Patrice Lumumba
…when Lumumba wrote “To my children whom I leave and whom perhaps I will see no more…” He was speaking about us. He was reminding us of our inheritance which is the Congo.
He has requested that we read the last letter that his father wrote to his mother, Pauline. He said that in the letter, when Lumumba wrote “To my children whom I leave and whom perhaps I will see no more…” He was speaking about us. He was reminding us of our inheritance which is the Congo. His father gave all of us a mission when he said “I wish that they be told that the future of the Congo is beautiful and that it expects for each Congolese, to accomplish the sacred task of reconstruction of our independence and our sovereignty.”
Guy Patrice added that we should be very wary of what the Congolese government is doing to rewrite the history and legacy of his father. He said that he does not approve of the Congolese government naming a town in Congo after his father without any consultation. He says what the DRC govt did by naming a town LumumbaVille is an insult to his father and his family. Why?
1. LumumbaVille is located in Kasai… near Katakokombe. According to Guy Patrice, the town has no electricity, no running water, no hospital and about 200 people live around that area. To get to that town you must take a made-shift ferry.
2. Given Lumumba was not a tribalist and his strong-hold was Kisangani in the Northeast of Congo, and that he also ran on a platform of national unity and won, Guy Patrice is wondering why they had to go choose a town in Kasai, pretty much limiting Lumumba to his tribal area though he was a nationalist. He would have preferred that Kisangani be chosen as Lumumbaville or even Lubumbashi near where they killed his father. He believes it is better to have a prominent city rather than a city where no one will go… all the way inside the country. It is like doing a Martin Luther King memorial in Idaho rather than in Atlanta.
3. If the DRC government really cared about Lumumba, they could sue the Belgians and Americans who participated in the killing of Lumumba. Lumumba’s family has already started the lawsuit in Belgium. The DRC government could do the same to show their good intentions in honoring Lumumba’s legacy.
Last message from Guy Patrice Lumumba is that it has been 53 years we are supposedly independent yet we have not been able to be sovereign on our land. The youth of 1960 did their part. We must do our part now.