By Dr. J. Atsu Amegashie
Monday, July 7, 2008
There is an internal and an external dimension to most problems. Which one to focus on should be guided by pragmatism. Will blaming the west or colonialists change anything? We know that they are unlikely to change their ways.
If Africans want to control their own destiny, then they must focus on their internal problems. If after doing their best to tackle their internal problems, they still have daunting problems ahead of them,then the moral authority for blaming external factors would be significantly strengthened. As it is, we cannot use external factors to make excuses for our own internal deficiencies. Mugabe’s actions are absolutely indefensible. And by blaming the west, we worsen the internal problem because we send a very, very bad signal to Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe has lost the moral battle because his record is a disgrace!!! If he had governed well, he could have exposed the hypocrisy of the west. Alas, he can longer make any such argument other than appealing to some moribund neo-colonization or re-colonization argument. And what if Morgan Tvangarai is a puppet of the West? Is Robert Mugabe the only intelligent Zimbabwean on the face of the earth? Why can’t the people of Zimbabwe determine who they want to govern them through free and fair elections? Why can’t they decide if the like a puppet of West or a cold-blooded and wicked black man? If you take land away from whites and give it your cronies, how does that benefit the average Zimbabwean?
Let me end with an analogy. A man (who is not your friend) is trying to woo your wife and your wife seems to be playing along. Will you confront your wife or the man? Me thinks you should confront your wife.
Dr. J.Atsu Amegashie, is Associate Professor of Economics at Guelph University. Send him an email at jamegash-at-uoguelph.ca