I have repeated scores of time: Africa’s organized
crime dwarfs Sicily’s Mafia to the point Mafiosi look like Mediterranean
pygmies. That organized crime has hijacked Africa for 55 years, impeded human
development and reduced hundreds of millions to misery is no secret to anyone.
Independent international organizations, including the United Nations, have
published reports on the scavenging behaviors of Africa’s career criminals behind
presidential desks. That species, with its corrosive stomach acid, is not ready
to stop feeding on Africa’s fragile economies. Ask any African and you will
hear the same response: politics is the privileged venue to become rich. Translation:
if you join national organized crime via politics, chances are you will not
starve! That is the source of Africa’s tragedy.
It is Africans’ sole responsibility to devise
creative solutions to get rid of their career criminals behind presidential
desks. The task is not an easy one given the corruption web tyrants have woven
for over 55 years and the career criminals’ survival instincts. Given Africa’s
limited influence on world politics and transnational organized crime, Africans
must focus on the parts of the equation they have control over. In other words,
it is their responsibility to (1) set clear goals, i.e., dismantle and destroy domestic
organized crime and its many identifiable criminals, including those career
criminals behind presidential desks; (2) devise strategies and tactics to
eliminate all forms of tyranny; (3) carry out those strategies and tactics to create
dictatorship-free zones across the continent; (4) built institutions that strengthen
the rule of law, democracy, and human rights.
