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Thursday, November 21, 2024

Pan-Afrikanism

Africa’s Coup Governments: When Elections Become An Exhausted Idea Confirming Democratic Fatigue

Gibson Nyikadzino
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Africa’s Coup Governments: When Elections Become An Exhausted Idea Confirming Democratic Fatigue

The trending successful military coups in West Africa today indicate the continuation of political processes and leadership by another method. Their executions have been systematic; citizens protest against the ruling elites’ failure to ensure economic, political, social and security provisions, then the military moves in.

West Africa is regarded as one of the most unstable subregions on the African continent. Between 1991 and 2011, some of the most brutal civil conflicts in the continent’s history wrecked West Africa. Another contributor to instability in West Africa has been the continuing role of the military and the phenomenon of military regimes. Of the fifteen ECOWAS states, only Senegal has not witnessed a military coup.

The first military coup in Africa was staged on the night of January 13, 1963, when Togo’s President Sylvanus Olympio was shot dead by rebels. The scourge of military coups has further infected other parts of Africa. Moreover, military coups are contagious. A successful coup significantly increases the probability of military coups in that country or its neighbors.

The reactions, actions, and inactions of African public intellectuals, activists, academics, and other opinion leaders to these coup developments have not given enough ground for consensus on whether military coups are the needed form of governance in Africa. However, the agreed-upon common position is that democratic gains in Africa are slowly diminishing.

In April 2019, the government of Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir was deposed in a military coup that was backed by some of its civilian allies. The civilian-military alliance overthrew the interim structures and effectively ended al-Bashir’s rule, and General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan became the head of the transition that incorporated civilians.

Since then, statistics have been going southward. Since August 2020, Africa has experienced eight military coups. These have been in Mali, which witnessed two coups in nine months; Guinea in September 2021; Sudan in October 2021; Burkina Faso had two coups in eight months—in January and September 2022; Niger in July 2023; and Gabon in August.

Such political developments have brought historic turning points. State weakness has played a key role in these incidences. In other jurisdictions, they have occurred in part due to the government’s failure to prevent the development of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated groups throughout the Sahel.

Besides the coups being ‘people-driven’, what is striking is that the most complicating scenario that restricts efforts by African countries or the West to reverse these takeovers is that it is young men who rally in support of military coups and their leaders. With such support, coup makers have resisted regional and continental norms against unconstitutional changes in government and, in Niger, have shunned engagements.

The cases of military coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Guinea provide key insights on the changing nature of relations between citizens and military men.

Are Africa’s elections an exhausted idea?

Africa is going through “democratic fatigue and coloniality rupture” that is requiring an alternative to the Western liberal lens of looking at issues, says Dr. Alexander Rusero, a scholar on decolonial thought leader and lecturer at the Africa University in Zimbabwe.

Dr. Rusero argues that events in West Africa’s coup belt are indicative of the need to recognise the role of military men in Africa, as democracy through elections is now an exhausted idea.

“Democracy expressed through elections is now an exhausted idea, as there are certain alternative modes of installing governments, and the military heading that government is just but one of those modes. What we are witnessing is also what we can call the coloniality rupture. There is a rupture of the colonial grip by France over erstwhile colonies. So there are certain circumstances where the military becomes the last resort because there are certain powerful men who preside over states but fail to deliver public goods.

“There is therefore a recession to the extended influence of France in these establishments to the extent that all military men are calling the French government off whenever they assume military power to say, France, you no longer have any business in the affairs of our country; please leave. This talks to the coloniality rupture. Coloniality which has been sustained over the years is slowly depleting and depreciating,” argues Dr. Rusero.

The ECOWAS bloc and the African Union (AU) have been at the forefront of condemning military and unconstitutional power changes in the coup belt but have been silent when elected officials use the military to suppress dissent, civic society organizations, and political opponents using the armed forces.

Dr. Rusero further emphasized that “power consolidation in Africa is through the military, which remains the extension of a political appendage of power. As long as the military is the appendage of political power, the military man also wants to be in that seat because they know the dividends that come with that seat.

“It is hypocritical for the African Union to insist that it does not recognize these unconstitutionally placed governments, yet they hardly say anything whenever there are certain internal dynamics that result in repression, precisely by the incumbent using military force. So as long as the peer review mechanism does not call states to order whenever democracy is in recession, there will be no cure to the coups in Africa.”

Second social contract, covenant

The academic contributions by Western political philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau see a social contract as the legitimate consent that those elected officials leading government policy require from those they govern.

However, a contradiction now exists where non-elected officials are given the mandate and consent to govern by the people. There is evidence of an urgent need to renegotiate and redefine models of a social contract throughout a continent where vast sections of the population feel estranged from real citizenship when led by elected officials.

Pro-coup Nigeriens
Nigeriens supporting the July military takeover led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani are seen holding Russian and Chinese flags as they gather in Niamey on August 20. Credit: AFP via Getty Images

To endear themselves with the people, the coup leaders in Mali (Col. Assimi Goïta), Guinea (Col. Mamady Doumbouya), Burkina Faso (Capt. Ibrahim Traoré), and Niger (Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani) promised to institute enough fundamental change to lay new social, economic, and political foundations for their societies. In other words, the military leaders are seen as promising social justice.

Thus, there has emerged an implicit agreement, a new social contract, between the people and their military men and armed forces. Under the new social contract, the citizens and the armed forces have committed to recalibrate the foundations of the state, fight corruption, and expunge French influence and neo-colonialism in Africa’s Sahel region.

Pan-Africanism, neo-colonialism, Russian flags

A new Pan-African spirit is being reincarnated in young African opinion leaders and modern activists who share the values of the first generation of the continent’s liberators. 42-year-old French-Beninese Pan-African ideologue and anti-Western activist Kémi Séba has been the leading voice of reason to endorse the military leadership in Niger, at a time when it has not been fashionable to do so.

Pan-African Activist, Kémi Séba
Kémi Séba, one of the leaders of the Pan-Africanist movement, advocates for the collaboration and integration of African states against Western imperialism. In Niger, he urged pro-coup protestors to stop raising Chinese and Russian flags. Credit: Acotonou

In September, he addressed thousands of pro-coup supporters in Niamey, Niger, rallying people to support the military leadership borne out of the July coup.

“We support General (Abdourahamane) Tchiani (as the head of the regime), we support the military who have taken their responsibilities,” he said after meeting General Tchiani. He observed that the military had listened to the people and “decided to stop the mechanism of neo-colonialism,” hammering that France and the West will not stop the ongoing revolutionary process.

“The Nigerien authorities are counting on us to continue this work of deconstruction of Françafrique and the propagation of Pan-Africanism. We will not disappoint them,” claimed Seba.

On his official X handle (formerly Twitter), he reiterated: “No Pan-Africanist can count on the flawed laws of the institutions of Françafrique to destroy the latter. Only a radical rupture, characterized by the mobilization of the people, allied to the army, and to a powerful geopolitical partner opposed to Western imperialism, will be able to do so.”

He urged positive alliances with geopolitical partners and advised Nigeriens against waving Russian flags.

“Every African leader who collaborates with French neocolonialism is politically on borrowed time. We have started work in the Sahel, and we are going to finish it. Military bases, CFA Franc, cooperation agreements, incestuous relationship between corrupt African and French elites—we are your terminal; know this well,” warned Seba.

From Seba’s advocacy, it is desirable to see Africans free from neo-colonialism, but it is also important to realize that the end of neo-colonialism is likely impossible as West African governments and their economies are not only stimulated by foreign aid but also require it for their own survivability. Unity in breaking this bondage is what Africans require.

Western thought, wrong prescriptions

Experiences in the coup belt resemble the demystification of the Western liberal lens that the military man must not be anywhere close to the political menu. This is fast becoming a myth, as the military man is in essence at the center of the scheme of things in as much as the political dynamics and the political balance of forces in a country are concerned.

The success of military coups in Africa indicates one variation. It is now clear that elections alone are not able to deliver an equitable system of governance. Elections, modeled on the Western liberal system, have alone been unable to correct and address post-colonial challenges in Africa.

Without partaking in any democratic contestation, coup leaders in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger made military interventions responding to the deteriorating security situations and poor economic and social governance of their elected officials. Also, citizens need to be politically conscious, as political leaders create false expectations in their bid to win power. They know they cannot deliver on election promises. Part of this explains their rejection and the embrace of the military.

Decolonizing democracy and development

Prof. Last Moyo, a scholar at the British University in China, doubts the sincerity of the coup plotters and urges citizens to be cautious when they try to embrace them. He describes the military leaders as “opportunistic elements being used to depose governments” and desires that Africa develop its own version of democracy that is not supported by the structures of neocolonialism as they are today.

“The problem is that Africa’s politics is in service to the modern commercial empire that is non-territorial but is still there; that is neocolonialism. Africa’s institutions are not delivering. That is why it is easy for Western countries to interfere in Africa because our politics are not serving the people’s interests. There is a need to reconstitute politics in Africa and answer the fundamental question of who our politics should serve.

“The tragedy that Africa has is that these coups are not necessarily the panacea to African problems. Once they (coup leaders) are given the mandate, unfortunately, they begin to degenerate into the corruption they were condemning. So these cases in West Africa need some time to be understood,” submitted Prof. Moyo.

As the military coups are also partly showing, neoliberal models of democracy and development being implemented in Africa only pander to the interests of Western corporations and global capital. They are not people-driven and oriented in their implementation.

Labour Party And The Future Of Radical Politics In Nigeria

Sanyaolu Juwon
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Labour Party And The Future Of Radical Politics In Nigeria

Needless to say, the 2023 elections happened amid overwhelming disillusionment with the system and popular discontent with the major establishment political parties—the ruling All Progressives Congress and the People’s Democratic Party.

This mass disillusionment peaked with the resurgence of the secessionist movements, which resonated with a very significant base in the southeast and southwest regions of Nigeria. It also coincided with the RevolutionNow campaign, which swept across 24 states of the federation. Google recorded that on August 5, 2019, no less than 5 million Nigerians searched the internet for the meaning of “revolution.” The endSARS revolt in October 2020, largely staged by young people who subsequently suffered bloody repression, was the last straw that broke the Camel’s back.

The 2023 general elections will later come to manifest these discontentments in the form of increased politicization of young people; a significant portion of these later described themselves as Obidients.

Having been lured into the candidacy of a former Anambra state governor, Peter Obi, by the so-called “more progressive layer” of the elites, what followed was a process of de-radicalization of a radical mood that had great revolutionary potential. This process continued on a rather exponential scale when Peter Obi, a billionaire, adopted the platform of the Labour Party after losing out to the People’s Democratic Party, where he had spent a whopping sum of 140 million naira purchasing the presidential nomination form.

After securing the presidential ticket of the Labour Party after he had paid 30 million naira as the cost of the nomination form, he became the nominal candidate of the trade unions, their allies – layers of the civil society movements, and many change-seeking elements.

Despite contesting on the platform that was established by workers and endorsed by the trade unions, Peter Obi clung to his neoliberal agenda. His campaign heavily emphasized the removal of oil subsidies, complete deregulation of the oil sector, and policies of privatization and commercialization. However, he showed no commitment to ensuring decent wages for workers or ending the neoliberal assault on public education, an issue of great importance to his youthful base, many of whom hail from working-class backgrounds. Unfortunately, the trade unions remained silent, turning a blind eye to his vigorously anti-worker policies as he campaigned.

The silence of the trade unions was so loud that Festus Keyamo, a serving minister under the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari, challenged why the unions kept quiet over the campaign rhetoric of Peter Obi, calling for the removal of fuel subsidy, and total deregulation of the oil sector after fighting successive governments that had tried to do the same thing. In light of the foregoing, many have asked if the Labour Party can indeed serve as the vehicle for the liberation of the working people of Nigeria.

Whereas, the fate of the Labour Party was sealed at birth as reactionary at the conference of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) held at Calabar and Lagos in 1989, which founded the party on petite bourgeois ideas and not the core values that had been associated with the Nigeria Labour Congress in the mid-80s: socialism, anti-imperialism, anti-privatization, national sovereignty, and a commitment to a national economy whose commanding heights are under state and popular control. This is largely because by 1989, a different generation of trade union leaders like Pascal Bafyau had dispensed with these values after the Babangida administration moved against the NLC, harassed, intimidated, and subsequently purged out radical elements from the union.

While the Labour Party’s revolutionary potential was greatly undermined at its 1989 founding conference, the conference of the NLC and TUC held in September 2002 did nothing to address the ideological challenges of the party. It was at this conference that the party was renamed and officially registered as the “Party for Social Democracy.”

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the “Party for Social Democracy” and the Trade Unions maintained a detached and quiet stance while radical parties like Gani Fawehinmi’s National Conscience Party, Democratic Alternative, and the People’s Redemption Party battled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to expand the political space for party registration. Notably, the “Party for Social Democracy” later rebranded itself as the Labour Party at its inaugural Congress in 2004. Since then, however, the Labour Party has failed to support or advocate for the Nigerian people, instead devolving into a purely electoral vehicle that includes elements of the ruling class that the established ruling class parties, such as the PDP and the APC, left out.

It is for this reason that figures like Olusegun Mimiko and Dele Momodu were able to run under the Labour Party. Olusegun Mimiko served as governor under the Labour Party in 2009, overseeing a neoliberal economy for two terms. He later returned to the PDP in the later part of his second term as governor. The party also provided support to President Jonathan in 2015 by endorsing his bid for a second term, and in 2019, it rendered similar services to President Buhari by endorsing his aspiration for a second term in office.

In the early months of 2022, the leadership of the two Labour centers held separate conferences where, in each case, both unions reasserted ownership and membership of the Labour Party. Unfortunately, these were just words. The leadership of the trade unions did nothing to mobilize their members into the party. Many of them, like the state councils of the NLC and TUC in Lagos, mobilized support for the ruling parties. Sadly, this has been the attitude of the trade unions toward the Labour Party since 2004—abandoning the party to the whims and caprices of establishment politicians. It is no wonder the nomination form of the so-called workers’ party sells for as much as 30 million naira. The implication of this is that only establishment politicians can run under the party, not workers. Moves like this consolidate the hold of establishment politicians on the party, effectively closing off any possibility of revolutionary working-class-based politicking.

Today, the Labour Party has become a political platform that loudly re-echoes neoliberal and IMF policies far above those of established bourgeoisie parties like the ruling All Progressives Congress and the People’s Democratic Party. The Labour Party, through Peter Obi and its Obidient base, amplified policies of subsidy removal and many neoliberal reforms that President Tinubu has implemented over the past six months.

