Remember the surprise and approval that spread across the continent last year when Yahya Jammeh conceded defeat in the Gambian general election?

It was a lovely few days, wasn’t it? I spent them waiting for the other shoe to drop, considering the gentleman in question. And sure enough he did not disappoint: Jammeh decided that he wasn’t done being president after all and now the country is stuck with a political difficulty.

Jammeh is a favourite entry on the list of presidents and other leaders of dubious character because of those periodic pronouncements of his that make it into the international media.

I was made aware of him due to some long-ago claim about bananas curing Aids. Okay, so we have a history of problematic Aids-cure statements on the continent – ahem, Thabo Mbeki – but this one was special because it was particularly ridiculous. So, anyway, the list of objectionable potentates is never in danger of running out of entries but the upcoming US one isn’t particularly amusing.

Maybe amusing is the wrong word. Laughing about leaders with dubious character and even worse actions is a defence mechanism against the misery they cause and an inoculation against following them blindly, without a care for conscience. It is also a reminder that they can happen to any polity if the people aren’t fierce about how they go about the business of government.

The South African comedian Trevor Noah has been teasing Americans about recognising Trump as an African despot since long before they went to the polls. While it may have come across as a piece of deliciously dark and prescient African humour, I think he was trying to warn them from experience about the dangers of allowing an absurd individual anywhere near the presidency. When you’ve been there, done that, it is only polite to pass the wisdom along.

Why worry about it, after all it isn’t Africans, East Africans or Tanzanians who will suffer from the effects of a Trump regime... is it? Well. A few issues come to mind.

First of all, Trump is going to be the guy with his finger on the trigger of the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Is he a man of calm temperament, who has demonstrated maturity in the face of criticism (let alone baiting or derision), a man who clearly deliberates before making important statements and taking actions with serious consequences?

Does he take well to advice, especially from security professionals from, imagine, his own country? Have you read his tweets? You can see why he could be a source of anxiety.

The bomb is not even what is realistically scary, it is just my shorthand way of thinking about what to anticipate if he is ultimately in charge of the world’s last superpower.

Considering the size of the US footprint on the globe, it behoves us all to have a steady mind and a steady hand at the helm of that particular country irrespective of ideological leanings. Between the half-chewed America First jingoism and his racism and particular vitriol towards Obama for having a Kenyan father, I am not particularly excited about the Trump administration vis a vis Africa’s interests.

The mantra that this is all “liberal” hysteria and fake news and that Trump’s administration will not be so bad has already begun. Not falling for it. If I were an optimist, the joyful opportunity to annoy my dear friends with “I told you so” when Jammeh predictably reneged on his concession would not have come along.

When one of your hobbies is keeping a list of leaders of dubious character both at the local and the international level, you have to develop the ability to spot them when they manifest in their natural habitats.

Considering the age of my list’s newest entry and the available information it is probably safe to say that optimism is futile. Trump is not going to become a better man.

This was going to be the week of two inaugurations, but little joy. The Gambian succession went awry, as suspected, and the Trump presidency is about to befall us all, as dreaded. The two men put me in mind of each other, go figure.

I shall spend the next couple of months building a bunker... I mean lying in wait for Trump to be impeached or for the world to end, whichever comes first. If we survive, my promise to you is that I will totally write an “I told you so” column. On a more serious note: Never has it been more desirable to be utterly and completely wrong in a prediction. Here is to hoping, maybe even praying, that all of us Trump-pessimists are completely off the mark.

Elsie Eyakuze is an independent consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report. E-mail: [email protected]