Opinion / Columnist
Kemi Badenoch is bad enough: Thanks to Socialist East Germany: GDR!
07 Aug 2025 at 17:10hrs | Views
I was about 22 years old when I landed in East Germany on scholarship to study metallurgy. To put everything into context, I was facilitated with a Zapu PF scholarship to study in East Germany, a socialist country back then. I must emphasize this aspect because it is not easy to understand geopolitics of yester years, before the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was privileged to study in East Germany during the cold war, to say so is an underestimate. I appreciated an integrated educational discipline that emphasize the culture of socialism as the cornerstone of political, social, cultural and development in a student. Socialism is not black or white: Socialism has no skin colour, no identity. (Karl Marx: Das Kapital) Just like globalization; it has no race- or skin colour or boundaries.
I have been following Kemi Badenoch ever since she was elected UK Conservative leader. The lady is bad enough! My fears about her leadership in white tory constituencies were confirmed. Kemi Badenoch loathes socialism in Nigeria! Is Nigeria a socialist state? What I know about Nigeria is that it is one of the hard-core capitalist countries in Africa, seconded by South Africa.
How does a black Kemi make political strides in tribal constituencies right in the hearts of English high- and middle-class constituencies without losing herself in the process? ‘How much in her did Mrs. Kemi Badenoch give up politically to be accepted by the tory party country- wide? It is hard to comprehend what she had to surrender, identity? The question about identity is debatable philosophically. Philosophers say identity is a social construct. However, her situation is not isolated, not enviable: The history of slave trade between West Africa and Europe informs that the African chiefs along the coast of Africa were complicit in slave trading practices. We are surprised that Kemi Badenoch is denouncing her Nigerian origin and is choosing to be more British, conservative and capitalistic.
Kemi Badenoch is making an enormous effort to deny her identity. She is saying to the tory constituency; "I am the black but different and better". I have the colour black, BUT my inner self is wholly British, I was born here in London, the town where Prince William of Windsor was also born". She appeals to UK conservatives never to look at her colour skin: she is still crying for recognition despite the fact she is leader of the Conservative Party. Culturally, she has conformed in several aspects of her social and political, non-socialist. It is therefore easy to tell Nigeria and Nigerians to back off. Nigeria is a backward country and very corrupt and, in several aspects, less than the UK culturally." She has adopted a better home and identity, the British culture; an identity a thousand times better than Nigeria; did not bother to renew her Nigerian passport in case it puts her in a political disadvantage.
Kemi Badenoch had a privileged upbringing!
Kemi Badenoch, looking at her childhood and student life, she was privileged from the word go: a child fed with a silver spoon until she went to university. It is applaudable that she had a stable childhood and effortless university education. However, in the corridors of higher education in Britain, she missed it to identify herself with the African continent. Africa needs Kemi Badenoch for its development. If Nigeria is backward, we are told she has said so; it is because Africa is deprived of its human resources, one of them is Kemi Badenoch. It did not assist Africa anyhow sending its educated brains to developed countries: Africa is struggling for development in all aspects. Whatever backwardness Kemi Badenoch talks about Africa, Kemi must be told that she is part of the failing Africa. Kemi Badenoch and me, Nomazulu Thata are complicit in Africa's backward development. We betrayed Africa. We enjoy high standards of living in Europe: ashamed of ourselves: we must be told in no uncertain terms whatsoever that European development is not ours and we should never fool ourselves that it is ours: we are partly responsible for the slow development taking place in it, a struggling continent to put it politely.
Before I left Zambia for East Germany, where I was a refugee for about 5 years, the camp for women in Mkushi in Zambia was bombed. My cousin, Thenjwe Lesabe removed me from Mkushi and dumped me at Victory Camp; congested; I had no choice, I was homeless after my A-Levels at Roma Secondary School in Lusaka. To cut the story short, the President of East Germany, the Secretary Erich Honecker visited the civilian camp to see the damaged camp; the barbaric bombings of Smith regime. To this day I remember his words verbatim: "I will give scholarships to those eligible for German university education, I will take you with me for further university education". President Honecker reduced several congested refugee camps to alleviate hardships and loss of life. I was one of many recipients of East German scholarships.
My story starts here dear readers, how different it is with that of Kemi Badenoch. Whoever facilitates an important message in your life, especially at a tender age must be important person indeed. The Secretary Erich Honecker said: "Got to East Germany and acquire education, come back to Africa and develop it. Africa is yours. Your fathers and mothers have liberated Africa politically. Economic development will be facilitated by you, younger generation. That massage could not have been more explicit; it is in me today and as fresh as it was yesterday, in 1978.
