THE UNFINISHED STORY OF PATRICE EMERY LUMUMBA

The story of Patrice Emery Lumumba has captured my interest and wouldn’t just let go. If you could ask Google, it would tell you that his name has been topmost in my searches very recently. The tragedy of his story is what hits me more and makes me appreciate all the more, the fact that Nelson Madiba Mandela  lived long enough to see the independence of his country, a dream most dear to his heart. Unfortunately, this cannot be said of Patrice Emery Lumumba. He dreamt of a Congo free of the influence and hold of colonialism and especially of neo-colonialism.

Patrice Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first democratically elected prime minister of Congo. Lumumba played a major role in his country’s road to independence from Belgium, as the founder and leader of the mainstream Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) party. According to Ludo De Witte, the Belgian author of “The Assassination of Lumumba”, the killing of Patrice Lumumba is the most important assassination of the 20th century. And I agree with him judging especially by its impact on Congolese politics since then, his overall legacy as a Pan-Africanist and its historical importance on African neocolonialism.

On the wake of their independence, he optimistic of a new era for Congo said,

“But we, whom the vote of your elected representatives have given the right to direct our dear country, we who have suffered in our body and in our heart from colonial oppression, we tell you very loud, all that is henceforth ended. The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed, and our country is now in the hands of its own children.”

Although Congo was officially independent in 1960, the country was still virtually in the hands of the Belgian colonial masters-they still controlled their military and their economy. So, while this statement was an expression of his most passionate wish for his people, it was naively said and prematurely expressed. But who would blame him? Africa had just come out colonialism which proceeded the slave era; every right thinking man would naturally think that these masters should have gotten tired of raping, maiming and oppressing this continent. But no, they still had and still have more plans for us.

Thus, he never lived to see his dream come true or even have someone succeed him in his quest. Every other time I type his name in a search engine, the first thing that comes up is information about his murder and all the conspiracy theories that surrounds that event; all of them linking the Belgian and United States authorities. None of them we can verify for sure but we know it wasn’t a death that was of natural causes. And when he died, who took over? Moïse Tshombé who was ousted by Joseph Mobutu in 1965 by a second coup. Mobutu Sese Seko as he would later rename himself mercilessly looted and ruled Congo for thirty two years. During this senselessly authoritarian, kleptocratic and one party state reign, Congo suffered from uncontrolled inflation, a large debt, and massive currency devaluations.

 The correct question would be: Why would Congo come out of 80 years of slavery and torture and have another dictatorial leader for thirty two years, who would lead them into further, unimaginable misery?

Patrice Emery Lumumba died at the age of 35 but his life still speaks. He is a symbol of all that Africa still dreams of and still speaks of but yet not heard by her children. Spoken dreams the jackals continually scheme and execute plans to stifle. Mandela is still sung of in many parts, and indeed all parts of Africa and beyond; but who sings of Patrice Lumumba dreams and victories: great acts that would inspired greatness in the hearts of African youths. Now, we cower in fear; afraid to dream or speak of a certain life that truly belong to us.

If Patrice were to stand on our roads, what would he say to the youths of Ghana? What would he say to the youths of Nigeria? Indeed, what would he say to all the Youths of Africa? To run away in fear because the tall fair man is coming to punish all those who will not obey him; and to reward those who obey him with pains, death, hunger and more deaths. No, Patrice will stand on his feet and fight to the last blood of his drops on the soils of Congo and on Africa. A few days to his death, when sensing from the events taking place around him and by the treatments meted to him Patrice Lumumba deciphered that he was going to be assassinated soon, he bravely wrote this note to his wife:

“No brutality, mistreatment, or torture has ever forced me to ask for grace, for I prefer to die with my head high, my faith unshakable, and my confidence profound in the destiny of my country, rather than to live in submission and scorn of sacred principles. History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris, Washington, or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets.”

When I read these words, it brings tears to my eyes; it sends shivers down my spine. Those words are like the prophecy of the Africa we should fight and stand for; the Africa the world needs to hear about.

Well, I can hear Patrice Lumumba crying out loud to all the Patrice Lumumbas of Africa from Liberia, from Togo, from Cotonou, from South Africa, from Congo, and without a doubt from all parts of Africa to rise up and demand freedom for this continent. I hear him call us out of our ignorance, apathy and slumber and run the big uncle out of our systems. I hear him call out to us to finish up the story he began to tell in Congo in 1960, before his voice which was forcefully silenced in 1961. At age 35, he died but he must live and speak and win through all of us again. Let us finish the unfinished story of Patrice Lumumba.

Vivian Igbokwe wrote from Nigeria