Norris McDonald | Imperialism, crony capitalism and class struggles in Africa

Political revolutionary winds of change are sweeping across West Africa in countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Gabon. These political upheavals is driving terrible fear in the crooked hearts of corrupt political leaders and giving their foreign imperialist sponsors headaches.

Gabon was the latest where the 55-year-old Bongo dynasty has been overthrown and General Brice Nguema, who led the upheaval, was sworn in as the new interim leader.

The upheavals in Gabon came shortly after the uprising in Niger.

• What are the major factors driving this rekindled African revolution?

• What are the common themes?

• How will it all end and how can we help?

POVERTY AND HEALTH CRISIS

Poverty, lawlessness, hopelessness, and desperation were what existed before the popular revolutions in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and other parts of West Africa. But a common theme is for France to get out of Africa. And, also, end the rapacious plunder of the region’s wealth and the African people.

In the case of Niger, despite being the seventh largest supplier of uranium in the world, mostly to France, they rank seventh among the poorest countries because they do not reap economic benefit from this plunder of their natural resources.

In fact, according to the World Health Organization, only one in every five schools in Niger has access to drinking water and sanitation. Health facilities, public places and homes also lack proper water and sanitation.

As to how the people survive on a daily basis, according to United Nations data, an estimated six out of every 10 Nigeriens suffer terrible hunger and deprivation because they are forced to live off a measly less than US$1 per day.

Can any white Anglo-Saxon family feed their family from this? Why then should France have Black African families desperately scrounging off this pittance?

But it does not really matter to the extremely snobbish Monsieur Le Petite Napoléon Emanuel Macron. He recently had the audacity to say that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger would not exist without France!

How dare him!

Since he believes that, why is France clinging like a parasite on a host, sucking the wealth and blood of the African people?

My friends, a key France has been hanging on, in my opinion, because without African wealth and economic lifeblood – that they are sucking like parasites from Africa – their has-been political economic system and society would perhaps collapse.

France is taking trillions of dollars out of Africa, Her Excellency, Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao, said. This is done by the Colonial Pact for the continuation of Colonialization.

Under this system of neocolonial plunder, in 1958, France imposed on West Africa this Colonial Pact, Dr Chihombori-Quao adds, under which “eighty-five per cent of the foreign exchange earned by African former colonies must deposited in the French central bank”.

This money amounts to over $40 billion per year, Dr Chihombori-Quao notes.

This money is then invested in the French stock market, bringing over US$300 billion to US$500 billion in profits per year to the French government. This money is unjustly kept by the French government and use on its people.

CRONY CAPITALISM

Meanwhile, the imperialist political economic system in Africa is maintained by giving political and military support to corrupt African governments who facilitate the plunder of their nation’s resources.

Money, wealth, power, corruption and anti-imperialism and racial-political class struggles are the driving forces shaping the African political landscape.

Under this crony capitalism, political power is used by corrupt politicians to greedily enrich themselves, families, and friends.

In this sense it is amazing to see the extent of the net worth of some African leaders without any justification of how this wealth was accumulated.

Here we see a mere sampling of African leaders who, while the black poor people starve, they have accumulated vast wealth, through dubious means.

This list includes:

• Bola Tinubu (Nigeria, disputed election) – US$4 billion

• Ali Bongo (Gabon, overthrown) – US$1 billion

• Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa) – US$500 million

• Mahomed Bazoum (Niger, overthrown) – US$527 million

• William Ruto (Kenya) – US$450 million

• Paul Kagame (Rwanda) – US$450 million

• Patrice Talon (Benin) – US$400 million

• Mack Saul (Senegal) – US$215 million

• Paul Biya (Cameroon) – US$200 million.

Nigeria’s president Bola Tinubu is a key player. He tops the list of richest African presidents by virtue of net worth in American dollars.

With the fall of Ali Bongo of Gabon, millions of dollars in cash was found in his son Noureddin Bongo’s apartment.

I would like to take a closer look at Kagame since he has been held up as “a model political reformer”.

Paul Kagame of Rwanda estimated personal wealth is US$450 million.

Many political observers have condemned Kagame for facilitating the so-called M23 rebels who are accused of smuggling gold and diamond from the Congo region.

“Rwanda’s export has been Congolese gold,” congoresearchgroup.org writes, adding that gold exports from Rwanda rose from “one per cent of its exports in 2014 to 47 per cent in 2020”.

And yet, despite this well-known fact, as confirmed by the United Nations, there are no international sanctions placed on gold and diamond shipments out of Rwanda … or on the beneficiaries of such a nefarious scheme.

So, while the Western imperialist have been touting Paul Kagame as “an international hero for reforming Rwanda”, his role is at best murky and Machiavellian.

The impact of the plunder of African nations’ wealth by the corrupt political ruling class has been estimated to be a whopping US$1.2 trillion, and US$1.4 trillion has left Africa in illicit financial flows.

To put this into political economic perspective, the overall foreign economic debt for Africa in 2022 was estimated at $1.2 trillion.

This is an almost one-to-one correlation between money stolen from Africa, outside of normal trade relations, and money lent back as foreign debt.

This theft of African national income clearly goes into foreign banks.

Given the financial bankruptcy of the governments that they create, the funds are then promptly loaned to the African countries.

In sum, this is a clear picture of plunder of African wealth being used to maintain and perpetuate debt slavery.

What do you think?

Beyond this cumulative figure, the United Nations estimates that this amount has been estimated to be increasing by US$86 billion to US$100 billion per year.

FEAR, UNCERTAINTY, POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS

A common theme of the West African political rebellion is for France to get out of Africa and end their ‘downpressive’ plunder of the region.

My friends, we may well be in the final stages of the African national liberation revolution.

Given this fact, we all must lend our voices and political efforts to support this demand for justice by our black working-class brothers and sisters for foreign occupiers to get out of Africa.

They must stop support corrupt political leaders and we must all raise our voices in support of the just demands of the African nations.

That is just the ‘bitta’ truth.

Norris McDonald is an economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.