The Labour Party today boasts thirty-five members in the House of Representatives and eight in the Senate. None have spoken in support of the Nigerian people; rather, they simply joined their colleagues in the national assembly, endorsing Tinubu’s wasteful use of taxpayers’ money, plundering public wealth, offering support for the regime’s neoliberal programs, including the removal of fuel subsidy, and renewed attacks on public education.

In addition, the Labour Party and its Obidient base had spent the last year demobilizing every attempt at mobilizing mass resistance against the neoliberal programs of the All Progressives Congress. Near the end of 2022, towards the general elections, it supported the Naira redesign policy, which imposed unfathomable hardship on ordinary people occasioned by the artificial scarcity of cash.

After Bola Tinubu was returned as President of Nigeria through a shabbily conducted (s)election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Labor Party and its Obidient base actively demobilized mass resistance against fuel subsidy removal, wave of fee hikes, and many other neoliberal programs of the government of Tinubu. It embarked on a massive social media campaign targeted at de-radicalizing and demobilizing young people from taking street actions and subsequently encouraged them to focus instead on reclaiming Peter Obi’s mandate at the election tribunal.

As to the immediate and direct question of how to engage with the Labour Party as presently constituted, there are two divergent views within the broad Labour Movement. Some believe the Labour Party can still be rescued from the tight grip of powerful neoliberal and anti-worker interests.

However, their experiences, like those of many revolutionary activists who have made similar efforts over the last 20 years, have been like that of a man trying to flog a dead horse back to life. Many of these people, especially radicals, soon came back with disappointments after they were purged out and isolated when Peter Obi and his Obidient Movement took over the party. Ayo Ademiluyi, a socialist who had been given a House of Representatives ticket to represent the Eti Osa constituency in Lagos, was dispossessed of his ticket, and the ticket was handed over to a different candidate who had not participated in the primaries but had been committed to the neoliberal interests in the party.

The Lagos State Chairperson, who had been sympathetic towards left-leaning elements, was also removed abruptly. It was this coup at the center that made it easy to purge and isolate socialists and radicals within the party, the bulk of whom were organized in Lagos.

Sowore Addressing the people Of Akure in a town hall
Omoyele Sowore addressed supporters at a December 2023 town hall engagement in Akure. Credit: Rock

Since the Benin Declaration in 2002, which finally sealed the fate of the Labour Party and ultimately beheaded its revolutionary potential, various civil society elements of the broader Labour Movement have floated political parties, espousing ideas that were synonymous with the core values of the Nigerian Labour Congress of the mid-80s. These efforts, like the National Conscience Party in 2003 and the Socialist Party of Nigeria floated by the Democratic Socialist Movement, had mimicked past initiatives like those of the Socialist Workers and Farmers Party and the Socialist Working People’s Party. The most recent of these efforts, and perhaps the most impactful, is the establishment of the African Action Congress (AAC) by the Take It Back Movement and leading revolutionary activist Omoyele Sowore, who ran under the platform as President in 2019 and 2023 respectively, campaigning strictly on revolutionary programs. Like the past endeavors, this too was not sufficient to dislodge the hegemony of Nigeria’s rapacious ruling class.

But the fact remains that the Labour Movement, workers, and change-seeking elements should and must be organized under one political party. Such a political party must be unequivocally committed to the core values that the Nigerian workers and the Labour Movement had previously sworn to socialism, anti-imperialism, anti-privatization, national sovereignty, internal democracy, and commitment to a national economy that is under democratic and popular control. The party must be rooted within the rank and file of workers, ordinary Nigerians, communities, workplaces, and campuses. If the oppressed and working people of Nigeria must look up to the trade unions to lead this initiative, then the trade unions must be made to recommit themselves to the values of the Nigerian Labour Congress as they were in the mid-80s.

Russia-Africa Relations: Africa’s Entanglement With Politics Of Patronage Without Liberation

Gibson Nyikadzino
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Russia-Africa Relations: Africa’s Entanglement With Politics Of Patronage Without Liberation

There are intense political and intellectual debates unfolding in Africa. Since February 24 last year, when war broke out in Europe following Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the presence of Russia in Africa has been politically extensive through mercenaries from the disbanded Wagner Group (WG) under the pretext of fighting neo-colonialism. Africans have questioned the developments even so, without getting a satisfactory consensus guided by a framework of the continent’s interests.

While abhorred, the occurrence of unconstitutional government changes through military putschs in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso in the past two years and recently in Niger and Gabon has birthed a new fascination towards Russia among the young and old supporting the military leaders in their countries. Russia has embraced these military governments, mainly in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, providing them with diplomatic backing and security assistance.

The backing of the military governments in Africa by Russia is changing the nature of relations between the two parties and has affected Africa’s relations with its former colonizers. To some, it is a partnership of unequals, a coalition with imbalances, and a patron-client relationship advancing the interests of the dominant party. To others, Africa is moving from one global giant to another to influence the operations of politics at a global level. This remains true with Africa’s relations with the United States, the European Union (EU), or China, where most outcomes are tilted in favor of partners other than Africa.

African leaders attending the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Part of the African leaders who attended the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia this year expressed their solidarity with Russia in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

The advancements of Russian interests in Africa are not following the traditional carrot-and-stick policy of the West, but soft power enticements channeled through scientific and technological transfers, knowledge, and expert skills to be acquired through Russian language at schools to be set in Africa. This was agreed at the Russia-Africa Summit held from July 27 to 28 this year in St. Petersburg, Russia. Some African leaders who agreed to this were charismatic Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traore, Eritrea’s Isaias Afwerki, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, and Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa, among others. This was confirmed by the current African Union’s (AU) chairperson, President Azali Assoumani of the Union of Comoros.

Director of Research, Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Maryland, Dr. Joseph Siegle, has noted that “none of Russia’s objectives are about making Africa more prosperous or stable. Rather, the continent is primarily a theater to advance Russia’s geostrategic interests.”

In light of this, public intellectuals and academics remain divided.

Coloniality and Colonization 3.0

The agreement on a cooperation action plan by Russia and Africa for the establishment of institutions in Africa that will use Russian as a medium of instruction has been interpreted as an attempt to colonize the being of Africans, take away their power, and replace their knowledge.

International relations analyst and principal researcher at the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI), Mr. Bekezela Gumbo, says Africa needs to assess Russia’s actions and measure them on the yardsticks of “being, power, and knowledge.”

Engaging to exchange and share ideas
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa participated in a business conference at the Russia-Africa Summit in July. African leaders called for more collaboration and cooperation in the fields of scientific research and development, technology transfer, and innovation. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Mr. Gumbo sees Russia as a country keen on enjoying what Africa’s former colonizers enjoyed, but without using brute force.

“When you look at educational institutions, you see that the coloniality of knowledge comes from education systems. When the Russian language is used as a medium of instruction, it means Russian ethics and standards of education will be used.

“This will reproduce Africans that are better placed to serve Russia’s interests. The Russia-Africa Summit was not neo-colonization but was colonization 3.0, where instead of using brutal force, anticipated force is used to effect colonization 3.0, where Russia is now in charge as a new colonizer who uses covert and not brutal force,” says Mr. Gumbo.

The situation presents Africa as a desperate player who needs Russia to protect her from the former colonial system.

Heads of State at the Russi-Africa Summit
President Mnangagwa was welcomed by his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, before the bilateral meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia. Besides donating a helicopter, Russia also donated a consignment of 50,000 tons of maize to Zimbabwe to help ensure food security at national and household levels. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Mr. Gumbo added that “this is not different from what happened during the colonial era. It is either you join Russia or you face the wrath of your former master or colonizer. The impression being built is that without Russian support, you might not be safe, despite being an all-weather friend. They may sponsor a coup and work with the young generation fascinated by pro-Russian ideology.

“Essential pillars of coloniality are in what Russia wants in Africa, that is power. Russia is now wanting to get to power by accessing the mind and being of the African man.”

Assessments by Mr. Gumbo have been reinforced by Dr. Felistas Zimano, who is convinced that what Russia is doing in Africa equates to “100 percent neo-colonialism.”

“This is 100 percent neo-colonialism. The interest that Russia has in pushing its language to Africa is the issue that should make Africa mostly worried. This defeats any stride towards the unification of Africa.

“A people’s glue is in its culture; a people’s culture is retained in its language. Once that is eroded, then there will not be any Africa to talk about. If anything, this reinforces the notion that all they see of Africa are mere pawns,” she said.

Missing the Point

Senior politics and international studies lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), Dr. Prolific Mataruse, believes there is a protracted effort to smear Russia as having imperial designs in Africa. He emphasizes that by engaging with Russia and other countries like China and learning their languages, Africa is subverting the colonial businesses and thought.

Dr. Mataruse concluded by adding that “in all fairness, talking about Russia having imperial designs is missing the point. The whole point of African relationships with Russia, China, Turkey, India, and other countries and learning their languages is an issue of promoting a multiverse approach away from the monoverse dominance of Anglicized language. Learning other languages besides English is subverting colonial systems of business and thought.”

Namibia Lithium Battle

Vitalio Angula
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Namibia Lithium Battle

On June 27, 2023, a judge of the High Court of Namibia, Ramon Maasdorp, ruled that the Southern African country’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo, did not have the authority to revoke a twenty-year lithium mining license the ministry had issued to Chinese-owned lithium prospecting, exploration, mining, and processing company Xinfeng Investment.

The company drew international attention when the country’s local daily, the Namibian Newspaper, published an expose revealing underhanded dealings between government officials and the Chinese mining outfit.

The report detailed corruption at the ministry of mines in regard to how the company acquired the mining license, misrepresentation regarding how it conducted its business, and a community push-back against environmental damage and displacement of small-scale miners in the mountainous Erongo region, an area renowned for its rich mineral endowment that includes tin, tantalum, fluorite, and the new kid on the block, lithium.

Lithium as a critical component in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles and solar panels to facilitate the green (clean) energy transition has aroused international interest with Namibia sitting on millions of tons of lithium ore, according to a study conducted by the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in collaboration with the German Cooperation (GIZ) and Geological Service of Namibia within Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy. GIZ is one of Namibia’s most notable development partners.

At an estimated 9.3 million tons, Chile is said to have the largest lithium deposits in the world. Australia is the globe’s largest supplier.

On the African continent, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Mali, Namibia, and Zimbabwe hold the largest lithium deposits, according to the British Geological Survey Report of 2020/2021, with mines producing millions in tons of the mineral output in all five countries.

China is the world’s largest importer of lithium ore, and the Asian giant controls over half of the world’s lithium processing and refining capacity.

Although the country has lithium deposits of its own, it does not have the required deposits to fulfill its industrial needs. This makes countries like Namibia essential to meeting local demand.

Open pit mine in the Dâures constituency of central Namibia.
Open pit mine in the Dâures constituency of the Erongo Region of Namibia. Credit: Andreas Simon, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Mines and Energy

Towards the end of 2022, a major political storm erupted in Namibia. Namibian authorities stopped tipper trucks carrying lithium ore that were traveling towards the harbor town of Walvis Bay because they lacked the necessary export or transport permits.

Increased attention to the company’s dealings led to allegations of bribery regarding the way the company acquired mining rights in the first place. A local businessman laid charges of fraud against his business partners, whom he accused of fraudulently stealing his mining claims by forging signatures while he was recuperating from injuries sustained in a car accident. He said his claims were subsequently sold to Xinfeng for USD 2.77 million.

The Minister of Mines and Energy then instituted investigations and found Xinfeng guilty of fraud and misrepresentation in the way it acquired the mining license. He (the minister) subsequently revoked the company’s license, which prompted Xinfeng to approach the High Court to have the license reinstated on an urgent basis.

In his ruling, the judge found that “the first respondent proved prima facie that the applicant committed fraud in the process of applying for the mining license.”
But he also found that “the first respondent did not have the power to revoke the mining license without the express or implied authority to do so under the governing legislation but was required to approach a court for appropriate relief.”

In summary, although the Chinese outfit did break the law and the minister proved it, under Namibian law, the minister does not have the power to revoke a mining license, but he has the power to issue it, a victory for the Chinese.

Environmental Concerns

Among those opposed to Xinfeng’s lithium interests in Namibia are the inhabitants of the local community of Uis, a settlement with an estimated population of 3600 inhabitants. Here, locals eke out a living through the trade in semi-precious stones, which are found in abundance in the area. With chisels and hammers, they pound away in the glaring sun to make a living for themselves and their families.

A kilogram of rocks is sold to polishers for as little as USD 2, sometimes even less.
The tourmaline, topaz, and quartz crystals are handcrafted and sold as jewelry, with pieces selling for as much as USD 41 for a necklace or a ring.

These small-scale miners have since been displaced to make way for Xinfeng.
The heavy machinery, which includes tipper trucks and huge excavators, has incensed community activists like Jimmy Areseb, who accuses the company of disregarding local beneficiation and policies adopted by the state to ensure that local communities benefit from the exploitation of mineral resources in their constituencies.

“There was no consultation that took place with the indigenous inhabitants of this area before these Chinese people were given the green light to start their mining operations; these people do not have the necessary environmental clearance to mine in such an ecologically sensitive area. The area in which Xinfeng is mining lithium is a conservancy, and the community used to benefit from trophy hunting concessions. The area also used to be a breeding ground for hyenas, rhinos, and springbok, and when their activities began, the animals moved away because of the lithium extraction methods such as blasting,” Areseb lamented.

CAG 29 which is the 29th Colloquium of African Geology was hosted in Namibia this year.
Geoscientists paid a visit to Andrada Mine on September 23, 2023, the former Uis Tin Mine, at Uis in the Erongo region of central Namibia. Credit: Andreas Simon, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Mines and Energy

Michelle Maletsky and her husband Harold are generational inhabitants of the Uis settlement. They say their parents and grandparents all made a living from the mineral endowment of the area as small-scale miners, and they had just been awarded a mining claim in the Uis area to upscale their activities when they got a shock on December 16, 2022.

They said that on December 16, 2022, when they went to the site where their mining claims were, they were not allowed to enter the site. The road had been barricaded with an entrance, and the security personnel at the gate told them they were not allowed to enter.

“My husband and I, we registered at Mines and Energy, we paid, we did everything like Mines and Energy told us, and then one day, when we checked on the system (online) of the Ministry of Mines, our claims were taken off. Then we went to the site to put up our boards (that show ownership of the mining claims), but the Chinese were fighting us; they told us no, we cannot enter the area because they bought the area for a lot of money and nobody is allowed to go in there,” Maletsky said.

