In Congo, history tends to repeat itself too often

Former Zairean President, Mobutu Sese Seko, had a knack of making bombastic speeches full of chest thumping aimed at giving his subjects something to cling to and forget their woes. He managed to hypnotise his people for 32 years as they wallowed in lethargy as he amassed a fortune. One of his famous phrases was that Africa was shaped like a revolver, and Zaire was the trigger. He, for once, wasn’t far off the mark. Mobutu’s talents,– or lack of them for that matter, seems to have rubbed off his successors. Instead of addressing the country’s problems, they create more to camouflage their inefficiency in the hope of getting another scapegoat for their shortcomings.