The Macron learning curve

Emmanuel Macron is the new kid on the block. At only 39 years, he has excited the world by winning the French presidency. A BBC profile of him reveals he is a smart and ambitious child who has always gone for gold.

To the young people, he is the new John F. Kennedy, the new Barack Obama, the new Yoweri K. Museveni and the new Tony Blair who all arrived on the scene so young and so capable that they inspired optimism beyond measure.

Kennedy had his life snuffed out by an assassin before his potential was maximised, Obama realised coming too early meant leaving too early but is doing admirably well living quietly outside the presidency, Blair quit over Brexit but the cold out there has tempted him into trying to bounce back, while Museveni has overstayed his welcome and blown out the spark of inspiration he lit in many hearts when he stood outside the precincts of parliament in 1986 and diagnosed the problem of Africa as leaders who overstay in power, declaring that he was not a custodian of a mere change of guards but of a fundamental change.

What we learn from all this is that what matters is not the quickness with which we achieve and the enormity of what we achieve but the foresight of quitting at the right time and the humility to live simply.

We also learn that the ascendency to the peak at a young age does not mean we are smarter and better than others but simply means we were just destined to achieve early. Jesus was destined to launch his three-year ministry at 30 while Donald Trump was fated to become the president of the most powerful nation at 70.

So whatever we achieve, let us avoid the arrivalism syndrome that often infects Ugandans; filling them with pride and stopping them from trying harder after attaining the “1234” which stands for one wife, two children, a three-bedroom house and a four-wheel-drive. One thing for sure, there’s no better achievement than loving more and staying humble.