Hosni Mubarak                            Photo courtesy

Among the people who were pained and disturbed by the tribulations and trials of former Egyptian strongman, Hosni Mubarak, is former Nigerian president Olusegun Obassanjo. In Mombasa Kenya where he was attending a leadership conference, he said: “Putting [Hosni Mubarak] in a cage like chicken was not proper.”

While I respect Obassanjo for the exemplary role he played for Nigeria and Africa in general, why didn’t he say this when former Nigerian butcher, Sani Abacha was hurriedly and unceremoniously buried like a dog? Simple: Obassanjo was fighting and yearning for justice after illegally being sentenced to death by Abacha. This is the same situation those that lost their loved ones under Mubarak’s order are in.

Appearing before the Cairo Court, “frail”Mubarak was put in cage and lay on bed while on drip. For those seeking justice, it was a gratifying time ever. For sympathizers, it was humiliating. It depends on the side one is in.

Had Mubarak been a democrat or wise like Nelson Mandela and Julius Nyerere, he’d not have stuck to power till 83. I don’t know strongmen like Omar Bashir, Yoweri Museveni, Robert Mugabe, Denis Sassou Ngweso, Abdulaye Wade, Muamar Gadaffi, Paul Biya, Paul Kagame, Merls Zenawi, Isaias Afewerki among others are discerning.

While Obassanjo may consider Mubarak a special person thanks to being a former head of state, he should ask Sudanese refugees that were beaten and some killed under Mubarak’s order just for voicing their concerns.  He should ask Egyptians who lost their freedom for over two decades. He should ask Africans who are currently bearing  their leaders’  iron fists.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. When one looks at how Africa is languishing in begging and poverty unnecessarily, the same ceases to feel merciful for people like Mubarak. How can one forgive and defend people who have pushed Africa into purgatory? How can one forgive and defend people who have failed to utilize the continent’s vast resources for the benefit of its people? How can one forgive and defend people who are keen to develop physical infrastructure but destroy human resource through the politics of exclusion? African leaders have put the majority of the citizenry in a socio-political and economic cage. How can one forgive and defend them when they find themselves in a cage?

True, African potentates have very short memory. They have easily forgotten what happened to their colleagues such as Samuel Doe, Jean- Bedel Bokassa, Mobutu Seseseko, Charles Taylor and Laurent Gbagbo to mention but a few? A goat has short memory. When you shout at it to stop destroying the crops in farm, it thinks this happened a long while ago. When you shout again, it thinks: this happened yesterday. When you throw a stone at it, it realizes this is happening now! Again, the stone does not leave the goat well.

When a leader behaves like a goat, what happened to Mubarak is predictable and inevitable. What a shame!

By Nkwazi Mhango
A Canadian based Tanzanian and author of Saa Ya Ukombozi