The Curse of the African Leadership

By Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo
The greatest lesson in the history of African leadership is that African leaders have learned nothing from the history of the African leadership. If it were not so, it should come as a death wish for any right thinking person to even try to become an African leader. That work is too dangerous; it brings certain death, exile, ostracism or eternal hatred and humiliation. It is a job for those who have sworn a cabalistic oath to part company with their peace or piece of mind and to live like pariahs among the mass of humanity at the sunset of their lives.
Let’s begin with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. He came to power by overthrowing the monarchy of King Idris in 1969. For over forty odd years, he was an absolute ruler who led his people as he chose. He even declared himself the King of Africa much to the applause of swindlers who took his money and walked away. But when his time came, his people rose against him, and he ended up in a sewage pipe, from whence he was drawn by a shrieking mob and lynched. The trappings of his power gone, he lay half-naked in an icy warehouse, a common spectacle for curious crowds who lined up to gloat over his corpse. His sons were also hunted and hounded and shot like rabbits.
Samuel Doe became president after a bloody coup in which he lined up the old Liberian leadership and executed them en masse and buried them in a mass grave. When his time came, he was stripped naked and cut into pieces bit by bit until he died a horrendous death. To this day, the voice of one of his accusers still rings in my head:
“Where is the Liberian money you stole?”
Charles Taylor fought the war that toppled Doe and resigned when the going got tough. He sought exile in Nigeria but was handed over to the international court where he was given some sort of trial and jailed.
In Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko became president after staging a coup that killed his close friend Patrice Lumumba. He ruled for over three decades and was rumored to have stashed billions of his country’s money in foreign accounts. In the end, he was overthrown and died soon thereafter in exile, despised by the world and reviled by his people. His successor and arch nemesis, Kabila was also shot and killed under mysterious circumstances soon after taking power.
In nearby Ivory Coast, Gbagbo clung to power after losing elections until he was captured and stripped and humiliated. Not even his wife was spared. As we speak, he is still awaiting trial in the Hague.
In Nigeria, Sani Abacha became head of state after taking advantage of the confusion surrounding the election of Abiola to stage a coup. After killing his political enemies and misbehaving as much as he wanted, his reign was cut short after he suddenly died under mysterious circumstances, probably poisoned by his own cronies. There was too much satisfaction over his timely demise for anybody to conduct an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death.
Within the Ghanaian leadership history itself, we have three former heads of states who were summarily executed after some sort of kangaroo trial. Two of these had retired and were residing peacefully in their villages when they were brought out and killed. The other one was preparing to hand over power to civilian rule when he faced the firing squad. Kwame Nkrumah, the so-called founder of the nation died in exile, deserted by his family and cronies. In all these instances, the mass of our people were in jubilation over their overthrow and death or exile.
So in Africa, once you ascend to the position of head of state, your life is toast, and it doesn’t matter what you do right or wrong. When the right time comes, you will either be killed or jailed or exiled, while your prior supporters dance over your grave or gloat over your misfortune.
But how can we blame the people when we have characters like Blaise Compaore ruling a country for twenty-seven odd years. That man was friends with Thomas Sankara who ruled Burkina Faso for four years between 1983 and 1987. Thomas Sankara is probably the most charismatic leader in Burkinabe history, but his right hand man and lifetime friend, Compaore, together with his men, captured him and cut him into pieces and buried him in an unmarked grave. My Burkinabe friends tell me that during his reign, many critics of Campaore’s government died under very mysterious circumstances. Fortunately for Compaore, when his time came, he was hurriedly shuttled to Ivory Coast where he has been heartily welcomed by his friend President Ouattara. But in the end, he will be handed over to face trial and do his time in Hague because of the terrible things he did as head of state.
Now, Compaore is not the only odious character to ascend to the presidency in Africa. In fact on balance, all the aforementioned characters that met their odious fate were themselves odious in character. They were young and flamboyant leaders who were prone to perpetuate their rule, betray close friends that helped them to the pedestal of power, kill others without compunction, engage in massive corruption or play god over the abject misery of their own people. One could therefore say that they themselves courted the dark fate that befell them because of their own evil ways.
Be it as it may, you can rightly line up all those African leaders both past and present and future, and ask them why they wanted or want to be president given the certain fate awaiting them. Because death, exile, ostracism or eternal hatred and humiliation appear to be their lot no matter what they do right or wrong. They can choose to hang on to power until they are decapitated. They can choose to abandon power until they are given up for mock trial and executed. They can be as popular as they like until the day of their exposure to ridicule, humiliation and calumny and exile……..
But the desire to rule is a psychotic disposition which remains with humans no matter what. That is why in Burkina Faso today, a soldier named Zida has virtually seized power despite the terrible fate of his predecessors. He has promised to hand over power all right, but believe me, he will not, and even if he does, we will not be hearing the last of him: the man is coming back! So the Ecowas leadership can recognize his de facto leadership and resign itself to the fact that he will eventually organize some sort of election after the transitional period and hand over power to himself. Fate will then decide what becomes of him later……
My point is that whoever is called upon to lead an African nation has signed his own death warrant with his peace and security. He has become like a scapegoat released into the wilderness to atone for the people’s rage at an appointed time, and no matter what he does or fails to do, he is doomed. In the parlance of classical tragedy, African leaders are bound to their dark destinies as Sophocles’s Oedipus, and they tread the path of their own demise as in Wole Soyinka’s “Death of the King’s Horseman.” Because for a little time, they will relish in the praise singer’s grace until they are whisked by the hand of fate and destroyed or disgraced.
But, there is only one small hope for the African leader: to rule with wisdom and justice, and to do the most good for the most people at the most time, and to hand over power at the very first opportunity. This is because Muammar Gaddafi, Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor, Blaise Compaore, Mobutu Sese Seko and Sani Abacha all failed to apply the fundamental sagacity of the African leadership phenomenon: they were too young and inexperienced upon coming to power and too drunk with power to let it go once they had it. Besides, they failed to dispense justice and good governance, or were patently corrupt. They were therefore too oblivious of the undercurrents of the people’s disaffection and discontent and overstayed their welcome.
In the end, what will be will be, and if you are an African leader, you could be drawn from your retirement and shot for the simple sin of being an African leader; but if you are lucky, you could also end up like Nelson Mandela who was a master of political timing and sagacity: do your very best and leave the scene when you are most likely to be sorely missed.

Samuel Adjei Sarfo, Doctor of Jurisprudence, is a general legal practitioner in Austin, Texas, USA. This article first appeared in his New Statesman column “Thoughts of a Native Son”. You can email him at [email protected]