How Western efforts to remake Africa have changed from
colonialism to international development assistance
THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Last week, I was invited
to speak on international development assistance (foreign aid) at the
geopolitical conference at Makerere University organised by the French embassy
and the Konrad Adenuar Foundation. My presentation caused uproar because I
argued that the first large-scale attempt to use foreign aid to develop Africa
was colonialism.
The promoters of colonialism claimed to pursue the three Cs
– Christianity (to emancipate our souls from devil worship), Civilization (to
end to tyranny of our customs and the despotism of our chiefs) and Commerce (to
liberate us from poverty and misery). The reader may notice that for Europeans
to perform their self-anointed role as saviors and civilizers of other peoples
required a degradation of the intended beneficiaries. Thus our indigenous
religious were called satanic, our traditional doctors called witches, etc.
Colonialism was, therefore, presented as an altruistic mission by Europeans to
save us from ourselves, just as “aid” today.
What we call democracy today was, under colonial rule,
called Christianity. It was an attempt to have a universal faith and the only
true faith for all. Today we see an attempt to create a universal form of
government (liberal democracy) for every country regardless of history,
culture, circumstances and context. What we call development today was under
colonialism called “civilization.” It included introduction of modern
administration, education and medicine. Again we are called upon to embrace
everything European in origin as universal and meant for our own good –
procurement rules, forms of government accountability, political and administrative
structures etc. And what we call international trade was, under colonial
parlance, called commerce. It involved the opening up of the local economy to
international capital and stifling local innovations.
Thus the missionary and the trader were comrades in arms.
Both needed the protection of their home state to achieve their goals – hence
the entry of the administrator to complete the equation. The missionary did not
only provide spiritual assistance but also provided earthly benefits like
education and healthcare to the native. This helped him win hearts and minds
thereby making it possible for the trader to do business. The administrator was
always called upon to use force where siasa (indoctrination) by the missionary
had failed.
In all cases, Europeans recruited local allies – the
traditional ruler, the catechist, teacher and the headman. They ensured that
the benefits of modernity – education, a salaried job or a business opportunity
– went to those who collaborated with the colonial state and its agents. This
way many Africans were won over ideologically through religion and education or
through self-interest by giving them a stake in the colonial economy, and by
bribery through land allocations. This is how colonialism entrenched itself.
Today’s missionary is a diplomat in an embassy or an
international development agency. The local allies are NGO activists,
politicians, academics, journalists and businesspersons whose career fortunes
are largely promoted using scholarships, invitations to conferences and
publicity. Anyone who positions him/herself as African intellectual who
condemns the “dreadful” nature of governments in Africa; and defends democracy,
free speech, free trade and investment gets a huge boost in Western media,
think tanks, universities etc.
Those who give aid insist on a series of reforms that seek
to turn the local state into a replica of the donor country and local elites
into cadres of the new catechism of “good governance”. Here they demand
recipient governments adopt particular institutions as in Western countries:
separation of powers by having an independent judiciary and parliament; a
multiparty system of government; certain procurement, trade and investment
laws; a free press, etc. Today institutions have emerged that give scores on
being a good student – the World Bank Doing Business Index, the World Economic
Forum Competitiveness Index etc. But the aim and effect of these reforms
is largely to displace existing, or stifle the development of, local capital in
favour multinational capital.
Like under colonial rule, the aim of foreign aid is not so
much to develop the local economy as to open it for takeover by multinational
capital. The spokespersons of these foreign interests: presidents, legislators,
NGO activists, local business interests (largely commission agents that make
money connecting multinational firms to local business opportunities, Marxists
used to call them compradors), bureaucrats, pundits and journalists etc.
dominate public policy debates and are feted in western capitals.
This local coalition defends foreign financial assistance,
foreign direct investment and other forms of intrusion into Africa’s
sovereignty such as promotion of human rights, democracy, and the ICC as
international justice the cures of our ills. They make these arguments even
though none of them can quote a single country that developed through foreign
aid or foreign direct investment.
The aid industry is backed by billions of dollars in
development spending. Its international and local agents form the most powerful
voice on public policy. This is what makes foreign aid a difficult movement to
fight, but it is hardly the only one. The use of the word “aid” appeals to our
human sentiment for charity – who would say helping feed a hungry village,
vaccinating a vulnerable community or educating the poor is a bad thing?
True some of the things foreign aid does help individuals
and communities. But such charity is not the stimulant of development. This
issue was raised by one of the panelists who claimed that Germany today is
developed because it was assisted by the United States through the Marshal Plan
– a huge financial aid program by America to Western Europe after World War
Two.
The Marshal Plan funds were not given for the development of
Germany. By 1945, Germany was the most industrialised country in Europe
manufacturing cars, planes, tanks etc. and leading in nuclear, missile and
rockets research. Indeed, it had higher manufacturing per capita than the USA.
Its people’s norms, values, habits and mentalities were of an advanced
capitalist society. World War Two destroyed physical infrastructure, not the
skills – technical and organisational – that were already embedded in its
people. An injection of money in such a society would stimulate rapid
recovery from the effects of war.
The African countries that receive international aid are
still peasant societies with high levels of inter and intra community mistrust,
low levels of the diffusion of technology and capitalist norms, values, habits
and mentalities have not yet penetrated the social consciousness of the vast
majority of people. Even if foreign aid was well intentioned – and it often is
not – its effects cannot be like those of the Marshal Plan on Germany because
of these differences.
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