not only Kony but that the main problem is Musaveni . One other thing is that there are many democratic nations in the west that do not have any time limit for the post of the president, so this in any case should not be a problem in a develop bourgeois democratic state. But this is not my main point, what I totally disagree with you is on the question of why a president like Musaveni is always winning an election even though someone like myself will consider him a dictator. You indicated that this has to do with our believe that been a president is divine and opposition is satanic .You stated:
“So why, you may ask, do Ugandans keep re-electing Museveni if they did not like him? Well, here's part of the answer: African presidents win elections not necessarily because people like them but because, among other reasons, Africa's political culture remains largely unchanged from the pre-colonial days.
Most Africans consider presidents the way their ancestors considered kings and chiefs — as God-ordained and therefore perpetually legitimate rulers. In many African societies, opposition to the president is considered opposition to the divine will.”
This I believe is not only an insult to the intelligence of the ordinary African and their day to day struggle for a better society but also seems to contradict the facts that I and many, including your self have documented time and again in many forum like this one as the main problem. I would rather suggest that to find an answer to the reason why people like Musaveni, Jammeh etc can go on and on winning elections, we should look at least into the following factors:
1) The relationship between the ruling party and the state in post colonial Africa
2) The nature and character of the opposition parties in post colonial Africa
3)Poverty; the economic relationship between the ordinary people and politicians in general
By the way, in America during the swearing of a president you hear the words “…so help me God..”, up to this very day, there is no culture either of ancient times or present that do not believe that leading a nation is divine. Can’t say much about this because you know it far much better than I do being a history scholar, but should in case, ask the Christian fundamentalist why God gave them Obama. Opposition to dictatorship, brutality, exploitation etc has always been seen as a divine duty in many cultures and religion and it is not otherwise in Uganda or Africa in general. In the Gambia,we always ask the question,where are our religious leaders and become furious when they act otherwise ?
Keep them coming.
For Freedom
Saiks
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:18:01 -0700
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [G_L] Kony is only one part of Uganda Crisis
To: [log in to unmask]
Hello All,
I just wanted to share the OP-Ed piece below in today's Omaha World Herald. It is my take on the Kony problem.
Kony is only one part of Uganda Crisis
By Baba G. Jallow, Ph.D.
http://www.omaha.com/article/20120322/NEWS0802/703229981
The writer is an assistant professor of African history at Creighton University. He is formerly a journalist from The Gambia, West Africa.
There is a growing, almost global movement to capture and try Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony for crimes against humanity.
Indicted by the International Criminal Court in October 2005, Kony has so far evaded capture and continues to terrorize civilians, especially children, in war-ravaged northern Uganda.
Yes, Kony needs to be stopped. But Kony's capture will not end Uganda's political crisis, because Kony is just one side of the Ugandan problem. The other, more insidious side is President Yoweri Museveni.
In power since January 1986, Museveni is Africa's "darling" of the West. He had scored major successes against HIV/AIDS and brought some economic stability to Uganda. His government was touted as one of the most democratic in Africa, even though there were no rival parties to challenge his rule and no limits to how many times he could seek re-election. As long as Museveni kept the Communists out, Uganda was a model of democracy.
It was in appreciation of his sterling democratic credentials that Museveni was welcomed into the Ronald Reagan White House in October 1987. He has since been a regular visitor to the White House. He met with George H.W. Bush in October 1990, with Bill Clinton in June 1994 and with George W. Bush in June 2003, June 2004 and September 2008.
America considers Museveni a paragon of democracy in Africa in spite of his very poor human rights record — well documented in U.S. State Department reports. Periodic multi-party elections in Uganda since 1996 are cited in Western capitals as evidence of Museveni's dedication to democracy.
So why, you may ask, do Ugandans keep re-electing Museveni if they did not like him? Well, here's part of the answer: African presidents win elections not necessarily because people like them but because, among other reasons, Africa's political culture remains largely unchanged from the precolonial days.
Most Africans consider presidents the way their ancestors considered kings and chiefs — as God-ordained and therefore perpetually legitimate rulers. In many African societies, opposition to the president is considered opposition to the divine will.
Indeed, political opposition is believed to have originated in Satan's opposition to God in the Bible and Koran. Because there is no word for "president" in African languages, African presidents are termed kings or chiefs, a misnomer they visibly encourage.
Of course, there's always the tired argument about Africa being different from the West and the dangers of imposing Western democracy on African societies. I contend that democracy does not belong to any particular region of the world.
The rights associated with democratic governance — respect for human rights and the rule of law, the right to frequent and orderly changes of leadership, the right to freedom of expression and association, the right to hold one's government accountable — are human rights, not Western rights. Unless Africans are considered subhuman, they should enjoy all political rights enjoyed by Westerners.
Truth, justice and fair play do not belong solely to the West. The terms of the social contract between rulers and the ruled should be observed in any nation-state — even when, as in Africa, most people are not aware that this social contract exists and that they are the true repositories of political power.
Western republics should be asking the following:
What discontent caused the revolt against the Museveni government by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army?
Why should Museveni repeatedly contest and win elections in Uganda to the exclusion of political opponents as well as members of his own ruling party?
Is Museveni the only person capable of leading Uganda?
Does Uganda qualify as a democracy when it has been ruled by one man for the past 26 years?
Would a regime like Museveni's be called democratic if it existed in the West?
The efforts to end Kony's atrocities are certainly worthwhile, but getting Kony will merely cure the symptoms of a disease whose causes lie in Museveni's one-man rule.
That, too, needs to end.
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