Muammar Gaddafi's Regime Comes To An End?

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Article first published as Muammar Gaddafi's Regime Comes To An End? on Technorati.

Recent developments in Libya show that the 42-year regime of Col. Muammar Gaddafi may soon come to a tragic end in a matter of weeks or few months from now. This is because the rebels have taken over Tripoli the national capital without much resistance from the troops loyal to the incumbent president.

Iranian Press TV reported that the military unit in charge of protecting Gaddafi has defected to the opposition after the latter took over the entire city, leaving only Gaddafi’s stronghold. The TV station also reported on Monday morning that the whereabouts of the Col. was unknown.

The rebels have announced that three of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons – Saif Al-Islam, Saadi and Mohammed have been captured. They also said that they now controlled most of Tripoli. The rebels were earlier reported to have been advancing toward Tripoli on multiple fronts.

The CNN also aired pictures of Libyans rejoicing at the Green Square about the imminent fall of the strongman of Libya. The opposition was also seen celebrating with gunfire in Martyrs’ Square.

Moussa Ibrahim said that there would be massacre in Tripoli following its capture by the rebels. He noted that 1,300 people were killed on Sunday alone, adding that the death toll would rise tremendously. The Libyan Government’s spokesman is asking NATO to suspend attacks on strategic areas of the city.Reuters also reported that the President was ready to ask the rebels for negotiation.

All attempts to persuade Col Muammar Gaddafi to cede power and leave Libya fell on deaf ears as he remained adamant and even boasted he would rather be a martyr than leave his country. President Jacob Zuma of South Africa even visited him earlier with the intention to persuade him to allow peace to reign in his country but he was shunned.

When NATO began to launch air strikes in the country, the Colonel boasted he would fight back and launch guerrilla warfare against the West and against America, forgetting that Saddam Hussein boasted the same way but never lived to carry out his threat. Now his military strength has been crippled and lately the quality of audio messages sent to his supporters has reduced following the disruption in his communication network.

It is now obvious that that the henchman is losing grips of the country and now is considering negotiation as a last resort. But the opposition had made it clear from the outset that they would never negotiate with him except he stepped down from power. Having rejected all options presented to him earlier – the possibility of ceding power and enjoying freedom in Libya, etc, there are now doubts if he would escape prosecution especially after he had sent scores of Libyans to their early graves in his quest to hold on tenaciously to power.

Now that Gaddafi’s security unit has deserted him and his three sons are in the hands of the rebels, coupled with the fact that most of Tripoli is controlled by the opposition, the days of the strongman may just be numbered. How much longer he stays in power is yet to be seen. He should remember that the warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court is still hanging over his head.

He had called on his supporters from time to time to rally and save Tripoli from imminent fall. He even called on them when he seemed to be in charge, asking them to drag the “Rats and Cockroaches from their holes and kill them all”. Today, however, the story has changed as thousands of his supporters now seem to read the hand writing on the wall and understand that they cannot save him from the hands of justice. If he is found wanting, he should brace himself to face justice. Or what do you think?

Laurent Gbagbo Surrenders – Victory for African Masses

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Article first published as Laurent Gbagbo Surrenders – Victory for African Masses on Technorati.

The embattled Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo has finally surrendered power to the acclaimed winner of last year’s presidential elections Mr Alasane Ouattara.

According to Radio New Zealand, the erstwhile president is already trying to negotiate with the UN to guarantee his protection.

Forces loyal to Alasane Ouattara have already taken over the key positions in the national capital Abidjan, including the president’s residence. The incumbent is now negotiating for a deal because his defense has now been overwhelmed.

The UN, AU and ECOWAS have all been calling on Gbagbo to cede power since it was clear he lost the election but all pleas fell on deaf ears. He is now considering that option when a lot of innocent souls have been sent to their early graves.

This still brings to question the kind of leadership Africans have had to grapple with for centuries. No one wants to accept defeat and no one wants to peacefully vacate his position. Some even see the seat of governance as their birthright and so would do anything humanly possible to cling to the reins of power.

