FATHERS OF NATIONS KCSE ESSAY QUESTION
A country that has bad leadership is riddled with a myriad of problems. Citizens living in such countries bear the brunt of the failed leadership. Melusi and others live in agony because of the bad leadership in Zimbabwe.
Citizens living in a country with failed leadership are poor. At 1:30 p.m., Chaminuka Restaurants is empty. It only has two customers Melusi and Longway. People do not eat out anymore unless a foreigner is footing the bill. The empty restaurant has a mournful look of a funeral parlour. This is because the economy had crashed so people had no money. Melusi looks darker than usual because of hunger. After polishing off his chicken, he also eats Longway’s rejected meal of steak and mashed potato. Zimbabwe’s leader had bombed the economy back to the stone age. Melusi is forced to relocate from the suburbs to the slums because he cannot afford rent anymore. Most of the urban poor live in the slums. They do not support the current leadership. They support the opposition. The failed leadership is responsible for the poverty in Zimbabwe.
Negative ethnicity in Zimbabwe is a result of failed leadership. The largest ethnic group is Shona and the other is Ndebele. The national anthem is translated into the two languages. Longway is shocked to learn that the new ruler refused to appoint Melusi minister merely on ethnic grounds. The leader is Shona while Melusi is Ndebele. The ruler also fires the leader of Melusi’s group because of tribalism. A cache of weapons materialised at his home and he was accused of allegedly plotting a coup. The Ndebele protest against the dismissal of their leader. Anti-government unrest erupts in the southern part of Zimbabwe. They attack government supporters. The government retaliates by sending their Gukurahundi – a Shona word for first rainstorm – to wash off the Ndebele insurgents. Although they fought a common enemy together, the leader who is Shona now regards the Ndebele as rivals to be eliminated. Only fellow Shona could be trusted. Tribalism is as a result of failed leadership in Zimbabwe.
During the retaliation against the anti-government protests, the government kills many people. The Ndebele insurgency against the government attracts retribution from the Shona government. Their leader had been humiliated after an unceremonious dismissal from government. They go on a rampage attacking government supporters. The Gukurahundi attack and kill their the Ndebele in retaliation. Melusi is teary when he recounts how his wife was murdered by the fifth brigade. She was strangled and splayed on the kitchen floor as if to taunt him. After desperately looking for her everywhere he found her dead, her eyes bulging. He cries a lot and dissolves in tears recounting this sad story. The failed leadership is responsible for the murder of innocent civilians.
Although Zimbabwe was doing badly and everything spelled the ruler’s defeat in the elections, he still won by ninety-nine percent of the votes because he rigged the results. Melusi formed the New Independence Party – NIP, ran for presidency and still failed. The transition government was to aid a peaceful passage to an elected government. The economy crashed under the leader’s watch. The disjointed opposition was no match for the bomber. The election was a sham and he had a landslide victory. This resulted in disaffection. Failed leadership results in election malpractices and needless to say, the citizens suffer.
The urban poor are evicted from their homes in the slums because of supporting the opposition. The government uses Murambatsivina – a Shona word for expelling the trash to tear down houses of the slum dwellers and evict the residents. Melusi and others are forcefully evicted without prior warning or alternative accommodation. The leadership did not care if they lived or died. The bomber claimed the aim of the eviction was to prevent diseases and curb crime but in real sense it was to punish the poor who supported the opposition. Longway acknowledges that Melusi went through hell. Melusi says Murambatsvina chewed him up and spit him out. Failed leadership is intolerant and inconsiderate to those who do not support it.
Businesses were doing badly because of inflation. The inflation was eroding incomes faster than they could grow. Melusi and other people had no money. He is forced to move from a clean suburb and relocate to a slum in a poor part of Harare. He smiles but his eyes betray the sorrow in his soul.
In conclusions, citizens suffer innumerable problems as a result of poor leadership in their countries.
