A statue of an incumbent leader is cultic
SIR — I don’t agree with your Editorial of March 10 entitled “Preserve kabamba statueâ€. The statues of Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta stand undisturbed today because they were erected after the leaders’ death.
SIR — I don’t agree with your Editorial of March 10 entitled “Preserve kabamba statueâ€. The statues of Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta stand undisturbed today because they were erected after the leaders’ death.
This implies public consensus and objectivity. Would Idi Amin’s statue stand undisturbed in Kampala today if one had been erected? I do not see the wisdom of erecting a statue of an incumbent president. To me it smacks of cultic tendencies and indoctrination.
Whether people like a leader or not, who can dare pull down the statue of a sitting president, particularly in Africa? I can say with certitude that Nelson Mandela’s statue will stand tall and proud in Pretoria in his death because he has stood the test of time as a freedom fighter and leader.
He has earned himself a standing ovation globally because he did not go back upon the principles he fought for. The euphoria with which a leader is ushered into power is a far cry from how he leaves office. This is because most people are sychophants, opportunistic and hypocrites or outright cowards and will never tell him that “he is nakedâ€.
When Idi Amin came to power, the people’s hatred for Milton Obote had numbed their senses and they started singing him superlative accolades. However, when he was shown the door, vitriolic insults like kumanyoko Amin kijambiya were visited upon him! If he had overthrown Obote and handed over power to civilians he would have been a hero to this day. But that was never his intention.
Although he ruled for only eight years he had already become so addicted to State House that he arrogated himself the title of ‘life president’. The longer a leader rules, the more unpopular he becomes. This is particularly so in Africa where most leaders know how to rise to the occasion but do not know when to sit down.
Such leaders eventually resort to tyranny and cunning to keep in power and most times their careers end disastrously.
Santiago da Silva
Kampala
This implies public consensus and objectivity. Would Idi Amin’s statue stand undisturbed in Kampala today if one had been erected? I do not see the wisdom of erecting a statue of an incumbent president. To me it smacks of cultic tendencies and indoctrination.
Whether people like a leader or not, who can dare pull down the statue of a sitting president, particularly in Africa? I can say with certitude that Nelson Mandela’s statue will stand tall and proud in Pretoria in his death because he has stood the test of time as a freedom fighter and leader.
He has earned himself a standing ovation globally because he did not go back upon the principles he fought for. The euphoria with which a leader is ushered into power is a far cry from how he leaves office. This is because most people are sychophants, opportunistic and hypocrites or outright cowards and will never tell him that “he is nakedâ€.
When Idi Amin came to power, the people’s hatred for Milton Obote had numbed their senses and they started singing him superlative accolades. However, when he was shown the door, vitriolic insults like kumanyoko Amin kijambiya were visited upon him! If he had overthrown Obote and handed over power to civilians he would have been a hero to this day. But that was never his intention.
Although he ruled for only eight years he had already become so addicted to State House that he arrogated himself the title of ‘life president’. The longer a leader rules, the more unpopular he becomes. This is particularly so in Africa where most leaders know how to rise to the occasion but do not know when to sit down.
Such leaders eventually resort to tyranny and cunning to keep in power and most times their careers end disastrously.
Santiago da Silva
Kampala