The Election Religion of African Politics
African politics and the fallacy of a ‘god’ of politicians who shows up just before the election to be referenced as the giver of “leaders”. This ‘god’ conveniently appears during electioneering year, a ‘god’ who loves the politicians more than the voters because, when politicians review their salaries and send-off packages he helps them remain united. However, when seeking your vote they’re venomous, cursing each other and dividing the voting public for their self-centered gain. Who is this ‘god’ politicians refer to who hates the electorate so much that he only cares about politicians’ pockets from county assemblies, parliaments, senates, and central governments? This ‘god’ of politicians requires the political class to do injustice and get away with it, promote hatred among the electorate, permanently destroy kindness, and walk in pride with their ‘god’. Oh, the electorate sing “leadership comes from god” yes this politician’s ‘god’ who bribes to get votes. Is this ‘god’ the giver or the receiver of bribes? This politician’s win is a stamp of suffering as he fears questioning international agreements that violate the future of his descendants. He didn’t fear, he just had rapid breathing after convincing himself that he is eternal.
This ‘god’ is one of lies, injustice, and division promoting individualism and trauma, social wounded-ness hatred building initiatives. The deep-rooted issues that need to be addressed through the “politician” are always the weakness of this ‘god’ who shields himself through post-election violence. This ‘god’ hates national healing and treasures the wounds of social injustices so much that just before elections, he reminds the electorate of how valuable the wound is to preserve community strongholds. How skillful is this ‘god’ in matters of political manipulation? This ‘god’ has a way of convincing the electorate through the politician that “we need a commission of inquiry”. This is the best way to cast political fatigue because results are always the same “who needs the findings?”
This ‘god’ hates the voters so much that he creates social imbalance as his deployed politicians steal left right and center to self-preserve before the next election because, without stealing as a skill, this is a politician’s self-destruction in the kingdom of political recklessness. This ‘god’ loathes any suggestion to have the electorate address collective trauma, because this will expose the institutional failure and how powerless politicians are. The ‘god’ of politicians hates the electorate so much that he has snatched several religious leaders who will train members to love their politicians because they come from “god”. By the end of the day, the members will wake up in a state of helplessness, without a dream and a sense of ownership, for the future belonging to the politician, and the religious leader remain untouchables.
Without discrimination of religion, the sermons extreme makeover and political agenda become “victimhood of certain politicians as appointees of a ‘god’ sanctified by stomach-crats, the self-proclaimed seers” and incapability of developing arguments, those who insult more become more popular. This ‘god’ of the politician prevents the electorate from seeing the future of this country by ensuring they steal from farmers so that there is intense hunger to keep children awake in the cold hours of the night. These children cannot enjoy clean water and good nutrition because they are busy scanning doors seeking to do child-labor for a living. On the other side of the street, the politicians’ child is enjoying beneficial ownership as they thrive in economic scandals and ill-gotten wealth. This ‘god’ of the politician inflicts religious groups with ethnic and spiritual alliances of conflict and only the politician’s pocket can cool the troubled waters. While coming to reconcile regional stomachs, the politician sends his expectations stating “there is a verse that should not be read during my visit… that verse in the good book where a politician betrayed us. It says… “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.””
On a sunny day, as the dew quenches the dry feet of a voter in the village, a glance in the sky by the heavens declares “wisdom is free… go question the politician”. That afternoon the politician visits the village casting dust to the eyes of malnourished children to lecture the elders on why humiliation has been entertained in the village. From the strength of precious stones, golden wrist chain, linen shirt, bacon, corn flakes, and milk, the politician screams, “do you know the kind of humiliation that I had to encounter and endure because of you?” “You” here is the electorate who cannot access quality healthcare because the politician was part of the health scandal, maize, and rice scandals. The voter pays for the negligence suffered as a result of corrupt international agreements that drain the treasury and evict from natural resources as the politician becomes a major shareholder. The electorate who has wisdom is regarded as the trouble maker who must be excluded from leadership in the government. The voter’s divine role according to the ‘god’ of a politician is to attend rallies, cast your vote and remain silent because what the people entitled to vote say might be used against them in the court of regional development and religious appointments. Then we ask each other, “are you out of your mind?” yes we left our minds with the ‘god’ who hates the citizens and as a result, African politics and the fallacy of a ‘god’ continues to disconnect human beings from self-awareness, communities from empathy and increased cases of mental health issues become vast across Africa.
Think of how many people you see in your family, village, workplace, increased gender-based violence, and crime. Think of gas-lighting at work and Africa as the most suicidal region in the world. Why do we have over 800,000 deaths by suicide annually? Why are we recording increased mental depression rates in Kenya with records hitting 1.9 million? Think about it this way, World Health Organization (WHO) 2017 estimates that 322 million people are living with depression globally.
Over 29.9 million translating to 9% of these are living in Africa. Why do we have high levels of mental health issues in Africa? They are rooted in political power by the ruling class who ascend to power either by violent bloodshed clothed transition, rigging, or depend on external powers to define and impose electoral processes by “sponsoring” domestic instruments of power. It is social imbalance and collective trauma of generational injustices, it is economic imbalances and systemic poverty that seeks trade and industry controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state for human dignity. It is the fact that we forsake the truth opposing the egocentric ‘god’ of the politician that says… “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”.
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