Congo being
an African country, the tradition of respect for the elderly and authorities is
respected and equally abused. There are nonetheless some aspects which in my opinion
are good. For example in a family, a junior can’t call his/her elder brother or
sister, but only by the name of “yaya”. But the use of yaya has now been used
and abused by the elite, especially those in power. For the fact that, you are a “Yaya”, doesn’t shield
you from criticism, however in Congo it does, in particular if you are a member
of the ruling PCT. In politics, in
particular within the ruling party, older members have held a dominating role
for long because, whenever younger party members want to challenge their long
held positions, they almost always invoke the fact that, they are the “Yayas”.
And as such, any challenge to their position is transformed as being tantamount
to non respect of tradition. This attitude is not only found within the ruling
party, but also within the opposition and civil society organisations, where
you have the same old men heading major political formations with no prospect
of retiring even though they are short of ideas. It is this travesty of African
culture that some elite use in order to maintain or keep their privileges, the
privileges of a “happy few” at the detriment of the majority.
The love for France
Most
Congolese love France to a point that, as already mentioned above, even those elite
who have pilfered state treasury would want to spend their booty in France and
nowhere else in spite the risk of arrest. Unfortunately
for them, since some western governments have started hesitatingly seizing
their plunders, they are forced to relocate them in countries that are alien to
France’s new policy or to countries that doesn’t have the French touch that
they so crave. There is a saying in
Congo, especially in southern Congo, that: “to die without seeing Paris is a
sin”. This attitude is predominant with the people of the Pool region, who are paradoxically
among the most educated people in the country. However, their higher level of
education compared to those who are currently governing the country has not
prevented them from considering themselves as being French or closer to the
French, than to their compatriots from the north. Furthermore, some extreme fringe
of the Greater Southern parts of Congo does compare or assimilate northern
Congolese to Cameroonians or Central Africans. Anyway, Jacques Opangault, a northern
politician for reasons already explained, had even flirted with the thought of
breaking northern from the rest of the country to attach it to Central African
Republic. And part of northern Congo was part of German Cameroon until
1916. However the disdain of the people
from the greater south of Congo toward the greater northern Congolese has got
nothing to do with the latter reasons but could be traced to reasons already
mentioned.
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