How Africa Experiences Neo colonialism

Foreign aid

Richer countries have perpetrated their stay in Africa by giving donations, grants and loans to their former colonies. At times this aid is bi-lateral and at other times it is multi- lateral- given by organisations like World Bank, IMF, USAID etc. However, this aid has strings attached. For instance, it is the donor country to determine the investments to be undertaken by African countries-usually they sponsor agricultural projects from which to get raw materials. Besides, high interest rates are charged on these loans.

The "donor" Steering Committee comprises the following actors and agents in the deepening and widening liberiosis gap of tragedy in Negro scholarship, the gap that can never allow Negro Africa to reach the threshold of international self propulsion capability in science and engineering for the service of Negro Africa's Strategic interests. The "donor" Steering Committee members are currently 22 and they comprise the following:

The Government of the United States of America through its United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

The Government of the United Kingdom (Britain) through its official Agency the Department for International Development (DFID)

The World Bank.

Government of the Federal Republic of Germany through its official arm, German Co-operation Agency

The Government of the European Union through its official arm, the European Commission.

Royal Government of Canada through its official arm, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

The Imperial Government of Japan through its official arm, Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA)

The Royal Government of Norway through its official arm, the Norwegian Agency for development co-operation (NORAD)

The Royal Government of Sweden through its official Arm, Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)

Government of Austria through its official arm, Department of Development Co-operation (DDC) within its ministry of foreign affairs.

The Royal Danish Government through its official arm, the Royal Danish ministry of foreign affairs.

Government of Finland through its official arm, the ministry of foreign affairs.

Government of the republic of France through its official arm, the Ministry of Foreign affairs, Department of International Cooperation and development (DICD).

The Republic of Ireland through its official arm, the department of foreign affairs.

The Royal government of the Netherlands through its official arm, the Ministry of foreign affairs.

The government of Switzerland through its official arm, Swiss Agency for development and Co-operation (CDC)

The Western governments set up, World Bank controlled, Washington Based African Development Bank (ADB)

Carnergie Co-operation, New York

The NATO controlled United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO)

The NATO controlled United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

The Rockefeller Foundation in the USA.

The NATO set up and World Bank controlled International institute for Educational planning (IIEP), Paris, France

 

It is important for the Negro people of Africa to understand that this group which is the de facto Steering Committee of sub Saharan Education is also the de jure "donor" steering committee with a "lawful" mandate to manipulate the Curricula of education in the entire region making false images about themselves as the object of study and examinable at all levels right from Primary to Universities. At the end of an academic year, students are asked about the contribution of either USAID or CIDA to the economic development of Uganda. Of what use is such a question really to the production oriented education sysem in this continent?

The International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) as a brain child of the World Bank, is the technical Think Tank for the execution of the fall of Standards and qualities of Education in Negro Africa. Industrialized countries are working closely together with steering ADEA on the use non intellectual forces including legislative forces to contain and sustain the tempo of fall of education in the region, turning Negro Africa into a bio intellectual "gas chamber" in human history's most grotesque holocaust.

Existence of military bases which belong to imperial countries. Some of them were established in the name of training academies but they remain promoting the interests of the former colonial master. They also supply military hardware to the army.

Foreign news media: The existence of foreign Newspapers and radio stations as well as TV channels in developing countries is a manifestation of neo colonialism. The common ones are BBC and CFI. They influence the thinking of Africans to the extent of admiring everything from developed countries.

Ugandan Secondary School headteachers registering for International Conference on "Theoretical education" Funding the education system and the Curriculum, which emphasizes theoretical education is disastrous. The syllabi laid down during the colonial period still prevail. Any new practical syllabi innovations are doubted by donors.

 

 Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, former President of Malawi

Puppet leaders: The existence of puppet governments and comprador rulers in independent countries. Developed countries help the leaders who serve their interests to remain in power for long time. Foreigners assisted some dictators in Africa such as Mobutu and Bokassa.

Grouping of states into federations with direct linkage with their former colonial masters for example the Lusophone, Francophone, Anglophone or commonwealth states.

Elizabeth II became queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland upon the death of her father, King George VI, in 1952. The primary role of Elizabeth throughout her reign has been as a symbol of unity and continuity within the Commonwealth of Nations.

Existence of multinational companies in Africa for example Lonhro, Transami, Coca Cola, Firestone, Mowlem, Sterling, shell, Caltex among others. They are owned by developed countries to make for them profits and influence the economies of developing countries. Whereas the neo-colonies think that they are accumulating capital through encouraging foreign investments, these companies in reality do repatriate most of the profits they make from African countries. In the end, there is more capital outflow than capital in flow.

The use of foreign expatriates: The rich donor countries have always imposed the use of their technical manpower to implement the financed projects in Africa. They supervise the construction of roads and buildings, cultivation of the desired cash crops and extraction of minerals. To make matters worse, they repatriate this money to their home countries, which is exploitative.

