Currently, Africa’s like a very beautiful girl
that attracts all sorts of suitors thanks to its abundant and untapped
resources. The just concluded conference between Africa and China aka Forum on
China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC 2018) speaks volume on this newly-found love.
Despite this love, African countries, as victims of colonialism,
neo-colonialism and imperialism, need to examine and interrogate it carefully
and collectively shall they want not to repeat the same mistakes they’ve been
making for over five decades.
There’s a misconception that all flows of Chinese funds into Africa are
aid. However, what difference’s there between the colonial eras whereby
colonial agents offered African beads in exchange with gold and current China’s
neocolonialism? Isn’t China offering Africa a chicken to end up making away
with an elephant? There are assumptions that what’s seen as aid’s nothing but a
bait for securing businesses for Chinese companies that are scattered all over
Africa making a killing. The situation’s worse provided that whatever tenders
awarded to Chinese construction companies are supervised by corrupt black
colonisers, though not all, who care about their interests but not those of
their people. Soon you’ll hear the India-African Forum. Africa now’s losing big
time in terms of resources to China and India due to imbalanced trade.
A major question, among others, we need to ask is: Will the coming of
China make Africa’s situation better or just exacerbate it. The U.S. Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC) CEO, Ray Washburne, warns that Africa’s pointlessly
cascading into a debt trap as Reuters
(July 16, 2018) quotes him as saying “we try to have countries realise that
they’re indebting themselves to the Chinese.” Again, do the US and the West in
general have any moral high ground to counsel Africa about what to do if, at
all, for over five decades, have been doing what China’s now replicating? On
their side, according to the survey by Ipsos Synovate cited by theDaily nation
(5 September, 2018), a total of 38% of Kenyans think that the continued
relationship between Kenya and China will lead to job losses. This is only 11%
in the relationship between Kenya and USA. The survey also looked into the
issue of cheap and substandard goods and came up with the stunning findings
wherein 25% of Kenyans think that China will flood the Kenyan market with cheap
goods compared to 18% perception of the US. Further, the Guardian (5 February,
2007) quotes former Zambia president Guy Scott as saying that “we’ve had bad
people before. The whites were bad, the Indians were worse but the Chinese are
worst of all.” Moreover, the Business Insider (July 9, 2015) quotes an Angolan
cook Marisa who concurs with Scott as saying that “the agreements with China are
a benefit for them and the president and not for us.”
Additionally, the Ministry of Commerce (2009) notes that Chinese
contractors signed construction contracts in Africa worth $40 billion. What
does this say? China gave Africa just US$5.7 billion and got away with the
tender of US$40 billion which can rake in more money in terms of profit than
the one offered apart from creating job for Chinese workers and market for
Chinese goods like steel and other garbage China is currently dumping in other
countries. Swahili business philosophy has it that you know me and you are my
friend but my business doesn’t know you.
You can see this on how China and India are exporting their jobless
people to Africa to take up jobs from Africans not to mention indulge
themselves in illicit activities due to not benefiting from the job markets at
home. When Shinn and Eisenman (2012) in their book, Africa and China-A Century
of Engagement, they conducted interviews about the relationship between Africa
and China, and were shocked to find Chinese ditch diggers in Sudan.
While China and India are exporting their unskilled workers to Africa to
take up even menial jobs, Europe’s been doing things differently. It’s always
sent technocrats and diplomats who use Africans to do their works. Instead of
sending such unskilled troupes, Europe’s been attracting Africa’s experts under
the so-called brain drain. As we will see, drain brain is costing and hurting
Africa heavily. Arguably, it’s important to note that such loss-making settings
don’t only end in brain drain but also in other aspects such as trade,
technical assistance and the horse-jockey relationship.
When it comes to the coming of China and India, I admonish Africa to
clutch and latch on this opportunity; and secure a good deal provided that
Africa must be reunited: and thereby act as one country instead of acting
severally as it currently is.
Another conduit of robbing; and thereby burdening Africa’s nothing but
forcing any country receiving aid, specifically technical aid, to make sure
that the said country uses the companies, experts and sometimes, materials from
the donor countries. When will Africa use its resources and workforce? Is there
any exchange of skills in the business between China and Africa or just
creating more dependency for Africa’s peril? These and others are the questions
African rulers need to ask themselves before getting to bed with China or India
simply because their aid has fewer strings attached it than the West though the
effects are likely to be the same even gross than the former.
In a nutshell, what China and India are doing to Africa has no
difference from what the West’s been doing for over five decades of
neocolonialism and neo-liberalism. For Africa to benefit from its relationships
with the two emerging power, it needs to think out of the box and make sure
that it complicates it so that the new suitors can competently compete with the
old ones namely the West. Importantly, when it comes to trade what matters is
profit but not relationship or any hooey as African rulers wrongly think.
Whether Africa’s cascading into a debt trap or not, is the matter of time to
accurately tell just soon.
Source: Citizen today.
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