The West is wealthy at our expense

On Monday 24 August 2009, the BBC aired the first programme in its documentary series titled, Why is Africa poor? While I found the programme quite informative, I must point out unequivocally that the title of these series is a deliberate and malicious falsehood. The presenter of the programme himself admitted that having covered Africa for over 20 years as a journalist, he knows that ‘Africa the place is not poor, but Africans are.’ One can not resist the thought that had the program been well intended the appropriate title should have been, ‘Why are Africans poor?’

You do not have to be a genius to figure out that ‘Africans’ the people who occupy the most endowed continent on earth in terms of natural resources, land and water, are its poorest not because of some miracle or accident but because of a systematic and perpetual plunder of our natural resources by the West and lately the Chinese.

In his book How Europe underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney argues that Europe developed directly at the expense of Africa. It is clear that up to today, the West continues to develop at the expense of Africans. This fact was perfectly illustrated to me about two weeks ago. The BBC reported that robbers had stolen items worth £60 million from a London jewellery shop. The two apparently smartly dressed armed men made off with 43 items in all, which included gold watches, diamond earrings and necklaces. The amount involved in this robbery was quite captivating and the Metropolitan Police confirmed that it was the second biggest robbery in the history of Britain.

A quick search in the encyclopedia reveals that the only mineral wealth that Britain has to boast of is clay, coal and scanty oil wells in the North Sea. I therefore stand to be corrected, if there is any gold or diamond mine in Great Britain. Further research from the gold and diamond mining directories clearly shows that, according to the history of production of these two expensive minerals, Africa has contributed over 70 per cent of the world’s total production!

Going by the statistics recently provided by the honourable minister of finance Syda Bbumba, £60 million is about 25 per cent of Uganda’s National expenditure for this financial year. It is clear thus, that if Africa’s abundant natural resources were used for the benefit of Africans, we would certainly not be poor. Africans are poor because it is the multinational mining companies that profit from their resources. Imperialism has changed face and tactics and it now operates under the disguise of these multinational mining companies.

The multinational mining companies achieve their monopoly by coercing African governments into entering secret agreements with them, whereby they are given massive tax exemptions. It should also be noted that these parasitic companies do not avail their accounts books for scrutiny by African governments.

According to a report Sierra Leone at the crossroads: seizing the chance to benefit from mining, Sierra Leone in 2008 earned only US$10 million from mineral exports worth £179 million. It is only obvious that the balance of $US169 million must have gone to the bank accounts of the parasitic multinational companies somewhere in Europe or America.

African Nationalists have always insisted that the ultimate unity of Africa is the only viable solution to the continent’s underdevelopment. Unfortunately, this sacred goal has been derailed by the west using their puppet leaders in Africa to argue that regional blocs are more tenable. What these detractors deliberately ignore is the fact that despite the existence of these regional blocs for instance the EAC, SADC and ECOWAS, internal trade in Africa is less than 2 per cent! Kwame Nkrumah, one of the most dynamic flag bearers of African Nationalism, said in the 1950s that ‘any black man who says that Africa is not ready to unite is a hypocrite.’ Today in 2009, we are saying that any one who says that Africa is not ready to unite is our enemy!

Africans will remain poor until there is but one strong united Africa, governed by one union government, with one African currency and one Africa passport. Gaining permanent membership to the United Nations Security Council would be inevitable for a united Africa. A united Africa is a potential world ‘super power’, the west knows this very clearly and they will do every thing within their means to prevent it from becoming a reality. The current crop of African leaders who continue to frustrate the unity of Africa can no longer afford to be complacent because the youth of Africa are now showing themselves to be conscious and vigilant about these issues to the extent that they are ready to use ‘any means necessary’ to achieve African unity.

Long live African sovereignty, long live African unity.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Walugembe Tom is an African Nationalist.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.