Jesus Christ and Barack Obama. What lessons?
- Category: The Comrade
- Date 18-01-2009
- 396 views
On Tuesday 20th January 2009, the first president of the United States of America, who exudes a glimmer of African blood and crust, takes office. He is none but Barack Obama, son of an East African who was driven by pedantic thirst into that far-off spot of our planet but, when he returned home, left behind trails of his manly virulence. His progeny is a centre of merriment for Africa today.
“Obama is my relative … look at my ears, they resemble his,” shouted a master of ceremonies at a banquet I attended last week. “This is a big problem,” he added, “because what will I do with all the money he is going to send? An overnight transition from poverty to affluence is not easy to manage …!” People roared with laughter, knowing how this caked young man was trying to cook up a relationship that does not exist.
Indeed it has been Africa’s obsession lately. Some residents of Kogero village in Kenya have been celebrating ever since Barack Obam joined the primaries of the Democratic Party. Today they are asking their government to construct an international airport in the village for President Obama to land at when he visits “home”.
As his father was a Luo, many Africans have painstakingly tried to create imaginary links with the Luo tribe to associate with Obama, while many – including The Comrade – who cannot relate their history with Obama console themselves that in the final analysis, they are black like him. Whether Obama is black is a matter for another discussion.
In offices, on streets, in buses, daladalas, pubs, schools, markets, and banquets, people argue about how President Obama is going to transform Africa. Some call his inauguration Africa’s defining moment.
Many young people do not care how Obama inspires them to aim high; they might not dream so much how they can derive success through hard work and leading focused lives which really should be the superlative connotation of the Obama Presidency.
The tragedy of Africa lies in investing all our time and energy into worshiping relatives or neighbours who have succeeded in life, rather than drawing lessons from their ability to rise above imaginary limits to become the best they can. There is a parasitic attitude that keeps us from pursuing progress in all its forms.
The entire neighbourhood rejoices when an associate attains an education or other success not because they can learn from his success to reach theirs but because they believe he will meet all their needs. Wake up Africa! Obama did not seek sympathy but he exerted himself fully to get where he is.
Yet you may call it jealousy, malice or what else; but The Comrade is both half-hearted about the Obama Presidency and scornful of his enthusiasts. There is total distortion of what Obama represents in today’s world. His mother was simply too good, to have nurtured a pregnancy at the age of 18, moreover from a Blackman. She would have aborted; she did not.
The Comrade believes that George Bush and his republican party were possibly the worst performers in present-day governance. America’s misadventure into Iraq has wrecked the world and engendered unmatched loss of lives.
However, The Comrade can salute Bush for ONLY ONE fact: he took quite a venerable stand against abortion - protecting lives of hapless unborn babies. It is unfortunate that the Obama administration might take a contrary standpoint on abortion.
Jesus, like Obama, would never have been born if he was conceived by a selfish mother. Some of what we regard as “unwanted” pregnancies, acquired through uncertain relationships, can deliver the Obamas of this world. Let President Obama know this.
Now hear this! If I was in government, I would grant Barack Obama honorary citizenship - reserved for foreigners of exceptional merit - of my country. Yes, Canada did it to Mandela and America to Mother Theresa. Tanzania for Obama: Go!
By Venansio Ahabwe
Source: The Comrade, The Guardian on Sunday