HOW PRESIDENT AHIDJO JABBED AND ETHIOPIAN LEADER

President Ahmadou Ahidjo was Cameroon`s first president. He ruled the country for 24 years, then suddenly announced his resignation and withdrew from power. He handed power to his “constitutional successor”, Paul Biya (the current president of Cameroon) who at the time was Prime Minister. So, all in all, Ahidjo governed his country from 1958 to 1982.

Following the coup d’état, Mengistu and his acclites proclaimed a Socialist People’s Republic and as a result, espoused the Marxist-Leninist brand of politics. Other African countries that followed that path at the time include Benin, Burkina Faso, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Mozambique, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Tanzania and Egypt. Since this happened during the Cold War that pitted the Eastern Block led by the Soviet Union against the Western Block led by America, Mengistu Haile Mariam allied his country to Moscow.

Typically, leaders of Soviet States had a type of dressing that was akin to the tieless jumper-short that the Chinese Leader Mao Tso Tung of China (also a leftist country at the time) used to wear.

Alia Hyot in `How Socialism Works`, posits: “True socialists advocate a completely classless society, where the government controls all means of production and distribution of goods. Socialists believe this control is necessary to eliminate competition among the people and put everyone on a level playing field. Socialism is also characterized by the absence of private property. The idea is that if everyone works, everyone will reap the same benefits and prosper equally. Therefore, everyone receives equal earnings, medical care and other necessities.”

Capitalism on the other hand, according to Wikipedia is :” an economic system in which trade, industries, and the means of production are largely or entirely privately owned and operated for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labour and, in many models, competitive markets.^[3] In a capitalist economy, the parties to a transaction typically determine the prices at which assets, goods, and services are exchanged.^”

It is to be noted that the Soviet countries eventually reversed their socialist philosophies and embraced the capitalist one that had been embraced by the West previously. It is a well known fact that China has opened up and that not only has the Former Soviet Union dismantled the erstwhile Eastern Block, it has allowed the countries that were part of that union to become independent and “freely go west”. So, socialism as such has crumbled in Africa.

While all of these changes took place in Africa, President Ahidjo of Cameroon stuck to his guns and practiced the free economy and capitalist system. It is reported that once he arrived in Addis Ababa for a summit of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) and as he was being walked away from the airport by his host, President Mengistu Haile Mariam, Ahidjo noticed large statues of Soviet Leaders planted in strategic parts of Addis Ababa.  Bemused, he turned round and asked his host: ‘Who are these people? Are they your ancestors?”