When impotence takes over
Let me tell you something about African leaders. They are usually demi-gods in their countries. When they frown, their respective armed forces swing into action to bring their foes into submission.
Let me tell you something about African leaders. They are usually demi-gods in their countries. When they frown, their respective armed forces swing into action to bring their foes into submission.
Everyone back at home fears them. And they love it. It is a hangover of the traditional monarchism concept of leadership where the king owns everything, donates society’s wealth out to cronies he chooses at will, puts enemies out of action and lives extravagantly, totally out of range from the people he leads.
It is pretty much like a father in a typical African household. Everything in the house belongs to him, he can squander what he wants, clobber whoever falls out of the line which he draws without consultation and sets rules he does not follow. Very few can spell the word: ‘discussion’.
The news is that African leaders were in Equatorial Guinea to impress each other with eloquence and pomp. Maybe they did but that is not the story. When the meeting came to Libya on the agenda, they got a rare opportunity to collectively feel the pain of impotence and inadequacy. All they could do was bark at the elephant which continued breaking the fence of a neighbour and financier general, Muammar Gadaffi.
Yes, they barked at NATO with a trembling voice fearing to be seen as pleading that the elephant stops in its tracks but well knowing that they were producing a script that everyone will ignore. No one in NATO held his breath or prayed that African leaders do not throw them out.
Almost a week later, the war goes on as if no dog was barking. And the African leaders cannot do anything to force it to a halt. They are impotent.
Impotence is an innocent word you meet in literature without missing a beat. But if you want to know how it tests, and you are not an African leader, imagine the following: Armed robbers have broken into your home and one is proceeding to rape your wife or daughter as you watch on gunpoint! You, the master of the house, are unable to save your wife. You look on helplessly as she pleads with you to stop them. You cannot!
But I can take it closer to the finishing line: You disorganise a woman’s programme and convince her to meet you at a summit of honey and gold. And when you (plural) warm up for fireworks, just around the time the ref sets the ball rolling, your ‘umeme’ goes off! (Let us observe a moment of silence).
It is that bad. You have the utilities but no power to fire them into action! Your partner appeals passionately for some action if only to stop the NATO invasion of her aroused system but the only response you have, after vain attempts to jump-start the generator, is a desperate stare and prayer that the lightning, so rampant these days, strikes you dead.
Like African leaders, you innovatively come out of it with a communiqué about the importance of restraint of anger and disappointment and promise of future compensation. But deep inside, you know you have lost the game. That barking at NATO forces cannot quench the thirst in your partner’s aroused system. You have failed her! You have nothing to do about it! It is that bad.
For men, the effects can last and affect not only their later outings but also, sadly, their relationships with other people not related to the unfortunate situation. Men are wired to draw confidence from their sexual potency. When the lightning of impotence strikes, their raw instinct is scared into a crisis of self-esteem that turns them into haunted people on the inside.
The man may look normal on the surface but his behaviour becomes strange. His inferiority complex rises and his inner self starts misinterpreting innocent events, comments and actions as challenging his manhood. He can easily lose his cool if you wish him a happy birthday! He may instead attack you for referring to his accumulated years yet all you did was to be courteous.
And this is the biggest risk of having aged African leaders. Whenever they fail to perform in bed, they subconsciously become more controlling and uncompromising in politics as if to prove to themselves that ‘I am still in charge’. And the older they grow, the more often they lose power.
Finally, the good news is that impotence can be avoided both at political and bedroom stages. The solutions are similar in concept. It is the colour of implementation that varies. But that will be for next time. I need to get out of here because the clouds are starting to frown.
Since I seem to be the tallest, my concerns about lightning are very genuine.
hbainemigisha@newvision.co.ug
Everyone back at home fears them. And they love it. It is a hangover of the traditional monarchism concept of leadership where the king owns everything, donates society’s wealth out to cronies he chooses at will, puts enemies out of action and lives extravagantly, totally out of range from the people he leads.
It is pretty much like a father in a typical African household. Everything in the house belongs to him, he can squander what he wants, clobber whoever falls out of the line which he draws without consultation and sets rules he does not follow. Very few can spell the word: ‘discussion’.
The news is that African leaders were in Equatorial Guinea to impress each other with eloquence and pomp. Maybe they did but that is not the story. When the meeting came to Libya on the agenda, they got a rare opportunity to collectively feel the pain of impotence and inadequacy. All they could do was bark at the elephant which continued breaking the fence of a neighbour and financier general, Muammar Gadaffi.
Yes, they barked at NATO with a trembling voice fearing to be seen as pleading that the elephant stops in its tracks but well knowing that they were producing a script that everyone will ignore. No one in NATO held his breath or prayed that African leaders do not throw them out.
Almost a week later, the war goes on as if no dog was barking. And the African leaders cannot do anything to force it to a halt. They are impotent.
Impotence is an innocent word you meet in literature without missing a beat. But if you want to know how it tests, and you are not an African leader, imagine the following: Armed robbers have broken into your home and one is proceeding to rape your wife or daughter as you watch on gunpoint! You, the master of the house, are unable to save your wife. You look on helplessly as she pleads with you to stop them. You cannot!
But I can take it closer to the finishing line: You disorganise a woman’s programme and convince her to meet you at a summit of honey and gold. And when you (plural) warm up for fireworks, just around the time the ref sets the ball rolling, your ‘umeme’ goes off! (Let us observe a moment of silence).
It is that bad. You have the utilities but no power to fire them into action! Your partner appeals passionately for some action if only to stop the NATO invasion of her aroused system but the only response you have, after vain attempts to jump-start the generator, is a desperate stare and prayer that the lightning, so rampant these days, strikes you dead.
Like African leaders, you innovatively come out of it with a communiqué about the importance of restraint of anger and disappointment and promise of future compensation. But deep inside, you know you have lost the game. That barking at NATO forces cannot quench the thirst in your partner’s aroused system. You have failed her! You have nothing to do about it! It is that bad.
For men, the effects can last and affect not only their later outings but also, sadly, their relationships with other people not related to the unfortunate situation. Men are wired to draw confidence from their sexual potency. When the lightning of impotence strikes, their raw instinct is scared into a crisis of self-esteem that turns them into haunted people on the inside.
The man may look normal on the surface but his behaviour becomes strange. His inferiority complex rises and his inner self starts misinterpreting innocent events, comments and actions as challenging his manhood. He can easily lose his cool if you wish him a happy birthday! He may instead attack you for referring to his accumulated years yet all you did was to be courteous.
And this is the biggest risk of having aged African leaders. Whenever they fail to perform in bed, they subconsciously become more controlling and uncompromising in politics as if to prove to themselves that ‘I am still in charge’. And the older they grow, the more often they lose power.
Finally, the good news is that impotence can be avoided both at political and bedroom stages. The solutions are similar in concept. It is the colour of implementation that varies. But that will be for next time. I need to get out of here because the clouds are starting to frown.
Since I seem to be the tallest, my concerns about lightning are very genuine.
hbainemigisha@newvision.co.ug