George Ayittey, Huffington Post
- The election of Senator Barrack Obama brought jubilation across Africa, where millions celebrated him as “one of their own.” His election victory shattered myths about America and caused some discomfort among Africa’s gang of “hippos” – the nasty, ornery and unrepentant hard-knocks. Wedded to seats of power, not even bulldozers can dislodge them. “No African head of state should be in power for more than 10 years,” declared President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda in 1986. He is still president.
Ferociously resistant to change, they would have crushed an Obama who dared challenge their iron grip on power. They would have tossed him into jail the night before the elections (Rwanda); mercilessly bludgeoned him (Zimbabwe); thuggishly annulled his election victory (Nigeria); or threatened to feed him to crocodiles (Malawi). Their security forces would have opened fire on Obama’s supporters, killing over 250 and hauling over thousand into jail (Ethiopia). Even in his own father’s country, Kenya, his victory would have been stolen, his supporters used for target practice by the police, where recent elections sparked violence that claimed over 1,000 people and dislocated more than 250,000. Municipal elections on November 29 in Jos, Nigeria, have claimed the lives of more than 400 people.
