Last night I got a chance to watch the video of the torture of former Liberian President Sgt. Samuel Doe.

Sergeant Doe was later killed by his political enemies. But it was horrible seeing soldiers laugh at sergeant Doe’s pleas for mercy and the eventual cutting off of his ears, head and legs.

But in the film the soldiers who killed Doe told him that he refused to listen whenever people would advise him. I thought about how Col. Muamar Ghadaffi of Libya was killed and Laurent Gbagbo was captured in the cave.

You see, sometimes it is fine not to listen to others, but is it forgivable not to listen to yourself? Why doesn’t African leaders like president Museveni ever listen to himself in his earlier speeches? Unlike Samuel Doe, i hope those who will in future get African leaders in corner spares their ears, because they might need to listen to the court prosecutors and ICC proceedings. Uganda’s main opposition leader, Col. Kizza Besigye says one day president Museveni may be like Doe, Gadaffi, Laurent Gbagbo or late Sadam Hussein of Iraq.

Walakira Nyanzi

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