“Do you know Aleppo?” Garry Johnson who was vying for presidential nomination under the Libertarian party was asked during NBC’s “Morning Joe” and he exposed his ignorance by responding something like, “Who is Aleppo?” Suddenly, major television networks overplayed the footage as a pun to mock a man who harboured ambitions of leading the most powerful nation on earth. But behind this seemingly obvious ignorance displayed by someone of that stature ÔÇô therein lies the truth that the refugee status is not enviable and those leaders causing fellow citizens to flee persecution are oppressors. “If you oppress the poor, you insult the God that created them,” (Proverbs 14:31) states emphatically.
But the truth about oppressors is that they would have not attained the notoriety if the people being led did not allow it to take root by bowing down each time they coughed and sneezed. The inner circle in the corridors of power, who often suffer from inferiority complex identify an individual whom they believe carries charisma that charms everyone. This person must be “larger than life” in their assessment; a demi-god to be worshipped without question. Because they are hungry to loot from the public coffers, the cowards massage the egotistical inclinations of a leader by propping up his attitude that he is the most indispensable treasure that God created after his begotten son. When such a leader responds to the already laid out carpet for his footsteps, often it is with the notion that his life is in extreme danger from the majority who despise him. The response is often that the leader builds an impenetrable security apparatus, whose objectives are clear: instil as much fear in the nation as possible to the point where even family members cannot trust one another to express dissenting voices over a national priority that might be political.
Rogue leaders don’t always want political power. The cowards who exude no confidence and certainly are without any charisma to lead, but want to build their wealth around the figurehead whom they collectively agree is the right man for the job. Hence in most cases, errant leaders who end up oppressing the masses started off as heroes and role models who moderated their steps in the enhancement of democracy or whatever system of governance. But it is not just a clich├® that ÔÇô “absolute power corrupts, absolutely!” Oppressors are pawns in a political ‘chess’ game where the weaker politicians wish to have their capitalist interests safeguarded. It all begins with insatiable appetite to plunder the resources and concentrate it in as few hands as possible, thus stain the hands of the ultimate leader in the looting. When they know such a powerful individual shares in the spoils, they are assured that he would not beat them into shape.
No nation on earth can lay claim to be inherently violent and anti-peace. Every nation that has gained the reputation to be authoritarian would have started off being governed properly. Authoritarianism can plunge a nation that has known no violence into a crisis overnight. All it takes is for the inner circle to set sight on self-enrichment at the expense of the masses, and by however crooked means at their disposal. Corruption breeds destruction. Corruption maims the innocent. Corruption silences the masses.
At every opportunity, the corrupt inner circle would instigate fear by dropping the name of the regime leader. He would be the scarecrow for doing evil. Meanwhile, the poor leader would have no clue that he is being quoted as one supporting anarchy. Misinformation through state propaganda becomes the order of the day. Because the masses are kept in the dark about what is happening, the nation is held at ransom to see no alternative in the opposition politics. The weak link of the civil society including the church is exploited unfairly through financing their causes to undermine human rights. The voice of the church on social justice is muted. Suddenly, “see no evil, hear no evil and talk no evil” about the regime is the right approach within the borders of a nation. Even those in the inner circle, start realizing that the monster they created has come round to bite bitterly. But because they constructed the monster, all they can do is to speak in hushed tones, mutter under their breaths and grit their teeth in protest because they have been positioned strategically to benefit unfairly, where they did not have merit. They had mastered the art of “you can’t bite the hand that feeds you” because the regime is all but a mafia system of leadership, where anyone inside trying to leave is blackmailed. They could speak against the regime, except the capitalist mentality has forced them to coexist within a system that they declared was devoid of democratic ethos. Their stay and association however, cannot diminish the firm beliefs that are underlying somewhere in their conscience. But they are cronies whose purpose is to fill up their bellies. They tend to focus on the now ÔÇô forgetting that those who suffer under oppression might be relatives, friends, and indeed fellow citizens being targeted by the regime for espousing values that run contrary to what is popular.
