Advice to Paul Kagame: A Wise Man Knows When to Stop; A Fool Stops at Nothing

I recently followed interviews and press comments by the Rwandan former General Kayumba Nyamwasa about his former comrade, the Rwandan Dictator Paul Kagame, who was rose from a humble beginning to become the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels, and eventually the uncontested leader of Rwanda. From General Kayumba Nyamwasa's comments, the RPF made a serious mistake, by violating the basic law on Tyrant as Niccolo Michiavelli warned us in his The  Discourses :

"When a people goes so far as to commit the error of giving power to one man so that he may defeat those whom they hate, and if this man be shrewd, it will always end in his becoming their tyrant. For with the support of the people he will be enabled to destroy the nobility, and after these are crushed, he will not fail in turn to crush the people; and by the time that they become sensible of their own enslavement, they will have no one to look to for succor. - Niccoló Machiavelli, The Discourses.

In times of need of a leader, disgruntled Ethnic Tutsis chose the unassuming Kagame to overthrow the Hutu government. Shrewd, calculator, and cunning, Kagame soon became their tyrant. General Kayumba Nyamwasa and Colonel Karegeya, as most of the Tutsi who invaded Rwanda from Uganda should not complain. A tyrant they created has become the crusher of the very people who enthroned him.

When Kagame took power and earned the right to become the Rwandan dictator, he also broke several laws of politics.  In this year alone the Rwandan Dictator has broken three of the most important rules to stay in power:

1)  In victory, know when to stop. If you don't, your demise may be total

2. 2)Respect your enemy. Arrogance makes you careless. It is when you are careless that fatal mistakes are made.
   

I will illustrate the first mistake with Aesop’s and Tolstoi's fable. Who else than the perennial politician Niccolo Michaevelli and the everlasting Chinese General  Sun Tzu can give lessons .

Aesop's and Tolstoi’s Fable The Two Cocks, is at the bottom. For those who need interpretation, two cocks fought over a hen. Cocks always do. But this battle was bloody and ferocious. One cock won. The defeated cock, crushed by shame,  went to hide in a hole, licking its wounds and resigned to live a life of shame and dispossession. The winning cock, happy to enjoy the graces of all the hen (wives) of the harem, jumped over the barn and started to boast "see, I am the winner, I am strong, I am beautiful, I am the god of the hen and the cocks and cockerels." Before he finished the boasting, a hawk plunged on him, crushing his neck with its powerful claws, killing him instantly and flying in the blue firmament with dead body of the boastful victor cock. The vanquished immediately sallied from the hole of shame in which he was nurturing his sorrow. Radiant, smiling, and proud, he toured the harem, receiving the warm welcome of the hens and other cocks and cockerels, anticipating the pleasures he will get from the harem he almost forwent forever.

Michiavelli's lesson to tyrants, leaders, and victor is straightforward: "Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied. ... Men rise from one ambition to another; first they seek to secure themselves from attack, then they attack others.

It will consequently be exceedingly rare that a good man should be found to employ wicked means to become prince, even though his final object be good; or that a bad man, after having become prince, should be willing to labor for good ends, and that it should enter his mind to use for good purpose that authority which he has acquired by evil means...The people are more prudent and stable, and have better judgement than a prince; and it is not without good reason that it is said, "The voice of the people is the voice of God."  The Discourses and The Prince

“Everyone may begin a war at his pleasure, but cannot so finish it. A prince, therefore, before engaging in any enterprise should well measure his strength, and govern himself accordingly; and he must be very careful not to deceive himself in the estimate of his strength,” The Discourses.

Sun Tzu:
“Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.”

“The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the nation.”

Finally, Niccolo Machiavelli to warn us against arrogance and lack of restraint: “Princes and republic should content themselves with victory, for when they aim at more they generally lose.The use of insulting language toward an enemy arises from this insolence of victory, or from the false hopes of victory, which latter misleads men as often in their actions as in their world; for when this false hope takes possession of the mind, it makes men go beyond the mark, and causes them to sacrifice a certain good for an uncertain better”

© 2010 Copyright, AfroAmerica Network

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FABLE: THE TWO COCKS by Aesop

Two cocks in peace were living, when

A war was kindled by a hen.

O love, you bane of Troy! It was thine

The blood of men and gods to shed

Enough to turn the Xanthus red

As old Port wine!

And long the battle doubtful stood:

(I mean the battle of the cocks;)

They gave each other fearful shocks:

The fame spread over the neighbourhood,

And gathered all the crested brood.

And Helens more than one, of plumage bright,

Led off the victor of that bloody fight.

The vanquished, drooping, fled,

Concealed his battered head,

And in a dark retreat

Bewailed his sad defeat.

His loss of glory and the prize

His rival now enjoyed before his eyes.

While this he every day beheld,

His hatred kindled, courage swelled:

He whet his beak, and flapped his wings,

And meditated dreadful things.

Waste rage! His rival flew on a roof

And crowed to give his victory proof.—

A hawk this boasting heard:

Now perished all his pride,

As suddenly he died

Beneath that savage bird.

In consequence of this reverse,

The vanquished sallied from his hole,

And took the harem, master sole,

For moderate penance not the worse.

Imagine the congratulation,

The proud and stately leading,

Gallanting, coaxing, feeding,

Of wives almost a nation!

It's thus that Fortune loves to flee

The insolent by victory.

We should mistrust her when we beat,

Lest triumph lead us to defeat.

Aesop.