Archive for June, 2012
The Arab Spring – Lessons for Other African Dictators
Fear has been defeated in Tunisia and Egypt. Once paralyzed by the fear of challenging the dictators that held a strangle hold on their nations, they can now breathe a sigh of relief after decades of living under totalitarian regimes. Fear has been defeated was the phrase aptly coined by CNN newsman Anderson Cooper in describing the recent revolution in Egypt. Like their counterpart in Tunisia, the people of Egypt are relishing their new found freedom. They woke up on February 12, 2011 to a new dawn, a dawn without Hosni Mubarak, the former strong man who for Egyptians under the age 30 years old was the only president they had ever known. How can one man rule a country for thirty years? Is he the only one with a brain in that country? May be he was the best thing that ever happened to mankind since sliced bread. This phenomenon is often described as the “sit-tight” syndrome, a syndrome that has plagued the African continent for decades. It is tragic that the African continent has continued to lag behind other continents in all areas of human development due largely to the poverty of leadership brought upon by sit-tight leaders who generally lack the vision to transform their respective countries. More…