By Paul Onomuakpokpo
Since the contemporary
world is streaked with political leaders who ruthlessly betray their people’s
trust, humanity is not infrequently afflicted with amnesia that compels it to
hanker after its torturous past. That was a past when the rule of the strong
man was the norm.
 |
| *Castro |
Yes, such strong men recorded lofty
achievements. Some not only enlarged the territories of their countries through
the conquest of other lands, they exceptionally improved the standard of living
of their citizens. But in most cases when their caprices became the rules, the
regime of brutality that was often manifested in the torture, tears and death
of citizens besmeared their glorious interludes of achievements. Through
Genghis Khan, Charlemagne, Alexander, Chairman Mao to Adolf Hitler, humanity
has witnessed strong men whose single-handed pursuit of their visions led to
the development of their nations. But such people saw themselves as the sole
repositories of the patriotism and wisdom that could place their nations on a
stellar pedestal of development.
But we often dismiss the
accompanying brutality as an inevitable upshot of their quest for development
of their nations. Thus, for instance, we often refer to how through rarefied
leadership, Lee Kuan Yew transformed Singapore
What is clear as most people look
back at the life and times of Fidel Castro is that they swoon over the
development he brought to Cuba Cuba , a tiny North American country of about
11 million people, to a formidable force that could call the bluff of arrogant
powers like the United
States Cuba
