A fake smile for Gadaffi?                                   Photo courtesy

Although former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi is history, he still has a lot to give as far as history is concerned. His rule and death have a very big lesson to teach those who are still in power.

First, the style and manner in which Gaddafi was deposed and later killed leaves a lesson that nobody is safer in power in Africa specifically when he goes against the wishes and interests of the world’s big guys in the west. Second, Africa is hard at learning.

When Tunisia and Egypt kicked their dictators out, the west got the hunch to criminize and demonise Gaddafi so as to conceal all the good things he did. The “sacrilege” that the west used to suffocate Gaddafi is that he was in power for over four decades. Well, if staying in power for long is such an unforgiveable sin, what of the queen of England who has been in power for over six decades? Again, those that ordered the toppling and killing of Gaddafi and their cohorts, are dirtier than Gaddafi was. Take for example, the rulers of Qatar who financed and supported the rebels, are they in power legally and democratically? Why was democracy eminent in Libya but not in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen to mention a few?

Any reasonable mind still asks why Gaddafi was regarded  worse than butchers like Bashar Assaad, Omar Bashir and Yemeni’s Abdulla Salehe.  Even if Gaddafi was a dictator, he was a benevolent one compared to other stinking dictators Africa has had. Education, housing, water, health services and marriage were human rights under Gaddafi. Who else including western countries has ever done this?

Gaddafi goofed when he was duped to reconcile with the west. He did not know that the smiles and handshakes he received were fake. Unfortunately for him, he did not know that those he were reconciling with never show their truth faces! If anything, this makes it difficult even impossible for pariah states such as Iran and North Korea to think about reconciling with west and end up like Gaddafi.

Another lesson Africa has to learn is the fact that it is treated like a caricature when it comes to dealing with west. No secret that African media outlets did the west’s laundry. Instead of investigating and balancing what the western media bombarded onto us, we jumped into the bandwagon of blaming Gaddafi on everything including ignoring the good things he did for his country. We are told. Gaddafi left a debt free country. While America and its friends like Greece, Italy, German and others are grappling with debts, Libya is free of this problem thanks to Gaddafi’s mastery of spending. Currently the US is more a beggar and debtor before China so that it can not voice its nonsense to China.

Gaddafi is likely to become an icon and martyr posthumously when things like free electricity, manmade lake and reserved money surface. His support for liberation of Africa will not be shelved by any means.

Those that celebrated when Gaddafi was butchered will one day regret when his other good side surfaces especially his having things in quarters. They'll regret more when they compare him with other dictators in Africa who have done nothing to their countries but plundering and ruining them. These thievish dictators are not toppled under orders from the west because they sheepishly serve the west who offer against their own people. 

By standing for freedom from the west, Gaddafi created many foes. Thanks to their hunger for power, African potentates will do more horsetrading with the west to see to it that they rule even more. They know by doing that nobody will force them to embark on democratic transformations just like their Arab cousins in the Middle East.

Let us judge Gaddafi fairly before history judges us unfairly for our blindness.

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