Absolute power corrupts

They could start out okay, but by the time they reach that level they’ve sold their soul to the devil so many times and stomped the guts out of enough people that they are definitely not like you and me, not even close.”

Could then this be true of some African leaders who started off well, but with time have turned out as the worst dictators of all time? Consider those revolutionary leaders who became messiahs of their days and freed their people from oppression only for them to turn into tyrants and enslave the very people who voted them into power. An example  of these include Charles Taylor, the 22nd President of Liberia, who was tried and found guilty by the International Court of Justice for charges ranging from terror to enlisting of children below the age of 15 into armed forces and using them to carry out despicable crimes.

Paul Biya of Cameroon who rules with an authoritarian fist and has been ranked among the World’s Worst Living Dictators. Then there is General Sani Abacha who ruled Nigeria with impunity and has been considered as the most vicious dictator Nigeria has ever seen. Sekou Toure of Guinea who declared a one party state in Guinea and had some death camps set up where his opponents were butchered. Along side these worst dictators we have our very own Head of State and Government and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and Chancellor of Zimbabwe’s dozen-plus state universities, President Robert Mugabe whose North Korean-trained 5th Brigade massacred 20,000 defenceless men, women and children and has called this a ‘moment of madness’ yet he continues killing opposition supporters as well as human right activists, so one would wonder if the ‘moment of madness’ was a once off thing, or it’s a life time condition.

The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership has the largest prize of an initial US$5 million then $200,000 annual payments for life which is given to former Executive Heads of State or Government who have demonstrated to be exceptional leaders and role models and have developed their countries, whilst lifting their people out of poverty.  Former Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba who served his constitutionally mandated term was announced as the winner of 2014 and in receiving the award said “the commitment of the Namibian people to uphold democracy and the rule of law made the modest achievements that were recorded during his time as president possible”.

So while at one end of the spectrum we have the worst dictators of all time, the same continent boasts of exceptional African leaders, the likes of Joaquim Chissano, Nelson Mandela, Festus Mogae and Pedro Prese, all of which are laureates  of the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement. Unfortunately, as rightly stated by Edward Abbey “Our institutions are too big; they represent not the best but the worst characteristics of human beings. By submitting to huge hierarchies of power, we gain freedom from personal responsibility for what we do and are forced to do – the seduction of it – but we lose the dignity of being real men and women. Power corrupts; attracts the worst and corrupts the best.”

So when in 1980 we were given our independence by the British we pumped our fists in the air in celebration while members of the Zanu PF Women’s League wearing President Mugabe’s face on their bosoms and bottom danced and ululated to the impressive revolutionary leader Robert Mugabe who had rescued us from the white minority rule.  When Mugabe was sworn into office in 1980, President Nyerere of Tanzania gave the enthusiastic new leader some advice, ‘You have inherited a jewel. Keep it that way.’ Even the late Ian Smith himself is reportedly to have said Mugabe is not ‘the apostle of Satan’ but ‘sober and responsible’.

So whatever might have happened exactly to turn the progressive guerrilla leader who during his first ten years of his tenure was almost flawless to be so power-obsessed, resulting in him over the years doing anything and everything to acquire and retain absolute power. Mugabe’s antics have ranged from vote-rigging, voter intimidation including  extensive and malicious crackdowns against the opposition through the police, army and intelligence services.  Mugabe also as a way of consolidating his power has increased his cabinet to nearly unsustainable levels, through appointments of his cronies both in the cabinet and administrative postings. His supporters think he is so invincible and so irresplaceable, even the First Lady Grace Mugabe in a rally recently said that Mugabe is going to be 100 years in power and even when he is too old they will be pushing his wheelchair to rallies.

So one would wonder really if with Mugabe if it is an issue of a good leader who turned bad or was it a matter of a leader who has always been bad seeing the Gukurahundi atrocities were committed barely 24 months of him getting into power. Douglas Noel Adams a British writer once said “Humans beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” So no matter what incentive that might be thrown at some worst leaders, they simply will never change because all they want is absolute power. Even if they were surrounded by good model leaders they simply will never change because of their hunger for power and even more power. In the case of our President unfortunately it has been compounded by an even much more power hungry First Lady.