Opinion / Columnist
Let the AU pay its own piper to dictate the tune
10 Jul 2017 at 06:08hrs | Views
The first quarter of 2017 saw President Robert Mugabe, former chair of the African Union meeting his length of the bargain following his 300 strong herd of cattle donation to the continental body. This goodwill had a snowballing effect downstream which attracted more cattle donations from Africa's most empowered natives, the new land owners in Zimbabwe, courtesy of the land reform of 2000.
The taking away of productive land from unwilling former European immigrant owners to formerly dispossessed natives of Zimbabwe developed within the citizenry a sense of self worth, a value that had been eroded away for a whole wide century, making them realize the need to self finance African institutions of renaissance. President Mugabe in his personal capacity as a successful farmer donated 300 beasts to the AU as an exemplary gesture to the other 53 countries of the African continent, to awaken in them that self financing African development is possible.
Of the $278 million 2016 budget, the African continent only contributed $122 million, a 44% begging minority while the bigger chunk, 56% was financed by the donor world. If divided by the 54 African countries, each country had an average paltry $2.3 million contribution. The majority donors to the AU come from the west, a world block that still harbors undisguised interests on benefitting from African resources immorally and unfairly. China, the biggest donor to the AU in recent times is the benefactor of the construction of the Addis Ababa headquarters of this important continental body.
Not to be outdone, China has not hidden its interest on African resources either after it was overtaken by the then powers that partitioned the continent at Berlin in 1888. With a dizzying world record population of 1.37 billion mouths to feed, the Chinese are aggressive in scouting the earth for opportunities to grow its economy and people. The largely untapped natural resources of Africa are an important pull factor for unsolicited Chinese friendship to Africa. Chinese President Xi Jinping is not a stranger at Addis Ababa. He also frequents Pretoria and Abuja, promising economic powerhouses of Africa. Having built the AU headquarters and donated generously to multilateral institutions like the SADC, the Chinese have an unhidden intention on dictating the tune of the drum of African development.
The paradox here is clear, how should a man who sleeps under the benevolent roof of another man's means expect not the benefactor to admire his wife's behind both in his absence and presence? This realization is not quadratic equation stuff. The gesture from Zimbabwe must send the rest of Africa self introspecting. Oxford University has an annual budget of $2.1 billion. This is just a school. But alas, Africa, a whole wide continent of 1.2 billion people expects to solve its problems from a paltry $278 million! Oxford University is not faced with a Boko Haram insurgency to be dealt with. Neither is it faced with the subtle but insidious theft of African resources courtesy of the ideologies cooked at Oxford. There is a sweeping drought in Somalia and the Kikuyuland veldts of Kenya, an Ebola scare in the war zones of the DRC, Egypt and Libya have both not found national consensus yet, neither have the peoples of Juba. AIDS is still a tricky opponent in Africa, so is Malaria and other water borne diseases.
The $278 million little purse is dwarfed by Africa's mammoth problems. How really can a Cape to Cairo railway be fixed by a chest pocket spanner? It's high time for Africa to seek the services of a bobbejaan spanner to fix the mammoth problems in its backyard.
The AU is currently sitting over the theme Harnessing the Demographic Dividend Through Investments in the Youth. Very thoughtful theme indeed. The youth are an integral part of the African populations. African leadership has an onus to protect the resources of Africa for the sake of the youths. Mention of the 1.37 billion people of China has already been made here, compare that with 1.2 billion Africans from 54 countries endowed with more resources than the overexploited other parts of the world plus China. This makes Africa a prime target for exploitation by fair or unfair means by anybody who dares so.
It is encouraging to realize that the AU is sitting to deliberate on the need to reform the continental body, courtesy of Rwandese President Paul Kagame's report on the same matter. There is need to reform the AU's thinking on operationalising its commitment to the total independence of the continent.
