West notorious for bullying countries

Probably one of the modern perplexities in international relations is the Euro-American habit of instructing or “advising” others, mostly Africans. In doing so, sometimes they look and actually may be innocent of the harm they inflict.

Many, however, know exactly what they are doing and it is not good. These people start with a belief that Africans are perpetual children to be instructed even in the most mundane of things.

For Africans, it becomes difficult to tell whether the instructor/advisor is a conniving malevolent or simply ignorant. The habit of instructing/advising became so entrenched over time that the Euros became addicted to giving instructions as a way of justifying their sense of self-importance and superiority to other peoples.

The addiction developed out of a Euro need to justify feeling superior to others and it goes back to the days of European mental and territorial liberation.

Having successfully expelled the Moors, the Euros then engaged in attempts to forget that they had been a subject people to the Muslims of North Africa.

The forgetting was done through forcing people to un-remember and to accept new “truths” about their brilliance and superiority over other people, downplaying evidence to the contrary, and exporting that sense of superiority through conquests and colonisation.

Africa was a victim of those “new truths” imposed through slave trade and colonisation.

The strategy was so effective that the Euros became addicted to giving instructions and their domineering attitude does not seem to have been affected by the termination of territorial colonialism.
Subsequently, there are many Africans in influential positions whose point of reference is always London or Washington irrespective of how ridiculous officials in these capitals are or sound.

Nkrumah popularised this phenomenon as neo-colonialism, initially symbiotic between the rulers of client states and master states but with master states giving instructions often at the expense of the client state.

The value of presidents, prime ministers, and ministers to neo-colonial powers is as long as they can be relied upon to keep fellow Africans down and to discredit those who raise questions about perceived exploitation. In return, they are showered with fake praises as “progressive” Africans, money for their political campaigns, and even lethal capacity to overpower potential rivals.

Their willingness to do what the master wants, however, does not save them when their usefulness is deemed to be gone. Explanations are plenty when such “leaders” dumped unceremoniously.

The success in building and dumping “leaders” emboldens the master states to become shrill in giving instructions. Among the examples of that reality is Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak who was repeatedly praised.

As Mubarak repeatedly followed advice to advance the interests of his masters, more demands were put on him. Since he was no longer needed, he was eventually put in a cage and Egypt is in a mess.

Being addicted to giving instructions, Euro powers are good at self-righteously imposing agenda on others probably to cover up domestic socio-economic challenges.

To placate domestic audiences, they blame problems, using crude language, partly on “aid” supposedly to Africans which should be cut.
Munene is a professor of History and International Relations at USIU-Nairobi.