African leaders still living in the past must brace for rising youth

We are living in a brave new world. The first quarter of the 21st Century has transformed lived reality way beyond humankind’s wildest imagination. Rip Van Winkles of our times are bound to be cast into the dustbin of history.

It is time to wake up to new realities. In every walk of life, unyielding old models and methods will not work. As the world marches towards the second quarter of the century, dictatorial models that served autocrats are terribly challenged. Does global leadership – and in Africa, especially – need to style up?  

Tanzania has blocked or banned the X platform. Kenya has arrested a youth for developing a digital platform that overwhelmed Parliament with anti-Finance Bill 2025 feedback. ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) has outlawed Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. They are calling for African armed troops to go to war against the three countries. There is Rip Van Winkle here, there, and everywhere in Africa. American historian and essayist Washington Irving (1783–1859) cautioned against sleeping in a time warp. The world will leave you behind. Irving told the story of a man who fell into deep sleep after taking a sweet drink, administered to him by strange little creatures. He slept before the start of the American Revolution in 1783. He woke up after the revolution in 1865. Rip Van Winkle slept through the American Revolution. 

Are African leaders high on Rip Van Winkle waters? Do the fawning courtiers, political caddies, and assorted court jesters around them feed them on sweet illusions? Are they encouraging them to continue living in the unyielding past? The people of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger are happily under military rule, after decades of dire misrule by so-called elected governments. Both the African Union and the ECOWAS have outlawed them. They have excluded them from their activities, “until they restore an elected civilian government.” In response, the three states have formed their own union. Now Africa wants to go to war against them, “to restore civilian rule.” Do we read panic by African dictators, afraid of being played off their draconian altars by alternative interventions?

Waking nightmare

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The reformist spirit of Captain Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso, especially, has captured the imagination of young people all over the continent. Kleptocratic leaders, who fashion themselves after Africa’s dictators of the Cold War years, are nervous. They are afraid of political and spiritual contagion. Could the spirit of Burkina Faso spread to the rest of the continent?

This is the waking nightmare in palaces across Africa. Dictatorial and corrupt leaderships are in panic. They are afraid, at once, of their youth and military. And they are being urged on by offshore theft networks, sometimes clad in official guise in their own countries. Michael Langley, an American military commander visiting various countries in Africa, has taken Traore to task, ostensibly “for using his country’s diamonds to protect his junta.” Langley has told the American Senate that Traore should be removed, because “he is an enemy of American interests.” Is misrule in Africa in America’s interests? This was the question that African youth all over the continent and beyond flooded the Internet with. They vowed to protect the Burkinabe revolution. As Langley’s mission in Africa begins taking the shape of a possible wasteful war, the continent’s corrupt leadership and its offshore linkages will do well to understand that they are living in the past. The continent has entered a brave new age. Those seeking to destabilise the continent will contend with a new Africa.

For African youth, the situation is rising. This is not the Africa of Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, and Marcias Nguema. ECOWAS is, in effect, walking into a snow crash.  Langley, for his part, will recall that his country has never won a single offshore war. From Vietnam, through Afghanistan and sundry checkpoints to Iraq, the US has only left behind vast wastelands and maimed lives. But not a single victory. It surely does not want a repeat experience in the emerging brave new world?  

The US would do well to revise its interests around the world, and especially in Africa. The White House presents enough local challenges to keep America going. An itinerant warmonger commander does not add value to anyone. In this digital age, the US should seek new partnerships. Tanzania and Kenya are reminding the world that democracy is not defined by an election. Democracy is access to opportunities for better lives. Elections only validate democracy.   

Dr Muluka is a strategic communications adviser. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke