I am against any form of aid for Africa because any continent that receives aid for 50+ years and does not change can do without aid. Even humanitarian aid is of no use. Yet troubling images from East Africa and Somalia Africa may survive only through financial aid. These images serve as justifications for mass emotion. No good ever came from mass emotion. A crowd does not think – individuals do.
The African relief fad serves to distract attention from real issues which are accountable government and democracy. There is famine in parts Chad , Darfur and Kordofan (Sudan ), Somalia , parts of Uganda and D.R. Congo, Central African Republic etc Somalia
Since western donors are inclined to give aid to an extremely poor population by procedure (say 0.2% of GDP); when a potentate in Cameroon, Burkina-Faso, Congo, Mauritania, Uganda DRC, Burundi etc. designs an economy based on foreign financial input, the extremely poor population becomes an asset. If he alleviates poverty, he disqualifies himself from western financial dregs. Overnight, the extremely poor become a tool for survival. Crusading against misery is not a priority in dictatorships. Glaring example; while citizens die of cholera in Bafut (NW Region - Cameroon), CPDM party militants of the same region donate 400 million FCFA for the re-election campaign of a president who is in power since 1983 and may not even be a candidate for the upcoming elections. Read my lips.
Image bias is accompanied by ignorant logic of pop stars (Bono , USA for Africa , Live AID) who’ll say “if we take one day off nuclear spending and put it on food, it will make a huge difference”. I’ll prefer the nuclear spending to go on while we forget not to put a juvenile nuke under Sassou, Bongo, Biya, Compaore, Deby, or Bozize. One bang will be more efficient than a whole US Defense budget worth of canned fish.
There is of course a shortage of food among Africans as there is among Indians, Chinese and Bangladeshi. But that does not mean there is a shortage of food in Africa . Even if you make food available for Somalia Cameroon , Meningitis in Chad , Famine in Somalia and the endless list goes on while Ghana , South Africa , and Botswana
Drought may be a calamity but consequent death from starvation is the result of bad governance.
6 comments:
wow! To the point! Thanks for sharing.
An excellent review! So what is the suggested solutions, Trade?? Should the world watch with folded arms as innocent victims of poor governance starve to death? What is immediate sustainable solution.
So who is to blame? Africans, its allies, organisations donor countries or the poor themselves??? choose before explaining!!!!!
Thanks
Excellent review, so what's the accurate proposal you have to sort this situation out. Eve Sh.
I cannot agree with ending life-saving aid where it is required. I am pretty certain that the writer would want it if it were himself or his relative who would have otherwise died. People who provide such aid can also not live with themselves ignoring such situations. However, the first aid that ought to go is the supply of weapons to these regimes. Alas, the makers and sellers of arms are without qualms. These so called leaders should be exposed to the wrath of the people. Many Africans who would otherwise lead revolts against these criminal rulers have sought refuge abroad because they cannot survive the brutal regimes head on.
Articles should not be written just for writing’s sake but should be relevant and the information should be reliable. What have CPDM campaign donations got to do with the cholera outbreak? Don’t give the impression nothing was being done during the cholera outbreak in Cameroon, there was no lack of funds. The government responded promptly to the cholera outbreak and today it belongs to the past. Try to be serious when you make reports and avoid expressing your emotions in your reports.
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