Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'Don't you believe it, Lev. Give him half a chance, and he'd be . . .'
'He's hardly Idi Amin.'
'Well, why not? Amin is a classic case of a jumped-up village bully. But take the Congo,
for example . . .'
I hung my head. I had already heard Boston's war stories ten times over.
'In the Congo,' he continued, 'we have eighty million people. Eighty million! That is
more than you English. And do you know how many of them were educated when the Bel-
gians left?' The Belgians, Boston had repeatedly told me, had left the Congo in 1960, part
of the first great wave of African independence. 'Not a single one!' he exclaimed. 'The
Belgians had banned it. At least you British educated your natives. Not so the Belgians -
they were total bastards. How can a country be expected to start from scratch when even
the leaders haven't been to school? That's how it happens, Lev. Without education, it's the
thugs who rise to power - they're the only ones who can take control and rule. It's the
law of the fist.' He paused, seeming to contemplate his own words. 'People without edu-
cation don't think about the future, so these villains take over, and because the villains are
short-sighted too, they're corrupt. They steal and pillage their own country. You get gen-
erals who are only in command because they're related to the president - just like here
in Uganda. And those same generals have three or four big mansions each, just like those
Sudanese! And the politicians, they're all murderers these days. You can't be a politician
in the Congo without having been a fighter. And do you know what that means, Lev? It
means you've probably raped women and killed children. That's what qualifies you for
government.'
'Boston,' I ventured, '
you
were a fighter.'
'Not like that. I didn't rape. I didn't murder. And
that's
why I'm here, tramping along
this river with you, instead of in government. It's a disgrace.' He hesitated. 'Do you know
what I'd do if I was an MP, Lev?'
Whether I wanted to know or not, I was about to find out.
'I'd start again. I'd wipe out corruption and ban the tribes. I'd kill anyone that dissented
and force peace on people.'
'Do you know, Boston, you're beginning to sound like Idi Amin yourself. Kill anyone
who doesn't agree with you because you know you're right. You'd be a dictator.'
'I'd be a great leader of a great nation. How do you say in English? You cannot make
scrambled without breaking eggs.'
'Omelettes,' I interjected.
'What?'
'You can't make omelettes without breaking eggs.'
'Precisely,' Boston barked. 'I think I'd probably need to kill at least half the population
though. Maybe as much as two thirds. By then, we'd be left with decent people.'