Meletsky says her family has lost their means of making a living as a result of the displacement, and she and other similar miners with mining claims in the area are looking at different avenues to regain their lost claims, but this is proving to be difficult.

Conclusion

The rush for lithium has taken the dynamic of accusations of corruption, bribery, and underhanded dealings by Namibian government officials, but it has also brought hope for its green energy proponents, who believe that electric batteries will assist in reducing the globe’s carbon footprint.

Namibia, Zimbabwe, the DRC, Ghana, and Mali—can they supply the globe’s appetite for lithium? The answer is yes.

But at what cost?

The Tragedy Of Namibia’s Working Poor

Vitalio Angula
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The Tragedy Of Namibia’s Working Poor

At the dawn of independence in 1990, a public servant working in an entry-level position for the state could afford to buy themselves a home, a car, and send his children to school with a lunchbox for break-time. However, the rising cost of living has ushered in a phenomenon referred to as the ‘working poor’ where relatively young people, even those working at supervisory level, cannot afford to buy themselves homes and end up renting apartments in complexes if they are lucky. Many young people, especially in the capital city of Windhoek, have delayed moving out of their parents’ homes because, for them, affording a dwelling of their own is a pipe dream. Houses in Namibia, which are usually financed through a mortgage loan from one of the country’s four commercial banks, are only accessible to the middle class and those with a household income of at least N$35000 (USD 2000) and above.

The average wage in Namibia, according to the Wage Indicator Foundation, is estimated at N$3240 (US$187) per month. Low wages, rising inflation, and high unemployment (which results in black families having the burden of taking care of other family members) are all factors that contribute to the phenomenon of the working poor.

The free-market policies that Namibia’s government assumed at independence can also be seen as a contributing factor to the phenomenon of Namibia’s working poor.

Free Market Fundamentalism

Free market Fundamentalism is a term applied to a strong belief in the ability of unregulated markets to solve most economic and social problems. But what happens in an economy with an oversupply of labor and no industry to absorb that labor?

Well, the principles of supply and demand suggest that labor will be cheap in such a scenario, and employers are spoiled for choice when deciding who to hire and at what cost.

People in Windhoek's Central Business District (CBD) queuing to withdraw money at a local ATM.
People queuing to withdraw money at an ATM in Windhoek’s Post Street Mall. Credit: Vitalio Angula / Ubuntu Times

In the absence of strong labor unions, the ability for workers to get at least a decent, living minimum wage is eroded!

The absence of a minimum wage for Namibia’s working force is one of the main contributors to the phenomenon of the working poor: people who are formally employed but can’t afford the basics in terms of food, clothing, and shelter, let alone school fees for their offspring, transport, water, and electricity bills.

How Did China Do It?

Following the disastrous Cultural Revolution in China, communist party leader Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese government initiated an open-door strategy aimed at achieving economic growth by actively embracing foreign capital and technology, while simultaneously upholding its socialist principles.

On the other hand, Namibia, at the dawn of independence, adopted a free market economy that they labeled ‘mixed’ and allowed capitalism to reign without proper regulation or oversight by the state.

Deng successfully enhanced the economic well-being of the Chinese populace through the implementation of a political framework characterized by a one-party socialist democracy, with the adoption of a market-oriented economic system.

This meant that there was an improvement in the economic status of Chinese people, which translated into a higher quality of life.

Namibian-based economist Robin Sherbourne states that “in spite of moderate real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate averaging 4.3 percent and translating into real GDP per capita growth of about 2.3 per year since 1990, this has not sufficiently translated into substantial reduction in poverty, income inequality, and unemployment”.

This was ten years ago, in 2013, and the status quo prevails.

Why has Namibia managed to have year-on-year economic growth that has not translated into employment opportunities, and in instances where those employment opportunities do not translate into a higher living standard for its working class?

Stalls that trade in arts and craft in Windhoek's CBD.
Small-scale businesses sell arts and crafts in Windhoek’s Central Business District (CBD). Credit: Vitalio Angula / Ubuntu Times

The answer lies in the extractive industries, which are the mainstay of the economy. On the back of a huge mining sector, Namibia exports raw materials to other countries that manufacture them into finished goods.

Uranium, gold, copper, and diamonds are just some of the natural resources that Namibia is endowed with.

The country also has a huge fishing industry that exports jobs to countries such as Spain and Italy.

The lack of labor legislation and strong trade unions also compounds the tragedy of the working poor because there is no basic (minimum) (living) wage, and workers, especially those who are new entrants into the workforce, take the first offer that is put on the table, which is usually not market-related.

Employers take advantage of the plight of those who are desperate for employment and compensate them a pittance for the output and services they provide.

Inequality and wage disparities are man-made, and there is a need for an ethical dialogue on how to protect the most vulnerable of citizens so that they are protected from an unjust capitalist labor system.

Economic Freedom In Our Lifetime

Vitalio Angula
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Economic Freedom In Our Lifetime

A packed FNB stadium with over one hundred thousand supporters demonstrated the mass appeal of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) amongst South African voters at the party’s ten-year anniversary held on July 30, 2023.

The left-leaning party founded ten years ago with Julius Malema as its Commander-in-Chief is described as a radical, pro-poor, pro-black, pro-workers party by its National Spokesperson, Leigh-Ann Mathys, who spoke to Ubuntu Times on the successes, challenges, and future the party holds for its over one million supporters.

She also spoke about how the organization plans to address the issues facing South African youth, such as high unemployment and a lack of access to basic services such as healthcare, quality education, land, and decent housing.

Mathys says the party has seen significant, consistent growth since its inception ten years ago, not only in the number of people attending their rallies but also at the national and provincial level, where the party managed to garner support to grow the number of seats it occupies in the chambers.

The EFF managed to grow its electoral support by seventy percent between the 2014 and 2019 elections. The party increased its seats in the National Assembly from twenty-five in 2014 to 44 in the 2019 elections.

The same upward trend also occurred at the provincial and municipal levels.

“In terms of both membership and in terms of public support, we have seen consistent growth since our inception ten years ago. We have also seen an increase of our seats both in parliament and the provincial legislatures and in the municipalities, which are our local councilors,” Mathys tells Ubuntu Times.

Mathys says the EFF’s party policies and Seven Cardinal Pillars speak to the material conditions of South Africans and how they will be addressed.

“While we may not be in government at provincial and national level, these are the things we have been lobbying for consistently, whether it’s through parliament or whether it’s through the courts, or whether we go on the streets and protest, so that process of us doing that has garnered us support in South Africa, especially amongst the youth. We are speaking their language because we understand where they are coming from, so they want to be part of this movement that is fighting for economic freedom in our lifetime,” Mathys informs Ubuntu Times.

The Seven Cardinal Pillars of the EFF, which the party says are non-negotiable, are:

  1. Expropriation of land without compensation for equitable redistribution
  2. Nationalization of mines, banks, and other strategic sectors of the economy
  3. Building state and government capacity
  4. Free quality education, houses, and sanitation
  5. Massive protected industrial development to create millions of jobs, including the introduction of minimum wages in order to close the gap between rich and poor
  6. Massive investment in the development of the African economy
  7. Open, accountable, corrupt-free government and society without fear of victimization by state agencies

EFF leader Julius Malema has faced criticism for his Pan-Afrikanist outlook on the need for open borders on the continent.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) celebrate 10 years at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg.
The National Leadership of the EFF on stage with the Commander in Chief, Julius Malema, at the center when the party celebrated its 10th anniversary since its founding at a packed Johannesburg stadium in the southern African nation. Credit: EFF

The EFF has a policy on “progressive internationalism,” which seeks the ‘ultimate integration of the African continent through the erosion of unnecessary borders.

According to Mathys, those with an agenda to keep Africa divided frequently misrepresent the integration of Africa in the context of removing borders in the media.

“Our founding manifesto makes pertinent the idea that Africans should have free movement on the continent. The open border policy is propaganda and a term that has been phrased by whites, by the West, who do not want us as Africans to unite. They make us hate each other but come here on our continent whenever they want,” Mathys remarks.

“They want to continue dividing us in Africa, and that is why we are so passionate about the Pan-Afrikan agenda,” she says.

Dumisani Baleni, the EFF Media and Communications Officer for the Gauteng Province, echoed Mathy’s sentiments on the need for African integration through the erosion of borders as a prerequisite for economic development on the continent.

“African borders are a creation and result of the Berlin Conference; for South Africa to prosper, we need Lesotho to prosper, Zimbabwe to prosper, and Eswatini to prosper, and this can only happen if there is economic integration that allows us to piggyback on one another’s strengths,” the spokesperson in South Africa’s largest province by population (and smallest in size) says.

According to Baleni, the people who took land from the indigenous blacks during the period of colonialization are still in possession of the land, whereas those who fought for the land still remain land dispossessed.

He highlights that the EFF, through its policy of expropriation of land without compensation for redistribution, seeks to rectify this economic injustice.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) celebrate 10 years at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg.
EFF Commander-in-Chief, Julius Malema, in the center, wearing black, flanked by the National Leadership of the party with arms raised, waving at the crowd at the 10th Anniversary Celebration at a packed FNB stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Credit: EFF

“The economy of this country has been surrendered to the private sector, but it is dwindling. The state should be in charge of massive industrialization, and that is what our party articulates through its seven pillars when we talk about the nationalization of mines, banks, and other strategic sectors,” Baleni explains.

Baleni says EFF’s growing popularity is a result of its ability to articulate its political program in a manner that resonates with the majority of South Africans, who still experience racism on a daily basis through the unequal distribution of resources and the economic disparity that expresses itself through race.

He informed Ubuntu Times of an incident involving a black learner at a private school who was assaulted and later expelled for having dreadlocks, which is against the school’s hairstyle policy.

He said the ANC, which is the governing party and in charge of the education department, has failed to address the issue of black learners who are forced to adhere to white standards, white culture, and white activities, even in aesthetic expressions such as hairstyles.

“Our ground forces went to the school to confront its leadership, and we are still consulting, but we should be cognizant of racial discrimination, which has not been criminalized, and the harmful effects it has on our society,” Baleni says.

In 2024, South Africans will be going to the polls to elect a new government. The EFF is currently the third-most popular party in the country, and its popularity has grown over the ten years since its inception.

The party, which emerged from the shadows of the Marikina Tragedy on August 16, 2012, where thirty-four miners were killed by South African police during a protest for better working conditions, regards itself as the First Line of Defense for South Africa’s economically marginalized.

Leaders in the party, like Baleni, joined in response to the Fees Must Fall Movement, where tertiary education students protested against the high cost of education as a barrier to employment and upward mobility.

It would seem like the material condition of black South Africans is a primary motivator for the growing popularity of the EFF.

Baleni says EFF resonates with South Africans because it has a clear position and clear direction and provides ideological clarity, which speaks to the hopes and aspirations of the black South African majority.

EFF Confronts Racism In South African Schools

Vitalio Angula
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EFF Confronts Racism In South African Schools

An incident involving a thirteen-year-old girl child at the Crowthorne Christian Academy in South Africa led to the schools’ closure and the re-sparking of debate on black aesthetics in a racially polarized country that still battles with systemic, systematic, and institutional discrimination against blacks, who make up the majority of the population.

Tynil Gcabashe, a thirteen-year-old student, had her dreadlocks on when the school made the racist decision to dismiss her from class, according to a media release from the Economic Freedom Fighters Provincial Communications Officer for Gauteng province, Dumisani Baleni.

This provoked the EFF to stage a picket at the school.

“The school principal is reported to have said the learner will not be allowed back to school unless her dreadlocks are shaved off, on the 14 August when the learner’s parents sought to resolve the issue with the school, a white racist male alleged to be the principal’s husband, acting on the instruction and permission of the school, violently handled both the mother and the young girl and pushed them out of the school. A video circulating on social media bears evidence to this effect,” the statement reads.

Baleni further said the Crowthorne Christian Academy has a policy that allows only learners with natural hair in the school.

“This policy is predicated on the racist notion that natural hair means relaxed and straightened hair inherent to white people, whereas curly hair and dreadlocks, characteristic of black people’s hair, are considered unnatural and therefore prohibited from the school,” Baleni stated.

Hendrick Makaneta, education activist and deputy chairperson of the Foundation for Education and Social Justice Africa, told Ubuntu Times that black aesthetics are not accepted as a universal standard because of the highly entrenched European culture in private schools. He said blacks are expected to accede to policies that were formulated by whites and that such policies do not acknowledge African hair, such as dreadlocks.

Dumisani Baleni seated in a lecture hall at an EFF Gauteng Provincial Plenum.
Dumisani Baleni in attendance at the EFF Gauteng Provincial Plenum, which was addressed by the President and Commander-in-Chief Julius Malema at the beginning of the year. Credit: EFF Gauteng

“Unfortunately, the thirteen-year-old girl was victimized for expressing her African identity,” Makaneta said.

“The fact that the school was allowed to develop policies that are not in line with the spirit of the constitution of the republic (South Africa) exposed the government’s failure to provide leadership,” he added.

Makaneta highlighted that although the autonomy of educational institutions to develop their own policies should be respected, the government ought to put correct mechanisms in place to monitor and evaluate the various policies adopted by the institutions from time to time.

The events that unfolded led to the closure of the school, which was found not to have the proper licenses to operate.

Spokesperson at the Gauteng Education Department, Steve Mabona, told Ubuntu Times that the incident with the thirteen-year-old is an isolated case of discrimination, and the department hardly hears of or deals with such cases.

“All codes of conduct of our schools were reviewed not to discriminate learners on the basis of hair… What is paramount is discipline of learners at our schools,” Mabona told Ubuntu Times.

Mabona said the school has now been closed down due to non-compliance with registration as an educational institute.

“The school was operating illegally because they decided to relocate and changed their name without following proper procedures,” Mabona stated in email responses to Ubuntu Times.

Education activist Makatena said racism is pervasive in South Africa as a result of the economic disparities between white and black South Africans, with the former still being largely in control of the economy.

Dumisani Baleni, addressing the Vaal University of Technology students ahead of the Student's Representative Council election in 2018.
Dumisani Baleni, addressing the Vaal University of Technology students ahead of the Student’s Representative Council election in 2018. Credit: EFF Gauteng

“The fact that the economy is still controlled largely by the white minority means that acts of racism will continue,” he said.

“Of course not every white person is racist, but all whites in South Africa are beneficiaries of racism,” he further highlighted.

Makatena implored the government of South Africa to take practical steps to end poverty and inequality, which affects mainly black South Africans in a negative way.

