The world’s democracies were built on the abuse of power, so why should Africa be any different?
In the light of the present debate on the Protection of Information Bill and the media tribunal, it is important to remember that liberal ideas have not always appealed to Africans — especially their politicians. Only time will cure them of this prejudice.
It is also important to remember that those who wage war against oppressors of one type or another insist on first destroying and then, from destruction, building up again. A question that is never asked is whether the new South Africa can be built without destroying the old South Africa — physically, mentally, philosophically and metaphorically? In fact, the miracle of which we are so proud is based on the fact that the old order has been allowed to survive virtually intact.
But there are two more important considerations to keep in mind as we continue this debate. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana, campaigned for independence from Britain by stating that it was better for Africans to rule themselves badly than for them to be ruled well by foreigners. The issue is: for how long would Africans endure being ruled badly by their own people?
One remembers the experience of the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Eric Williams, after two or three terms of his premiership following independence. The opposition banged on about the corruption, the incompetence and the pomposity of his ruling party. And what was the response of the people? We like it so.
There is another classic statement from Nkrumah. He counselled the oppressed to seek first the political kingdom, after which all other things would be added unto them. This statement makes it clear that Africans, in spite of what their liberal supporters against colonialism, imperialism and racial oppression might think, did not fight for liberation to remain poor.
After all, and I have pointed this out before, Britain, Europe and the United States did not become rich collectively and individually under the bright lights of liberalism and democracy.
They did not enslave Africans democratically and they did not exploit the labour of the weak democratically. Can Africans make it collectively and individually without enslaving others, without exploiting others? Without enslaving some of their population, like China did, like India is doing?
Let me throw in the language issue as a bonus. The way in which African languages do leadership speak is different from the way English or French do leadership speak.
In Zambia, president Hastings Kamuzu Banda banned the use of the word “president” by any other individual or entity in the country. And did I read somewhere the other day that the salutation “Bayete” is restricted exclusively for the use of the South African royalty?
I speak of these matters purely as necessary background to the discussion of the Protection of Information Bill and the media tribunal. I ask why we expect our revolutionaries not to betray the revolution. It is in the nature of the revolutionary to betray the revolution. It is the reason that made Leon Trotsky advocate total continuous revolution, an impractical situation.
I ask why we expect socialism to live up to its ideal when it has done nothing of the sort anywhere else in the world. I ask why we expect our capitalists to be thinner than the capitalists of Europe and the United States. I want to know why our politicians in power should not seek the power to stay in power for ever. That is the nature of the politician in power.
At the same time, we as ordinary citizens must also behave in the nature of intelligent citizens in a liberal democracy. It means that we need to know that the government needs our silence to take the power to stay in power.
We need to realise that we give them the power to rule, but they are more interested in taking the power that gives them the power for ever — until Jesus Christ comes back. We must not give them our silence. That is the nature of citizenship in a 21st-century liberal democracy.
I remember reading of an exchange between a slave owner and a newly purchased slave:
Slave owner: O Slave, I have purchased thee!
Slave: That is your business.
Slave owner: Will you run away?
Slave: That is my business!
While I recognise the business of the politician, I call on all of us citizens to also know what our business is. It is to refuse to give the government our silence.
It is to fight the government from hiding information and persecuting those who tried to make it available to us.
Kole Omotoso is an author and academic