The Nation (Nairobi)
COLUMN
July 19, 2003
Posted to the web July 20, 2003

By David Makali / Beyond Politics
Nairobi

In a rather absurd way, the recent visit to Africa by US President George Bush lived up to the billing. Now back in Washington DC, it is doubtful if Mr Bush is more enlightened about the continent than before his sojourn.

The man hardly spent time on the African soil and, going by African wisdom - as enunciated by my colleague Charles Onyango-Obbo - his tour cannot qualify to be called a visit. An African visit is incomplete without sampling the hospitality of a special meal prepared by your host. Any excuses are condescending and contemptuous.

Now it is not in the interest of American presidents to attend to such folksy protocols. Bush was here for our needs and to pity us? Yet, from Senegal to Uganda, from South Africa to Nigeria, his visit seems to have provoked such anti-American outrage that should jolt Washington into some serious soul-searching.

Thanks to the Internet, I have been receiving correspondence on my list serve about how the Big Man's tour went in the places he passed. Let us take a brief stock.

You have probably read of how our neighbours, Uganda, spent nearly Sh250 million to prepare for a four-hour Bush stopover at Entebbe airport. A huge contingent of his Secret Service had been deployed to the country to literally pave the way for the visit, taking over the airport and clearing the area of humanity and vegetation in advance.

On the day he hopped in, last Saturday, regular flights to the Entebbe airport were either rescheduled or rerouted to elsewhere. His entourage of four planeloads annexed the airport and its surroundings. Not even local journalists were allowed near the man.

President Bush was dashed to a nearby home for children infected with Aids and stared at them for the duration of a short call to express his solidarity and encounter the Aids. Then he was back to the airport and shoo to Nigeria where they say he was a guest of President Olusegun Obasanjo and his family! The Ugandan opposition was left waxing about the whole episode.

Demonstrations in Kampala against the visit were nipped in the bud by ample security. What did they expect when the cowboy from Texas comes to town? He takes over your streets and displaces nature.

But woe befell the Senegalese, one of the lucky few countries to be visited by President Bush. The following account by a West African woman simply gave me goose pimples.

"Dearest friends," she wrote, "as you probably know, this week George Bush is visiting Africa. Starting with Senegal, he arrived this morning at 7.20 and left at 1.30 pm. This visit has been such an ordeal that a petition is being circulated for this Tuesday, July 8, to be named Dependency Day."

She goes on to narrate the horrendous experience in anecdotes: "More than 1,500 persons were arrested and put in jail on Thursday and Monday. Hopefully they will be released now that the Big Man is gone. US Army's planes are flying day and night over Dakar. The noise they make is so loud that one hardly sleeps at night.

"[There were] about 700 security people from the US, with their dogs and their cars. Senegalese security forces were not allowed to come near the US President. All trees in places where Mr Bush will pass have been cut. Some of them have more than 100 years.

"All roads going downtown (where hospitals, businesses, schools are located) were closed from Monday night to Tuesday at 3 pm. This means that we could not go to our offices or schools. Sick people were also obliged to stay at home. National exams for high schools that started on Monday [were] postponed until Wednesday."

There are moments when we imagine that we are independent until Uncle Sam steps on our sovereignty. If Codou is to be believed, Mr Bush's visit to Senegal rekindled melancholic memories of slavery indeed.

"As you may know Goree is a small Island facing Dakar where, from the 15th to the 19th century, African slaves to be shipped to America were parked in special houses called slave houses," she reminds us.

"One of these houses has become a museum to remind humanity about this dark period and has been visited by kings, queens, presidents. Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, and before them, Nelson Mandela, the Pope, and many other distinguished guests or ordinary tourists visited it without bothering the islanders. But for "security reasons" this time, the local population was chased out of their houses from 5 to 12 am.

"They were forced by the American security to leave their houses and everything open, including their wardrobes to be searched by special dogs brought from the US. The ferry that links the island to Dakar was topped and offices and businesses were closed for the day.

Angry Senegalese organised marches to protest at the disruption of their lives and the demeanour of their visitor but they did not go far. Clearly, the conduct of the United States offends the old wisdom that, when you are strong, you do not have to throw your weight around to be noticed.

Although the United States is trying hard to portray itself as a caring state, its unilateralism and arrogant actions continue to communicate a different message altogether. The righteous tone of Bush statements is prompting questions about America's unbridled quest to dominate the world.

In Mr Bush's garb, you will find it implied that the United States is God's anointed nation to save the world and he, the chosen instrument of that misplaced mission. Bush's statements make it improbable that you can stop America without first halting the man's search for greatness.

Bush intends to achieve greatness by making Americans and the rest of the world feel more vulnerable than they are really, while he passes off as the arch-guardian. Considering the after-taste left in the trail of his visits, you will agree that we are still the better off without his blessings or protection.

Happy birthday, Madiba! You have given something to the world that not even weapons of mass stupidity can destroy! You are the greatest of the generation and the moral force of the century. You are Africa's moral challenge to the world and the personification of triumph over human suffering.

Mr Makali is the director of the Media Institute.