A Ghanaian Expat’s view of the
latest Burkina Coup; and the Role of the AU/ECOWAS
I have lived in
Burkina Faso for the past 10 months. Needless to say I am disappointed but not
surprised for various reasons at the recent turn of events. One of which is
that when Heads of States and their goons get used to seeing a country as their
personal ATM and when three quarters of all buildings in the country, gas
supplies, hotels and businesses belong to the president, his brother, wife and
goons it is kinda hard to simply let go of of your personal investments like
that. (You know what they say about coming between a man and his money.)
Secondly
the transition process could have been better supported by the AU, ECOWAS
(actually other african countries and bodies). I refrain to use the
international community because they are not responsible for africa. ( We are
happy to claim neo colonialism when it suits us and in the same vein decry
their absence when it is time to clean up our mess so i don't go there
anymore.)
ECOWAS
refuses to be bold about capping presidential terms to a maximum of 2. Long
standing oligarchies are a major part of the reason why people refuse to leave
power till they croak and until that is tackled we will continue in this trend.
It is because of this similar mindset and outcomes that i am still frozen
shocked as to how africans and even civil society advocates fail to see that
amending the constitution for Paul Kagame to run a 3rd term is bufoonery in the
highest of orders and setting precedents that we will live to regret. However
to be fair to them hindsight has never been our forte.
Given
the problems that Africa has i have always found the mandate of AU and ECOWAS
at tangential proportions to the real causes which is why to me the AU
especially is now an official white elephant. I actually wrote about the AU
being a white elephant at the age of 12 as part of an essay competition by the
Non -Aligned Movement. I am 36 now so that is a heck of a long time to stay
white and to be an elephant smile emoticon. We do not need any
institution that cannot make bold decisions nor enforce anything at this stage
in our history. The path to victory calls for a revolution nothing less.
Africa's
number one problem continues to be that the very leaders and institutions she
has mandated to lead her to independence are cowards and half baked bureaucrats
themselves who will do anything to avoid conflict or hard issues. It is a job,
a salary and a let me do my minimum best in order not to rock the boat.
No boat ever served its purpose by staying in the harbour( but maybe that is another subject for another time).
I am currently not in Burkina as i have been on leave. My staff tell me they are safe but the situation is precarious.
No boat ever served its purpose by staying in the harbour( but maybe that is another subject for another time).
I am currently not in Burkina as i have been on leave. My staff tell me they are safe but the situation is precarious.
Let
us not spit out platitudes and eulogies this time. Instead we should roll up
our sleeves, stand up and be counted in laying the ax at the root of the
problem to stem the incessant hemorrhaging of our nations which always always
end up costing the lives of our people.
I continue to weep......
I continue to weep......
This was posted on her Facebook
page. Used with permission
No comments:
Post a Comment