Commentary

By Ahmed H Nur

Someone wise once said somewhere (can’t remember the name) that politics is basically about the belly; not one belly; all the bellies. In the real world outside Africa, this wisdom forms the fundamental theorem of politics, which is the process of managing a nation’s resources, and the biggest resource any nation has is its people.

During the late 1700’s France was in turmoil. Oppression, poverty and starvation were in great rampancy. Upon hearing how the peasantry, some of which were demonstrating outside her palace, had no bread to eat, Marie Antoinette is said to have uttered the flippant remark: "Let them eat cake". Whether Marie actually spoke those words is not certain. But that is not the point. Whoever coined it, the phrase sparked off an uprising. An uprising which succeeded in ousting the corrupt French Royalty forever. This frivolous remark served fuel to a fire which has been inkling for a long time. As it was, the queen and the rest of the ruling class were not aware, or more correctly, chose to ignore the basic needs of the French people.

While the ruling class was gorging themselves in delicacies, the common people had no bread. The saying somehow became the preponderance of evidence of the injustice and tyranny of the French Ruling Classes. During the revolution, “let them eat cake” was the war-cry and the cutting sword of the masses.

Now, since the days of the French Revolution and countless other progressive reforms in many parts of the world, politics of the few bellies gave way to the politics of all the bellies. Today, politics in responsible governments of the world is chiefly about feeding the whole population, even at the expenses of other nations. The war in Iraq is in a nutshell about feeding one population at the expense of another. The European Common Market (EU) is another example.

In democratic countries in the developed world, where politicians rise and fall on the basis of how well or poor they manage the job of feeding the population, there is hardly a government which can survive a high unemployment rate.

The recent German Chancellor, Mr Schroeder (prior to Angela Merkel), was otherwise doing a good job but failed on one single front: creating jobs. Creating jobs (feeding the population) is the number one job for the politician in nations where politics is to feed all the people, not only a few. Failing in feeding all the people means failing in everything.

While this is the ethica politica in the other contents of the world, Africa walks this ethical road in the other direction. With few exceptions, politics in Africa remains to be about the few bellies.

Zimbabwe was once an economically thriving country which produced and exported food. Today Zimbabwe is an impoverished country whose population survives on Western hand-outs. No natural disaster hit and destroyed Zimbabwean economy. It is the politics of the one belly which is ruining Zimbabwe.

Robert Mugabe does not allow any one to prosper (eat) if they do not dance for him. As Rachel L. Swarns ( New York Times December 13, 2002 ) reported, “the cornfields that once flourished here are just memories now. The surging rivers have become sandy grazing grounds where goats feed on withered grass”.

In this village of parched earth and wilting crops, more than half of all families need emergency food aid to survive. It is here, amid the hungry and the vulnerable, that members of Zimbabwe's governing party stand accused of trying to crush their political rivals by denying them food. The militants seized sacks of cornmeal and peas from a UN distribution site and gave them to their supporters, turning away others because they were followers of the opposition party. During the recent election, the governing-party thugs kept bags of food in polling stations. To make their message plain, they put up this warning at all polling stations: Vote against the party of President Robert Mugabe and you will go hungry.”

The continent of Africa has produced, and continues to do so, many champions in the game of feeding one belly. If its leaders excel in one thing, it is the art of thievery from its own people. To mention only a few from a long line of proud rooks, the late Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire managed to steal the staggering amount of US$ 5 billion during his infamous reign of 32 years. The former President of Kenya is a billionaire and the present one, Mr Emilio Mwai Kibaki , is fast on the same track to personal wealth, all the while when his country, which many say could feed the world, is falling ever more into poverty and the shameful dependence on foreign aid.

This is the nature of the politics of feeding one belly. The system fattens one person and his family. The sycophants and court jesters who perpetuate their shameful existence get the bones and stay alive with expectancy proportional to the intensity of their dance. But the nation starves slowly to death...

As record has it, most one-belly-feeders die in disgrace in exile, but that, as record also amply shows, is often no solace for the hungry people they leave behind. They also perish in the wake of their prolonged rampage. Look no further. Somalia did not survive Siyad Barre! Will Somaliland survive Rayaale and his sycophants!!? Time will tell, but the signs in my cards are pessimistic.

Ahmed H Nur , Oslo