Wednesday,
September 24, 2014
Folks, I have already written an
opinion piece to complain bitterly about the manner in which the wives of
African Presidents have constituted themselves into an Association of First
Ladies and assumed power and authority to do things as if they have anybody’s
mandate to act and talk as they wish. They have constituted themselves into
potentates and are acting to be recognized as such. The "She" that
must be obeyed. Unacceptable!!
Of course, there is nothing wrong
with a President’s wife accompanying him on trips or doing things in tandem with
him as he exercises the mandate of the electorate to govern the country.
But I find a lot wrong with the
manner in which these wives of African Presidents are doing things. They seem
to be arrogating too much power and authority to themselves and pushing buttons
here and there in the limelight.
The current 69th session
of the UN General Assembly has brought them together and they are waxing in
publicity (as you can see from the images showcasing the Ghanaian First Lady,
Lordina Mahama, and her Kenyan counterpart, among others) (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/photo.day.php?ID=327062)
Never in the history of the
United Nations has any Association of First Ladies been recognized as a force
to be reckoned with and given the floor as is happening under the South Korean
Ban Ki-Moon, the weakest and most malleable Secretary-General to have ever
headed the UN!!
Never in any historical period
under the watchful eyes of any Secretary-General has the world seen so much
turmoil in almost every part while the UN goes to sleep or wakes up after the
most powerful country (the United States) has unilaterally acted, even in defiance
of world opinion, to do what it feels like doing just because it has the UN
under its wings. Never before has the UN been so undermined, emasculated, and devalued
as a door-mat to be trodden upon with impunity. A docile UN it is!!
This is the UN that is
accommodating an Association of African First Ladies because it has become more
of a talk-shop than the non-partisan global organization that was set up to
prevent man-made crises in the world and not to belatedly attempt solving them
after slumbering away the time. This is the UN that the Association of African
First Ladies is stepping into.
Interestingly, it is only the
wives of African Presidents who have an Association of First Ladies. Only in
impoverished Africa exists such an Association. None can be found in any other
part of the world, even when those parts are better developed and richer than
African countries and can afford to support the activities of their First
Ladies. But you can’t find any group of the sort because the system has no room
for such self-projection at the expense of the tax-payer.
An Association of African First
Ladies, indeed!! Some ridiculous instances come to the fore. Take the
sex-maniac Jacob Zumah of South Africa and his 7 wives, for instance, and you
wonder which of them qualifies as the legitimate First Lady of the country to
join such an Association. Will all seven of them not be qualified as such to
join and function in the Association on a rotational basis?
Or the numerous wives of the
Botswana (or is it Lesotho) King? Will they cast lots to determine who serves
as the First Lady and then pass on the baton to her rivals thereafter? A kind
of marital musical chairs at the expense of the poor tax payers? Only in Africa—especially
Black Africa!!
You see, folks, this obsession
with an Association of African First Ladies has only one objective: to position
these women as shadows of the Presidents who oftentimes wear their assumed but
undeserved powers on their sleeves and serve as surrogates for whatever
purposes will bring in the goodies. I know that some appointments to and
dismissals from offices are even made on the advice of First Ladies, especially
after “pillow talk” with their husbands.
Managing the life of a country,
then, becomes a chess game to be played with the pawns that are manipulated
anyhow to serve narrow purposes for personal gains. These so-called First
Ladies are really annoying me with their pomposity and open show of the power
that nobody has given them. They are doing so just by virtue of their marital
status and enjoying every bit of the public funds that are expended to sustain
their bloated egos. Only in Africa—especially Black Africa!!
And they are doing so even while
their husbands fail to use the mandate of the electorate to solve problems.
Cast your eyes round to see which country in Africa is being properly managed
to warrant what the so-called First Ladies are junketing all over the place
for.
Interestingly, after basking in
the glory of their husbands, especially those who have ruled for decades, they
think that they have learnt enough and gathered political experience to replace
their husbands as heads of state. Take our own Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings,
for instance, who is so obsessed with political power as to move heaven and
earth to be put in office as Ghana’s President. Her contemning her own
political birthplace (the NDC) and breaking away to form the National
Democratic Party (is it still alive?) for that purpose says it all. But she is
just chasing a huge mirage because she won’t go anywhere.
Then, turn round to consider what
is happening in Zimbabwe, where the political dinosaur (Robert Mugabe) is fast
fading off the scene but creating room for his wife to function as a political
force. Whatever clout she thinks she is wielding must have come from the
political tradition that has nurtured her ambitions to think that she will be a
good successor to her nonagenarian husband. Only in Africa—especially Black
Africa will this nonsense crop up!!
Truth be told, the extent to
which these so-called African First Ladies are taking their political daredevil
selves to is irritating. I won’t support any of them on that score. Of course,
some are known for pursuing agenda on community improvement or establishing
Foundations to assist the less-privileged segments of the society and should be
commended for their efforts. But the vast majority of them aren’t doing
anything productive to warrant their being supported to self-project and act as
conduits for corruption in high circles.
The earlier they know their
station in the political landscape and stick to it (as the mere wives of
Presidents and no voter’s elected representative invested with political power
to exercise), the better chances are that they will save themselves from the kind
of tongue-lashing that I am doing here and will continue to do for as long as
they give cause for it. Only in Africa—especially Black Africa—will such an
Association exist. Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaa!!
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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