Because human rights would have become a Trojan horse, the nation is besieged. But in Africa and for five decades of uninterrupted rule of the Botswana Democratic Party, there stood a nation that enjoyed perpetual peace, economic success and whose citizens had not trekked on foot to neighbouring and farther afield nations to seek refuge. The present and future political leaders of Botswana have loads of work in their hands to retain what they found to have been entrenched by the forebears of this nation. For this country, past leaders have done their part with magnanimity as with shrewdness. In an interview with Sir Ketumile Masire last year, what he said remained with me and keeps tolling the bell from within: “Nature does allow us to move forward or slip backwards, and it is upon us to do right to make sure we don’t regress. ‘Live and let live’ should be the motivation for each leader. Leaders must learn to do something and let others carry it forward. What worries me and deeply is that now ÔÇô people think we have reached the zenith after 50 years of self-governance, and that we must go for a picnic. That is a sorry state of affairs. Life demands of us to keep jogging and to know that there is a prize we must clinch ÔÇô we don’t need to live on what is there and finish it, rather we use what was done for us by past generations as provision for the journey ahead. [Ke mofago mo loetong] ÔÇô We are pursuing a journey, where the goal is far and long to reach and our success is only to have a milestone. But it is not the end of the journey, when we attain a milestone ÔÇô we must keep rising up. I was surrounded by a strong leadership team that was there to guide the followers, who understood where they were being taken to and it was easy for them to embrace the Vision that started with me alone dreaming awake. But is that the end? Certainly no ÔÇô the journey continues and if we stop, we slip down.” These are not mere words of wisdom from the tried and tested democrat. These words speak to the fundamental bedrock of what our system has been renowned and respected for by the super-powers over the decades of our independence. Botswana successfully managed to distinguish herself from the rest of the troubled continent by staying the course of democracy. When democracy is strong, it enhances the freedoms of others, thus accentuating the levels of peace and justice that the citizens can enjoy from their government and political leaders. That is indeed resonant with what President Nelson Rolihlahla Madiba Mandela once said: “For to be Free is not merely to cast off One’s chains, but to live in a way that Respects and Enhances the Freedoms of Others.” A leader who has the welfare of the nation at heart would not wish to see citizens turn into refugees during his tenure. Such a leader is utter failure and history books will be written with harsh tone in condemnation of his rule. Neither President Ian Khama, nor future president of the Republic of Botswana should allow for this situation to happen. As a conclusion, “Where there is a Vision, people Flourish, but where there’s no Vision, people Perish,” (Proverbs 29:18).
Like Johnson ÔÇô I would have responded by asking what or who Aleppo was because it should not be obvious that the world must know crisis spots where there is man-made disaster. Crises such as in Syria lead to citizens fleeing their countries of origin because of self-serving interests. Countless Syrians including that bloodied six-year old boy aboard the ambulance, whose calm in the midst of the calamity captured the world’s attention and inspired our pity and sympathy don’t deserve to be refugees. Perhaps instead of condemning President Donald J. Trump over his construction of the border wall preventing masses of refugees to taste freedoms in the United States; we must sound a clarion call to our current and future leaders that they must not violate the fundamental freedoms and rights of their citizens. We must speak in a clear voice and give counsel to our leaders that they are accountable to the citizenry by which they are identified as national leaders. Especially in a democracy as Botswana’s, it is increasingly becoming important to speak up and about deepening democracy, where it relates to freedoms of conscience, expression, press and association.
The future as we can imagine it, must be one that is filled with hope as when some of us were growing up. We feared dangerous animals only. We trusted the police to protect our lives and property. We revered the army men as defenders against external forces of apartheid Rhodesia and South Africa. We must continue to trust in our security institutions as being established for these purposes, including to sniff out terrorist work by organized foreign organizations. We are not ready to become refugees, and surely we are not prepared to become prisoners of conscience, where we are capable to think through and express our opinions without insulting the leadership. This is our God-given and inalienable right that neither the present, nor the future leadership must attempt to diminish. Any effort to achieve repression will give rise to voices of protest, and we will be on our feet across the forest to seek refuge elsewhere. What a sham, what a shame that would be!
(Author is Founder and Chairman of Little Eden’s Justice and Peace Centre, [email protected])
