Patrice Lumumba

(Photos Courtesy of Google)

It is quite unfortunate that people who have ideas are always the first to be killed. And more often than not they are killed by their own people. They are seen as threats because they have visions and want to see others prosper and not themselves. Those who are greedy and want more power put blame on them, insult them , humiliate them and more often than not exterminate them so that they can continue feeding at the expense of others.

In Patrice Lumumba's Last letter he saw a vision for Congo, he prayed that one day it will be beautiful and that everyone will live in peace and harmony. He wanted what was best for the Congolese and this made him a threat. He wanted change and had a vision of uniting the Congolese under one government but he was referred to as 'Satan'.

It is a really sad and angering story to know that Africans were and are still treated as idiots who need the West to survive. The moment we break the ties, the leader orchestrating the breakup lose people's support and are killed by them including friends and associates who backed him up.

Africa in a sense is dying; famine, hunger, terrorism, xenophobic attacks, civil war, natural calamities and assassinations are the order of the day as minerals are squandered and become depreciated day by day. We are becoming more western and forgetting our values and identity.

(Gado Cartoons)

I appreciate all what the Western nations have done, but we can never be like them. First of all we are black. Second we do not have visions for ourselves and follow them blindly. Thirdly we do not know ourselves and thus copy what they do yet it does not necessarily work for us. Fourth we are content, as long as we can feed our family and have good houses and cars we cannot stop to think about developing ourselves. Fifth we are so over dependent on what we get from outside we fail to appreciate our own alongside that we have gotten.

Patrice Lumumba stood up for his people. He wanted to make a difference in Congo. He knew that he was stepping on people's toes, but he wanted to see the vision he had for his people become a reality. He knew he was going to die, but he was not afraid and the people who killed him knew it. Even after his death, they fear he will come back from the dead.

People can be killed but ideas remain alive forever.