Unfair trade terms. African countries are producers of cash crops, which serve as raw materials in advanced countries e.g Coffee. Prices for African crops are always determined by the advanced countries and are always very low. On the contrary, Africans are compelled to import the highly priced finished products from advanced countries. This is exploitative because the highly valuable raw materials are bought cheaply and the less valuable finished products e.g toys, are sold very expensively.

Trade monopolies. Through a series of bi-lateral treaties, advanced countries have exerted control over African trade. For instance, most of the African imports and exports are transported in the ships and planes owned by foreign companies. Their freight charges are high, and while in transit, the goods of weak African countries are insured with foreign insurance companies. All this is exploitative.

The influence of foreign currencies also manifests neo colonialism in Africa. Foreign currencies like the dollar, pound, Japanese Yen are used to determine the strength of African currencies. A fall in value of the dollar means an automatic fall in the value of African currencies. Africans have no power to stabilize their foreign exchange rates. Rich powers do it for us e.g in 1984 and 1986, USA and Britain signed bi-lateral treaties with Kenya and Uganda and this led to the devaluation of the Uganda shilling.

Technological dependence also manifests neo-colonialism. African countries are scientifically and technologically dependent on advanced countries e.g African countries import tractors to improve on agriculture. When the tractors break down, we import spare parts. This is referred to as technological lock-in and applies to the importation of other machines as well e.g Cars, Television sets, Laboratory equipment chemicals and even drugs.

Interference with economic integration in Africa also manifests neo-colonialism. The rich advanced countries are averse to the idea of economic integration in Africa. Hence they interfere in various organisations formed by Africans in an effort to create wider markets e.g the. E.A.C failed in 1977 partly due to foreign sabotage. Advanced countries have also weakened the P.T.A. ECOWAS, SADC, and COMESA.

The signing of military pacts with African countries also manifests neo colonialism. This was especially so during the cold war period, e.g U.S.A and NATO countries signed military treaties with Kenya and Congo and established military and naval bases there. These bases were aimed at serving the interest of big powers but not African states.

The export of foreign ideologies. Due to political weakness, African countries have been forced to take up the political ideologies of developed/donor countries. The attempt by Africans to follow a neutral ideology- the Non-alignment ideology was frustrated by big powers. Hence African countries became aligned either towards the capitalist or communist ideology.

The presence of secret espionage net works also manifest neo colonialism. The advanced countries maintain their control over Africa by sending their secret agencies e.g. the CTA, FBI, KGB, MOSSAD, Scotland Yard etc. These ensure that African states work in the interests of powerful states.

Sponsoring of coup de tats by advanced countries also manifests neo colonialism. Revolutionary African leaders who try to follow independent political views suffer sudden military overthrows or even assassinations. In most eases, these coups are master planned by powerful states using their secret espionage/intelligence agencies.

Direct military intervention of big powers in the affairs of their former colonies also manifests neo-colonialism e.g the involvement of France in Algeria and Chad, Britain in Sierra Leone, Belgium and France in Rwanda etc. They sell weapons and sponsor civil wars etc.

The training of African military cadres manifests neo colonialism. In an effort to promote their ideologies, Britain, U.S.A., France and Russia have always sponsored the training of African political and military leaders. While in training, they are brain washed to follow and implement foreign ideologies in Africa e.g Paul Kagame was U.S. trained, Israelites trained Amin's army while Koreans trained the Obote II forces.

The presence of white settlers in independent African countries e.g Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa manifests neo-colonialism. These have the largest share of African countries' wealth e.g land in South Africa and Zimbabwe. They also control the export and import trade.

Western type political parties manifest neo-colonial influence in Africa. These parties are sponsored by the powerful/rich countries to spread Western democracy in Africa. Through these parties e.g D.P and U.P.C, powerful nations have promoted divisions in Africa-making it easy for them to maintain control over divided Africans.

The use of foreign languages as national languages of independent African countries manifests neo colonialism. These languages are mainly English and French.

Foreign literature and Leisure has been widely promoted in independent African countries. This has been done through foreign films, novels and magazines, which place high values on violence and sexual immorality. Sex is depicted as a pass time activity in such films. Foreign leisure. Western music and musical instruments have all attracted the youths away from African values. Hence we have a number of white Africans in black skins.

The use of NGOs also manifests neo colonialism. In times of crisis in Africa, rich countries use their Non governmental Organisations e.g World Vision, Save the Children Fund, AMREF etc to provide charitable services e.g food, shelter, clothing. These are usually inferior and expired goods and by extending such help, rich countries discourage hard working and innovativeness in Africa.

Evangelism in Africa also promotes neo colonialism. Various evangelists have helped to export the political ideologies of their mother countries and to create market and loyalty to those countries through preaching. Africans have therefore become religiously dependent on the Western powers and have greatly undermined their ancestral beliefs.

The membership of African countries in neo-colonial organisations is common today.

The British formed the common wealth organisation for all their former colonies and the French formed the Franca-phone organisation for their former colonies. African countries , for fear of losing economic aid , joined. They are therefore still tied to their former colonial masters.