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Caveat Emptor
In the 1800s
All through the 1900s to independence,
The British drove a wedge
Into our oneness,
The schooled and our ancestral dynasties.
They used the philosophy of Lord Lugard[i]
A deception-inspired wisdom
A demon we failed to discern and exorcise
Because we were naïve and preoccupiedly
Self-centered, myopic and small empire builders.
Then came the days of mate me ho;[ii]
In those days we invoked mayhem
And self-inflicted it
Deepening the political gap created by the UGCC/CPP[iii] divide;
A socio-economic-political gorge
Which mutates with chameleon dexterity
Over our four Republics.
Now we have a gargantuan sea monster turtle
Which had survived millennia civilizations
Burrowing into our beach sand and planting innumerable eggs
In the space of our unsophisticated hospitality;
I wonder whether we would have pacing space
When the eggs are hatched in the new world season,
May we not become tenants in our ancestral heritage.
Like simpletons we’ve led him into the privacy of our land
To see our wealth in the ancient groves; an unpardonable error.
Like ego-bloated King Hezekiah[iv]
We have shown him all that is our wealth.
Shameless, he scooped the gold crumbs
Don Diego D’ Azambuja left at La Mina.
He, covertly, is closing the noose around our politico-economic necks
While we trust he is helping our dressing with golden jewelry.
Like spoilt children we keep dangling our necks securely in the noose!
Soon we will be throttled.
Nota Bene!
Time was when he was like us, a poor third world continent
Time is he is unlike us, a rich first world continent;
He never touts his ancient imperial past
But it is a cough that cannot be hemmed in!
CAVEAT EMPTOR! CAVEAT EMPTOR! CAVEAT EMPTOR!
Brothers, it is not enough to intellectualize about our shortcomings
Which is a symptom of our typhoid fever,
We must end the mental epilepsy
We must stop our impulsive decisions!
We must raise the consciousness of our masses
To break the African dependency syndrome.
The man from the West came with bread and cheese
Soon it became our addictive stable food,
China has come with a fishing hook covered with financial bait
We keep swallowing the line and sinker
Soon our intestines would be entangled around the hook
We may discover too late
WE HAVE BEEN FISHED!
