Opinion / Columnist
When a nation suffers under a corrupt regime, the military stands with the oppressed
5 hrs ago |
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Time and time again, history presents its lessons - but the power-intoxicated never learn.
There comes a time in the life of every nation when the weight of corruption, greed, and misrule becomes too unbearable for its citizens to carry.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
That moment appears to be unfolding in Madagascar, where ordinary people, long crushed under the heel of an uncaring leadership, are now demanding justice, dignity, and a better life.
For weeks, thousands have poured into the streets, led mostly by the youth, fed up with years of economic hardship, blackouts, and joblessness.
The government's attempts to suppress the demonstrations - by reshuffling its cabinet and deploying security forces - have only deepened public anger.
Reports of soldiers joining protesters and sections of the army declaring neutrality reveal a shift that few regimes ever anticipate: when the very institution relied upon to enforce repression begins to side with the oppressed.
The president, now reportedly in hiding after what has been described as an assassination attempt, finds himself abandoned by some of those who once ensured his survival.
This dramatic turn of events offers a profound lesson to all nations suffering under similarly oppressive systems.
When the people rise against tyranny, even the might of the state cannot stand in their way forever.
Madagascar's turmoil speaks to a universal truth: no government can perpetually trample on the dignity of its citizens and expect peace to reign.
We have seen the ruling elite living in grotesque luxury, insulated from the daily struggles of their citizens, while the majority languish in abject poverty.
They drive the most expensive cars, dine in lavish hotels, and send their children to foreign schools - all financed by the flagrant looting of national resources.
Meanwhile, the masses scrounge for food, endure power cuts, queue for hours for water, and watch helplessly as public hospitals collapse.
Yet those in authority continue to speak the hollow language of "economic growth" and "development," divorced from the cruel realities endured by the people.
They now govern through fear, repression, and deceit.
The promise of independence has curdled into a nightmare of corruption and inequality.
Political elites accumulate obscene wealth while citizens are reduced to paupers in their own land.
The result is a widening gulf between rulers and the ruled, a chasm that inevitably leads to social and political upheaval.
When the majority of citizens live below the poverty datum line - barely able to feed their families, send their children to school, or keep a roof over their heads - they eventually reach a breaking point.
A hungry and desperate population has nothing more to lose.
There is only so long that people can be told to tighten their belts while watching those in power grow fatter.
There is only so long that parents can endure the pain of losing children to preventable diseases because public hospitals lack basic medication, diagnostic equipment, and trained staff.
I witnessed this tragedy first-hand when my own mother recently passed away in a public hospital.
Essential medication, vital scans and lab tests could only be accessed at private facilities charging fees beyond the reach of most citizens.
The health workers, underpaid and demoralized, soldiered on as best they could in impossible circumstances.
Yet those in power receive treatment abroad, in well-equipped hospitals financed by taxpayers whose own mothers must perish in dilapidated wards.
There is no greater betrayal of the people than this.
And still, the rulers do not learn.
They have become intoxicated by power, convinced of their own invincibility.
They use the machinery of the state not to serve the people but to enrich themselves and to silence dissent.
They muzzle the press, harass activists, and manipulate elections.
They surround themselves with sycophants who tell them what they wish to hear, not what they need to know.
They deploy the military, secret services, and the police to crush protests, beat unarmed civilians, and protect their ill-gotten privileges.
But history teaches us that brute force cannot forever suppress the will of the people.
The events in Madagascar are a living testimony to this truth.
Even the most loyal security units can awaken to the realization that they, too, are part of the suffering nation.
The men and women in uniform are drawn from the very families crushed by the same oppressive system.
Their brothers and sisters are jobless; their parents depend on failing hospitals; their children attend overcrowded, under-resourced schools.
But the soldiers themselves are not spared.
They endure low pay, delayed or inadequate allowances, insufficient supplies, and harsh working conditions.
They face the same economic hardship as the rest of the population, struggling to provide for their own households, pay for basic healthcare, and secure education for their children.
Their uniforms do not shield them from hunger, disease, or the daily indignities imposed by a corrupt and failing state.
In living the same misery as the citizens they are meant to protect, they too are pushed toward the realization that loyalty to oppression cannot last when justice and dignity are denied.
When the people rise, the soldiers, too, must confront the moral question of whether to defend a corrupt regime or to stand with their own suffering families.
