Ghanaian professor and philosopher John Ayittey has a colourful set of descriptors he regularly uses to describe African heads of state who run their countries like personal fiefdoms. “Coconuts!” he calls them, referring to the vast difference between what they present outside and what they are inside. “Quack saviours!” “Swiss bank account revolutionaries!” Typically, the audience reacts with some laughter to his impassioned description, but he himself is never amused.
A glance at the audience goes some way to explaining why. Typically, if there are 100 people in the audience, 65 of them are European and American citizens from the academic, governance and civil society space. 15 of them will be diaspora Africans who agree with his pro-market, pro-democracy viewpoints but refuse to publicly cosign him. 10 of them are foreign diplomats. Of the remaining 10, 5 of them are “Pan Africanist” African diasporans who have not visited Africa in decades, and just 5 are the actual target audience – Africans living in Africa who have any sort of voice and influence on ground back home.
Ayittey’s real pet peeve is that regardless of how manifestly true his words are; regardless of how impassioned his delivery is, it never seems to make any difference here in Africa where it matters. These conversations which he has been leading since the 1980s, are still complete novelties to an indeterminately large proportion of the continent’s population. The idea that a dictator is a bad thing is simply not a mainstream one in these parts – despite the abundance of lived dictatorial experience.
Despite our history, there still persists a popular Nigerian and African desire for the mythical “iron-hand” who pulls a country into the path of greatness using brute force, but is morally strong enough to resist the urge to abuse that power. As many like myself have consistently argued using data and logic, this person is nonexistent. Whether he or she is projected through the myth of Kagame or that of Sankara, or Nkrumah, Gaddafi, and so on, the reality will keep on falling short.
Read also: Exporters explore sea option to reach West, Central African market
This however, is only half of the story. The other (and more significant) half of the story is that the desire to be led by this Unicorn leader is now being successfully weaponised by demagogues and unscrupulous politicians to get the most unsuitable people into power.
Don’t Ask Questions: Leader Knows Best
Back in 2015, when it was still fashionable to walk around wearing t-shirts emblazoned with cheesy messages in favour of our friendly neighbourhood retired Major General who was then contesting for the presidency, the question “What plans does this guy have and how does he intend to carry them out?” somehow managed to skip everybody’s mind. He was the chosen one – the great, kind-hearted but firm benevolent dictator who would look Nigeria’s problems in the eye and say “You and me – outside!” while rolling up his jalabiya sleeves.
At what point exactly, do we call B.S. on the entire “good-hearted African strongman” project and shut it down finally? Are we not tired of failing heroically yet?
Of course by now we all know how that particular set of decisions turned out, so there is no point flogging a dead horse. The purpose of this article is not to say “I told you so,” because I have already done that many, many times elsewhere. The point is that the little rigmarole we took part in back then was not unique to us. In the world of 2020, whenever a politician or a political consortium are looking for how to seize power so as to carry out an agenda that would normally be wildly unpopular, their modus operandi is to hoodwink the people by bringing in someone with an affected presence of sainthood. This makes people bypass their normal critical reasoning and questioning ability, and helps them fall in line as good little sheep, which helps the agenda.
If there had been a critical mass of people who had thought to hit the brakes on the newfound love-in for a politician whom Nigeria had never traditionally loved at all, the many special interest groups and narrow ideas that now make up the current presidential agenda of Nigeria may never have got into power. Now that they are there, getting them out is about as easy as using a knife to scrape something off your eye.
Benevolent Dictatorship is Like a Soft Diamond – It Doesn’t Exist
As we now know, it is entirely possible for people with a malign agenda to present themselves as heroes and messiahs who want to help us solve our problems, only to get into office and transform into people who are constantly “unaware” or who strongly believe that able bodies men should busy themselves with farm work, and women should busy themselves in ‘the other room.’
The problem is, while we might have learned that lesson with regard to Nigeria, I fear the wider African narrative still suffers from the same basic set of misconceptions. When John Magufuli came into office in Tanzania breathing fire and sulphur, Africans came out cheering across the continent. “Give the corrupt people hell sir! Don’t let them rest!” He’s less popular now, but the adulation moved on from him to Mr. Kagame nearby, then to Abiy Ahmed, and on and on in a never-ending quest to find out which one of Africa’s Next Big Political Messiah Persons would not turn out to be leprechaun gold.
(Spoiler alert – they are all disappointments without exception.)
If you aren’t, I certainly am.