Surprisingly, all through this period of political upheaval in Cote D’ivoire, ECOWAS and The African Union watched helplessly and failed to do anything tangible to curb the rate of violence and bloodshed that erupted after the elections. They kept buying to negotiate Gbagbo’s exit.

Even when at a time it seemed that Laurent Gbagbo’s loyalists would override the opposition, the ECOMOG troop stationed in the country waited endlessly to receive order from the powers that be in order to use military force to flush out the incumbent who refused to be a good loser.

It however took the intervention of the French troops to box Gbagbo into surrender. When would these regional powers learn to handle situations or intervene at the nick of time to avert the killing of unarmed innocent civilians?

The triumph of Outtara’s men over Lauraent Gbagbo and his loyalists is victory for the masses in Africa and indeed victory for democracy. It should send a warning signal to other leaders that there would always be people who are ready to defend democracy with the last drop of their blood.

Gbagbo has now understood that those who live in a glass house should not be the first to cast a stone. He started by carrying arms: he should understand that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword”. Now that he has wasted so many innocent lives, he should not be thinking of how to preserve his. Those lives he wasted were as important as his.

Muammar gaddafi Counts Losses - His Son Dies in Air Strikes

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Muammar Gaddafi Counts Losses - His Son Dies in Air Strikes on Technorati.

The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has started to count his losses following the intervention of the United Nation’s Allied Forces to save Libyans from his hands. Epakistannews reported Sunday evening that Khamis Gaddafi who was in charge of the notorious Khamis Brigade was killed in an air strike.

The Website also reported that the administrative building in Gaddafi’s Tripoli house was hit by a bomb same day. The supporters of the embattled leader have lost several armoured vehicles and machine guns to the superior air strikes of the French and American soldiers who are doing everything possible to make the stubborn leader abide by the United Nation’s resolution.

Gaddafi’s army was advancing towards Benghazi after collecting some of the cities controlled by the rebels before the Allied forces began to implement the No-fly-zone in the country.

The Libyan leader may be forced out of power in no distant time since his military machine is already being crippled by the allied forces. The recent bombardment of the country by the United Nation’s forces is already being condemned by countries like Russia, Iran and even the Arab League.

The world had watched quietly to see what the Arab League would do to alleviate the plight of the Libyan people or at least to get Muammar Gaddafi to stop his mad massacre of the innocent civilians. But they remained helpless and only kept condemning the plan by the western world to intervene in the crisis before it would assume the dimension of genocide.

The Arab League and some countries seemed to be more concerned about the Libyan oil than the citizens of the country as they kept insinuating that the reason the Western world was intervening was to steal the Libyan oil. In as much as no one would want a repeat of the protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to be repeated in Libya, the world expected these so called countries and the Arab League to at least prevail on Gaddafi to stop the blood shed.

It is important that the United Nations should do something positive to show to the world that tyranny and corrupt leadership is no longer fashionable. The intervention of the forces should send a warning signal to other sit-tight leaders that the world is watching. This is also a way of giving hope to the citizens of those countries where their leaders have been ruling with iron fists.

The wisest thing for Muammar Gaddafi to do right now is to humbly vacate his position and save his country from utter destruction, though it is late for him to step down now because he would have to face the International Criminal Court. Nevertheless, he should be manly enough to preserve the lives of the people he has ruled for 42 years and toss selfishness to the dust bin for the sake of posterity.

Muammar Gaddafi – The Face of A Tyrant

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The true nature of Muammar Gaddafi the Libyan Head of State has been unveiled following the unrest in his country and the demand by the people that he should vacate his position as the leader. Gaddafi who has been in power since 1969 suddenly lost his cool and decided to destroy his country, the wealth and the people of Libya instead of ceding power to anyone else.

He has told the world that he has the moral obligation to rule Libya. Is this moral obligation self-imposed or does he have any divine instructions from Allah to do so? That Gaddafi is power-drunk is no longer news; but what marvels everyone is the level to which he has taken his desperate resolve to remain in power.