“As long as the owners of the means of production remain white, we are likely to see a continuation of racism. Even the schools we are talking about now are owned by whites; hence, black children are expected to comply with European norms and standards,” he said.

“Government must also move swiftly to decolonize education by making history compulsory in all schools; children need to learn more about African history as opposed to European history,” he added.

Gauteng is the economic hub of South Africa and Southern Africa and is home to the richest square mile on the African continent, Sandton.

There are over 2200 public schools in Gauteng and 500 private schools.

Although Ubuntu could not independently verify the figures, Gauteng is estimated to have about 2.6 million learners. Twenty-one percent of South Africa’s total estimated learner population of 15 million.

Africa’s Rebirth At 60: Carrying Noble Ideas That Nobody Is Willing To Implement

Gibson Nyikadzino
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Africa’s Rebirth At 60: Carrying Noble Ideas That Nobody Is Willing To Implement

To most academics, intellectuals, and pragmatists advocating for a genuine Pan-African renaissance six decades after the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, later renamed African Union in 2002) in Addis Ababa in 1963, the continent’s aspirations as highlighted in Agenda 2063 might fail to materialise as overwhelming evidence point to Africa’s lack of creative framing, knowledge and thought leadership in global affairs.

Since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020, Western global media corporations have put Africa at the tail end of post-industrial development by formulating narratives that befit Western ideology, markets, history, values, and perspectives at the expense of Africa’s existence. Even so, the outbreak of monkey-pox in Western countries got giant media deflecting the source and linking it to Africa.

When Russia launched its special military operation on Ukraine on February 24 last year, DSTV’s Multichoice shut down Russia Today (Russian television) Channel across Africa in the view that Africans must not listen to anything balanced or sympathetic to Russia, and even so, they decide on what information should be made available to Africans across the continent.

In the face of the hegemonic and dominant Western media organisations’ onslaught, Africa’s political leaders have not reacted with relevant material and content to diffuse narratives against the continent. Theirs has been an unresponsive and less committed call to action while thought leadership is needed.

The effect of the failure to provide African thought leadership has now seen African journalists writing stories about Africa without targeting the African audience but writing for a Western audience. The news framing is the same.

Dealing With A Distorted Image

Internal conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, and the war in Ethiopia that ended last November give hard lessons on the dangers of leaving foreign media corporations with the responsibility to frame Africa’s events.

African media houses have not done much to tell the African story, in most cases, they have allowed the dominant media from the Western countries to lead the narratives, and because Africa has become a ground of military, political and economic contests between the West and East, media companies such as China Global Television Network (CGTN) and Russia Today (RT) have also taken a side in framing Africa.

Instead of using hard power in Africa, both Western and Eastern countries now prefer soft and smart power, a component that infuses foreign values, principles and norms in which they assimilate and graft Africa into the phenomenon of their narratives.

At the 60th anniversary event to commemorate the founding of the OAU on May 25, 2023, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed restated a position he made last year before African heads of state that “Africa needs to tell her own story”.

PM Ahmed said, “On this same occasion last year, I called on all of us to tackle typically the negative portrayal of Africa by the global media. I stressed the need for Africa to tell her own story and not allow others to tell it in the service of their own interests.

“In this respect, please allow me to reiterate yet again the need to establish an African Union Continental Media House. Until Africa tells her own story, her image remains distorted. And distortions affect not how others view us, but also how we view ourselves. We owe it to ourselves and our children that Africa’s truths need to be told as they are, untainted with external interests and bias.”

Without a doubt, Africa’s leaders are not oblivious to what they need to do to reconstruct the image of the continent through having a devoted African Union Continental Media House.

Ahmed’s Old Suggestion

Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, Admire Mare says the proposal by Ethiopia’s Ahmed is old as African leaders like Ghana’s independence President Kwame Nkrumah and Libya’s Col. Muammar Gaddafi made the same.

“The proposal by the PM of Ethiopia is not new. Similar proposals were made by Kwame Nkrumah and Muammar Gaddafi. It is an attempt to turn the gaze and use technological infrastructures controlled by Africans to speak back and showcase their own stories.

“Similar attempts have been seen with Al Jazeera, CGTN and Russia Today. The role of the media is still seen in instrumental ways, that is, as an enabler to speak back and speak out. On paper, the proposal is appealing but media sustainability and editorial interference are teething problems.”

According to Mare, African governments will face serious challenges in relation to financing models to fund the African Union Continental Media House, at a time when the AU is also failing to fund its operations.

He made reference to the closure of The Southern Times newspaper, an initiative set up by the governments of Namibia and Zimbabwe in 2004 to provide alternative narratives to Western views that targeted Zimbabwe at the height of its land redistribution programme. The Southern Times announced in 2019 that it was closing operations due to “dwindling financial resources”.

Prof. Mare adds, “We have seen the closure of The Southern Times (a Zimbabwe-Namibia) initiative, so there is no guarantee such a proposal by PM Ahmed will not close shop. To make it work, there is need to come up with a solid business model, strong and accountable board of directors and hiring of media professionals from all African countries. The media house should have bureau chiefs or correspondents in all the countries in Africa.”

Media and Journalism senior lecturer at Limkwokwing University in Lesotho, Mr. Tawanda Mukurunge shared similar thoughts with Prof. Mare that PM Ahmed’s proposal is old and documented in the 1980 MacBride Report also known as Many Voices, One World sponsored by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Findings of the MacBride Report were in response to the 1970s New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) debate on the non-equitable access to information and media imperialism.

“There is nothing new about this concept. We have the Pan-African News Agency that was formed in 1979, with headquarters in Senegal, to produce content that presents and preserves the voice of Africa. The essence of NWICO was to counter the reports that Global South countries should be in the periphery of information access,” said Mr. Mukurunge.

According to Mr. Mukurunge, the key challenge to the full realisation of this proposal is the lack of unity between African countries.

“Some of the Francophone countries rely too much on their former coloniser, France, to the extent that as African leaders might agree on something, but when it comes to voting and execution they tend to get directives from France, and that is problematic.

“Remember when Zimbabwe was seeking to galvanise African leaders through having support on its land reform programme, it was Senegal’s former leader Abdoulaye Wade who opposed Zimbabwe’s position to please the French. As long as some of our people are controlled by external forces, as a continent we will not go anywhere,” added Mr. Mukurunge.

So Much Work To Do

There is so much work to do. African journalism needs to go beyond the simple problem of news framing to epistemic framing. Epistemic framing is about the locus of enunciation of the story, that is, the body political and geopolitical of the subject that speaks.

When one listens to or reads African print and electronic news, there is no difference to tell whether the news is meant for an African or Western audience. This tends to show that African journalism seems to be preoccupied with lower-order ethics shaped by the social and epistemic location of the storyteller.

Politics and Journalism lecturer at the Africa University in Zimbabwe, Dr. Alexander Rusero says African journalism will never see an authentic framework as long as it remains in the shadows of the West.

“We (Africans) are still hunters and gatherers of information. We have no authentic African journalism or media but rather colonial mimicry,” says Dr. Rusero.

IMF And World Bank: The ‘Bad Samaritans’ And Neoliberals Cheating Africa Into A Cycle Of Pernicious Debt

UbuntuTimes
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IMF And World Bank: The ‘Bad Samaritans’ And Neoliberals Cheating Africa Into A Cycle Of Pernicious Debt

The Western liberal consensus has long been intervening and interfering in Africa. The first form of intervention was through the slave trade from the 16th century, a mechanism that was used to reverse the trajectory of African history, followed by colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries which led to the robbery of the continent’s resources and the displacement of its political and socio-economic organization.

However, for the years towards the end of the twentieth century, these two forms of intervention have been resurrected and today re-appear in the form of debt. The rhetoric of Africa being independent remains a mirage when the is encircled with the debt traps, an enticing formula that capitalism uses to lure Africans through its institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).

The IMF and WB are instruments used by the United States to engage in a modern form of slavery by offering giant loans, especially to Global South nations. On the surface, this appears generous, yet the loans are intentionally too big; failure to repay means the entrapped country begins to abide by the political interests of the United States.

While Africa decries slavery, the U.S. through the IMF and WB, pulling the mechanics of a global empire, enslaves more people today than what the Romans and all other colonial powers did.

From the onset, the Bretton Woods financial institutions were created to capture, first, the post-World War II Europe under the pretext of rebuilding and reconstruction. Secondly, the period of decolonization in Africa from the 1960s, gave way for an independent Africa to support the U.S. in its gesture towards liberation movements that opposed mainly British rule in Africa. African countries were later inclined to support the United States’ financial plans through the IMF and WB, endearing themselves to an all-pervasive culture of aid dependency to which there is little or no real debate on the exit strategy from this debt web and quagmire.

In his magnum corpus, Confessions of An Economic Hitman, U.S. writer John Perkins summed it all saying when dealing with the United States and financial institutions of the neo-liberal consensus, “nations need to avoid debt at all costs if they want to remain free.” 

The Sad Case Of Zimbabwe

In 2000, Zimbabwe embarked on a revolutionary agrarian reform exercise meant to address colonial imbalances, thus repudiating the International Law of Colonialism or the Doctrine of Discovery that European colonizers used to displace indigenous Zimbabweans from their territory on September 12, 1890.

For repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery which gave whites rights to access all land and property belonging to blacks without compensation, in 2001 Zimbabwe was sanctioned by the United States, and the European Union (EU) in 2002. The U.S., using the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA), directed the IMF and WB to block any loan meant for Zimbabwe, and that the African country repay the debt it owes its creditors.

The debt now stands at US$17.4 billion! The latest US$3.5 billion debt was assumed in July 2020, meant to compensate the white farmers who lost land during the 2000 agrarian reform, in particular for the developments they put on the agricultural land they had. 

In search of avoiding the pariah state tag, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has consistently approached the IMF and WB since 2018 as part of his administration’s re-engagement policy with the West with a debt clearance proposal of at least US$8 billion, in the meantime.

Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa appointed the African Development Bank (AfDB) president, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and former Mozambique’s President Joachim Chissano as conveners of meetings with the IMF and WB.   

Repentance Under Tough, Unforgiving Conditions

The debt debate about Zimbabwe has provoked reactions from African academics, intellectuals and interventions from politicians. Zimbabwe is expressing a willingness to settle the debt, but under tough conditions imposed by the IMF and WB. There are points of convergence, and similarly of divergence, on what has to be done.   

“It is always important to talk about debt. You cannot turn a blind eye to it because it is a pertinent matter. More importantly, talking about debt means Zimbabwe will have clarity from its creditors on their expectations. Zimbabwe has been given conditions by the IMF, WB, and the Western countries, and they are tough and we as history informs, the Zimbabwean government cannot meet them,” Gift Mugano, a professor of economics at Durban University of Technology in South Africa told Ubuntu Times.    

The conditions include that Zimbabwe liberalize its financial markets, institute currency reforms and electoral reforms, respect human rights, hold free, fair and credible elections on August 23 to entrench democracy, stop the harassment of political opponents, and implement the December 2018 Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry into the August 2018 post-election violence in which soldiers shot and killed six people.

“The Zimbabwean government is doing the opposite, meaning the holding of free and fair elections is not on the right footing. Reforms relating to financial markets liberation and the privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are going to fail because the government wants to embark on command economics.

“These IMF and WB conditions are just a reprint and duplication of the ZIDERA sanctions as the U.S. government confirmed. Zimbabwe is being reminded that it has to repent, yet the conditions are tough,” notes Prof. Mugano.

On the issue of political rights, Zimbabwe is deemed to be faltering as the deputy chairperson of the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party, Job Sikhala, has been in pre-trial detention since June last year for inciting violence, while leader of the Transform Zimbabwe party, Jacob Ngarivhume, was sentenced to four years imprisonment in April for inciting violence on social media. Several other opposition members face various charges.

Suicide Is Not Martyrdom

Despite having tough conditions to re-engage with Western financial institutions, Zimbabwe’s pathway to compensate former white farmers in the region of US$3.5 billion is seen as “suicide”.

Some analysts accuse President Mnangagwa of pandering to the interests and agenda of Western neoliberals, unlike his predecessor (the late) President Robert Mugabe who was uncompromisingly strong on Pan-African and nationalist values. 

“Where will Zimbabwe get the US$3.5 billion dollars? On that issue, the country committed suicide. In essence, it is now Zimbabwe saying ‘we are sorry for taking back our land’. 

“Practically Zimbabwe will not win and the IMF, WB, and the West will even not do much. Other multilateral institutions will be given sanctions if they lend Zimbabwe money without America’s approval,” Prof. Mugano said. 

Development economist Dr. Prosper Chitambara thinks the issue of compensation is unavoidable. 

“I do not see a way out. Compensation is necessary to bring closure. Zimbabwe cannot avoid it, or run away from it,” Dr. Chitambara said. 

What Needs To Be Done?

Many scenarios are up for consideration on how to deal with and address debts African countries owe to creditors, and some radical approaches have been thought of.

Speaking about debt, Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara, at a meeting of the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in May 1987 before his assassination five months later suggested that “We should even stop paying the debts and in any event, we deserve the reparations for slavery, colonization and if we (Africans) take a joint decision that we are not going to pay the debt, what will they do to us?” 

Kenya’s Pan-African scholar and public intellectual Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba describes Sankara’s approach as a “positive methodical madness.”

In an interview conducted on May 2023 ahead of the 60th-anniversary celebrations on the founding of the OAU and its transition to African Union (AU) in 2002 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, blamed the IMF and WB for being “economic enslavers whose agenda is to ensure Africa is in a perpetual state of debt because they want to ensure they control our economics, politics and us.”

“When the IMF and WB were created in the United States in New Hampshire in 1944, none of the African countries participated and it was the British and American economists who participated specifically to rebuild Europe, and Africa was only grafted into these organizations,” Prof. Lumumba said.

The Kenyan erudite said the AfDB was going to be an engine fit to determine Africa’s economic freedom, but remains African “only in name” as foreign countries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) “have seized, captured and paralyzed the AfDB.”

“The AfDB is only African in name. Even on sanctions deployed in Zimbabwe, it cannot help because we do not have Pan-African institutions. One of the things I hope Africa could do is to rethink how as a continent we finance ourselves. The AU is now financed up to 70 percent by foreigners. As long as we are dependent on the IMF and the WB, our economies are simply going to be shadow economies of the Americans, Europeans, Chinese, and Russians. The time is now to wean ourselves from the breasts of the IMF and WB,” Prof. Lumumba added.

