USA/Africa Dialogue Series: No. 158: The Play-boy President

I was not surprised to read that the young Swazi King, in a play-boy fashion, is enjoying himself to the fullest in a nation, where poverty and hunger are commonplace. Why do I feel this way? It is because when I first encountered Swazi nationals in the USA in the mid-1970s, I was shocked by certain characteristics, including the acceptance of subservience by many (not all, of course) them! For example, in undergraduate and, later, graduate schools, several of the Swazi women I met made it abundantly clear that they came out of Swaziland to acquire higher education to return home and, if blessed, be able to "entice" their King to propose marriage to them. At that time it was the octogenarian King (Nwabuza?), the father of the current young Swazi King.

I was amazed that, in the 20th century, some sisters from Swaziland felt that way. That, indeed, was at the time that -- back in London and Stockholm -- many women from the continent were "competitively plucking out" of their suckets the very eyes of their African men (husbands, fiances and boyfriends). I still remember the case of an East African brother, whose wife blinded him totally with the hot stew from a frying pan (or skillet) for daring to ask why she did not cook when he was in class! In another incident, a West African woman castrated her husband, when he was asleep, for allegedly being unfaithful to her! In African vernacular, one would say that "these women from other parts of Africa didn't play"! Also, a West African woman, in London, allegedly stabbed her boyfriend to death with a butcher knife out of a jealous rage and, upon her arrest, refused to say a word to the police for several years! The deceased was a prominent Journalist in London! In the words of Brother Kissi, the ostentatious lifestyles of many leaders in Africa have become the subject of jokes; can the Sawzi King's expensive car incident another joke?

On another subject, I am seeking an answer to an issue. In all of my research on the overthrow of Ghana's late President Kwame Nkrumah, I have read (since 1966) that his government's overthrow (on February 24, 1966) was "encouraged" by the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies. The agencies, reportedly, included even that of Israel. In a new book, titled Killing Hope by William Blum (published by Zed Books of London), we are told that the U.S., British, German and French governments wanted Nkrumah out of office, but that his overthrow was, still, "encouraged" by their intelligence agencies but not planned and executed like the Allende coup in Chile. John Stockwell, a former CIA operative in his own fascinating book, titled In Search of Enemies, wrote likewise. Please, do you see any difference in both scenarios: actively "planning and overthrowing" and merely "encouraging" plotters to succeed (often with a huge budget) in overthrowing a government? I need your advice on that one, as it can assist me on my ongoing work! Thank you very much in advance, A.B. Assensoh.