Kivu : A Farmer for President!

( www.sosfaim.be  -  www.defis-sud.info )

What role does the S.A.P. play in a country like the Congo, torn apart by war?

SN : Speaking as a farmer, I believe it is the intellectuals who brought us war and tribalism. I left Lubero to come here in 1953. We always lived in perfect harmony with the local population: our children never had a problem. They are at home here. The farmers of the region have always been united. That’s why I believe that the crisis does not come from the grassroots but from the intellectual class.

I did not go to school, but I am self-educated. I am doctor of farming affairs! I know that politics can be summed up in two words: the country and the land owner, or in the words "country" and "farmer". That is what the politics of a country are about. The farmer manages the land and gives birth to the intellectual. However, today society could be summed up in a triangle. The three angles are occupied by the parents, the youth, and the intellectuals respectively. The intellectuals are at the top and they crush the two other components. Once on top of the ladder, after his studies, the intellectual forgets his parents and neglects the youth. If one were really concerned about this country one would know that the intellectuals have already failed and only know how to make war. And one would go to find a farmer to make him president of the Republic.

If I were head of the country today, my ambition would not be to possess a plane or to construct a building. I would start by building schools, roads, hospitals, strengthening the economy and the currency… we need a farmer for president of this republic so that he will see to the real problems of this country. And if this farmer were to leave the power, do you think that he would go to the USA to buy himself a residence? No, he would return home, look after his goats, just as I look after my two goats here at my home.

If you look at the triangle, you would see that this intellectual whom you placed at its top has becomes ineffective. But he who sits on high develops plans to stay there. What can those at the bottom do to bring him back towards them or open up other roads to survive?

SN  : This is why we have started a union of farmers. There are many of us, but farmers are known for their ability of analysis. In fact, the triangle should be reversed: the parents and the youth to the top and the intellectuals to the bottom. The intellectuals should support the weight of those who have paid their scholarity, they should defend them. Unfortunately this is not the case.