I was one of those who by mistake cheered the fall of former President of Libya, the late Muamar Gaddafi. Many people thought that his ouster would change Libyans’ lives for the better. Many thought that the act was fully supported by the popular mass as in Egypt and Tunisia without knowing that the move was orchestrated by a cabal of opportunists and enemies that Gaddafi made during his time in power.

Looking at how Libya is decaying, one may say that those who engineered the fall of Gaddafi were the mannequins of the west. They were used and abandoned. Those who engineered the fall of Gaddafi didn’t only aim at punishing him but also to punish Libya. Their caricatures had no agenda for the nation. Libya has cascaded into mayhem. It is the most chaotic country on earth worse even than Somalia.

When Gaddafi was branded a dictator simply because he had been in power for a long time, he asked his accusers from the west who’d been in power for long between him and the Queen of England.  Nobody at the time wanted to listen.

Gaddafi invested heavily in education, infrastructure and social development. He offered scholarships to students from almost all African countries to study in Libya and helped some stranded African countries by investing in their countries and funding the African Union. Three years since his ouster, those who took over have been busy destroying almost everything Gaddafi stood for.

In spite of his weaknesses, Gaddafi kept Libya peaceful and prosperous. Under Gaddafi, unemployment, power cuts, fuel shortages, poor social services which symbolize many African regimes were not heard of. Even today there’s a testimony in western countries where Libyan doctors compete with those of South Africa followed by Egypt. Libya didn’t have any debt and didn’t need any from international financial institutions.

According to one Benghazi based ex-rebel, “We had money, free education. If we fought with a knife in the street we’d be arrested. Now people fight with Kalashnikovs and grenades and no one does anything.”

Everything is gone. We don’t see those who triggered all this carnage coming to save the country they wrecked under the ploy of purging it of a dictator. Verily, it is sad when a country slinks from a dictator to go to the dogs.

By Nkwazi Mhango
Mwl. Nkwazi Mhango nkwazigatsha@yahoo.com