The old tyrant is determined to hold tenaciously to the reins of power and is prepared to sacrifice the lives of his innocent people – Men, women and children; he is ready to destroy the oil wealth of his country by bombing the refineries and oil wells instead of leaving them behind for someone else to use them to develop the country.

One of the reasons he clamoured for the formation of African Union was to enable him become stronger if allowed to be the president of the regional body for a long time. He had been living in deceit, pretending to mean well for his country and for Africa as a whole.

Now that his people say they don’t need him anymore, the beast in him is let loose. The man who claims to love Libya so much has suddenly gathered the Armoured tanks, Jet fighters, AK47s, Bombs, etc against the people he has ruled for 42 years. What an irony! The same people he professed to love are the ones he now refers to as “Rats and Cockroaches”.

Has the tyrannical, egoistic, sadistic leader been in power for this long because he had governed so well? The answer is simply an emphatic “NO”. He only saw power as a way of building his personal empire or dynasty. This he has so far done by making his children powerful ministers under his regime: and also by crippling his country’s military thereby making the deadly paramilitary brigades under his sons to hold sway and operate unchecked.

He has so far been able to corner a huge chunk of his country’s oil revenue into his family coffers, making him and his children billionaires. The country’s wealth is controlled by the Gaddafi’s family; a large proportion of the oil money is stashed in foreign bank accounts while some are also in Arab countries, out of the reach of his own people.

Power belongs to God; it is He who chooses a leader and who also dethrones a leader. The masses have the power as well to choose who to lead them. They have spoken: Gaddafi should stop pretending that he’s not aware the people are calling for his resignation. He must stop living in self-denial. He should not blame al-Qaeda, Egypt, Afghanistan and Palestine for his trouble when in deed his own people have decided to carry out a revolution against his oppressive regime.

The Arab League and The African Union are saying that America and the West should not intervene because they want to preserve Libyan oil. But the question we should be asking is ‘What is the Arab League doing to protect the Libyan unarmed masses? What is the African Union doing to preserve the right of the people and keep them from being destroyed by the blood tasty tyrant? Something has to be done.

The world had hitherto regarded Africa as the domain of bad, autocratic, tyrannical, totalitarian leaders, but what is happening now in the Arab world – Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, etc may force the world to have a rethink as to where the actual bad leaders are.

Muslims have always painted themselves as the righteous and moralistic people who are providing the example of decent, moral way of behaviour to the world, condemning other religions as being unbelievers and infidels. Why is there turmour everywhere in the Islamic world today? What has made so many of their leaders to rule their people deceptively for so long a time? Why is everyone calling for political and constitutional reforms?

The fact is that most of the Islamic leaders are not telling their followers the truth. They are deceiving them and creating enmity between them and other religions, making them to see their leaders as next to Allah; when in the real sense, it is these leaders that are destroying their countries, hauling oppositions into jail, applying Sharia laws to intimidate the poor masses and box them into submitting to the tyrants, and framing up those who they see as threat to their political ambition.

It is time everyone realized who to believe and differentiate between truths and lies. Lies cannot continue for ever: one day truth would be revealed. This is the time everyone must know the truth. “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” John 8:32.

Now That Mubarak is Gone What Happens to Egypt?

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Hosni Mubarak had told the world that one of the reasons he didn’t want to vacate office was because Egypt would be in chaos; he had said that the country would be in confusion without him. Now he is gone; what happens to the country without him?

I think Hosni Mubarak had suffered the same delusion that several African leaders have suffered from and still keep suffering from. He believed so much in himself and his family than he believed in over 60 million Egyptians.

What informed his feeling that the country would grind to a halt without him? If he died would the country cease to exist or would the country also die with him? There are several other people in Egypt that would pilot the affairs of the country successfully – the people only need to put the right persons there and the nation would move ahead without the tyrant.

He ruled his country for 30 years; made himself, his wife and children billionaires while the average Egyptians were impoverished. He had assets and money stashed away in several foreign nations. Is that the hallmark of a man who loved his country so much?

He succeeded in deceiving the people for as long as they allowed him to: the moment the people got tired of his deceits they asked for his resignation. He should have hearkened to them in the first few days instead of resorting to the use of force and rolling out armoured tanks against the same people he claimed to love so much.