When a nation suffers under a corrupt regime, the military - if it truly serves the people - must not be an instrument of oppression.
It must remember that its ultimate duty is to protect the nation, not a handful of elites.
Soldiers are patriots before they are politicians' bodyguards.
They swore allegiance to the flag, not to individuals.
When leaders use them to defend corruption, injustice, and greed, they are being abused.
That is why, time and again, we have seen that when oppression becomes unbearable, even the most feared regimes crumble under the weight of their own arrogance.
It is not always about seizing power, but about restoring dignity and justice.
When the state collapses under corruption and citizens are stripped of their voice, it sometimes falls to the conscience of the military to say, "enough is enough."
Those in power must learn this lesson before it is too late.
A government that rules through intimidation and deceit is digging its own grave.
The youth, who make up the majority in most African nations, have grown disillusioned.
They see no future in systems that reward loyalty over merit, corruption over integrity, and mediocrity over excellence.
They are educated but unemployed, patriotic but impoverished.
Many are forced to flee their homeland in search of dignity abroad - only to end up doing menial jobs that still pay better than anything they could find back home.
This is not the freedom they were promised.
A rebellion need not always be fought with guns and bullets.
It begins with a shift in consciousness, when the people refuse to be cowed any longer.
It begins when the youth stop believing the lies, when workers withdraw their labour, when citizens stand in solidarity to reclaim their stolen future.
It begins when the military, too, awakens to the reality that it is part of the people, not apart from them.
Let the rulers of our continent take heed.
You cannot forever ride roughshod over your citizens, stealing from them, humiliating them, and expecting their silence.
You cannot impoverish millions while enriching a few and believe that the guns will always protect you.
The military lives among the people.
Their pain is its pain.
Their hunger is its hunger.
Their despair is its despair.
One day, the oppressed will rise.
And when they do, the soldiers - those same men and women once ordered to suppress them - will march alongside them.
Because no weapon can defeat a nation united in its quest for justice.
The arrogance of corrupt rulers blinds them to this inevitable truth.
But the current uprising in Madagascar has reminded us all: when a nation suffers under a corrupt regime, the military will, sooner or later, stand with the oppressed.
One day is one day.
© Tenda Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +2263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
There comes a time in the life of every nation when the weight of corruption, greed, and misrule becomes too unbearable for its citizens to carry.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
That moment appears to be unfolding in Madagascar, where ordinary people, long crushed under the heel of an uncaring leadership, are now demanding justice, dignity, and a better life.
For weeks, thousands have poured into the streets, led mostly by the youth, fed up with years of economic hardship, blackouts, and joblessness.
The government's attempts to suppress the demonstrations - by reshuffling its cabinet and deploying security forces - have only deepened public anger.
Reports of soldiers joining protesters and sections of the army declaring neutrality reveal a shift that few regimes ever anticipate: when the very institution relied upon to enforce repression begins to side with the oppressed.
The president, now reportedly in hiding after what has been described as an assassination attempt, finds himself abandoned by some of those who once ensured his survival.
This dramatic turn of events offers a profound lesson to all nations suffering under similarly oppressive systems.
When the people rise against tyranny, even the might of the state cannot stand in their way forever.
Madagascar's turmoil speaks to a universal truth: no government can perpetually trample on the dignity of its citizens and expect peace to reign.
We have seen the ruling elite living in grotesque luxury, insulated from the daily struggles of their citizens, while the majority languish in abject poverty.
They drive the most expensive cars, dine in lavish hotels, and send their children to foreign schools - all financed by the flagrant looting of national resources.
Meanwhile, the masses scrounge for food, endure power cuts, queue for hours for water, and watch helplessly as public hospitals collapse.
Yet those in authority continue to speak the hollow language of "economic growth" and "development," divorced from the cruel realities endured by the people.
They now govern through fear, repression, and deceit.
The promise of independence has curdled into a nightmare of corruption and inequality.
Political elites accumulate obscene wealth while citizens are reduced to paupers in their own land.
The result is a widening gulf between rulers and the ruled, a chasm that inevitably leads to social and political upheaval.
When the majority of citizens live below the poverty datum line - barely able to feed their families, send their children to school, or keep a roof over their heads - they eventually reach a breaking point.