I do not blame Africans who did not return to Africa after completion of their studies in East Germany to return to Africa and develop it economically, a crucial advancement phase. Why so many students did not return to Africa to bring about economic development, cannot be spoken in a single sentence: it pains me equally to hear Kemi Badenoch talking about a backward Nigeria, her country of origin. How much did she surrender inside her to please her British constituency. We are aware of our infallibilities as Africans. The least the African continent wants are unwarranted insults from the moulds of Kemi Badenoch. Kemi did not need to insult us to rid herself from a Nigerian/African tag. (That is if she said Nigeria is corrupt and backward)
I love Africa today because of the message the First Secretary of East Germany or GDR imparted in me at my tender age; was powerful enough to love my continent Africa. I thank him for that indelible message that transformed my current political discourse. Without that assistance I would be equally lost in the same way Kemi Badenoch is. I am a politician in Germany and saying in my mind, if I had a mandate to serve, I would facilitate change to Africa/EU developmental transformations. Geographically, Africa and EU are neighbours. A reset demanding transformation from donor/recipient of AID to another level of mutual trade corporation; is the buzzword. The imbedded dependency syndrome in Africa reduces them never be equal partners in trade & development. Africa is a rich continent, if its resources were managed competently, Africa would be a first-world continent like China and Asian countries today.
Kemi Badenoch must not be blamed much because she is our shadow we are hiding never to be seen. She is a casualty of numerous insults because she is in the limelight. If she said it as a Jack, Jill, and Betty, nobody would have cared. Her political limelight exposed what most Africans in the Diaspora say in African all-night London parties, eating & drinking whole night. Africa is satanized by the very Africans who are attacking Kemi. "We have arrived", they say loudly, drinking and tearing. It is a trophy to most Africans to have arrived in London and being part of it, even in the fringes of London existence.
Let us look at this discourse in reverse: Thousands of African Americans have left America and resettled in West African countries. Ghana is their preferred country of return more than Nigeria. Naturally Ghana has lesser demographics than Nigeria. Having successfully settled they are confronted with challenges of acceptance by Africans in Africa. Is it a complex: Just when they thought they have arrived, they are packing their bits and pieces, going back to America, a country they deserted because of racism: they are confronted with another form of Xenophobia. I was watching this video of an African American in Ghana, crying literally, how her hopes have been crushed; how much she loved the continent Africa. Here she is, she is going back to the continent she hated because of racism. Talk about contradictions!
It must be discussed openly how Africans betrayed one another during slave trade. Blame is shifted more on European slave traders than Africans who were facilitators of illicit trading of humans. The barter exchange rates made between Europeans and continental Africans was disproportionate, laughable on the African side of the sales: It was cloths and liquor. On the other hand, African slaves transformed America to be what it is today. America was built by African slaves. However, reparations are loudly spoken about by African countries, the same regions that facilitated slave trading, are demanding to be beneficiaries of USA reparations. African Americans are commodified once more by the very African people that commodified them 500 years ago. If reparations must be done, beneficiaries must be African Americans and not the African States. Just saying.
I have been following Kemi Badenoch ever since she was elected UK Conservative leader. The lady is bad enough! My fears about her leadership in white tory constituencies were confirmed. Kemi Badenoch loathes socialism in Nigeria! Is Nigeria a socialist state? What I know about Nigeria is that it is one of the hard-core capitalist countries in Africa, seconded by South Africa.
How does a black Kemi make political strides in tribal constituencies right in the hearts of English high- and middle-class constituencies without losing herself in the process? ‘How much in her did Mrs. Kemi Badenoch give up politically to be accepted by the tory party country- wide? It is hard to comprehend what she had to surrender, identity? The question about identity is debatable philosophically. Philosophers say identity is a social construct. However, her situation is not isolated, not enviable: The history of slave trade between West Africa and Europe informs that the African chiefs along the coast of Africa were complicit in slave trading practices. We are surprised that Kemi Badenoch is denouncing her Nigerian origin and is choosing to be more British, conservative and capitalistic.
Kemi Badenoch is making an enormous effort to deny her identity. She is saying to the tory constituency; "I am the black but different and better". I have the colour black, BUT my inner self is wholly British, I was born here in London, the town where Prince William of Windsor was also born". She appeals to UK conservatives never to look at her colour skin: she is still crying for recognition despite the fact she is leader of the Conservative Party. Culturally, she has conformed in several aspects of her social and political, non-socialist. It is therefore easy to tell Nigeria and Nigerians to back off. Nigeria is a backward country and very corrupt and, in several aspects, less than the UK culturally." She has adopted a better home and identity, the British culture; an identity a thousand times better than Nigeria; did not bother to renew her Nigerian passport in case it puts her in a political disadvantage.
Kemi Badenoch had a privileged upbringing!
