Page 67 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 5

BUSINESS

It's funny that the word 'aid' actually means assistance and yet in Afrika it seems to have
done anything but assist Afrika to get to the place were the donor countries seem to think
Afrika should be going. If anything, Afrka seems to be going anywhere but there and only
a few individuals and nations within and outside of Afrika appear to gain from this foreign
aid. I think Afrika is facing one last chance to revisit this entire idea of foreign aid.
Chioma Phillips

he Cambridge Dictio- as proposed by Kwame Nkru- own governments, which then
nary defines ‘develop- mah. Already, though, some used the funds for infrastructure
ment’ as “the process measure of compromise had to benefit the businesses.
Tin which someone or crept in and Afrika’s leaders sold
something grows or changes out and thus fell into the league Afrika’s wave of independence
and becomes more advanced.” of what were classified as ‘un- from colonialism left high poten-
and defines ‘advanced’ as “mod- derdeveloped or developing tial countries - per global stan-
ern and well developed.” Most countries’. dards of development – which
other definitions one finds about We must keep in mind that pri- were sadly lost culturally and dis-
development speak about eco- or to the colonization of Afrika, engaged from what was and not
nomic and social advancement, Afrika was not receiving aid. seeming to come together to find
culture, education, health and Aid came with colonization. The out what should now be. These
quality of human life and life ex- home countries of foreign influ- countries did not exist before the
pectancy. ences on the continent used to imperialist wave and immediate-
The term development when ap- send financial support to their ly following, these newly formed
plied to Afrika implies that there colonies in order to fund infra- nation states were left trying to
is a standard to attain that we structure, military, social ser- manage entities that were cre-
have not yet attained and that vices etc in order to ensure that ated primarily for the oppression
therefore every effort needs to their colonies were thriving and of and extraction from Afrika.
be made to attain it, or else it is a able to produce for them eco- Entities that were created from
fail. This further implies that the nomically. Like a head office and a divide and conquer mindset
standard to be attained is good. a satellite office. were now suddenly supposed
At least this is the rhetoric that After World War II, aid evolved to to evolve into cohesive united
has been fed to Afrika literally become an even more strategic fronts, with infrastructure and
since the days of the colonial- tool globally, which was used to systems in place for effective
ists: There is a ‘better’ standard influence policy positions of gov- administration (or were they?).
and ‘we’ can show you the way. ernments, as demonstrated by All this while being manipulated
In a radio program on ABC in the US’s Marshall Plan or Euro- by the main players in the Cold
2013, author and academic, pean Recovery Program which War and being governed by in-
Rosalind Eyben, had this to say released funding to countries in dividuals or groupings that were
about the standard that I allud- parts of Europe between 1948 engaged in the pursuit of their
ed to above, “There was the and 1951. Countries in Europe own self-interests.
idea that countries had to catch were struggling economically, So aid was released to Afrika,
up, that Western Europe and including former colonizers Unit- with the thinking that the conti-
countries like Australia, Canada ed Kingdom, Belgium, (Western) nent would go the way of Europe.
and North America were devel- Germany, Portugal, Italy and But, according to findings, as aid
oped... they were the goal that France, and the US didn’t want to Afrika grew, development be-
everybody else had to reach.” them to fall under communist in- came sluggish, the rich got rich-
This was the post World War II, fluence. It was the dawn of the er and the poor got poorer. Afrika
post-colonial period and Afrika Cold War and the US and USSR is said to have received US$1.4
had the opportunity to determine were facing off for purposes of trillion in aid between 1956 and
a different future for itself that global domination. The US pro- 2018, but to have lost US$ 2.2
would have set it apart from the vided loans to businesses that trillion through tax evasion by
rest of the nations in the world, these businesses paid to their multinationals, embezzlement of

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