Africa Mymotherland XIX

By A. Abeku Haywood-Dadzie

"Cry, beloved country, for the unborn child who is the inheritor of our fear," wrote Alan Paton in his novel "Cry, beloved country." ….

We are all in the news once more! We're back in the news for all the wrong reasons, and I'm sure you're wondering what went wrong in the Motherland. If you're surprised, I'm surprised at you. If you're wondering why, I'd say, "Why not?"

The power grab in Burkina Faso, which came on the heels of a military topple of the Guinean president and the ousting of the head of state of neighbouring Mali, should not be a surprise to us. To paraphrase the words of Bob Marley, "Until the philosophy that makes our leaders feel superior and us inferior is finally and permanently, discredited and abandoned, the "Motherland" will know no peace.

This is evident in the fact that the Motherland, in just over a year, has experienced three successful coups. Power grabs and unconstitutional military takeovers seem to be gradually returning to "Mymotherland".

"MyMotherland" cistern is broken. "This cistern didn’t break after holding water for a while.?It never held any water!?It was broken from the day it was built", and though what is "broken" can be mended, "Mymotherland" never birth leaders with the love of the Motherland to mend the broken cistern. Ironically, the hypocrisy of the leaders on the motherland is rather manifested in the subjugation of "Mypeople."

So, to borrow the rallying cry of Mozambique's FRELIMO movement, "A luta continua" (the struggle continues). We continue to be trapped in a vicious cycle; one in which democratic regimes become synonymous with corruption, constitutional coups and judicial reviews, creating an atmosphere for the military on the MyMotherland to continuously overthrow these democratic regimes with the aim of curbing their sins i.e. corruption. Unfortunately, these military regimes with time, becomes often more corrupt than their democratic elected counterpart: they are not able to eradicate or curb the corruption for which they seize power; they are corrupted by the same absolute power which motivated them to overthrow the democratic regimes, so the anti-corruption rhetoric continues, military adventurism becomes a norm and history continues to repeat itself.

So, if you're still surprised by the challenge to the motherland, know that "this is not the end." It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Winston Churchill".

Cry, my beloved continent