I will make a thread on why I am against the electoral putsch in #DRC and why I am worried for this country that has never known a democratic transition since independence.
Let me start with a disclaimer : I don’t like France. No rather I hate France. I have never hidden it and this will not change even after my death because it is personal. France hurt me , physically , psychologically, emotionally , financially by imposing a savage regime in #Togo
This is about defending democratic principles and values. As an Activists , I have to reason to hate individuals , politicians on the basis that they attacked or hurt me usually in retaliation to my struggle against them. But I never allow that anger blur my vision and principles
The very first value that I believe in and stand firmly on is the freedom to self determination. I believe strongly that all people have the right to self-determine and today’s world it translates to choosing their leader freely with no internal or external interferences.
As I believe in freedom to self-determination , I also believe in national unity and cohesion I am totally against bigotry and politics based on religious or tribal dogma. Nobody choose their birthplace. So when we are born in the same country, we must strive to live together
The DRC has known since independence a series of conflicts and wars as a result of the insatiable interests of Western powers to impose puppets. Great Leaders like Patrice Lumumba were killed to leave room to rogue dictators who helped the West loot the country dry.
The wars that resulted from the political abuse, tribalism that dictators feed on Balkanized DRC and led to the most horrendous human rights abuses and killings recorded after World War 2 with over 6 millions people loosing their lives and millions fleeing their country.
After decades of dictatorship, the people of DRC fought tirelessly to have the current dictator Kabila who took over when his father died at age 29 but is now old enough to father me, organize elections. For this election to occur countless activists were abused and killed .
Finally the elections happen and despite all irregularities , the extended uncle of dictator Kabila, Shadari came third. Kabila not wanting to yield power to the legitimate winner Fayulu who all independent observers have prove won with a landslide, chose the second runner up.
Now I see people applauding this for two reasons :
1- Kabila is out: Hurray!
2- Tshisekedi’s has been fighting for so long , they deserve to be in power.
I find these two justification too frivolous to an electoral putsch. Being in the oppostion for so long is not a qualifier
1- Kabila is out: Hurray!
2- Tshisekedi’s has been fighting for so long , they deserve to be in power.
I find these two justification too frivolous to an electoral putsch. Being in the oppostion for so long is not a qualifier
And the fact that Kabila is not what matters. What happens to the DRC after Kabila is what matters. Remember why we are against Kabila. We want him out because he is a despot and was never chosen by the people of the DRC. Now him imposing a second runner up to the people is wrong
Beyond the moral bankruptcy of that putsch , what worries me is that I know it to be impossible for a leader who was not elected to rule democratically. Tshisekedi can only bypass democratic values to remain in power because the majority who did not vote for him will fight back
If the legitimate winner of these elections can mobilize it’s votes to protests peacefully everyday till Tshisekedi resigns, and he will have no other option that to use force and violence to repress these protesters to stay in power. This perpetuates the cycle of dictatorship
In addition, when you rob millions of people of their right to choose their leader, you are weakening and dividing the country even further. People will engage in armed struggle if necessary to reclaim their victory and they will be in their legitimate right to do so.
Now I see lot of Africans especially francophones backing Tshisekedi on the sole basis that the French and the Belgians do not want him. This is absolutely irrational. We need to ask ourselves why we hate the colonial powers.
We hats colonial powers because they abuse us, they oppress us, they steal from us. Now why in the world should we support a regime that also abuses us, oppresses us and steal from us in the name of hating the colonial powers?
Let us remember the fundamentals of our struggles
Let us remember the fundamentals of our struggles
The colonizers are powerful enough to tear our countries apart within hours and our barks will not stop it.
What we need, is leaders that espouse democratic values and are capable to unify our nation by respecting the rights of the minorities. We can’t do it with thieves
What we need, is leaders that espouse democratic values and are capable to unify our nation by respecting the rights of the minorities. We can’t do it with thieves
When there are political grievances, there will be conflicts and there is no way we can protect our nations from external powers when we are fighting one another. What Kabila did will only perpetrate division and conflict in the #DRC making it impossible for the country to rise
Now I also see some people and in this case Congolese citizens and some activists that I use to respect but no longer do support this putsch because Tshisekedi is their candidate. Supporting injustice for personal gain is a betrayal to Activism and I cannot associate with that.