Zimbabwe Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa defended the criticism-prone Agrarian Reform of 2000 saying the attendant ills surrounding the program were a necessary evil that comes coating any revolution. What is left for the country is to consolidate the gains realized thereof. He hit the bull's eye on this hidden realization. Today it is the very beneficiaries of the land reform program who are the first private donors to the progress of Africa as a continent. Let Africa sow its own seed in order to own the harvest.
The taking away of productive land from unwilling former European immigrant owners to formerly dispossessed natives of Zimbabwe developed within the citizenry a sense of self worth, a value that had been eroded away for a whole wide century, making them realize the need to self finance African institutions of renaissance. President Mugabe in his personal capacity as a successful farmer donated 300 beasts to the AU as an exemplary gesture to the other 53 countries of the African continent, to awaken in them that self financing African development is possible.
Of the $278 million 2016 budget, the African continent only contributed $122 million, a 44% begging minority while the bigger chunk, 56% was financed by the donor world. If divided by the 54 African countries, each country had an average paltry $2.3 million contribution. The majority donors to the AU come from the west, a world block that still harbors undisguised interests on benefitting from African resources immorally and unfairly. China, the biggest donor to the AU in recent times is the benefactor of the construction of the Addis Ababa headquarters of this important continental body.
Not to be outdone, China has not hidden its interest on African resources either after it was overtaken by the then powers that partitioned the continent at Berlin in 1888. With a dizzying world record population of 1.37 billion mouths to feed, the Chinese are aggressive in scouting the earth for opportunities to grow its economy and people. The largely untapped natural resources of Africa are an important pull factor for unsolicited Chinese friendship to Africa. Chinese President Xi Jinping is not a stranger at Addis Ababa. He also frequents Pretoria and Abuja, promising economic powerhouses of Africa. Having built the AU headquarters and donated generously to multilateral institutions like the SADC, the Chinese have an unhidden intention on dictating the tune of the drum of African development.
The paradox here is clear, how should a man who sleeps under the benevolent roof of another man's means expect not the benefactor to admire his wife's behind both in his absence and presence? This realization is not quadratic equation stuff. The gesture from Zimbabwe must send the rest of Africa self introspecting. Oxford University has an annual budget of $2.1 billion. This is just a school. But alas, Africa, a whole wide continent of 1.2 billion people expects to solve its problems from a paltry $278 million! Oxford University is not faced with a Boko Haram insurgency to be dealt with. Neither is it faced with the subtle but insidious theft of African resources courtesy of the ideologies cooked at Oxford. There is a sweeping drought in Somalia and the Kikuyuland veldts of Kenya, an Ebola scare in the war zones of the DRC, Egypt and Libya have both not found national consensus yet, neither have the peoples of Juba. AIDS is still a tricky opponent in Africa, so is Malaria and other water borne diseases.
The $278 million little purse is dwarfed by Africa's mammoth problems. How really can a Cape to Cairo railway be fixed by a chest pocket spanner? It's high time for Africa to seek the services of a bobbejaan spanner to fix the mammoth problems in its backyard.
The AU is currently sitting over the theme Harnessing the Demographic Dividend Through Investments in the Youth. Very thoughtful theme indeed. The youth are an integral part of the African populations. African leadership has an onus to protect the resources of Africa for the sake of the youths. Mention of the 1.37 billion people of China has already been made here, compare that with 1.2 billion Africans from 54 countries endowed with more resources than the overexploited other parts of the world plus China. This makes Africa a prime target for exploitation by fair or unfair means by anybody who dares so.
It is encouraging to realize that the AU is sitting to deliberate on the need to reform the continental body, courtesy of Rwandese President Paul Kagame's report on the same matter. There is need to reform the AU's thinking on operationalising its commitment to the total independence of the continent.
Zimbabwe Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa defended the criticism-prone Agrarian Reform of 2000 saying the attendant ills surrounding the program were a necessary evil that comes coating any revolution. What is left for the country is to consolidate the gains realized thereof. He hit the bull's eye on this hidden realization. Today it is the very beneficiaries of the land reform program who are the first private donors to the progress of Africa as a continent. Let Africa sow its own seed in order to own the harvest.
Source - Chigumbu Warikandwa
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