If African politics was this…

In spite of the fact that many African communities suffer disappointment in the political field, the continent still boasts many inspiring political events and personalities that bring much hope. These achievements often occur away from the mainstream politics and political governance that dominates African lives.

Many African political theorists such as Peter Ekeh and Mahmood Mamdani have demonstrated that the African public sphere has a bifurcated structure as a result of the intrusions of colonialism and modernity on African territories. As a result, the state and modern forms of governance are usually perceived to be distant, abstract and unapproachable. Politics usually has meaning when political leaders are able to communicate with their constituencies on a direct basis.

It appears that Africans still view the modern structure of the state from an abstract perspective. It is common to hear people say, ‘the government did that, the government plans to do this, the government has withdrawn such and such a regulation or law’, as if they are not themselves part of the government.

In spite of the growing democratisation of the African continent, the common democratic adage, ‘rule of the people, by the people for the people’ immediately loses meaning and force once governance is associated with the state. Perhaps for a few more generations, this state of affairs will continue. Forms of formal governance will as a result continue to be distant.

Political leaders in Africa seem to be successful when people can touch and feel them. There are many examples to support this view. Thabo Mbeki is technically a better manager of the state than Jacob Zuma, but the latter is a more powerful leader because he is able to form a direct bond with the South African people.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was able to articulate a form of politics outside the confines of state structures by focusing on a set of important as well as impressive issues: environmental consciousness, resource allocation and control, advocacy of democracy, cultural and linguistic empowerment, equitable federalisation and so on. He was able to mobilise his Ogoni people around these issues and succeeded in staging a rally during the beginning of the Ogoni protest movement that ensured that 500,000 people were involved without a single violent incident. This proved that people believed in him. Everyone could see he was trying to improve social justice and it was also clear that he was fighting for democracy even if the Nigerian polity was held captive in the clutches of a dictator, General Sani Abacha. At the end of the day, he was hanged and the entire continent of Africa has been the poorer as a result of his death.

It isn’t always that a popular and just leader such as Ken Saro-Wiwa operates outside the ambit of the state. Nelson Mandela is one of the more obvious examples. Mandela spent 27 years in jail for his anti-apartheid stance, but was still able to make the difficult transition from a liberation struggle leader to the manager of a modern state. His late compatriot, Steve Biko, was equally popular as a leader of people until he was murdered by the apartheid state, thereby further impoverishing South African society.

Thomas Sankara, in spite of being a military officer, was able to galvanise the aspirations of the common people of Burkina Faso. He touched a chord within the populace that mobilised all and sundry along the path of collective unity.

My point ought to be clear by now: we should not always look within the structures of the state to identify who are true leaders, since we rarely find them there. They are everywhere within our numerous communities. They build schools and orphanages for our communities from private means, they provide spiritual succour at our churches and mosques, they fill up the potholes on our roads, they provide shelter out of their own resources to homeless people. They toil away daily with little reward and recognition and are not given their due because they do not wield the powers of the state. Yet they are often able to touch and transform lives in a powerful way.

Our leaders don’t always have to be associated with the state; they also don’t have to have the technologies of domination that come with state power. They could be humble fillers of the potholes on our streets who do this in their private time and with their own resources. They could be as famous as Nelson Mandela and Ken Saro-Wiwa. They may work for many causes or only a few. The causes we all need are self-evident: good governance, selflessness, public accountability, probity, sustainability of our ecosystems and so on. There are many faceless individuals and groups that toil away daily for these and other causes. Nonetheless, we know them when they appear because they transform our lives in deep and lasting ways. Therefore we should give such figures our full and undivided support. Governance shouldn’t always be associated with the state and perceived as an abstract activity. Indeed, governance is essentially about people and not structures and this may yet remain so in Africa for many generations.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Sanya Osha is the author of ‘Kwasi Wiredu and Beyond’ and ‘Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Shadow’. His latest book is ‘Naked Light and the Blind Eye’.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.