COLUMNIST

The shame of Africa & the Arab world

As I watched the CNN Television last Wednesday night, 3rd August, and I saw the former President Mubarak of Egypt in a cage responding to the charges brought against him, I shrugged my shoulders in extreme disgust. Let me hasten to say that I am neither holding brief for Mubarak nor complaining against bringing a culprit to justice.
Rather, I am advocating that the age-old African tradition and culture of humanity, humanness, respect for age and maintenance of dignity and honour for those who had attained the status of leadership should be maintained in all situations. If Mubarak has run foul of the laws of Egypt while he was in power, no one should ask him not to be brought to book; but does he need to be put in the cage like an animal? No matter what his alleged offence may be, he must also be presumed innocent until found guilty. To put him in a cage for public exhibition as if already found guilty as a criminal was both unfair and prejudicial. But to me, more importantly, it offends against the tradition and culture of Africa and it is a great shame on Africa and the Arab world that such ungainly act should be perpetrated by the transitional military authority of Egypt.

Although law must be no respecter of person, position or status, even the worst offender still deserves to be treated with certain amount of humanness and humanity, not to talk of a man who had run the affairs of a country for almost thirty years, raised its economic status high and projected it as a leading Arab country and one of the leading African countries. This is a man who, one time in the recent past, was accorded the greatest honour and respectability both at home and abroad. Of course, nobody who has run the affairs of any human organisation for any length of time can escape a hostile enquiry or a hostile court.

As in this case, he would be pronounced guilty before he is heard. For a man of eighty-three years with all his background and achievements, is the measure meted out to him appropriate? As a former colleague and who knows a bit about what Mubarak had done for his country, his sub-region, and the Arab world, and indeed for the world, he has been atrociously badly treated. As an African steeped in African tradition and culture, I feel strongly that Mubarak must not have been treated publicly and disgracefully the way he had been. If we Africans show no respect, honour and dig- I know very well, rulers, whether former or incumbent, and noble men in the society, are never treated disgracefully publicly. If they commit very serious crime or an abomination, they are secretly presented with what they have done wrong and they are advised to go and sleep.

They will behave manly and sleep never to wake up. That way, justice is done but the honour of all concerned is preserved and stability, dignity and wholesomeness are maintained within the community or the society. I cannot see why the Egyptian authorities or authorities of any African country cannot adopt a modified form of this age-old African tradition. It ensures maintenance of justice with decency, honour and dignity. Our identity as Africans is underpinned by the values and virtues in our traditional culture. The Egyptians must do something to remove the shame and the embarrassment they have put all Africa and the Arab world in. The court and the transitional military authority of Egypt can still do something to remove the stigma they have put on themselves and on all of us. The lesson of the horrible treatment of Mubarak will not be lost to African leaders of today and tomorrow. Inadvertently, we may be entrenching intransigency and sit-tight syndrome.

The international community must also take note. Badly managed revolution is like riding a tiger. If the rider does not take proper care and control, he may find himself inside the tiger. Those who sow seeds of shame and disgrace should remember that they will reap abundant fruits of eternal disgrace and shame. nity for ourselves, it will be hard for others to accord us the same regard. Mubarak could have been brought before the court, unchained, uncaged, humbly seated to face the charges against him in the court. What would the court or the Egyptian authorities have lost if that had happened? Nothing! I am not saying that Mubarak has not made a mistake in his almost thirty years in running the affairs of Egypt or that he has not committed any misdemeanour or offence, but decency demands that in bringing him to judgment, the good he has done should be brought side by side with the mistakes he has made and if this is done objectively, I am of the mind that the good will outweigh the mistakes. And even then, if he has to be slaughtered, he will not be cut in pieces; he will only have his neck slashed. Again, this way, decency, humanness and humanity will have been maintained. In traditional African communities that I know very well, rulers, whether former or incumbent, and noble men in the society, are never treated disgracefully publicly. If they commit very serious crime or an abomination, they are secretly presented with what they have done wrong and they are advised to go and sleep.

They will behave manly and sleep never to wake up. That way, justice is done but the honour of all concerned is preserved and stability, dignity and wholesomeness are maintained within the community or the society. I cannot see why the Egyptian authorities or authorities of any African country cannot adopt a modified form of this age-old African tradition. It ensures maintenance of justice with decency, honour and dignity. Our identity as Africans is underpinned by the values and virtues in our traditional culture. The Egyptians must do something to remove the shame and the embarrassment they have put all Africa and the Arab world in. The court and the transitional military authority of Egypt can still do something to remove the stigma they have put on themselves and on all of us. 

The lesson of the horrible treatment of Mubarak will not be lost to African leaders of today and tomorrow. Inadvertently, we may be entrenching intransigency and sit-tight syndrome. The international community must also take note. Badly managed revolution is like riding a tiger. If the rider does not take proper care and control, he may find himself inside the tiger. Those who sow seeds of shame and disgrace should remember that they will reap abundant fruits of eternal disgrace and shame.

Saturday Mirror