Thursday, June 15, 2006

MOBUTU SEEN IN TORONTO

MOBUTU SEEN ON THE STREETS OF TORONTO

I knew I was not dreaming or hallucinating but I still pinched myself to be certain, and the pain was real, so I looked again and he was there. None other than Mobutu Sese Seko.

Of course, the former dictator of Zaire died a few years ago in exile after being deposed by current Democratic Republic of Congo president, Joseph Kabila’s father, the late Laurent Kabila. If people really meet after death, I wonder what those two say to each other.

I was approaching a bus stop along Carlton Street in downtown Toronto when I saw, among the dozen or so people waiting for the bus, a young man of the same build and even looks as a young Mobutu soon after taking power in Zaire in the 1960s.

The young man was resplendent in Mobutu trademark gray flannel pants, a matching checkered shirt and old-fashioned scarf round the neck (despite the high temperatures). To complete the impersonation, the young man topped it all with a leopard skin hat in the same triangular shape only ever worn by Mobutu. The only thing I did not see as I got on the bus, was an imitation of the staff that Mobutu and other African politicians of his era used to carry around as a symbol of authority.

I had to rush, so I did not have the time to talk to the young man, but I am certain he has a hell of a story to tell.

Anybody know this guy? Please give me his contact.

TO READ MORE OF MY WRITING, PLEASE VISIT; www.torontosun.ca/News/Columnists/Madawo_Innocent/
www.catholicregister.org
www.canadiannewcomermagazine.org
www.thecanadian.ca
www.zimcanada.com
http://www.jexcanada.com/