According to Dr. Chitambara, Zimbabwe will only deal with its debt after posting good growth results from investments in critical sectors.

He said: “Countries that have been able to deal with debt have been able to do so at the basis of a growth trajectory. To achieve that Zimbabwe needs to address things to do with infrastructure, energy, transport networks, and all critical enablers to unlock the potential of the economy.

“Zimbabwe can also leverage the rent from natural resources, meaning the government should impose revenue rents and that is a viable alternative to collect money that can be used towards debt pay-offs.”

Beware Of The Bad Samaritans

For long, Zimbabwe and other African countries have been kept in a pernicious cycle of poverty as a result of loans that were extended by the IMF and WB in the name of helping in economic transformation. 

However, the conditions tied to these loans and unfortunately accepted by African countries, demand that Global South states reevaluate their positions on what they receive from Western financial institutions. 

The best way to deal with the IMF and the WB is never to deal with them!

2023 Elections: A Street Robbery

Sanyaolu Juwon
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2023 Elections: A Street Robbery

If you can relate with the kind of mood you’d meet when on a visit to a street that had just experienced a robbery of a very violent dimension, then you may be able to connect with the atmosphere of gloom that descended on the country at the pronouncement of Mr. Bola Tinubu as (s)elected president of the country. The Nigerian people felt cheated, and robbed.

But needless to say, the street was indeed robbed — it was violently dispossessed of its hard-earned democratic right to choose for itself, a leader: votes were stolen at polling units and collation centers, ballot boxes were snatched, voters were intimidated, electorates and electoral officials were bought, the polling units did not only become a theater of war, it was equally drowned in blood: votes generally did not count. The street had been robbed of the right to free and fair elections.

The 2023 elections were no doubt the usual tales of sorrow, tears, and blood: the sad triumph of impunity and money politics over the democratic will of over 200 million people.

Whereas voters turnout at every election cycle since 2003 has decreased progressively, the recent polls had an unprecedented number of first-time voters who are largely very young people — those you will categorize as the children of Democracy aka Gen Zs. It was a generation that had been forged in the furnace of one of the biggest youth rebellions in recent history: the EndSARS rebellion.

Sadly, the EndSARS generation may be the last generation of Nigerians who will hold any manner of confidence in Nigeria’s electoral system due to the inability of the electoral umpire to manage the high expectations ignorantly reposed on it by the millions of this young, and highly enthusiastic voters. Whatsoever illusions anyone may have left in Nigeria’s so-called democracy, the charade conducted in 2023 may have successfully shattered such illusions.

While Bola Tinubu’s party, the ruling APC used money, and all instrumentalities of the state to suppress voters, and steal votes, the so-called front-runners — Atiku Abubakar’s PDP, and Peter Obi’s Labour Party weren’t any different. The duo equally stole votes, and repressed voters at their respective strongholds. Sadly, this is how Nigeria’s ruling class have conducted themselves every election year. This accounts for the steady decline of voter turnout at every election cycle. The loss of confidence in the system continues to increase exponentially.

At the just concluded Presidential polls, only 27% of the over 87 million eligible voters — voters with PVCs, turned out to vote. Also instructive is the fact that the supposed winner of the (s)election, Bola Tinubu, was able to secure only about 8.2 million votes, representing a very small percentage of 10.08% of the total number of eligible voters.

In all, a huge population of over 63.1 million eligible voters completely boycotted the elections. This is in addition to over 100 million Nigerians who did not even register to vote at all. Generally, Bola Tinubu’s government will be presiding over a country where over 170 million people have handed his administration a vote of no confidence even before it began.

And for such infamous administration starting off on a note of illegitimacy, and mass rejection even in the midst of daunting economic crises capable of pitching even a relatively popular Government against its people, he will in the coming period be left with the option of two extreme choices if he must hold onto his Government which by the way may have failed even before it began: an option of granting huge political and economic concession to the already discontented and disillusioned majority, or the use of brute force to suppress dissent and keep his unpopular regime in power. This in fact is the fate that awaits any government that emerges from the 2023 charade. For Bola Tinubu of the APC, which will it be? Your guess is as good as mine.

The coming days will no doubt be challenging and highly tumultuous. As such, we must do away with all manner of needless divisive narratives targeted at dividing us along ethnic lines. It is in the interest of the ruling class of all political divides to keep us isolated from one another through religion and ethnicity. We must not allow for these distractions. Only as a united front can we pose a formidable challenge to the looming danger the Presidency of Bola Tinubu and APC represents to the ordinary and suffering people of Nigeria.

Students’ Loan: We Can’t Pay, We Won’t Pay

Sanyaolu Juwon
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Students’ Loan: We Can’t Pay, We Won’t Pay

On November 22nd, 2022, Nigeria’s 9th National Assembly successfully passed a Students’ Loan Bill, a move that has now incited reactions along varying interests and ideological lines. The bill, sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila purportedly seeks to ease access to public education by providing tuition loans to students whose family’s annual income is less than five hundred thousand naira – over 133 million Nigerians are in this category.

Students who are eligible for this tuition loan are expected to apply through their respective tertiary institutions, and the tuition will forthwith be paid directly into the account of the applicant’s institution of learning.

Beneficiaries of this student loan are expected to begin repayment two years after National Youth Service Corps.

While the speaker of the house had argued that the bill is in the interest of the students and the people of Nigeria, critical analysis of the loan bill reveals the contrary. Aside from the fact that experiences from other countries have persistently shown how a student loan program has turned out to be synonymous with offering a poisoned chalice to the “beneficiaries” of such a program, we also note that this bill is a deliberate ploy by the irresponsible Nigerian state to distract the public from the real issues of education underfunding.

Against the background of numerous attempt to institutionalize the commercialization of public education in Nigeria, the government in different instances have developed various initiatives targeted at placing the burden of education funding on the shoulders of Nigerian students and their poor parents. One of the most recent of such attempts is a Steve Oransaye Committee inaugurated in 2012 by the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan. The committee recommended the introduction of very high tuition to the tune of 450- 525 thousand naira in Nigerian tertiary institutions, starting with the first Generation Universities. The committee argued that tuition of such magnitude is a necessity if our universities must stand a chance to compete minimally with the rest of the world. In short, the committee’s recommendation was that government hands off education funding and allow students to bear the burden of the stupendous resources needed to fund tertiary education.

In 2014, it was reported that the Jonathan administration had issued a white paper on the report of this committee.

Upon emergence in 2015, the Buhari regime continued on these neoliberal foundations of the Jonathan administration by inaugurating a committee of 16 headed by the former University of Lagos Pro-Chancellor, Professor Wale Babalakin. This committee, like Oransaye, proposed an astronomical increment in tuition, this time to the tune of One million naira. In addition to very high tuition, Babalakin also argued for the establishment of an education bank that will grant loans to students for the purpose of paying for this high tuition. Commendably, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) rejected this recommendation, describing it as an attempt to hand over public universities to private interests.

Recall that in 2009, ASUU, again made a case for increased funding of public education starting with the immediate injection of 1.3 trillion naira into public Universities. It proposed in its 2009 agreement with the federal government that this funding should be paid to the universities in three tranches. It took the Union to go into another six months of strike action in 2013 to compel the government to release the first tranche of 220 billion naira in the latter part of 2014. This is close to five years since the agreement was signed.

Meanwhile, just two years before the 2009 agreement, the Nigerian government bailed out their friends in the banking system with a whopping sum of 3 trillion naira. The same government will later find it difficult to bail out public education with 1.3 trillion naira two years after.

No doubt, the Students’ Loan Bill represents the institutionalization of education commercialization with an overall aim to effectively consolidate an ongoing neoliberal siege against public education in Nigeria.

It is on record that in places like the United States of America, where this policy may have been adopted, beneficiaries of such loans spend their entire adult life repaying loans. In fact, President Obama couldn’t complete his repayment until he became America’s President. Millions of American citizens are living in heavy debt accrued from this sort of draconian policy. The implications in Nigeria are bound to be much worse.

In addition to the problem of mass unemployment and massive de-industrialization, Nigeria also struggles with increasing poverty with over 133 million Nigerians living in abject poverty.

Whereas the bill states that beneficiaries of this loan must begin repayment two years after completion of Youth Service, it fails to put into consideration the obvious reality that most Nigerian graduates are unable to find jobs years after leaving school. And those with the initiative to start small businesses aren’t availed with an enabling environment for a thriving business.

It is rather unfortunate that of many western education policies, Nigerian leaders have always opted for the ones that have proven to be a monumental disaster. It remains a wonder that they have chosen to ignore great examples of other Western countries like Germany, Switzerland, Finland, and many Scandinavian countries that have a culture of giving free and qualitative education to its citizens.

The problem we face isn’t the fact that the Nigerian state is incapable of funding free and qualitative education, it is that Nigerian leaders are unwilling to commit to massive investment into education. Monies that should have been committed to funding public education are either looted or committed to white elephant projects. It was in this same country that Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were unable to account for a whopping sum of 1.2 trillion naira. We have seen how the accountant general of the federation stole 150 billion naira. These are just a few of many cases of mindless looting in the country. This is in addition to unremitted taxes from big corporations running to several billions of dollars.

While we continue to commend the education unions, especially the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for rejecting this Greek gift, and insisting that the Nigerian government must abandon this distraction and genuinely commit to funding education, it becomes very imperative to call public attention to the urgency of resisting the cruel attempt to place an unfair burden of eternal debt on the strained shoulders of over 133 million poor Nigerians who already are finding it difficult to even afford to eat.

Oil Money Heralds Trouble For Uganda’s Indigenous Bagungu Tribe, Environment

Diana Taremwa Karakire
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Oil Money Heralds Trouble For Uganda’s Indigenous Bagungu Tribe, Environment

BULIISA, Uganda — Baboons wander through shrub-lands that line the sides of newly built roads straddling Uganda’s wildlife reserves close to the shores of oil-rich Lake Albert. Across the border in Congo,  magnificent lush green hilly countrysides stand out. If you’re lucky you can catch a glimpse of elephants too. Wildlife is abundant here, but such scenes might be no more in a few years, as oil companies embark on multi-billion projects to pump as much as 6 billion barrels of crude oil from Uganda’s biodiversity-rich Albertine Rift Graben.

Baboons crossing the newly built Hoima-Buliisa road in Buliisa District
Baboons crossing the newly built Hoima-Buliisa road that straddles Bugungu wildlife reserve close to the shores of oil-rich Lake Albert. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

This territory has also been occupied for generations by the indigenous Bagungu people, who tilled the land to cultivate millet and sorghum and gather medicinal herbs and fish on Lake Albert. The Bagungu have over the years used traditional techniques to conserve the lands. From restricting access to sacred areas to designating wildlife sanctuaries, owing in part to a traditional belief that nature and its resources are guarded by spirits.

But planned development of hundreds of oil wells that dot the shores of lake Albert poses new threats to the pristine environment and has come at the expense of indigenous people’s rights. The Bagungu have been uprooted from ancestral grounds and their once revered cultural sites destroyed—including shrines and grazing lands.

Alex Wakitinti a chief custodian removes his shoes at Wandeko sacred natural site in Kasenyi village Buliisa district
Alex Wakitinti the chief custodian removes his shoes at Wandeko sacred natural site in Kasenyi village Buliisa district. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

“We have lost our grazing lands. Our people wish oil had not been discovered in this area,” Alex Wakitinti the chief custodian of sacred sites of the Bagungu, says, pointing at a newly built highway. “We no longer have access to medicinal herbs and sacred trees where we worshiped.”

French oil giant TotalEnergies operates the Tilenga oil project in the remote districts of Buliisa, Hoima, Kikuube, and Nwoya near the ecologically fragile Murchison Falls National Park and the Nile Delta in western Uganda. The project consists of six oil fields and is expected to have 400 wells drilled in 31 locations. It will also house an industrial area, support camps, a central processing facility, and feeder pipelines. The project necessitates the acquisition of 2,901 acres of land across the districts, as well as additional land within the national park.

TotalEnergies Tilenga project located near Lake Albert, Western Uganda
A map showing the TotalEnergies Tilenga project located near Lake Albert, Western Uganda. Credit: Petroleum Authority Uganda

According to Petroleum Authority Uganda, the process of acquiring land for the Tilenga project is still underway and has displaced 5,523 families. Residents and local officials, however, say that this process has been marred by inadequate and delayed compensation and resettlement.

Three years ago, TotalEnergies, approached Kaliisa Munange, a peasant farmer in kasenyi village, in Buliisa district, near the shores of lake Albert with a proposal. They would take over his 6-acre piece of land for project developments, in exchange for a bigger chunk of land, complete with a house, in a nearby village. With the promise of a better life, Mr. Munange consented to a relocation that he thought would be life-changing.

“When I arrived, I was so disappointed all the promises were empty, yet the company had already taken over my property,” he said, frowning his forehead with anger. “It was very far, there wasn’t a nearby school that my children would attend and the hospital is ten kilometers away. I decided to take them to court but up to now there is no decision.”

A notice board for Tilenga project-related information updates in Kasenyi Village, Buliisa district
A notice board for Tilenga project-related information updates in Kasenyi Village. Locals say these haven’t been effective due to the language barrier. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

Kaliisa’s is not the only case. His plight is shared by thousands of peasants in this lakeside village, which will soon house one of the largest oil processing facilities in Africa. Many have been waiting for compensation for several years since they were ordered not to plant any perennial crops and erect permanent structures on their land.

Fishing on Wanseko landing site on the shores of Lake Albert in Buliisa district
Fishermen at Wanseko landing site on the shores of Lake Albert in Buliisa district. Most fishing sites have been cordoned off due to oil developments. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

locals are nostalgic of the good old days when they had a source of livelihood tilling their land and fishing freely from L. Albert. When the land was communally used for grazing, worship, herbal medicines, and building materials.

“Community involvement and participation in the land acquisition process and environment impact assessment processes has been limited,” says Wakitinti “Our people were not involved in the identification of cultural sites and a number of medicinal herbs and trees were not assessed for compensation.”

Total executives deny the allegations insisting that the company is addressing the complaints of the affected people and has even been providing them with supplies, such as food.

A tamarind tree, one of the sacred trees central to Bagungu worship system, Kasenyi village,Buliisa district
The tamarind tree which is one of the sacred trees central to Bagungu worship system, Kasenyi Village, Buliisa district. Custodians say that a number of these trees were not assessed during the social and environmental impact assessments for Tilenga oil project. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

Pauline Macronald, head of the environment biodiversity at TotalEnergies Uganda says that the project is taking measures to ensure the socioeconomic stability of project-affected persons.

