In light of Trump victory, Africa needs trade and not US aid
By Abednico Siambombe
It is sad to find that some people like Elisabeth Mokone, a businesswoman in north Johannesburg, South Africa, who said she feared Trump’s victory saying; “We in Africa need US aid and we need the trade. That’s all going to stop. But more than that, it is like the world is falling apart.”
Maybe Africa is the only hope now. I would surely be against such misunderstanding of the world by a few who are involved in the small and medium enterprise businesses with little or zero understanding of the international system. US aid in Africa is irrelevant and folktale which should not be found by the coming generations if we still want a future for our continent.
The stepping of Trump into White House does not mean a world war 3 as some people think it will be, instead it’s a new era that will open the eyes of African leaders and force them to be responsible for their own people. Our economies in Africa are failing just because of the irresponsible individuals who think their states should live on aid and always bow down to the Band aid wagon of Bob Geldof in the 21st century.
If Trump is mistaken for the World Climate change, yes he is not wrong when he says he does not believe in it as this is an agenda meant to prevent the developing states from industrialising and exploiting their resources. Rise up Africa this is no time for slumber, but a time to run a race which is in progress.
Africa has abundant natural resources most of which are fossil ones. How can we fully realise the benefits of such blessings when we follow the developed nations’ ideas of banking our own resources in the name of globalisation and climate change?
The population in Africa is too small to cause climate change, and this scientific fiction is unrealistic at all. People cannot change climate but climate can change people. Africa should realise that most prospering continents have high levels of populations and in such there is need to abandon the agenda 21 looming in a bid to reduce the African population and accelerate the Western dominance on our own resources. Africa should shape her own development aspects.
Many people fear America protecting her boarders and baring trade with other states, but in practice Africa has never managed to stage a pure trade partnership with this nation due to its tariffs, duties and embargoes meant to protect their markets from competition.
The victory of Trump will help African leaders to diversify their markets, choose who they want to trade with and how their products must sell. Hence putting the US aid at the edge as I see it as a leading factor to corruption in our empires.
Many African people live a fantasy life full of imaginations of a poor man’s son who always dream of living a billionaires’ life. If Trump is against the Lesbians and Gays in America, that is not a threat to human rights globally.
LGBT is not an endogenous tradition in African societies, so why do we need a culture that is instilled and dogmatically imposed on us by the UN in the name of Human Rights when actually we are not that people we think we should be? Aid should not be poured into African cups with an agenda of advancing practices that hinder the progress and prosperity of our countries, destroying our own humanity, culture, traditions and Ubuntu above all.
Today Trump can be condemned of closing American boarders and driving away illegal immigrants, but is the world ready for a war against drugs as what Deuterate is doing in the Philippines?
Obvious that is tremendous and no one would like such inhuman man hunt in a state of poverty and a world craving for the survival of all. The closing of American boarders will ensure that people solve their own problems in their own countries and leaders will know that they do not have to spoil their economies on the basis that their people will seek asylum and refugee in their neighbouring countries. No, that is inappropriate and illogical at all cost.
There is no need for Africa to be scared in a Trump victory when the American foreign policy is currently a threat to human security. America has ventured into heinous wars in Asia, Africa and the Middle East in the name of human rights when in actual sense they are vindicating the human rights making the world a biter place for habitation.
Now that Trump is against such incredible policies, there is a light of a peaceful world. Development has been impacted in the Middle East due to the invasions made by America in the dead decades with intentions of looting the oil and other prestigious resources.
If America is a supra power nation and willing to fight for the freedom and human rights, they should start by eliminating gangsters in the Wall Street, end the killing of black people(racism) and above all wage wars from their own country and stop destroying infrastructure and life in other countries.
American foreign policy appears to be saving the world when actually it is meant to benefit the US and destroy other economies. The world should not forget how the Libyan, Iraq and Afghanistan economies fell to the ground after America descended on them in the past decades.
It is not the death of economies only, but the establishment of endemic and perennial violence, wars and perpetual poverty. So it marks the sordid results of relying on US aid by weak states.
The African continent is at this age supposed to focus on the survival, growth and empowerment of the citizens. The Trump victory is not a disease to worry about but it is time take chances to reshape their economic policies, domestic and foreign policies which can end poverty in the African continent.
The game of hatred is irrelevant; Hillary Clinton was never a better option for the world but a continuation of the perpetual Afghan, Middle East and African perennial suffering at the hand of US aid.
• Abednico Siambombe (Midlands State University, Zimbabwe. Department of Politics and Public Management) is a political analyst and social commentator for Khuluma Afrika – a center for analysis, commentary and investigative journalism.