If he had hearkened to the yearnings of the masses and honourably stepped down within the first few days of their protests he would have gone with his integrity intact. However, he tried to cajole them to give up their agitation by sending over 300 of them to their early graves.

The people made up their minds and as such would not be deterred by the military presence; they were no longer afraid to die because they had lived in fears for 30 years. It was time to break free from fears and timidity. It was time to hold their destiny in their hands. They all came out to demand their rights to freedom: they got what they wanted after 18 days of perseverance.

Now that Mubarak has vacated office, the military should hasten up the process to giving the people democracy that they are clamouring for. They must not think of perpetuating themselves in office: military administration is no longer in vogue. Africans don’t need military anymore, and other parts of the world do not also need them.

Countries whose leaders have been in power for ages should take a cue from Tunisia and Egypt and know that the days of those leaders are numbered. Some African countries like Libya, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Algeria, etc. should realize that the citizenry are beginning to know their rights and are ready to demand for it at any time.

People should be allowed to decide who governs them; and when they are tired with their leaders, such leaders must be ready to take a bow out of office in the interest of peace and as way of showing the world that they are men of probity.

What do you really think? Is Egypt going to break up or be in chaos without Hosni Mubarak? Or would the country be better without him?

The Tunisian Revolution - What Lessons For African Leaders?

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The Tunisian problem started as mere protest and then graduated to an uprising and eventually to a revolution which led to the eventual step down of the former Head of state Ben Ali. Now that Ben Ali has finally vacated power and gone into self-imposed exile, what lessons are other African leaders learning from the North African state?

It is now clear that tyranny cannot stand for ever; and that a time would come when the ruled would not fear death anymore. The people may live in fear for several years and be intimidated by state powers and machine guns or artillery fires. But one day everyone would cast off the fear of death and confront the power of oligarchy and totalitarianism for personal freedom.

Freedom has never come too cheaply for any people. Those who are hungry for liberty and self determination would rise up to challenge the power of oppression and take what rightfully belongs to them – power.

The Tunisian revolution has once again proved the fact that power belongs to the people. Despotism would only reign as long as the people remain silent. No man can ever be greater than his country: it is the masses that make a leader what he is.

A lot of African countries have lived under absolute, tyrannical, despotic and repressive leadership. The leaders who believe that power is permanent refuse to recognize the fact that power is actually transient and that one day it would change hands.

Ben Ali ruled Tunisia with iron fists for 23 years, without being accountable to anyone. Corruption thrived under his regime; oppositions were emasculated and victimized. The people groaned under the yoke of his intimidating powers. But all that is now history because the same man who believed he could rule forever is now in exile in Saudi Arabia.

Egyptians are now taking to the streets demanding for the resignation of their president who has been in power for decades. Their eyes have been opened by the fearlessness of the Tunisian people who had lived under the same kind of leadership until few days back.

The reason there has been civil wars, guerilla wars, militancy and pockets of internal insurrection in several African countries has been largely due to the kind of oppressive leadership the people had had in centuries. However, things seem to be taking a dramatic change for the better. True democracy, freedom of speech, accountability and credible elections seem to be visible in the horizon.

Hosni Mubarak should as a matter of urgency quit his post as the Head of state and allow the people determine who should govern them. He should not impose his cronies on the people. He should know that no amount of intimidation, killing and victimization would stop the people from getting what they want.

Other Heads of state like Muammar Gaddafi, Robert Mugabe, Omar Al-Bashir, etc should also take note of the new awakening in Africa. They should understand the yearnings of the people and quietly vacate office before they’re humiliated out. Africa needs leaders who can help manage her resources and develop the continent so they could try and catch up with other continents that have gone ahead of them in terms of infrastructural and human resources development.

Dr Nelson mandela; An Epitome Of Good Leadership

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South Africa’s first black president and former leader of the African National Congress (ANC), Dr Nelson Mandela, would be 92 years on Sunday, 17th of July 2010. He has lived 92 years of purposeful leadership, productive and influential life; he has no doubt earned more respect than any other African leader, dead or alive.

