Quiet Observations

by Keniwuru Merutepiaou

It has been a few interesting weeks, just gone by regarding world affairs. We just witnessed the death of a pope, Pope Francis. Within the same period of time, we saw yet another rise to prominence of an African leader from West Africa, Captain Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. At the same time, Donald Trump continues with his shenanigans that continue to cause global economic disruption. The Chinese are coming out to expose unfair American capitalism and how the top brands in America are simply overpriced luxuries that offer nothing special apart from the name.  Most of those products are produced mostly from China’s giant manufacturing industry. We also continue to witness Israel execute Palestinians under the stewardship of the United States. 

Back home in Uganda, we are witnessing the brutality and emboldening of a 40-year dictatorial regime, at the top of which is an 80-year-old man who installed his son to helm the country’s army. Unhinged, the regime continues to crack down on the opposition, abducting people. Some people even end up losing their lives. To the people in Uganda, this is exposing the hypocrisy of the West when you compare our situation to the Burkinabes and why the West is coming after their truly loved and popular leader, and not sanctioning those behind Uganda’s dictatorship.  

Let’s start with the death of a pope. Pope Francis recently transitioned, and we saw a lot of good things being spoken about him. Some among those were how he was a reformist who also tried to clean up the catholic church. After many years, he brought to light some corrupt Vatican officials, reigned in on the male child molestation, which has been and continues to be a big problem in the Christian church generally. I always wondered why it became necessary to forbid their priests from marrying and at the same time expect married couples to go to them for counseling when they got into marital problems! It never made sense. Anyhow, the pope died, and the burial rituals proceeded. Obituaries were made, and a lot was told about his earlier life and how he was actually a club bouncer at a certain point in time. However, some things stood out to me in all this. First, a certain clip that showed a black man being denied access to view the body of the pope while other Caucasians were granted this access. It saddened me how blacks are still clearly seen as subhuman even at that level of Christendom, yet they continue to pay allegiance to it. Another clip showed congregated cardinals, and as one senior was greeting the rest in line, he hugged all of them. Only when he reached the black cardinal did he offer only his hand for a handshake. Clearly, he showed he did not hold the black cardinal with the same esteem as the other white cardinals. All of this shows the racism that still exists even in the highest positions of the Vatican institution. But here in Africa, devotees still pay the weekly tithe that contributes to the survival of the same institution. In Europe, meanwhile, the church is already on its collapse. This is an absurd irony. 

Away from that, the focus has also been on Captain Ibrahim Traore, the rising star of Africa. This young leader of Burkina Faso is showing the world that Africa has all it takes to rise if only the leaders have their heads in the right place. At thirty-six years old and only having led his country for just 2 years now, his reforms are already changing the lives of many Burkinabes. His popularity is skyrocketing within his country and beyond. He has expelled the French from his country and reinvested the proceeds of whatever minerals were being mined in his country towards developing his people. This, however, has rubbed off badly on Western powers. The French and Americans instead see him as a threat to their imperialist interests. They see a man who cannot be controlled, and therefore, he stands in the way of them continuing their neo-colonialist agenda in Africa. We saw United States’ General Langley come out to give false statements, labelling Traore as corrupt and using the country’s gold to serve himself alone. All entirely false claims. Of course, this lie didn’t work this time. Such utterances have been made in the past when the West wanted to eliminate an African leader, Gaddafi of Libya, being the perfect example. The claims, however, stirred up interest, and we witnessed Africans all over the world rise up in protest against General Langley’s remarks and also saw an increased support for Traore, not only in Africa but globally, from the Far East to the Americas. We are seeing slogans such as: Hands Off Traore, Hands Off Burkina Faso, Hands Off Africa, etcetera. There is renewed global interest in decolonization, and we can see that all of this is rooted in the excellence of leadership being exhibited by this young Burkinabe leader. 

Juxtapose what is happening in Burkina Faso with what we are experiencing here in Uganda, living under a proper dictatorship whose leadership leans towards autocracy. Recently, he made a speech in which he said that he considers himself a modern king. Some of his family and friends currently head most of the sensitive institutions in the country. Also, he has installed his son to head the country’s military. This is a man who was fast-tracked through the ranks seemingly unfairly, which sidelined other well-deserving active servicemen. With little on-the-ground combat experience, this man has been granted too much power with little to no restraints. He currently oversees the abduction and reported torture of opposition-leaning citizens using the military. The courts of law are silent because the president happens to be this army general’s father and is at the same time the same person who appoints judges. The same president appoints the people at the head of the Uganda Human Rights Commission. The same president chairs the political party with the biggest number of parliamentarians in the house. All this leaves Ugandans in a position where they no longer have anywhere to run to for justice, as violent acts continue to be committed against them. Even when it comes to the elections, it is the same president who appoints the commission that heads the election process, so even voting him out is nearly impossible. Elections have been disputed or sometimes outright stolen since the year 2011, and today the process is only a ritual used to legitimize his illegitimacy in power. What Ugandans have been asking themselves recently is, why can’t the United States’ General Langley call out such bad leadership as is the case in Uganda, but then goes ahead to call out good leaders like Traore? We are exposed to the reality that it is in the best interest of the West to have bad leaders rule in Africa. Better put, the West prefers Africa to be poorly governed. 

While that goes on, we also continue to see Trump spiral out of control with his leadership, which is causing economic distress at home and away. By imposing heavy tariffs on trade partners, he seemed not to realise that those would affect him too. This has headed into a kind of economic war with China, which happens to be the biggest manufacturing economy in the world. That being the case, many of the products consumed in the West come from China. In trying to fight China with exorbitant tariffs, Trump did not realise that all China needed to do was expose the reality that, in fact, much of what is considered American or European products are actually produced in China and later branded in the West. At the same time, America only contributes about 15% of what the Chinese export. Meaning 85% of Chinese exports go to the rest of the world. This alone shows that China doesn’t lose as much from the trade war as America does. American exports to the rest of the world are dwarfed when compared to what China exports to the world. Meanwhile, Trump continues to chest thump, yet the American economy continues to crush. His policies have also reduced the amount of aid sent to Africa. Fortunately, we are seeing this as a blessing in disguise because this will eventually reduce African dependency on foreign aid. It will make us more frugal and focused in the way we use the little funds we generate. We are also coming to the reality that Africa is not poor. We just need to use what we have in the right way in terms of natural resources. It has always been my understanding that Africa is not poor. Only the mindset of many has been programmed into poverty. Take the example of the educated ones who, instead of working to improve the lives of the majority, will rather work towards self-gain. This opens the doors for state corruption and the plunder of resources because that mind already accepts that it is poor and therefore needs to grab whatever it can by any means possible. So, you see, it is not the case that Africa is poor. It is the African mindset that has been programmed to believe it is poor. 

I continue to see the continuation of war. Israel is pounding Gaza and, by all means, perpetrating a genocide against the Palestinians. Putin and his Russia continue to fight in Ukraine in a war that could have very well been avoided if NATO hadn’t chosen to expand into territory that had been agreed upon as a no-go zone. It becomes even more evident that war everywhere is simply instigated by certain elites that run what we now know to call the military-industrial complex.  War for them is simply a business, a profit motive. It is simply another arena for them to make money. Yet the same intelligence that builds tools of destruction can very well be the same intelligence the world can use for preservation, harmony, and balance. Heru-Seth again, a principle that never ends its eternal manifestation. This is the world today, and as it has always been.  As we approach World Renewal Day, my eyes stay open to what is unfolding in the material. But more importantly, I continue to prepare for whatever will be happening in the non-material during this period.