“TotalEnergies is committed to developing the Tilenga project while observing human rights standards and International Finance Corporation performance standards,” she said, adding that the company has been in close contact with project-affected people to minimize the projects’ impact on locals.

The constitution of Uganda safeguards property rights and land ownership. It affirms that everyone has a right to possess property and offers strict protection against unfair property deprivation. This states that everyone whose private property or land must be acquired for a public project should get prompt, fair, and reasonable compensation.

The International Finance Corporation Performance Standard 7 aims to guarantee that corporate operations minimize adverse effects and promote respect for indigenous peoples’ cultures, rights, and dignity. A fundamental criterion is the free, prior, and informed permission of indigenous peoples, as well as informed consultation and engagement with them throughout the project development process. The Bagungu, however, contend that these rights and standards have been violated by oil project developers.

“The land acquisition processes for oil projects have been shrouded in secrecy, no transparency. The processes have not been participatory and consultative in nature and any project resistance has resulted in costly formal court proceedings to the indigenes,” says Enoch Bigirwa, the former chairperson of the Bagungu Community Association.

The Bagungu Community Association BACA is a local group championing the rights of Bagungu amidst oil developments in their territory. It exists for the sociology-cultural and economic development of Bagungu. BACA is part of the environmental groups that filed a lawsuit against TotalEnergies in France over human rights violations and environmental harm in its Uganda oil project.

Who are the Bagungu

The Bagungu are an indigenous tribe native to Uganda and totaling around 83,986 according to the 2014 population census. They are mainly found in Buliisa, Hoima, and Masindi districts of western Uganda-Albertaine Graben. They belong to the historical Bunyoro Kingdom led by an Omukama, their King.

Bangungu people of Uganda
A map showing the location of the Bangungu people of Uganda. Credit: Bugungu Heritage and Information Centre

They are agricultural and fishing folk. Bagungu are the guardians and custodians of Lake Albert, a large freshwater lake that is the the source of Albert Nile, a branch of the River Nile that flows through Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, and DR Congo.

Oil Developments in Uganda

In 2006, oil and gas reserves were discovered in Uganda’s Albertine Graben.TotalEnergies and China’s CNOOC recently reached a final investment decision to inject $10 billion to kick start oil developments in partnership with the government of Uganda through Uganda National Oil Company which will subsequently lead to production in 2023. Output is expected to peak at 220,000 barrels a day of crude, Uganda consumes around 15,000 barrels a day of crude. Part of the crude oil will be refined to supply the local market while the remainder will be exported through a 1,443km buried East African Crude Oil Pipeline EACOP from Uganda to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania for export to the international market.

Uganda envisions the development of the oil and gas industry will accelerate economic growth, and job creation, improve the general prosperity of Ugandans and catapult the country into middle-income status. Petroleum Authority of Uganda estimates that about 200,000 people will be employed in the oil and gas sector.

However, climate campaigners have been opposing oil developments in the country citing environmental issues, climate change, and community rights violations. As a result, financiers of fossil fuel projects like banks, insurers, and other financial players have been urged to refrain from providing financial support for oil projects.

“Biodiversity is seriously threatened by Total’s oil operations. Government should encourage green economic investments in clean energy. These are inclusive and have the greatest multiplier effects on employment,” said Diana Nabiruma, the communications officer, at Africa Institute for Energy Governance.

This story was produced with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network’s Indigenous Story Grants

Aiding Poverty By Smuggling A Rare Black Stone For 30 Pieces Of Silver

UbuntuTimes
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Aiding Poverty By Smuggling A Rare Black Stone For 30 Pieces Of Silver

For Claudious Murungweni (not his real name), a 35-year-old bus conductor plying the Zimbabwe-South Africa cross-border route, the corruption and smuggling of a low base mineral has turned around his economic fortunes.

From a paltry equivalent of US$90 dollars as a monthly salary, Murungweni now has a new avenue that is financing his livelihood running into thousands of US dollars.

Since October 2021 when the government relaxed the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions that enabled cross-border buses to carry passengers, Murungweni says he has been approached by “good guys with great deals.”

“I carry raw granite stone slabs cut from the main blocks. These black granite slabs are movable by bus so for that job we get ZAR25 000 rand (US$1 600). First transaction is just a fifty percent deposit that I use to pay (bribe) the police and revenue collection officials at the Beitbridge border post.

“When we get to South Africa that is when I am paid the balance,” says Murungweni.

For the trip, Murungweni shares the money with the bus driver, and also bribes Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) officials at the Beitbridge border post and their South African counterparts.

Zimbabwe is a country richly endowed with useful diverse mineral resources. Despite this vast mineral resource base, more attention has been placed on highly valued minerals like gold and diamonds when people talk of smuggling.

The illicit financial flow in the mining sector according to the government through Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe costs the state US$100 million each month in lost revenues, a total of US$1.2 billion annually.

The issue of illicit financial flows affecting Zimbabwe’s struggling economy has moved from highly precious minerals like gold to low minerals like the granite stone, now known as “the black gold.”

From where the granite stone is mined by the Chinese, in Mutoko, a rural area about 140 kilometers east of the capital Harare, villagers have little to show off the mineral mined in their area, except bearing the brunt of environmental damage.

Granite mining damages the environment
The mining of Granite in Mutoko has left a trail of environmental degradation. Mining companies have not come up with initiatives to protect the environment. Credit: Ubuntu Times

A 2019 investigation conducted by ZELA on the financial and social impact of black granite mining in Mutoko revealed that less than ten percent of Zimbabwe’s granite is cut and polished locally with the bulk of it being exported in its raw form as “granite merely cut into blocks.”

Because issues of smuggling are not treated with precision in courts, a close associate to the country’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Ms. Henrietta Rushwaya, was in October 2020 intercepted at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International airport with six kilogrammes of gold worth an estimated US$366,000 in her handbag en-route to the United Arab Emirates.

She was arrested, spent days in prison and later released from custody in January 2021 on ZWL$100 000 bond. However,  her case is now collapsing after anti-corruption advocates hinted that the way her case is progressing has been engineered to collapse because of her close links to the Mnangagwa family.

“If I get arrested I will just know I am a small fish, and those heavily involved in smuggling are walking scot-free. That means our system has broken down and people can just do all they can to earn a living. I do not even ask where the granite stone is going,” adds Murungweni.

According to Shamiso Mtisi, the spokesperson of the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association (ZELA), from where the black granite is mined “environmental damage and lack of community benefits for the people of Mutoko” are key characteristics.

“We hear there are issues of the smuggling of the black granite stone from Zimbabwe specifically because of its fineness and being a great quality mineral. Unfortunately, there is a failure to have it benefit the communities from where it is mined.

“What is procedural is to have granite exported through formal procedures by going to the Minerals Marketing Cooperation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), but the money that these mining companies pay as a mining levy is inadequate. Those levies deny the communities opportunities for development,” said Mtisi.

Export cumulative figures by the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (Zimstat) revealed that in 2020 Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa, Italy, Switzerland, China, Greece and Spain are among the top export destinations of unbeneficiated granite.

The Black Gold, the new name for Granite stone
A heavy machine seen atop the huge Granite boulders mined in Mutoko. Credit: Ubuntu Times

Mutoko is not an exception regarding general environmental, economic and social challenges resulting from the mining of black granite.

To curb smuggling syndicates and plug illicit financial flows, the Zimra border controls say the upgrading of the Beitbridge Border post into a “world class” center is one that will help break the stranglehold of smuggling syndicates.

Zimra head of corporate communications Francis Chimanda says the authority is working to improve security to reduce instances of smuggling by improving the bus terminal that will see all travellers.

“The new bus terminal (at the border) will provide facilities where all buses will have their goods offloaded and checked before authority to proceed will be granted by revenue officers through scanning of gate passes to activate the opening of boom gates.

“This will go a long way in ensuring that the buses are checked and authority to proceed is granted. The upgrade will also generally improve security and reduce instances of smuggling at the Beitbridge border post as the new measure for traffic control and movement have improved the checks and balances,” Chimanda says.

Chimanda also pointed out that Zimra officials have embarked on random searches of buses to break the smuggling syndicates but they have not intercepted any with black granite stone.

“Currently random searches are being done on exit buses and to date, no interceptions have been made on granite being smuggled. Having said that any instances of possible smuggling will be thoroughly investigated” Chimanda adds.

Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) spokesperson Dosman Mangisi says as long as government and policymakers in Zimbabwe do not come up with a Minerals and Metals Beneficiation policy, the country’s minerals will continue to be smuggled out.

He says the value of beneficiation should be explained to the communities where the minerals are being mined in order to empower locals.

“Basically we are lagging behind as a country because Zimbabwe has no legal and policy instruments that enable value addition of our minerals. We have no metal beneficiation laws.

“Our principals should come with beneficiation policy frameworks that govern this. The ones we have speak of mining on a touch-here-touch-there basis,” Mangisi says.

For example, sample surveys conducted by the ZMF since 2016 have concluded that Zimbabwe is sitting on US$30 billion worth of iron ore but the country is currently importing 70 percent of its iron requirements.

“For this country to unlock value, granite beneficiation should be done at community level through a formulated Minerals and Metals Beneficiation policy. These minerals should therefore be classified so that we know their uses and value.

“As long as we do not have beneficiation policies we will never know the value of what we have,” adds Mangisi.

He also urged the government to start beneficiation awareness campaigns at community level so that locals know what value their minerals have.

Lumumba’s Tooth: A Symbolic Caricature Of Afrika’s Continued Political Toothlessness

Gibson Nyikadzino
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Lumumba’s Tooth: A Symbolic Caricature Of Afrika’s Continued Political Toothlessness

The western media’s campaign in 1960 to discredit the first democratically elected prime minister of the Republic of Congo (modern-day DRC), Patrice Èmery Lumumba, make a sad ending as the burial of his golden tooth last week Thursday, 30th June shows the continued pauperisation of Africa’s heroes in both life and death.

On June 30, 1960, Lumumba’s independence speech after the country untangled the shackles of Belgian colonialism inspired great confidence in the other countries that were fighting for independence.

For him, the Congo’s victory over Belgium was a victory for Africa. His plan for the struggle for political independence and economic emancipation of the Congo was to have a far and wide-reaching impact on the whole of Africa.

“The Congo’s independence is a decisive step towards the liberation of the whole African continent. It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.

“That was our lot for the eighty years of colonial rule and our wounds are too fresh and much too painful to be forgotten,” Lumumba said in his independence speech.

While his yearning for African independence was a wholesome commitment to the sprouting movements of freedom in other countries like Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, western media was planning to erase Lumumba’s historical contributions to Africa’s independence renaissance.

With high tensions fostered by the Cold War, many from the western bloc that was led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the USA’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) described and labelled Lumumba as the “man who has the head of Lenin which has to be crushed.”

Lumumba’s boldness in preaching the socialist ideology in the face of capitalism made those who want to monopolise the world kill him.

In his book, The Assassination of Lumumba, Belgian academic Ludo De Witte highlighted that no person of African extract was expected to speak against Europeans like the way Lumumba did on independence day because they were masters of all humanity.

Lumumba’s Flame Of Consciousness Dying

For Africa, the recorded last words of Burkina Faso’s revolutionary President Thomas Sankara in 1987 when he was facing his assassins that “ideas cannot die”, speak in contradiction of the actions shown by Africans at the arrival of the continent’s hero’s golden tooth that was kept as a trophy in Belgium.

While “ideas cannot die” has been a popularised way to speak for independence and post-colonial freedom by Pan Africanists and nationalists in general, the silence of Africa on Lumumba’s demise on January 17, 1961 poses a loud betrayal and dissipating appetite of continental togetherness.

Lumumba, just like Sankara, had the vision to see Africa independent of all manacles that were impeding its growth. A reality that is difficult to envision today under the new continental leaders who, mostly, have sacrificed principle on the altar of political expediency.

Burying An Incomplete Hero As Atonement

Lumumba fought for the Congo’s independence as a complete man. The burial of his golden tooth, his only remains, on Thursday 30th June at the 62nd independence anniversary of the DRC invokes the colonial prejudices and an unfair post-colonial setting where Africa’s former colonisers show no remorse over their past misdeeds.

In November 2002, Belgian authorities who had deliberately engineered the elimination of Lumumba released a report of his murder, an inquiry that was carried out by a parliamentary commission by examining archival and testimonial evidence.

The accounts examined were porous and evidence also showed that many witnesses were not subjected to rigorous cross-examination. It was a stage-managed inquiry to allow for a “national consensus” over the matter, critics said then.

Even those who participated in Lumumba’s violent death, most have used Cold War rhetoric to their defence and have died a reluctant death. One such man is Gerard Soete, a Belgian police officer who directed Lumumba’s assassination and threw his chopped pieces into acid, later said the Congo’s independence Prime Minister “had beautiful teeth” before his death in June 2000.

Gerard’s daughter, Godelive, reportedly shared images of the tooth with Belgian media following pressure from Lumumba’s family.

Without bringing the matter to justice, DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi, while presiding at the 62nd independence anniversary said the “Congolese people can have the honour of offering a burial to their illustrious prime minister.”

“We are ending mourning we started 61 years ago,” said President Tshisekedi.

In 2011 while speaking to The Gambia’s exiled former president, Yahya Jammeh, Lumumba’s youngest son, Roland, disclosed that his family was trying to follow the good ideals and practices of his late father towards the liberation efforts of Africa.

“We must know exactly who did it, how and why. We have the right to know and it is our duty to pass this knowledge onto the future generation. The answers to these questions should be known by all Africans,” said Roland.

Now that the answers are clear for the Lumumba family, the Congolese and African people, the burial of Lumumba’s remains without a formal apology from the Belgian political and monarchical establishment project a tainted Africa-Europe future relationship.

In a letter read at Lumumba’s funeral by one of his granddaughters, it painted a picture of an Africa that has not been shocked but expressed a silent satisfaction with the burial of Lumumba’s tooth as a historical victory for Africa by the return of his remains.

“With you, today, Africa is writing its own history,” read Lumumba’s granddaughter.

Africa’s Painful Path To Recolonisation?

In his lecture on The Past, Present and Future of Pan Africanism at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa last October, renowned Pan Africanist and public intellectual Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba said Africa is weak hence no one wants to pay attention to its progress, if it has any.

P.L.O. Lumumba on the Past, Present and Future of Pan Africanism
Pan-Afrikanist, P.L.O. Lumumba is one of the vocal figures whose call for Pan-Afrikan political leadership has largely been ignored by neocolonial African political rulers who are merely complacent with being political figureheads in the gross destabilization and maladministration of Afrika. Credit: Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia

He said the issue of Pan Africanism and African unity is a basis for the continent to come together and avoid yesteryear pitfalls that came with colonisation.

