We are in the midst of Africa's Greatest War: A war of ideology

Unpacking Kenya's William Ruto and Burkina Faso's Ibrahim Traore's representation of the old and new guard

There’s a war going on in Africa and it’s not being fought with guns and bombs. It’s a war of ideology. A war of leadership. A war for the future of the continent. I recently posted a series of videos on my YouTube channel about Kenyan president William Ruto’s state visit to the US, the first of an African nation in 16 years, and a video on the president of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traore’s electrifying speech to new recruits of his country’s military. The stark contrast of these two men’s philosophies is the subject of this article and why I believe they represent the old and the new guard for Africa and the two paths we must choose between as Alkebulanians.

I reported on William Ruto being named by TIME Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world alongside Burna Boy.

TIME magazine names Burna Boy and William Ruto to world most influential list

At the time I wrote that, I felt wary of any African being put forward as positively ‘influential’ by Western media. It felt like they were saying ‘Here is an example of a good African and one you should emulate.’

I didn’t know anything about Ruto other than his push against the US dollar last year. The idea that he’s influential in Africa is ridiculous because most of us don’t know anything about the man. Who made that list? Who voted on it?

That is the power of narrative control. I instantly felt, ‘Hang on a second, why is this man being put forward like this out of nowhere when he was anti-west a few months before?’ Then I got my answer.

The invitation by Joe Biden didn’t surprise me and the timing was perfect. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso all had coups recently. Their new leaders are vehemently anti-West in their agendas and policies. All of them have expelled French troops from their countries and none have French embassies operational within their borders anymore. To compound this, Niger and Burkina Faso have formed stronger alliances with Russia and made pivotal deals for energy and infrastructure with the west’s arch-nemesis Vladimir Putin. France has no one else to blame but themselves as they have treated all their former colonies with little respect as they have exploited them for resources. Take a look at my video on the CFA Franc, if you haven’t already, to familiarise yourself with French Neo-Colonialism and why so many of these nations are rebelling.

The Franc Zone 🎥

It is thus no oversight that Western media has completely ignored the amazing achievements of Captain Traore within the first eighteen months of his governance. Here is a brief list of what this man has done for his people in that short time:

1. Reclaimed land from terrorists, enabling 160,000 people to return home.

2. Expelled the ineffective French military who were supposed to be addressing those security concerns but did not in all the years of their presence in Burkina Faso.

3. Launched the Presidential Initiative for Food Self-Sufficiency to reduce reliance on foreign aid.

4. Secured a deal with Russia to build Burkina Faso’s first nuclear power plant so that the country can have self-sustaining power for the first time in their history.

5. Started construction of the country's first gold refinery to process its primary export domestically. Another first in the country’s history.

6. Formed the Sahel Alliance with Mali and Niger for mutual protection against jihadist attacks and economic intimidation from the West or ECOWAS.

7. Reinstated an indigenous language as the official language, replacing French.

8. Mobilized 100,000 civilian forces to support the military.

9. Implemented a zero-tolerance anti-corruption policy for greater governmental transparency.

10. Declined a presidential salary, maintaining his regular wage military wage.

11. Lives modestly, avoiding the opulence of predecessors. No designer suits, luxury cars, mansions or private jets.

12. Survived nine assassination attempts in these first 18 months in charge.

Now why is this man not on the cover of TIME Magazine if the West actually cares about African people? Why is he being called a Junta leader? Some are even saying he’s a dictator.

In the meantime, William Ruto is on stage with Joe Biden. Ruto lives well and has the image of the classic African leader; Fancy cars, luxury suits, a private plane, nice house. Now it isn’t so much that I have an issue with this if your people are living as well as you are (they’re not in Kenya as far as I’m aware) but it is the fact this is the person America puts on stage is what shows exactly what the agenda is.

They. Do. Not. Care. About. Us.

When Mr. Ruto stood there and said he was pushing for a deeper partnership with America and implored them to re-open trade deals with them, I baulked. This man actually invoked all of Africa and spoke as if for us. William Ruto does not speak for Africa. Ibrahim Traore does.

"Of course the struggle will continue, and this is why I said that the day when the enemies of our country, the enemies of our people, praise us, then we should understand that we have betrayed our cause." Samora Machel, President of Mozambique, 1973

Samora Machel made this statement during the Mozambican War of Independence, which lasted from 1964 to 1974, as the country fought to gain independence from Portuguese colonial rule. Machel was a key leader in the liberation struggle and became the first president of Mozambique after its independence in 1975.

Now whether you want to call the US an enemy of Africa is up to you to decide. I know where I stand on that argument. However, they most definitely do not and have never had Africa’s best interest at heart. It is and always has been about the interests of American dominance and imperialism as is the case with the United Kingdom and France. Nothing has changed.

The negative propaganda against Asimi Goita of Mali, General Tiani of Niger and Captain Traore of Burkina Faso will intensify. They will be made out to be despots, dictators, abusers of human rights and when all that is embedded, they will be portrayed as clowns to be lampooned by all with access to audiences and a yearning for clicks and attention. Once that is established, the push for regime change and deliverance of ‘freedom and democracy’ will ensue. This is unless we are vigilant and sift through the chaff to find truth in the rough. Light in the darkness and direction in the intentional misdirection we will endure as African people who do not control our image or narrative. Captain Traore knows all of this and says so in his speech. He knows it is his reputation and that of his country that will be attacked next to lay a foundation that leads to where so many leaders that tried to liberate Africa led.

Ask yourself this question as we close this conversation; why did almost all the African leaders who tried to create autonomy and self-determination for their nations get assassinated or exiled? Mugabe may be the only one of that ilk who survived but by the end, he was on an island alone with all those that stood with him six feet deep. He was ridiculed in the West as a joke and all effort was made to make him appear as ineffective as he essentially became when all his African allies had been eliminated.

The more I have studied the history of my continent the more clarity I see. The simpler everything becomes. This is not rocket science.

At the same time, most of the leaders in Western history who fought for their nation’s autonomy and self-determination lived and were hailed as revolutionaries and heroes. Those who died in that fight for their people have statues of them in those countries with songs, stories, books and movies about them in the public domain.

Traore is not a coup plotter, a junta leader or a dictator. Could he become one? Of course. All men are corruptible, especially by power. However, now? He is a revolutionary in every sense of the word, and what he represents is what the West and the old guard of African leadership have always been afraid of; an aware and conscious African people who don’t ask for freedom. Who don’t beg for it. An aware African people who take their freedom because it is the right of every human who draws breath.

I only offer my perspective. I cannot claim to be right as much as I cannot claim to see the future. However, history does have a funny way of repeating itself.

Our enemy has always been the ignorance of our past and thus we are and always have been easy to manipulate because we have no idea who we are.

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