The Monitor (Kampala) January 4, 2000

By Ssekitooleko Deo

Kampala - I wish to agree with Charles Onyango-Obbo's article, "Slave Trade Took Our Best, Left Us Chaff" (The Monitor Dec. 08). I go a step further to suggest that if Africa is to rediscover itself, it must acquire new, improved breeds of not only plants and animal species but also humans.

This can be done through cross-breeding with superior human beings from other continents; inviting our relatives, the Afro-Americans, to come back and occupy our highest political and economic positions, and recalling the colonialists to govern us for a specific period. The latter can be done by privatising the political structure of our governments.

With the advent of genetic engineering, we have seen increased milk production, eaten chicken of only two months old, and acquired clonal coffee which matures in a couple of years.

All this has been possible because the Agriculture ministry recognised the potential of new improved breeds of crops and animals.

The same formula can work with human beings.

However retrogressive it may appear, there is no doubt that Europeans have been the best breed of human species, followed by Asians.

At the bottom of the list are black Africans.

The African morphology, dark colouration, greed, lack of intellect, failure to internalise theories and lack of interest in preserving our best things clearly show that we are an inferior people.

It is universally accepted that any specie that practices cannibalism against members of its kind is primitive. Look at African politicians, butchering whole ethnic groups, starving whole populations.

Since it is beyond doubt that almost all Africans in positions of power tend to misuse it, it is logical to conclude that there is a problem with the stock from which our leaders come.

Even our intellectuals, public servants and business people are of poor stock.

In recent times, the American breed of human species has out-competed the European breed, the main reason being that the American stock is an improved one.

It is a mixture of the Europe's, Asia's, and Africa's best breeds.

Americans continue to improve their human stock through the Green Lottery project whereby they admit into the US at least 60,000 superior individuals from all over the world.

Now, if Americans are so serious about the quality of humans entering their country, how could they have bought chaff as slaves, leaving the best behind?

Let's face the fact that the best were taken, we are descendants of the chaff and that is why we cannot live at peace with ourselves and cannot exploit our potential to the full.

I wish to suggest that if Africans were evolving at the same pace with Europeans, then those Africans who had attained a high evolutionary level; both social and biological, were taken away as slaves and only chaff remained.

Why is it that all African leaders can't think beyond their life spans?

Almost all of them made constitutions which suited them but not their nations.

They introduced police regimes, enriched themselves at the expense of their nations and jailed or murdered their political opponents.

Kwame Nkrumah, Milton Obote, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Houphouet- Boigny, Kamuzu Banda, etc. were all descendants of the chaff.

When these sons of the chaff failed to fulfil the independence promises and abused power massively, they were toppled by army generals who became even worse.

The generals killed, raped, and some even practised cannibalism - Jean Bedel Bokassa, Idi Amin, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Mobutu Sese Seko, Sani Abacha, etc.

Finally, the generals have been replaced with the so-called "new breed" of African leaders -- Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame, Laurent Kabila, Isias Aferweki and Meles Zenawi.

These leaders mainly captured power through popular revolutions. But many of them have since formed one party systems, in some cases disguised as movements. They have personalised armies, fought each other, looked on helplessly as their relatives plunder national treasuries and worse still, they are not prepared to quit power peacefully.

The African intelligentsia is another category of chaff that pollutes the African environment.

Most of our professors are opportunists and cannot defend their opinions.

They change like chameleons and their political beliefs don't depend on research - Apolo Nsibambi, George Kanyeihamba, Tarsis Kabwegyere, Adonia Tiberondwa, Edward Rugumayo, etc.

It is in fact amazing that a person of modest education like Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh lectures them on development issues and is the only one has organised his beliefs into a philosophy!

Whatever we may say, therefore, the fact remains our stock is of a poor quality and there is an urgent need for "restocking."

The Monitor - Kampala. Distributed via Africa News Online (www.africanews.org).