Kemi Badenoch, looking at her childhood and student life, she was privileged from the word go: a child fed with a silver spoon until she went to university. It is applaudable that she had a stable childhood and effortless university education. However, in the corridors of higher education in Britain, she missed it to identify herself with the African continent. Africa needs Kemi Badenoch for its development. If Nigeria is backward, we are told she has said so; it is because Africa is deprived of its human resources, one of them is Kemi Badenoch. It did not assist Africa anyhow sending its educated brains to developed countries: Africa is struggling for development in all aspects. Whatever backwardness Kemi Badenoch talks about Africa, Kemi must be told that she is part of the failing Africa. Kemi Badenoch and me, Nomazulu Thata are complicit in Africa's backward development. We betrayed Africa. We enjoy high standards of living in Europe: ashamed of ourselves: we must be told in no uncertain terms whatsoever that European development is not ours and we should never fool ourselves that it is ours: we are partly responsible for the slow development taking place in it, a struggling continent to put it politely.
Before I left Zambia for East Germany, where I was a refugee for about 5 years, the camp for women in Mkushi in Zambia was bombed. My cousin, Thenjwe Lesabe removed me from Mkushi and dumped me at Victory Camp; congested; I had no choice, I was homeless after my A-Levels at Roma Secondary School in Lusaka. To cut the story short, the President of East Germany, the Secretary Erich Honecker visited the civilian camp to see the damaged camp; the barbaric bombings of Smith regime. To this day I remember his words verbatim: "I will give scholarships to those eligible for German university education, I will take you with me for further university education". President Honecker reduced several congested refugee camps to alleviate hardships and loss of life. I was one of many recipients of East German scholarships.
My story starts here dear readers, how different it is with that of Kemi Badenoch. Whoever facilitates an important message in your life, especially at a tender age must be important person indeed. The Secretary Erich Honecker said: "Got to East Germany and acquire education, come back to Africa and develop it. Africa is yours. Your fathers and mothers have liberated Africa politically. Economic development will be facilitated by you, younger generation. That massage could not have been more explicit; it is in me today and as fresh as it was yesterday, in 1978.
I do not blame Africans who did not return to Africa after completion of their studies in East Germany to return to Africa and develop it economically, a crucial advancement phase. Why so many students did not return to Africa to bring about economic development, cannot be spoken in a single sentence: it pains me equally to hear Kemi Badenoch talking about a backward Nigeria, her country of origin. How much did she surrender inside her to please her British constituency. We are aware of our infallibilities as Africans. The least the African continent wants are unwarranted insults from the moulds of Kemi Badenoch. Kemi did not need to insult us to rid herself from a Nigerian/African tag. (That is if she said Nigeria is corrupt and backward)
I love Africa today because of the message the First Secretary of East Germany or GDR imparted in me at my tender age; was powerful enough to love my continent Africa. I thank him for that indelible message that transformed my current political discourse. Without that assistance I would be equally lost in the same way Kemi Badenoch is. I am a politician in Germany and saying in my mind, if I had a mandate to serve, I would facilitate change to Africa/EU developmental transformations. Geographically, Africa and EU are neighbours. A reset demanding transformation from donor/recipient of AID to another level of mutual trade corporation; is the buzzword. The imbedded dependency syndrome in Africa reduces them never be equal partners in trade & development. Africa is a rich continent, if its resources were managed competently, Africa would be a first-world continent like China and Asian countries today.
Kemi Badenoch must not be blamed much because she is our shadow we are hiding never to be seen. She is a casualty of numerous insults because she is in the limelight. If she said it as a Jack, Jill, and Betty, nobody would have cared. Her political limelight exposed what most Africans in the Diaspora say in African all-night London parties, eating & drinking whole night. Africa is satanized by the very Africans who are attacking Kemi. "We have arrived", they say loudly, drinking and tearing. It is a trophy to most Africans to have arrived in London and being part of it, even in the fringes of London existence.
Let us look at this discourse in reverse: Thousands of African Americans have left America and resettled in West African countries. Ghana is their preferred country of return more than Nigeria. Naturally Ghana has lesser demographics than Nigeria. Having successfully settled they are confronted with challenges of acceptance by Africans in Africa. Is it a complex: Just when they thought they have arrived, they are packing their bits and pieces, going back to America, a country they deserted because of racism: they are confronted with another form of Xenophobia. I was watching this video of an African American in Ghana, crying literally, how her hopes have been crushed; how much she loved the continent Africa. Here she is, she is going back to the continent she hated because of racism. Talk about contradictions!
It must be discussed openly how Africans betrayed one another during slave trade. Blame is shifted more on European slave traders than Africans who were facilitators of illicit trading of humans. The barter exchange rates made between Europeans and continental Africans was disproportionate, laughable on the African side of the sales: It was cloths and liquor. On the other hand, African slaves transformed America to be what it is today. America was built by African slaves. However, reparations are loudly spoken about by African countries, the same regions that facilitated slave trading, are demanding to be beneficiaries of USA reparations. African Americans are commodified once more by the very African people that commodified them 500 years ago. If reparations must be done, beneficiaries must be African Americans and not the African States. Just saying.
Source - Nomazulu Thata
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