Dr Nelson Mandela did not earn his respected position by deceitful leadership, by betraying his people or by looting the treasury of his country: he also did not embark on any image laundering. He achieved this by hard work, honesty, belief in a just course, focus, pursuit of a national dream and determination to live a lasting legacy for his nation and the entire African people.

He had a dream for his people- a dream to see his people walk side by side with the white man; a dream to see everyone enjoy equal and inalienable rights. He had a dream to see the black man treated with some level of respect and dignity: he wished for a state where everyone (black or white) would have the same voting rights, attend the same schools, eat in the same canteen, play on the same pitch, ride in the same public transport, enjoy the same freedom of speech, and live in the same neighbourhood.

He pursued his dream and went to jail for 27 solid years; he never discarded his vision in the midst of threats and intimidations: he remained faithful to a just course. He sacrificed his time, future, marriage and dreams in order to give hope to his people. He was resolute; he knew what he wanted and was not ready to trade his conscience for money. He was not willing to sell the rights of his people for peanuts and then leave them to remain second tier citizens for eternity.

He suffered 27 years of deprivation, hunger, torture, intimidation, separation, oppression and maltreatment in order to ensure apartheid had no more place to stay in South Africa. Thereafter, he became the first Black President of the nation of South Africa. He provided his people with purposeful, accountable, honest and directional leadership. He set the pace for other African leaders to follow.

He ruled for his specified first tenure in office, and when he completed it, instead of towing the path of other African leaders, he decided to take the road of honour by refusing to go for a second tenure. He decided to show other black leaders how to choose the path of honour above material gains. Today, the world celebrates him as the best leader the continent of Africa ever had.

We celebrate with Dr Nelson Mandela as he turns 92 years and join to say he has shown by his leadership style that Africa still has some rays of hope. You have indeed shown that all hope is not lost for our continent. We believe there are those who would one day remember your legacy and decide to build on the solid foundation you have laid for our continent in order to lead us out of the woods.

Your 92 years on earth have not been wasted ones; you have used them to touch lives positively. You have used them to set records worthy of emulation: you have shown that there are still people who value their reputation above materialism in Africa. Your achievements have shown that we still have remnants who we could believe in, to help us put this continent on the path to sustainable development. Posterity would always remember you for your role in destroying the claws of apartheid in your country and for making your country one of the most respectable countries in this part of the world today. Your name has entered the annals of history and children yet unborn would one day see the foot prints you left on the sand of time.

We wish African leaders would take a leaf out of your book and decide to put the interest of their people before their personal interests and become more accountable to the masses. We wish that in less than a decade from now, Africans would be proud to say they do not want to go to other continents to seek for the greener pasture anymore. We pray that things should change for the better – constant power supply, smooth roads, security of lives and property, quality education, justice, rule of law, vibrant leadership and sustainable development.

We wish you a HAPPY BIRTH DAY, and we pray that God would sustain your life and make you see the Africa of your dream before you finally take your exit from this earth to be with the Lord forever. We pop our champagne as we say more happy years to you, Dr Nelson Mandela.

Connection Between African Leadership And Poverty

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Poverty is a world wide problem which affects a substantial population of the world but which is more prevalent in Africa. A huge chunk of the world’s wealth is in the hands of a selected few. Of all the factors that have contributed to poverty, leadership seems to be the worst and we are going to look at how that directly or indirectly affects the African continent.

The world has produced notable leaders who helped to shape the course of history and affect the lives of the governed positively. These leaders had the interest of the people at heart before they went into office and as such they put the masses first before self, making sure that the people enjoyed the dividends of governance. Such notable world leaders include George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Mahatma Gandhi, to mention a few. Of all the leaders Africa had ever had, Nelson Mandela is the only one who is qualified to be counted among the world greats.

Most of the African leaders are not qualified to be called leaders because they don’t have the interest of the masses at heart: they came into politics for personal gains. They see politics as a place of investment where you put in everything you have saved to get into office and then steal everything the country has in order to reimburse yourself for what you lost during campaigns, and also save as much as you can for the future of your family, not minding what happens to the rest populace.