“If you want to know how weak we are look at how we are treated. When our leaders even if they are saying something, it is something that can be ignored. The world does not listen because we are weak and disunited. So we have a weak continent because the spirit of Pan-Africanism disappeared.

“We are weak. That is the reality of our mother continent. It is because we are politically weak, economically weak and socially we are disorganised, culturally and spiritually we are confused. That is the continent in which we are in today. We unite or we perish.

“We need to use our Africanness as a building block to talk about African unity. Sometimes when we talk about Pan-Africanism and African unity, people think we are being simplistic about it. No, it is not being simplistic. It is recognising that as long as we remain the way we are, then African in the next 25 years will be recolonised. So the question that we can ask is what is the state of Pan Africanism as we speak today?” asked Prof. Lumumba.

He said the weakness of the continental body, the AU, stems from the manner it acts.

“The African Union, which is weak, says the right things and does the wrong things nine out of ten times,” he added.

Potential Security Risks In Southern Africa As Zambia Hosts AFRICOM

Gibson Nyikadzino
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Potential Security Risks In Southern Africa As Zambia Hosts AFRICOM

The United States of America’s military footprint has been felt in Southern Africa after a security pact signed between Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema and the US embassy in Lusaka on April 25 received both condemnation and commendation across the regional political divide.

There are fears the presence of US forces through the Africa Command’s Office of Strategic Cooperation in Zambia will create new insecurities for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region than those that existed before, both traditional and non-traditional threats.

When AFRICOM was formed in 2007, two African countries, Botswana and Liberia, considered hosting it before Thabo Mbeki, then South Africa’s president and his Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota opposed the idea.

“That would constitute an unacceptable violation of Africa’s sovereignty,” Mbeki said then.

On August 29, 2007, SADC announced its position “that it is better if the United States were involved with Africa from a distance rather than be present on the continent.” Then SADC Defence and Security Ministers further stated “that sister countries of the region should not agree to host AFRICOM and in particular, armed forces since this would have a negative effect. That recommendation was presented to the Heads of State and this is a SADC position.”

Then Zambia’s president Levy Mwanawasa reaffirmed Zambia’s stance on October 2, 2007, when he stated “none of us is interested” in hosting AFRICOM forces.

The move by Hichilema, nine months after winning the presidency in 2021, is the first by a SADC member state to go against the bloc’s strategic culture.

“We are pleased to announce that US Africa Command will open an Office of Security Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Zambia. Visiting AFRICOM Brigadier General Peter Bailey made the announcement during a meeting with His Excellency President Hichilema,” read the tweet on the embassy’s official handle.

The US military footprint in the horn of Africa and its central command’s military operations in the Middle East, Asia and South East Asia and North Africa have exacerbated, not ameliorated insecurity and instability.

Disclose Contents Of Cooperation Agreement

Political leaders have called on Hichilema, who campaigned on a ticket of transparency and accountability, to publicise the contents of the cooperation agreement entered into between his country and the US.

Setting the record straight
Following the furore created by Zambia’s decision to allow the US’ Africa Command to open an Office of Security Cooperation at its embassy in the Southern African country, on May 3 at the World Press Freedom Day commemorations President Hichilema defended Zambia’s position by telling the press to stop “spreading falsehoods.” Credit: Joanne Mwale / Ubuntu Times

Acting secretary-general of the former governing Patriotic Front (PF) party, Nickson Chilangwa, in a statement on May 1 demanded “that President Hichilema and his Government make full disclosure of the content and nature of the agreement he has made with the Americans.”

Chilangwa said president Hichilema acted unilaterally without constitutional authority, consultation and consensus from the citizens.

“Why were the Zambian people not consulted before such a monumental decision with far-reaching consequences was made? America is at war with several nations and allowing them to set up a military base here in Zambia directly puts Zambia in harm’s way with all those fighting with America.

“We demand that the President rescinds his decision to allow America to set up a military base or a military command centre on our soil.

“Allowing a foreign power to establish a military base on our soil does not only put us in grave danger of deadly repercussions from those opposing America but deeply compromise our own national security and leaves us bare to attacks and manipulations by others,” said Chilangwa.

Chilangwa said the speed with which President Hichilema and his United Party for National Development (UPND) government are “turning Zambia into a colony or appendage of the West is a great source of concern to all well-meaning Zambians.”

The PF’s position and reprimand on president Hichilema have also been buttressed by Zambia’s Socialist Party. A statement by the Socialist Party rejected the establishment of the Office of Security Cooperation with AFRICOM citing five reasons.

“There is a real danger of the country’s military doctrine being hijacked through this form of security cooperation. It will be extremely dangerous and fatal to turn the Zambia military into some extended arm of the American military.

“The US military operates not only to provide an advantage to the United States and its ruling elites, but it functions, along with the armies of the other NATO nations, including France, as the guarantor of Western corporate interests and the principles of capitalism,” read the Socialist Party statement.

Firefighting! No Smoke Without Fire

Both the President and Zambia’s ministry of defence have come out dismissing claims that there are no AFRICOM bases soon to be set up in the southern African country.

No military bases to be established by America in Zambia
Zambia Defence Minister Mr. Lufuma said his office will work with the US Africa Command force to enhance military to military relations, expand areas of cooperation in-force management and modernization, as well as military professionalism. Credit: Joanne Mwale / Ubuntu Times

“There are only Zambian military bases in Zambia. Let’s not be debating falsehoods,” tweeted president Hichilema two days after his defence minister Ambrose Lufuma played down the talk of AFRICOM military bases in Zambia.

Said minister Lufuma: “The AFRICOM being referred to on social media platforms is based in Germany and the Zambian government has not at any given time agreed to move to Zambia.”

Lufuma also warned those fanning misinformation.

“The ministry of defence would like to take this opportunity to warn all perpetrators of such misinformation meant to tarnish our existing cordial relationship with our neighbours and strategic partners to desist from issuing alarming statements which hinge on the security and territorial integrity of our nation,” he warned.

Who Can Turn Down US friendship?

Zambia’s governance expert McDonald Chipenzi argues that the position taken by Zambia is within her national interest in the face of an ever-growing threat from Islamist militants in neighbouring Mozambique. He says no country would turn a blind eye to partnering with the “mighty US.”

“The hard fact is that there are very few countries in the world that would not like to partner with the mighty US in broad daylight or in the night (daylight or behind the closed doors).

“Let us not only look at security from the physical aspect, but also logically too and we have to ask ourselves a few questions such as who controls the space? Who controls our technological portals, our cyber highways? Who controls the Electronic City?

“We use the Windows on our computers as our operating systems in our offices or even in Vulnerable Points (VP), our would-be High Valued Targets (HVT) but who has the back door details of these gadgets if it is not America?” asked Chipenzi.

Chipenzi added Zambia’s interests are a priority in an ever-changing global environment.

Security Headache For SADC

University of Zimbabwe International Security and Strategic Studies lecturer Dr. Lawrence Mhandara said the presence of the AFRICOM in SADC is the continuation of the US pursuit of influence in the midst of competition from other global powers through other means.

“The competition is expanding in spatial terms. International influence can be achieved through economic, diplomatic, military and informational means. In this case, the US is making a rational decision to use its military capabilities to impose itself on Southern Africa, in particular extending its approach of international basing, and security cooperation.

“The bilateral arrangement validates the long tradition of US statecraft whose cornerstone is a militarized foreign policy. History has ineffaceable evidence showing a proclivity by the superpower to implement foreign policy through coercive instruments in a sequenced fashion,” said Dr. Mhandara.

The anticipated presence of the AFRICOM in Zambia leaves regional leaders with more to think about, given the affluent history of American interventionism and its colourful brand of intrusive politics.

In this regard, the militarization of US foreign policy is seen as the substratum of its status as a superpower yet an agonizing and tragic reality with the potential to supply complicated security risks and instability in Southern Africa.

SADC, indeed Africa, is likely to be afflicted by a host of security challenges as great power competition for influence and control intensifies.  The move by America is likely to elicit responses in kind from other global powers keen on counteracting the undesired influence.

The US is furthermore attempting to regain influence in a region dominated by Chinese allies. But the choice of the military instruments to mediate this competition may have cataclysmic outcomes.

Despair Has Become The Daily Bread Of Ghanaians Amid Cost Of Living Crisis

Delali Adogla-Bessa
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Despair Has Become The Daily Bread Of Ghanaians Amid Cost Of Living Crisis

Regardless of the circumstance, the average Ghanaian’s favorite platitude is “we are managing.” Be it a rough patch in school, scraping for the rent or struggling with a rickety car, the ordinary Ghanaian is likely to still point to the light at the end of the tunnel. The first months of 2022 have changed that.

You needn’t point to the 13-year high in inflation (23.6%) or other data points to know that. All you require is a quick trip through town, where the hike in fuel prices, transport fares and food prices are pummeling Ghanaians into submission. For example, Ghana’s Statistical Service noted that in April 2022, rising food prices accounted for 50% of inflation.

Ghana’s cost of living crisis isn’t just about rising prices. It also has to do with static incomes and depreciating savings. Everything is going up except salaries. Then there’s the small matter of a government that has not helped ease the misery of Ghanaians with its insincere posturing.

While key factors driving up the cost of living are global, Ghanaians are frankly tired of officials that hold up the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently, the war in Ukraine, as the reason for the prevailing despair.

What would be a change of pace will be for the government to acknowledge failings in critical areas during its six years in power. We are a far cry from the days when Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo, proclaimed that his administration had “the men” to protect the public purse, secure an economic turnaround and usher in an era of industrialization and prosperity.

Now, all Ghanaians have are slogans like ‘One District, One Factory’ and ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ that elicit scorn instead of hope. For most Ghanaians, we live in a utopia of development and progress – but only on paper, because we are great at identifying problems and formulating inspiring manifestos and development plans. The reality, however, feels like a gyre of curses and misfortune.

The buck always stops with leadership. What Ghanaians see when they look to theirs for empathy and direction is a complete lack of it. Consider the picture of citizens commuting in chunks of tetanus on a daily basis as President Akufo-Addo came under fire for obscene amounts spent on a luxury jet for travel.

The symbol of government insensitivity in recent months has, however, been the new and controversial 1.5 percent tax on all electronic transactions above 100 Ghana cedis ($13). For those already paying income tax, one understands why the levy is considered cruel double taxation. But the government’s commitment to the taxes on fuel is the bigger cruelty for me.

Fuel is viewed as having the most consequential ripple effect on the cost of living. Part of this is because the tax build-up of finished fuel products, sometimes described as nuisance taxes, make up about 29% of what Ghanaians pay. When fuel prices go up, so do transport prices, and then food, and then commerce becomes the wild west.

In one of the more infuriating recent developments, public school feeding caterers, who serve vulnerable and poor kids, have had to protest to demand an increase in the current daily allocation of 0.97 Ghana cedis ($0.13) per child. Unconscionable.

Just when Ghanaians thought things could not get any worse, the utility companies distributing electricity and water popped up like horsemen of the apocalypse, indicating they want a 148% and 334% increase in tariffs, respectively. With a lot of Ghanaians and businesses already stretched thin, this could be a killing blow.

Ghana’s social emergency is all too real, and it is high time the current government acknowledged how false promises have intensified this crisis. Flagship programs that were supposed to address fundamental issues like food security are bearing rotten fruits. Ghana wouldn’t be depending this much on imports and crippling the Ghanaian cedi if a policy like ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ was working.

Because of this, Ghana’s main agricultural worker’s union talks like Ghana an Old Testament famine is about to befall Ghana. Who can blame them? As the weeks go by, I doubt them less.

But as Ghanaians hold the government to the fire and demand accountability, they must also hold a mirror to themselves. Perhaps it is time Ghanaians finally prove Kwame Nkrumah right for saying “Ghanaians are not timid people… They may be slow to anger and may take time to organize and act. But once they are ready, they strike and strike hard.”

Like the distressing scenes in Sri Lanka, we must not swat at this crisis with despair. Instead, our feet should become one with the streets as we voice our anger at the government’s incompetence and demand a leadership that treats its people with dignity.

Sankara’s Murder Verdict: Is The Life Sentencing Of Absent Blaise Compaoré Enough?

UbuntuTimes
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Sankara’s Murder Verdict: Is The Life Sentencing Of Absent Blaise Compaoré Enough?

Thomas Sankara’s murder verdict was announced on Wednesday, April 6 by the military tribunal which sentenced former President Blaise Compaoré and his former colleagues, Hyacinthe Kafando and Gilbert Diendéré, to life in prison.

After years of interruptions and delays, Sankara’s trial had resumed earlier this year in February after a military court restored the constitution in January.

Afrika’s revolutionary visionary, Sankara, was assassinated in a coup on October 15, 1987, aged 37 during a National Revolutionary Council meeting.

Blaise Compaoré ruled for 27 years after the bloody coup that killed Sankara before his regime was toppled in a 2014 revolution forcing him into exile in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire.

Sankara’s verdict was pronounced in absence of the convicted Blaise Compaoré who acquired an Ivorian Citizenship in 2016.

Although Prosper Farama and his team of lawyers representing the family of Thomas Sankara have demanded the extradition of Compaoré back to Burkina Faso to serve his life sentence, Côte d’Ivoire’s constitution does not allow for the extradition of its citizens making the handover of Blaise Compaoré to Burkina Faso authorities unlikely.

Thomas Sankara’s widow, Mariam Sankara, emphasized after the court ruling that “Burkinabé people and the public now know who President Thomas Sankara was…, what he wanted, what those who assassinated him wanted…”

Mariam Sankara’s utterances convey the dilemma of the Afrikan continent and its people scattered in the diaspora away from their national base. Afrika has many more Blaise Compaorés’ who have proven themselves to be amenable to foreign, colonial interests. These misguided internal stooges have demonstrated to be puppets at the hands of European imperialists in their willingness to sabotage and undermine the Pan-Afrikan revolution.

Thomas Sankara envisioned a liberated, self-sufficient Burkina Faso and a self-actualized continent. He reduced government vehicular fleet as part of his determination against maladministration, was committed to the reforestation of Burkina Faso which is part of the increasingly desertified Sahel region, and was engaged in rural development unlike the present-day obsession with only developing the capital cities. He was also devoted to an agricultural revolution, women’s rights, education, and the health of Burkinabé people.

