Addressing the economic plight of Africa has become a song and dance. There are many composers in the fray now with Blair and Brown Africa Aid Band topping the chat, followed closely by Bob Geldof’s Live 8.
But this contest is not an ordinary musical show. In actual fact, this is a “show” that should have had more impact, but unfortunately, not a lot of Africans have shown interest.
According to Geldof, after 20 years since his Live Aid concert raised millions to fight poverty in Africa, nothing has changed since. Poverty is still rife, he claims. Blair is equally worried that for the past two decades, Africa is the only continent that has not made economic progress, with the scourge of HIV/AIDS eroding even the little gains that some countries have managed to make.
The plight of Africa, Blair claims is “a scar on the conscience” of rich nations. But it seems that the well -crafted songs by the latter days crusaders for Africa is slighting losing their pitch. Not a lot of Britons especially have tuned in to listen.
In a poll published by The Daily Telegraph in the UK on June 4, a vast majority of UK residents responded that aid in actual fact is wasted in Africa. The article, which was the lead story for that edition stated: “A huge majority of Britons believes that pumping billions of pounds into Africa would be a waste of money”.
According to the organisers of the poll, respondents were asked how confident they were that money donated would be spent wisely, “rather than being wasted or finding its way into the pockets of criminals and corrupt governments”.
The verdict was staggering. “More than 80 per cent said they were either ‘not very confident’ (41 per cent) or ‘not at all confident’ (42 per cent)”, the report claimed. The poll claims that only 11 per cent expressed some confidence that aid would not be squandered.
Again, respondents said corrupt and incompetent government are the main problems of Africa, with issues like colonialism, exploitation by multinationals or protectionist trade policies not major in the factors contributing to the problems of the continent.
But the report raised more questions than answers. The fact is that it would have been a major surprise if the poll had revealed anything contrary to what was reported. Most Britons living in the UK have no experience of Africa at all.
The only time they get to know of the continent is when there is a major problem in the continent. Just pause a moment and reflect on the timing of the release of this report. There is this perceived renewed interest in Africa, and some people are definitely not happy. Also, the Blair Commission on Africa did little about explaining the problems about Africa to Britons.
Rather, it was the old problems that were trumpeted many times over in the report, and with the biggest media attention dedicated to Geldof’s swipe at African leaders. If the poll result is indeed true, then I must say that it was widely influenced by the economic jigs about Africa by the African bandleaders.
The sad reality is that it is not only Africa that poverty is rife. There is a high incidence of poverty in Asia too, but why is it that we have not seen the same commission set up for Asia? You dare not dream about this. The Asians have managed to grow their economies to the extent that the West is increasingly uncomfortable about a strong and dominant Asian business growth, let alone help them further to “develop”.
We remember so well the Tiger economies that recorded massive growth rates for investors, until they took a slight dip. The Asians will therefore not allow economic theatres to be staged in their continent.
Sadly, Africans have allowed their economic destinies to be controlled and defined by forces outside the continent. This new kind of imperialism has become detraction for many Africans. African leaders seem to have lost the plot and the continent is gradually losing its soul to others.
What Africa needs is the basic help that will equip them fight for themselves, and not a contest of who can shout the loudest about Africa’s problems.
The West need to be reminded once again that if they had taken seriously Africa’s problems, forget about colonialism, the continent would have reaped more economic successes. The talk must be backed with action.