The problem of treasury looting, oppression, tyranny, insensitivity and intolerance for political opponents has remained the same amongst African leaders from the East to West, North and South. The kind of selfish leadership style they adopt has left virtually all African countries impoverished. Check the records of Late President Omar Bongo of Gabon, Late Idiami Dada of Uganda, Ibrahim Babangida of Nigeria, Late Sani Abacha of Nigeria, Late Gnasimgbe Eyadema of Togo, Frederick Chiluba of Zambia, Late Samuel Doe of Liberia, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan, etc and what do they have in common? I am sure you know it.

Leaders who have no deliberate plan to move their countries forward cannot make any positive impact on the lives of the governed. In the western world attempts are made to educate the people so they could be well developed and become useful to the country but here it seems that the less the people are educated the better for their leaders who want them to remain ignorant and never be aware of their rights so they would not stand up to defend their rights when trampled upon. When leaders make up their minds either by omission or by commission that their people should never be developed what do you expect? Poverty, systemic failures, illiteracy, hunger, diseases, backwardness, infrastructural decay and stagnancy would continue to be the lot of the people except leadership styles change positively.

Lessons From The Coup in Niger republic

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Niger republic is one of the landlocked countries in West Africa. It is located on the Northern border of Nigeria, and it’s a member state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Niger has enjoyed democracy for sometime now until the incumbent president Mamadou Tandja was forcefully removed from office through a military coup d’etat. Tandja has ruled the country for two consecutive tenures and instead of stepping down at the end of his second tenure he decided to alter the country’s constitution to pave way for his third tenure bid. This drew condemnation from everyone, including the ECOWAS and the African Union, but typical of most African leaders Mamadou Tandja cared less about the consequences of his action and refused to shift grounds. ECOWAS reacted swiftly by suspending Niger from her fold.

Tandja rode on, crushing all oppositions and protesters who dared raise their voices against his illegal constitutional alteration. He held tenaciously unto the reins of power. He had managed the economy of the landlocked country without accountability. Niger happens to be one of the few countries in the world that are endowed with Uranium, a mineral useful for nuclear fuel/nuclear weapons. The mining of this natural endowment has not reflected positively on the lives of the citizenry.

However, the military junta struck, ceased power and took Mamadou Tandja hostage. Surprisingly, the people we thought should condemn the coup d’etat rose up in its support. Why did they do so? They felt it was better for the military to come and salvage the situation than for President Tandja to set a bad precedent for their nascent democracy.

Few days before the coup the ECOWAS newly elected chairman, the acting president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had declared that ECOWAS would have zero tolerance for coup in the Sub-region. Now that the ‘Khaki boys’ have taken over power in Niger will ECOWAS live to its threat or will it be forced to eat its words? How do they intend to rescue the democratic structures in that country? It looks like they may be compelled to tolerate the military junta and negotiate with them to conduct a credible election as soon as possible.

This situation would have been averted were it not for the greedinesss of the president. African leaders should learn to be up and doing so that the political instability and incessant coups in the continent would be a thing of the past, especially now that military regime is no longer a fashion in other parts of the world.

Is Africa Truly Jinxed? (Part 3)

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Africa may be jinxed if that is what we believe her problem is; but even if that is the true situation, we can still do some things to break this jinx as I am sure that the progressing countries of the world would have also remained in self pity if they had not done anything to help themselves