Burkina Faso, West Afrika, and Afrika have been haunted ever since Sankara was murdered. It remains to be seen whether the life sentencing verdict of fugitive Blaise Compaoré will be enough considering that potential attempts to extradite him might end up becoming an effort in futility.

With the vivid memory of the way past revolutionaries were eliminated, Afrikan revolutionary youth should be on their guard in protecting contemporary Pan-Afrikan leaders. Undoubtedly, Sankara’s staunch disciples will hope to keep his revolutionary legacy alive knowing that Afrika’s liberation struggle continues…

Military Takeovers A Reminder Of Africa’s Ailing Ballot Democracies

Delali Adogla-Bessa
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Military Takeovers A Reminder Of Africa’s Ailing Ballot Democracies

On February 12, most of Ghana woke up to the news that one Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a figurehead of one of the West African country’s most significant protest movements, had been arrested.

His crime? A scathing post on social media that criticized the government while recklessly proffering support for a coup. It earned him a questionable treason felony charge.

His call for a coup came against the backdrop of rising costs of living in Ghana and the government’s attempts to compound this with unpopular tax measures being opposed by the masses.

Amid the tensile political climate in West Africa, where Mali, Guinea and most recently, Burkina Faso, witnessed the overthrow of governments, Barker-Vormawor’s comments have been described as unwise.

But his sentiment cut to the core of the disease festering across parts of Africa, of which coups are a mere symptom.

Ewald Garr, a governance analyst, bored this down to broken democracies run by a political class that is out of touch with its people.

“When there is unresponsiveness, you see people begin to lose trust in their elected leaders and once people begin to lose trust in the elected leaders, you see frustration and despondency,” he explained.

He noted that the disease we should be looking to cure is the broken perception of good governance across the continent.

“All these things [coups] are arising is because our institutions are not well composed. Our governance system is just weak,” he said.

The simple diagnosis of the problem is matched by the casual air surrounding the recent military takeovers.

Take for instance the Burkina Faso coup, where military officers appeared on state television and announced the military overthrow like it was a weather report.

But for the people, who had been fading in a drought of despair, the announcement of a coup was like a forecast of rain. It brought joy.

This has played out in Mali and Guinea over the last two years, as well as beyond West Africa in Chad and Sudan.

The specific contexts of the coups have differed in each country, with alarming insecurity being cited by coup leaders in Burkina Faso and Mali, amid the threat from jihadists.

But there have been some constants that cut across, foremost among them economic hardships, inequality and a lack of empathy by the ruling class.

Even more worrying is the fact that these constants are ripe in countries that are hailed as beacons of democracy, like Ghana.

For Dr. Afua Yakohene, a research fellow at the Legon Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy, it is clear that “all the conditions that called for coups in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali are right here in Ghana.”

It has also been hard to ignore the fact that these coups were met with overwhelming approval from their mostly-youthful populations.

Consider the situation in Mali, where thousands have rallied in support of the junta after sanctions meted out on the West African country.

Dr. Yakohene observed that these countries have “frustrated masses; a large youth bulge that is unemployed.”

These people are most likely frustrated by the “lack of dividends that they hoped democracy would deliver,” she added.

Settling For Elections

The bar for democracy has been noticeably lowered for African countries. 

It is increasingly being equated to relatively incident-free elections with no scrutiny of what happens in between polls.

A ballot cast in an election
The worth of Africa’s democracies has been reduced to the conduct of elections. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

But Dr. Yakohene stressed that “the holding of periodic elections is just the tip of what democratic states must be.”

“Many west African citizens even have come to not appreciate elections, so there is voter apathy and there is low turnout during elections.”

This could be traced back to the end of the Cold War and the fall of the iron curtain.

With the victory of the West over the Eastern Bloc, the idea of democracy became a necessary benchmark for countries seeking aid and development.

“It gradually pushed many African countries to adopt the policies of democracy,” Dr. Yakohene recalled. “Some leaders realized that if you need loans, and you need aid, and you want to satisfy the expectations of the western leaders, hold elections.”

These elections can be nothing more than ticked boxes because West Africa has witnessed a number of situations where political power has almost become a birthright.

Consider the example of Togo, where Gnassingbé Eyadéma was President from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé. Yet, Togo claims to be a democracy.

Dr. Yakohene described this as a form of “autocracy and monarch-cracy” that was cultivated out of the West’s insistence on the adoption of democracy, however superficial.

This very international community is often silent when there is clear evidence that democracy is subtly being undermined, with arbitrary amendments to term limits or voter suppression. But it sounds an alarm when coups occur.

The same could be said about regional bodies like the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which also turns a blind eye to abuses of power and democracy by its own members.

The community’s chair, Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo, has himself faced criticism for attacks on free speech and voter suppression following Ghana’s bloodiest polls in 2020.

Nana Akufo-Addo delivering a speech
Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo has been the Chair of ECOWAS since September 2020. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

ECOWAS has been instead known to spring to action and propose sanctions when it should rather be in a lab working to find a cure for the disease spawning these coups.

This cure lies simply in committing to the basic tenets of democracy, said Mr. Garr.

“What ECOWAS should be doing is having strong institutions that are able to diagnose the poor governance.”

He doesn’t think the continent has been learning from mistakes that date back to the ‘60s, where there were 26 successful coups on the continent in the wake of independence movements.

Mr. Garr is of the view that some re-orientation and a stronger commitment to engaging citizens in the process of governance is the most important step to finding a cure for the conditions that birth coups.

“It is the lack of transparency and the lack of the basic tenets of democracy in our countries that is steering all these coups we are seeing,” said the analyst.

As simple as the solution sounds, there is a clear lack of accountability and lack of political will across the continent that gives Mr. Garr little cause for hope.

“As a continent, we have a very long way to go because most African countries still can’t see the importance of good governance,” he says. “They only see elections.”

Thomas Sankara Trial Set To Resume

UbuntuTimes
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Thomas Sankara Trial Set To Resume

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso — Thomas Sankara’s trial is set to resume on Wednesday, February 2nd after a military court restored the constitution on Monday, January 31. 

The trial was due to resume on Monday; however, civil representatives voiced their concern, citing the need for “judicial normalization.”

Prosper Farama, the lawyer representing Sankara’s family clarified that the legal team and civil representatives believe that the trial time frame should be reasonable though they leaned toward a trial not marred by “irregularities.”

Sankara was assassinated while attending a National Revolutionary Council meeting alongside twelve officials in an October 15, 1987 coup aged 37. 

After the bloody coup that saw Sankara killed, Blaise Compaoré who is suspected to have instigated Sankara’s assassination came to power, ruling for 27 years before being deposed by a popular revolution in 2014 which led him to flee and has since remained resident in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire. 

When Sankara’s trial began in October 2021 before a coup interrupted closing proceedings, twelve out of 14 defendants appeared in court including one of the top leaders of the 1987 coup, General Gilbert Diendéré. The main defendant, Blaise Compaoré, and Hyacinthe Kafando, Compaoré’s former guard commander, were absent. Most of the defendants who were present pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sankara. 

The resumption of Sankara’s trial is another turn of events in Burkina Faso after former president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was toppled on January 24, 2022, by mutinous soldiers stemming from his inability to address the people’s outcry concerning violent jihadists threatening lives and properties. 

34 years on since the infamous coup, Burkina Faso is still haunted by Sankara’s ghost. He was an influential soldier and servant-leader. Sankara left an indelible mark in Afrika’s liberation struggle by not only sensitizing Burkinabe people but also raising the collective consciousness of Afrikans against French colonialism and European imperialism. 

He was a revolutionary who won the hearts of Burkinabe and Afrikan people through his strides against corrupt practices, his commitment toward reforestation, food self-sufficiency, women’s rights, rural development, education, health and well-being of his people. To the dismay of the colonial regime, internal detractors and traitors, Sankara even renamed the country from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso which means “the land of upright people.”

In a continent where justice is often delayed due to both internal factors and external interference, Sankara’s family and staunch followers will hope for a just verdict that will put an end to Sankara’s protracted trial. 

Towards The Progressive Acquisition Of Consciousness

Gibson Nyikadzino
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Towards The Progressive Acquisition Of Consciousness

Africans and other blacks abroad need to develop a historical consciousness that enables them to revisit their forefathers’ history to validate the true journey of the black race. Slavery, colonialism, Christianity and the colonial education systems have created dominant narratives by the west that have registered successes in whitewashing African and black history.

This erasure continues to systematically act towards whitewashing the history of Africa through European hagiography. As a result, Africa has become a victim of European historiography that exclusively acknowledges its own cultural and historical contributions, dismissing the successes of Africa and the black race along the way.

Before slavery, African progress in the fields of nationalising African knowledge systems was remarkable. More so, through slavery Africans who were forcibly removed from their birthplaces to the United States through slavery, also succeeded in various spheres. Unfortunately, their contributions remain unnoticed despite their importance.

Some blacks taken from Africa participated in the United States war of independence against British oppression. Others also contributed through architectural designs which are today still visible in America. Through information suppression by the white establishment, the heroic adventures and contributions of blacks remain in the periphery. The first person whose blood was spilt in the revolution which freed America from British oppression was a black man named Crispus Attucks. Another black man, Benjamin Banneker,  was amongst the team that designed the capital of the United States, Washington DC.

In 1721, the United States went through a perilous phase when it faced a smallpox outbreak.  A black slave named Onesimus, who had been bought in 1706 by one influential Boston minister Cotton Mather, shared significant knowledge with his master on how to treat smallpox. According to black tradition, before being enslaved in the United States, Onesimus, whose name means Useful, and his people had knowledge on treating smallpox through variolation. The treatment of smallpox in the United States was not a white man’s discovery, but a knowledge system that was passed by a black slave.

From Onesimus, Mather learnt that in Africa, blacks took pus from the wounds of an infected individual and inserted it into a cut made on a healthy person. This process, while adjudged not to be entirely effective, caused a mild reaction that gave people a degree of smallpox immunity for the healthy individual.

Because of mistrust in African remedies, Mather shared information he acquired from Onesimus with a white physician named Zabdiel Boylston. Recorded history informs one that Boylston tried the technique on several people, including his own son, and was pleased to ‘discover’ that Onesimus’ procedure was a largely successful one.

Through the misrepresentations of white supremacy, Mather and Boylston were hailed as heroes and the African, Onesimus, was nowhere close to securing a place in this important milestone in medicine. And despite his life-saving contribution to the smallpox outbreak, he was still not a free man.

Countless blacks have been unjustly stripped of their rightful recognition as vital contributors to science and medicine, among other disciplines. These also include Lewis Howard Latimer, the black man who invented the carbon filament board that made the light bulb give its glow, continuously. Today credit on who invented the light bulb has been given to Thomas Edison.

While nothing can undo the damage done by such cruel omissions from defining moments in history, Africans need to work hard and do their part to acknowledge these innumerable contributions to humanity by continuing to share these important historical discoveries… Unfortunately, blacks are not told and taught this in school; instead, end up praising the white man.

These past lessons by Africans, slaves and descendants of slaves are never told because they humiliate the white man. To get into the future, the past has to be studied to get new perspectives, unlike the white man’s narrative that continues to brainwash black people by developing false narratives that even other races continue to believe.

Western Philosophy ‘Unimaginative, Even Xenophobic’

In his book Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto, Bryan Van Norden, a Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS College in Singapore writes that the way the west projects African history is “narrow-minded, unimaginative, and even xenophobic.”

There have been ‘discoveries’ through exploratory excursions and military conquests done by white ‘explorers’ through the displacement of Africans in their territories. Statues have been erected in honour of these white ‘explorers’ and places renamed in their honour.

History shows that Africa, originally called Alkebulan, was named after a Roman general Scipio Africanus who had defeated Ethiopians. More so, one of the world’s seven wonders in Zimbabwe, the Victoria Falls, was ‘discovered’ by Scottish ‘explorer’ David Livingstone in 1855. Livingstone named the place Victoria Falls in honour of the British Monarchy’s Queen Victoria.

Livingstone named the falls after the queen, but the Kalolo-Lozi people in Zimbabwe had their own name for it, Mosi-oa-Tunya, “the smoke that thunders.”

Western ideology and narratives have morphed into a false white knight in shining armour, itching to swoop in and enforce their model of “progressive” Eurocentric history over black successes.

Van Norden: “The west has written Africa out of the history of philosophy and black success, presenting all of Western philosophy as a linear progression from the ancient Greeks.”

Professor of Sociology at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Claude Mararike said the black race needs to record, research, teach and distribute literature that praises black successes under the “patriotic history” platform.

“We need to teach patriotic history, which is the interpretation of history in our context as blacks and Africans. There has to be more funding into research, publication and circulation of such information. The media (personnel) should be able to dig more into the archives because some history has been distorted,” says Prof. Mararike.

The academic also blamed religion, both Christianity and Islam for enabling colonialism and oppression of the black man through slavery and colonialism.

“The revolutionary patriotic history of Africa also has to be understood from the context of Christianity and Islam as the two religions that have also done a lot of distortions to African history.

“Missionaries are the greatest culprits and the church has been distorting African history and culture. So writing about that is not opening old wounds, but that is the correct interpretation of history and Africa should know these things,” added Prof. Mararike.

Undermining Western Intellectual Foundations

The African Union (AU) and its governments ought to invest in knowledge that shakes the western foundations.

Strides by Africans and blacks from all over are written, the continuous recording of their successes are there. There is evidence that shows that black movements like the #BlackLivesMatter are giant testimonies to undermine racially skewed Western interpretation of history.

History has been white-washed so severely that often, African philosophers who generate ideas about Ubuntu, colonial independence and sovereignty are only regarded as public intellectuals. In the textbooks of Europeans, these African heroes are not incorporated.

The white race seeks to amass all the historical glory, incentives and talents for itself while consciously and voluntarily disadvantaging strong black constituencies.

This is a key matter of national and intellectual independence in which “woke” black students need to raise in order to undermine the intellectual foundations of the West and expose them for their desire for “multicultural inclusion”.

As the West gets away with murder on white-washing history, this continues to reinforce false assumptions that black history is substandard to other cultures in general, but to the dominant white culture in particular.

It is not ahistorical to remind people that Christianity was evil colonial machinery that was used to evangelize Africa.

“Areas of concern are schools and universities. It is unfortunate that in some African countries, they do not want African history to be taught. In the United States, Britain and South Africa, they do not want to teach African patriotic history,” Prof. Mararike continued.

It is time for African governments and the AU to put more funds to promote the Afro-centric movement. This, in the long run, will effect change from the enlightened grassroots.

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