A hungry and desperate population has nothing more to lose.
There is only so long that people can be told to tighten their belts while watching those in power grow fatter.
There is only so long that parents can endure the pain of losing children to preventable diseases because public hospitals lack basic medication, diagnostic equipment, and trained staff.
I witnessed this tragedy first-hand when my own mother recently passed away in a public hospital.
Essential medication, vital scans and lab tests could only be accessed at private facilities charging fees beyond the reach of most citizens.
The health workers, underpaid and demoralized, soldiered on as best they could in impossible circumstances.
Yet those in power receive treatment abroad, in well-equipped hospitals financed by taxpayers whose own mothers must perish in dilapidated wards.
There is no greater betrayal of the people than this.
And still, the rulers do not learn.
They have become intoxicated by power, convinced of their own invincibility.
They use the machinery of the state not to serve the people but to enrich themselves and to silence dissent.
They muzzle the press, harass activists, and manipulate elections.
They surround themselves with sycophants who tell them what they wish to hear, not what they need to know.
They deploy the military, secret services, and the police to crush protests, beat unarmed civilians, and protect their ill-gotten privileges.
But history teaches us that brute force cannot forever suppress the will of the people.
The events in Madagascar are a living testimony to this truth.
Even the most loyal security units can awaken to the realization that they, too, are part of the suffering nation.
The men and women in uniform are drawn from the very families crushed by the same oppressive system.
Their brothers and sisters are jobless; their parents depend on failing hospitals; their children attend overcrowded, under-resourced schools.
They endure low pay, delayed or inadequate allowances, insufficient supplies, and harsh working conditions.
They face the same economic hardship as the rest of the population, struggling to provide for their own households, pay for basic healthcare, and secure education for their children.
Their uniforms do not shield them from hunger, disease, or the daily indignities imposed by a corrupt and failing state.
In living the same misery as the citizens they are meant to protect, they too are pushed toward the realization that loyalty to oppression cannot last when justice and dignity are denied.
When the people rise, the soldiers, too, must confront the moral question of whether to defend a corrupt regime or to stand with their own suffering families.
When a nation suffers under a corrupt regime, the military - if it truly serves the people - must not be an instrument of oppression.
It must remember that its ultimate duty is to protect the nation, not a handful of elites.
Soldiers are patriots before they are politicians' bodyguards.
They swore allegiance to the flag, not to individuals.
When leaders use them to defend corruption, injustice, and greed, they are being abused.
That is why, time and again, we have seen that when oppression becomes unbearable, even the most feared regimes crumble under the weight of their own arrogance.
It is not always about seizing power, but about restoring dignity and justice.
When the state collapses under corruption and citizens are stripped of their voice, it sometimes falls to the conscience of the military to say, "enough is enough."
Those in power must learn this lesson before it is too late.
A government that rules through intimidation and deceit is digging its own grave.
The youth, who make up the majority in most African nations, have grown disillusioned.
They see no future in systems that reward loyalty over merit, corruption over integrity, and mediocrity over excellence.
They are educated but unemployed, patriotic but impoverished.
Many are forced to flee their homeland in search of dignity abroad - only to end up doing menial jobs that still pay better than anything they could find back home.
This is not the freedom they were promised.
A rebellion need not always be fought with guns and bullets.
It begins with a shift in consciousness, when the people refuse to be cowed any longer.
It begins when the youth stop believing the lies, when workers withdraw their labour, when citizens stand in solidarity to reclaim their stolen future.
It begins when the military, too, awakens to the reality that it is part of the people, not apart from them.
Let the rulers of our continent take heed.
You cannot forever ride roughshod over your citizens, stealing from them, humiliating them, and expecting their silence.
You cannot impoverish millions while enriching a few and believe that the guns will always protect you.
The military lives among the people.
Their pain is its pain.
Their hunger is its hunger.
Their despair is its despair.
One day, the oppressed will rise.
And when they do, the soldiers - those same men and women once ordered to suppress them - will march alongside them.
Because no weapon can defeat a nation united in its quest for justice.
The arrogance of corrupt rulers blinds them to this inevitable truth.
But the current uprising in Madagascar has reminded us all: when a nation suffers under a corrupt regime, the military will, sooner or later, stand with the oppressed.
One day is one day.
© Tenda Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +2263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
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