What should we do?
What are the things Africa can do to break this age-long jinx that has hung around her neck?
1. Good education: If we give our citizenry good and qualitative education, in no distant time they will catch up with the developed and the developing countries. Qualitative education is the bedrock for economic growth.
2. Honest leadership: our leaders should be ready to provide honest leadership to their people. Once the people learn to trust their leaders they will be willing to co-operate with and help implement whatever good policies they formulate.
3. Economic blueprint: African leaders should have an economic blueprint that should be pursued over a specific period of time to bring in the desired economic growth of the continent.
4. Exchange of ideas: We should be willing to exchange ideas with countries which have made it economically. We can bring in scientists from developed countries and pay them well to help teach ours the rudiments to scientific advancement. Multinational companies can even be lured with our oil moneys to come and help us set up factories and industries where we can produce quality products.
5. Tourism: Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt seem to be leading in this area that others have neglected. If countries like Malta and Switzerland that don’t have much natural resources can survive on tourism then we can as well.
6. Encouragement: Our scientists should be encouraged to invent. African leaders should be ready to help people get patent right for whatever they invent and also be willing to help them mass-produce those things. They can even give scholarship to such people to further their education and trainings overseas so that they can improve their skills, and when they are fully trained we should be willing to set policies that would make their products to be patronized by our people.
7. Make stealing unattractive: Our parliamentarians should enact laws that carry stiff penalties that would discourage stealing of public funds; and these laws should be well implemented. When this is done any one going into political office would go for the purpose of serving the people and not for stealing.
8. Discourage borrowing: No country would develop with a heavy debt burden hanging on her neck. I really wonder why a country like Nigeria with oil and lots of solid mineral deposits should be taking foreign loans. If borrowing is discouraged African countries would look inwards and develop their economies from what they have.
9. Infrastructural development: If we develop our basic infrastructures such as roads, school, markets, electricity, pie-borne water, etc it would go a long way to encourage our small and medium scale businesses to grow and also reduce brain drain.
10. Good condition of service: one way we can discourage brain drain is for us to pay our employees well and when this is done they will find it encouraging to stay and work in this part of the world. This would invariably help our economies to develop further.

Is Africa Truly Jinxed? (Part 2)

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Africa may be said to be truly jinxed because it happens to be the only continent that is not thinking of how to advance and improve the welfare of its citizenry. It is the continent with the highest number of undeveloped economies; the lowest percentage of literacy rate, the lowest standard of living and the lowest Gross Domestic Product.

We have lost virtually over 70% of our best professionals to developed countries and developing countries because they value professionals more than we do. A doctor, nurse or teacher in Africa earns about 1/8th of what his counterpart in the United States of America or United Kingdom earns. Apart from poor earnings our education has little or no value in the outside world and so we are poorly placed when it comes to competing in the international labour market. What is the effect? Africans migrate to countries with better educational standards, get educated there, after which they remain there to earn better salaries and enjoy better living standard. This is the only continent that values degrees and certificates obtained from other countries high above theirs and as a result we look for universities with big names that would create more electric effect when mention- Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Toronto, Manchester, Warsaw, Tokyo, etc; we even go to anywhere in as much as it is outside Africa to get educated and wouldn’t care whether such institutions are really recognized or not because we are sure that once we present the degrees in Africa we get fact jobs and enviable positions.

We are the only continent with high deposit of hydrocarbons or petroleum and yet live a beggarly life. While United Arab Emirates is building sky scrapers, best hotels in the world, international shopping centres and developing at the speed of light we are using our oil moneys to oppress our citizens, depositing stolen and looted funds in foreign bank accounts and using the rest to sponsor militants and thugs. How can we develop under these conditions?

Today our leaders fly to Saudi Arabia, Israel, USA, India, UK, France, etc for medical check-up and treatments but our hospitals are all in shambles and reserved for the poor masses who have no choice but go there are die or survive by the mercy of God. Our trained nurses and doctors have all taken their flight to developed countries where our rich men go to meet them for treatment when sick. While not develop our system and retain our best hands so we could reduce the money spent on getting medical treatment overseas?

If we say we are jinxed then who has jinxed us? And why are the other continents not jinxed? We should think about this and find a way forward from our current fallen state.

Federick Chiluba: Corruption Personified

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Frederick Chiluba was born on the 30th of April 1943 in Zambia and later rose to become the democratically elected president of the country in 1991 under the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, in a multiparty presidential election after being a trade union leader.
He succeeded President Kenneth Kaunda and got re-elected in 1996 after a successful first tenure in office, but failed a third tenure bid in 2001. His party rather preferred Levy Mwanawasa who contested on their platform and won the election.

