I have always wondered was president Obote a conservative or a liberal? In the same vein could one use those labels to describe Jomo Kenyatta, Yoweri Museveni or Olosegun Obasanjo?
It is very easy to say that Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda were leftist in their political persuasions, but were they really in the western sense of the word?
I wager that when one describes an African politician as conservative one would really be describing a traditionalist in the social sense of the word and not the political. They would be bound by hard core traditional views on family, the role of women and very likely tribal exclusion of others. indeed a conservative politician is invariably a tribalist, or isn’t he?
I wager that when one describes an African politician as a liberal, one would really be talking about their agreeability, openness, weakness etc.
Both types of politicians could pursue a capitalist path, free market models or socialist cooperatives. Both could be dictators and intolerant of opposition, both could easily hobnob with NATO and the Warsaw Pact or Cuba or north Korea. our economies are so underdeveloped that I guess labels are meaningless at this stage. We can only pick and choose a little of everything and hope it works.
