THE TWISTER
By Brian Ligomeka
The arrest of former Ivory Coast autocrat Laurent Gbagbo in the subterranean vault of his residence, hunkering down with his wife was a reprehensible but pertinent finale to his fiendish attempt to hang on to power.
The disgusting image relayed to the world of an arrested Gbagbo with a soiled vest, sopping with sweat, was beyond belief. Nobody, except for his minions, had sympathy for him because it was obvious that he was reaping the fruits of his autocracy, notoriety and arrogance.
The ugly scene of Gbagbo debacle underscored the feebleness of democracy on this continent. The presence of Simone, Gbagbo’s wife in the foxhole demonstrated how an avaricious first lady helped her power-intoxicated husband in destroying Ivory Coast. The role of Gbagbo's first wife, Simone in egging on her spouse to treat with contempt voices of reason and political wisdom from all the corners of the globe is well-chronicled.
History has it that after the rebels captured part of Ivory Coast in 2002, Simone Gbagbo, then parliamentary leader of her husband’s party, incited Ivorian women to deny conjugal rights to their husbands who supported the making of peace with rebels who had taken control of half of the country. This is why fingers have been pointed at her for influencing her husband [a professor] to reject the outcome of the presidential outcome.
Just like her husband, Simone never wanted to accept the painful reality of life that time was up for her. She was still stuck in the opulence of State House life. The defeat of her husband in polss saw her world crumbling and she had serious problems in reconciling with the fact that she would no longer be the First Lady.
With Simone’s attitude, one cannot be blamed for concluding that “behind every dictator man is an arrogant woman" and if the dictator is the head of state it does not go without saying that the arrogant woman is the first lady.
If you see some old presidents making idiotic and dubious decisions aimed at just stoking their egos at the expense of their citizenry, do not be surprised. It can be the result of the pillow talk of their wives.
Though in most countries, first ladies do not don’t hold any constitutional offices, their sheer luck of being betrothed to those in power, confers them the privilege of having power thrust on them. During my good old days at St Patricks Secondary School at Mzedi in Limbe someone used to say, “Galu wa a mfumu ndi mfumu ya agalu” which can literally be translated as: “The chief’s dog is the chief of dogs.” The adage simply says that the chiefs confer some-kind of status on everything that is in their household.
That explains why it is a mistake to assume that first ladies are just mere state house flowers or bedroom firebrands for quenching sentimental thirst of presidents; because in reality through their romantic proximity their bedroom talk sometimes translates into policies. This means that if the first lady is materialistic, hot-headed and arrogant, she will succeed in creating a monstrous dictator whose citizens will be marching in the streets against him and his policies on weekly basis.
Sometime back I enjoyed reading an article in one of my favourite magazines,The Economist, which wrote that first ladies, especially those on this continent, brandish monstrous “bottom power”.
In Nigeria, a story is told of one Stella Obasanjo who in May 2005, ordered a police raid at the Midwest Herald, a Lagos-based newspaper which had published a story headlined ‘Greedy Stella,’ linking her to the questionable sale of government houses to her relatives.
When the Nigerian police were quizzed on the raid, they admitted to have acted on orders from above. The “powerful above office” was that of First Lady Stella.
Stella was in the limelight for her patronising behaviour which saw her at one point banning wives of state governors from addressing themselves as ‘Her Excellency’.
And in the same nation of Nigeria one cannot forget what happened after President Sani Abacha’s death. His widow Mariam was arrested in scandalous circumstances, as she fled with suitcases stuffed with US dollars.
With such scandals, The Twister does not blame a Kenyan journalist Emeka Mayaka for branding some African first ladies as “opportunists who have used their positions to amass wealth for themselves through questionable charitable organisations.”
How I wish the Kenyan journalist knew that some first ladies are so greedy that they even accept to be receiving monthly salaries including housing allowances for charity work. Oh my foot! Why receive a housing allowance when you already reside in State House?
While in Malawi, our women who have been serving at the State House Mama Cecelia Kadzamira, Anne Muluzi, Shanil Muluzi and late Ethel Mutharika never dared to poke their noses into politics, it seems we have our own Queen Dzeliwe Shongwe, ‘the Great She Elephant [of Swaziland.’ For starters, Queen Dzeliwe Shongwe was a senior wife of King Sobhuza II of Swaziland. She was one of the greatest beneficiary of propinquity to a powerful husband.
With nice, sweet pillow talk, the Queen Shongwe asked her husband to name her a joint Head of State in 1981 and King Sobhuza II did just that, but later revoked it.
With Bingu wa Mutharika declaring: “I will smoke out my critics,” and his wife Callista mumbling: “Let the civil society go to hell. Villagers don’t need fuel and forex”, The Twister keeps on asking himself how can someone in their right frame of mind lie that people in the villages do not need fuel. Is it ignorance, arrogance and sheer political blindness or opulence intoxication? Who in this country does know the ‘fuel’ needs of the villagers? If there is one, he or she must be coming from another planet.
The Twister takes in the solace in the fact that 2014 will be the judgement year and assumes that rigging through pre-ballot stuffing, result altering through tabulation and diversion of telecommunications lines will not be possible.
The article first appeared in The Daily Times of Malawi
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