An African Century

The death of Col Muammar Gaddafi at the hands of rebel soldiers was as brutal as it was short. Ever since he sized power in 1969, Col Gaddafi ruled with an iron fist, using his secret police and a feckless judiciary to harry, harass and murder his opponents. Other than for a few wide-eyed and misguided morons, no one will miss the colonel. Libya is on the cusp of a transition into a liberal democracy.

Pundits across the political spectrum have opined about the changes taking place in the wider Arab street, noting with satisfaction the overthrow of dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and watching with avid interest the changes that are taking place in Syria and Yemen. The putative democratic putsch in Bahrain came to nought while no one is lamenting the place that King Hussein of Jordan finds himself. Meanwhile in Africa south of the Sahara, Zambia elected seventy-four year old Sata on his fourth try and he is doing his best to confound his critics, appointing a mzungu Vice-President and firing generals left and right. But it is the remnants of Africa's old school that continue their grip on power, with Museveni in Uganda having successfully changed the constitution to keep him in power for a further five years so that he can finish what he started (never mind that it is becoming more and more apparent that he really does not have the interests of Ugandans at heart, but rather the state of his wallet now that Uganda is about to become an oil power).

Kenya has gone off to war with a terror organisation a-la USA and has also managed to confound neighbours with the effectiveness of its military strategy so far. For a country that has never executed a war before, Kenya is playing it right, with nary a soul claiming human rights violations or bringing the international community down on its head. They keep claiming that the twenty-first century will be the Chinese century, what with the billions of dollars it is pouring in far-flung and forgotten regions of the world. Methinks it will be an African century. We have a young population, land to expand our populations in, and an interest in reforming the way we have been governed ever since the British, German, Russian, Portuguese and Spanish empires came to nought. We may not have the money or the technology to rival the 'developed world', but a hundred years is a very long time and anything could happen. If Kenya, Tunisia, Egypt and Zambia could do it, so can the rest of the continent. The Chinese better watch out.