Congolese have no ‘common vision’
The Congolese people do not have what it takes to be one nation, Digital Congo writes in response to call for a united country. There is no where else in the world, says Digital Congo, where people who have had such a history of oppression and exploitation ‘would not have the capacity and the willingness to fight for their country's development, rule of law, and good governance’. As a ‘people’ we do not share common interest, common history, and common vision of our future, says Digital Congo. Most people in most parts of Congo ‘identify themselves with nations in the neighbouring countries where they have a common culture, aspiration and blood ties’, and would rather fight for neighbouring countries. While secession is still seen as a controversial idea, as long as Congo remains a single state, ‘all Congolese people will never live up to their potentials’ Digital Congo suggests.
The very beginning of your article ‘Give us a fighting chance to live up to our potential’ exemplifies exactly the very problem of Congolese people and why they do not have what it takes to be one nation.
There is no where else in the world where people who have had a history of oppression, exploitation and all the terrible things that have happened in the Congo since independence, and despite that would not have the capacity and the willingness to fight for their country's development, rule of law, and good governance.
It is only the Congolese people who can continue to look up to the same powers that have contributed to their oppression, exploitation, and misery to help them and give them the chance to live up to their potentials! Is it because those people, and powers do not know that what they have been doing is flat and dead wrong? Will they suddenly wake up one day and feel compelled to liberate Congo and its people by giving up their interests? Or is it only in Congo where such oppressive and exploitative powers have had a vested interests to do the worst of human behaviour of greed and selfishness?
The rest of the former colonised and current neo-colonised world is just a living example of such indifference and hypocrisy. They chant ‘human rights’ while living on its violation. They have build their very unchanging lifestyle and inspiration of it on the eternal misery of the weakest part of the globe, exploiting to the last degree the weakest and ill-equipped people for centuries. The only language these greedy powers and powerfully corrupted minds understand is fighting and liberation movements of the enlightened oppressed people.
This has been the fact of all the people who have ever liberated themselves from the Western powers, be it the slave struggle movement to anti-colonialism. This is why, asking for ‘a fighting chance to live up to [their] potential’ is not only wishful thinking, but a pathetic statement.
Mr. Malau has undoubtedly, made many very good arguments on unfair treatment of Congo and its people by the Western powers, but he miserably failed to acknowledge the sad reality that, not only those same western powers are and will remain eternally be unwilling to grant the ‘chance’ to Congolese people, but also the Congolese people are unfortunately incapable to govern their country and live up to their potentials simply for the fact that they do not have what it takes to be one nation because they never had and will never have it.
As a ‘people’ we do not share common interest, common history, and common vision of our future. Most people in most parts of Congo identify themselves with nations in the neighbouring countries where they have a common culture, aspiration and blood ties. This is the case in Katanga province, Bas-Congo, Kivu, Kisangani etc. These people would rather fight for neighbouring countries rather than their own simply because they feel allegiance and a sense of belonging to those countries than they do in Congo.
This is why you have never had Congolese politicians really and truly devoted for the well-being of his country. They rather feed their stomach and prepare to happily retire to the countries of origin if need be. There is never a shared and common sense of belonging worthy dying for in the deep mind of many Congolese. That is a cold and harsh truth and fact. This is obviously rarely admitted by any Congolese because it is not safe and politically incorrect to admit such a thought, but that does not prevent it to be the fact.
The evidence of it is the mere fact of aspiring and deep desire for secession and bring up from the so-called ‘Congo’ by many Congolese who will dare admit the obvious. While there is a general lack of courage to admit and demand for the secession, there is however, an awareness that under the current state of things, where the actual Congo will remain the State under which all Congolese will be required to live and governed as one ‘nation’, all Congolese people will never live up to their potentials.
Not all the 200 plus ethnic/tribal groups will feel fully integrated and included, not all provinces will benefit from the development that all Congolese people in all provinces deserve and have the rights to enjoy. At the risk of being labelled whatever name, as a Congolese I must admit that the only solution that will ensure the equality of opportunity, the development and sustainable governance in Congo, the disintegration of the current State or an independent political entity is the only better option. As harder and nearly impossible as it looks, it is the only viable solution for Congo and its people.
Each province should be given the opportunity to become a separate independent State in order to deliver its people from the eternal misery and leadership chaos. Obviously the independence of each province does not mean a magic bullet to prosperity and good governance, but it is a realistic political framework of governing a reasonable and manageable territory for people with limited leadership experience.
This hardly sounds realistic or even acceptable to even suggest. I know that this is too hard to swallow for those who do not share the same view for whatever reasons, but this is nonetheless the only option left to explore and worthy fighting for. It is this kind of fight that Congolese will soon or later have to fight and win with or without the support of external powers of greedy western nations. Having said that, I am obviously mindful of short-sighted and short minded Congolese people who instinctively think that only Tutsis hold on this hypothesis, instead of looking at the harsh reality in fact and admit the proven ungovernable and unmanageable nature of the vast Congolese territory by the proven unskilled, and incapable political knowledge of a vast number of Congolese.
Should we simple succumb to a notion of a fictitious nation state proven over and over to be ungovernable? Should we continue to punish ourselves by relying on the good benevolence of a fictitious benevolent and generous international community with our best interest in mind, when we know for sure that they crave on our perpetual mess and misery, not to mention their gigantic responsibility and contribution to the historical and current political and economical crises of Congo? It is time that Congolese people and those who claim to be ‘friends’ of Congo to wake up to the realisation that another approach is needed whatever the cost.