Tendai Ruben Mbofana
This afternoon, as I was relaxing and pondering life, a memory returned to my mind.
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About three months ago, I was in Accra, Ghana, attending the Africa Liberty Forum organized by the Atlas Network think tank.
One of the speakers at the conference was leading Ghanaian lawyer and strategy analyst Kofi Bentil, whose presentation left us all on the edge of our seats.
The topic of his discussion was whether democracy and human rights were concepts imposed on us by colonial powers.
His presentation sought to dispel a erroneous notion, which is usually peddled by corrupt, autocratic African leaders who govern with an iron hand and refuse to relinquish power.
However, Bentil presented a starkly different reality, showing that respect for human rights and good governance were always central to traditional African societies.
History shows that African traditions never intended absolute power to become a permanent personal inheritance.
Across our continent, traditional leadership was not an open license to pillage the land or treat citizens like disposable subjects.
Systems existed to check greed.
When a ruler forgot his sacred duty, the community possessed clear mechanisms to remove him.
In the ancient Oyo Empire, the traditional council of chiefs known as the Oyo Mesi stood as a powerful guard against tyranny.
A king, known as the Alaafin, held immense authority.
However, his power was never absolute.
He ruled at the pleasure of his council and his people.
If an Alaafin became drunk on power, plundered public wealth, or acted like a law unto himself, the chiefs took decisive action.
They did not wait for the ruler to destroy the entire kingdom.
The council leader would present the tyrannical king with a covered calabash containing parrot eggs or a lethal potion.
The message was unmistakable.
The gods have rejected you.
The earth has rejected you.
The people have rejected you.
Custom left the disgraced monarch with only one honorable option.
He had to drink the poison or end his own life.
His closest allies and noble chiefs handed him the cup.
They recognized that the survival of the nation was far more important than the ego of one greedy man.
Other traditional societies across Africa held similar deep wisdom.
Divine kings were bound by strict moral expectations.
If a leader brought famine, misery, or destruction through bad governance, his reign was over.
A ruler who became physically or morally unfit could not remain on the throne.
The leaders of the community would quietly step in.
They made sure the ruler drank the bitter draught of accountability.
Today, we are told that modern governance is superior to our ancestral heritage.
We are told we have constitutions, elections, and democratic institutions to keep rulers in check.
Yet, we watch in dismay as modern leaders loot national treasures with impunity.
They cling to power until their dying breath.
They treat state resources as personal inheritance while ordinary people starve.
These modern rulers love to invoke African culture when it serves their interests.
They demand unquestioning loyalty.
They claim that criticizing a leader is un-African.
They hide behind traditional respect to shield their corrupt regimes from scrutiny.
They selectively forget the most vital part of our history.
True African tradition never tolerated shameless greed or iron-fisted oppression.
Our ancestors understood that an unaccountable leader is a curse upon the land.
They knew that when a ruler loses his moral authority, he must be removed for the survival of the collective.
Imagine if our modern political elite remembered this sacred heritage.
What if those closest to the seat of power found the courage of the ancient chiefs?
What if the advisors, ministers, and inner circles who witness daily looting decided they had seen enough?
Instead of defending squalor and praise-singing tyranny, imagine them walking into the presidential palace with a metaphorical calabash.
Imagine them presenting the current ruler with a clear, uncompromising message.
You have failed the nation.
The people have rejected your corruption.
It is time to drink the bitter cup of political retirement and step aside.
The crisis of modern governance is not a lack of constitutional mechanisms.
It is a lack of conscience among those who surround power.
The ancient chiefs understood that loyalty to the sovereign ends where betrayal of the people begins.
They refused to let one man sink the entire ship of state.
Perhaps it is time to look back at our history and rediscover that forgotten courage.
A nation cannot thrive when its leaders rule without fear of consequences.
The calabash of accountability must be restored.
Power belongs to the people, and history remains an unyielding judge.
- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com