The coming of Mwanawasa into power brought to fore the shoddy deals of President Frederick Chiluba while in office. He was investigated for corruption, arrested in 2003 and charged along with his former intelligence chief, Xavier Chungu, on 168 counts of theft totalling over $40m. His serving ministers and senior officials were also charged. His wife Regina was arrested for receiving stolen goods and for aiding her husband.

On the 4th of May 2007 Chiluba was found guilty of stealing $46m in a civil case by a United Kingdom court presided over by Peter Smith. The stolen money were said to have been transferred to a London bank by the Zambian intelligence service. Later on Mwanawasa recovered nearly $60m purportedly stolen by the man who was supposed to be a good ambassador of his country, who swore on oath to uphold the constitution of his country and do all he could to improve the lot of the Zambia people.

Chiluba was acquitted from the charges on 17th August 2009 after the death of Mwanawasa in 2008. The current President Rupiah Banda did not only ensure that Fred Chiluba was acquitted, he also refused to allow the state to appeal against the verdict of the court. It only reminded one of the usual practice in Africa where leaders cover the sins of one another to keep their subjects perpetually in darkness.

What legacy did Frederick Chiluba leave? He’s said to have initiated a great economic reform for his country and also played the role of a mediator in bringing to an end the protracted war in the Democratic republic of Congo, but all those achievements have been overtaken by the corruption charges pressed against him.

His friend Rupiah Banda was said to have been endorsed for presidency by Chiluba so as to help cover up his corrupt profile and guarantee his personal freedom. It’s truly a case of a corruption-prone leader coming to the timely aid of a corrupt friend to shield him from law and justice.

President Omar Al-Bashir and The International Criminal Court

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The name President Omar Al-Bashir rings bell in the minds of so many people especially those from Africa who have heard of the lingering crises in the Darfur region of Sudan. That there has been a long standing war in that region is no longer news but what is important now is that the world seems to be helpless about the whole situation (like it did during the ethnic crisis in Rwanda).
If I may ask, what is the actual function of the United Nations Organization and its various arms? Why do they seem to be making a hell of noise and doing only little whenever there are problems? If they know that national autonomy or sovereignty of countries is stronger than the U.N why don’t they disband and let everybody take care of his own problems? It is totally useless for the U.N to pass a resolution or place a sanction on a country and some of its member would go through the back door to help that country out.

President Omar Ahmad Al-Bashir is the president of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. His time in office as the president of Sudan has seen the country pass through what today is regarded as one of the longest running and deadliest war of the 21st century. He granted limited autonomy to the Southern Sudan in 2004 as a way of trying to stop the raging war in the region but ever since the crisis has worsened between the Janjaweed Militia and other rebel groups notably the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equity Movement (JEM) resulting in a death toll of between 200,000 and 400,000, with about 2.5 million people displaced.

President Omar Al-Bashir was later fingered by the International Criminal Court as the brain behind the wanton killings in the region in 2008 and the prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo issued a warrant of arrest against the president on the 4th of March 2009 on account of Genocide and crimes against humanity thereby making him the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC. However, instead of receiving condemnation for his activities in Darfur President Omar Al-Bashir is being supported by The African Union led by Muammar al-Gaddafi, and the Arab league.

I am not in any way surprised that he is backed by these leaders who think that the action of the ICC was unreasonable and amounted to terrorism against the Sudanese people. Since majority of the African leaders are dictators who do not care about what happens to their citizenry, the natural thing for them to do is quickly rally round him as a way of ensuring same support for themselves should there be any threat to their position in the future. Now the question is who is terrorizing the people, is it the ICC that wants justice done or Omar Al-Bashir who is directly linked to the crisis? The president had since received invitations to visit Egypt, Uganda, Nigeria, Turkey and Denmark thereby making the warrant issued by the ICC null and void.

I wish to reiterate here that if the International Criminal Court cannot prosecute anybody/country there is no need for it to keep existing and lot of money is allocated to fund it. The best thing therefore would be for it to quietly pack up and leave countries to solve their problems their own way.