The Uncloaking of a Tyrant: Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko was a tyrannical leader known for his corrupt government, brutality, and his narcissist nature. He was intelligent, ambitious, and educated despite his main drive of hunger for power and repressive administration. A government marked by corruption, but an exceptional leader who revealed unique strength even during the mutiny. Led by greed for power, without any recognition for the same people he chose to lead just months after the struggle and gaining the people’s freedom from the colonial power. An influential leader who won the trust and support of the United States together with other prominent western nations. Misuse of jurisdiction and use of public funds for the wealth acquisition …show more content…
One of his few surviving political opponents over the years has( had) been Etienne Tshisekedi, a former government minister who in 1980 tried to form an opposition political party, the union for Democracy and Social Progress. At a point ( after calling Mobutu a “ Zairian Caligula”) he was banished to a remote village and kept in internal exile until Amnesty international and several members of the U.S Congress publicly protested his detention ( Kelly, …show more content…
He further argued that it made Zaire people have a sense of nationality and an identity with the African culture more so after the colonial rule era. He was a totalitarian leader who failed to recognize all the existing parties in the country by only allowing MPR his party as the only legal party in Zaire (Kelly xiii). The land was threatened from the inside by the infertile politics that traded their country and fellow citizens for their gain. All that counted in his era was what his exercise of power in his government could bring him, which was made possible through the exploitation of the Congo population. Corruption was at its highest; the citizens were served based on their ability to pay bribes hence failing to care for the less privileged. This rendered the economic, financial, and social aspects of the nation in a disastrous situation. His dictatorial rule faced a lot of resistance from various individuals, students, and groups in the society together with those who had taken part in the former
Mobutu Sese Seko was a tyrannical leader known for his corrupt government, brutality, and his narcissist nature. He was intelligent, ambitious, and educated despite his main drive of hunger for power and repressive administration. A government marked by corruption, but an exceptional leader who revealed unique strength even during the mutiny. Led by greed for power, without any recognition for the same people he chose to lead just months after the struggle and gaining the people’s freedom from the colonial power. An influential leader who won the trust and support of the United States together with other prominent western nations. Misuse of jurisdiction and use of public funds for the wealth acquisition …show more content…
One of his few surviving political opponents over the years has( had) been Etienne Tshisekedi, a former government minister who in 1980 tried to form an opposition political party, the union for Democracy and Social Progress. At a point ( after calling Mobutu a “ Zairian Caligula”) he was banished to a remote village and kept in internal exile until Amnesty international and several members of the U.S Congress publicly protested his detention ( Kelly, …show more content…
He further argued that it made Zaire people have a sense of nationality and an identity with the African culture more so after the colonial rule era. He was a totalitarian leader who failed to recognize all the existing parties in the country by only allowing MPR his party as the only legal party in Zaire (Kelly xiii). The land was threatened from the inside by the infertile politics that traded their country and fellow citizens for their gain. All that counted in his era was what his exercise of power in his government could bring him, which was made possible through the exploitation of the Congo population. Corruption was at its highest; the citizens were served based on their ability to pay bribes hence failing to care for the less privileged. This rendered the economic, financial, and social aspects of the nation in a disastrous situation. His dictatorial rule faced a lot of resistance from various individuals, students, and groups in the society together with those who had taken part in the former