By Janet Karim
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. – Corinthians 13:11
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! – Psalm 133:1
Since the days of the Age of Discovery (approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century) that was quickly followed by the slave trade, western interference in Africa has circled around controlling, plundering, and keeping Africa and its people as limitless resource wells and servants of the West. The western countries (UK, US, the European Union, and Nordic countries) came and took African human resources, which they abused as providers of free labor, came back and colonized Africa, and in modern times, enlisted African men to fight in two major world wars against evil people (Germany, Italy, and Japan); the evil people were doing the exact same things which the Western Allied nations (and Russia) have been doing and continue to do to Africa nations. With the stroke of pens in European and (lately) US cities, the control of the entire fabric of African livelihoods, political, economic, and now from using withholding of development aid to diplomatic manipulation as controlling mechanisms, western countries are hell-bent on changing Africa’s (and Caribbean nations) social, cultural, and traditional values. While in the West, the social, cultural, and traditional values have evolved, it expects Africa to super-jump, catapult into the western evolved cultures in instant, sudden, and immediate fashion. A eureka of sorts can be heard resounding around the African continent as leader after leader in the last four weeks have declared that the West should, must, and better fall back on their usual manner toward Africa.
Lately the West has entered Africa’s cultural space and country after country, sometimes as a group, for example the infamous ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement of 2023, failed to launch its operations: everything would be good to go, but for three very suspicious elements that were incorporated in the agreement. These are the Council of ministers, the clause that requires counties to vote as part of the ACP-EU Group, the clause on human rights that takes into consideration European cultural values and norms. The document, once signed by the heads of states of the ACP and EU countries, would commit the member nations to localize the legally binding framework that outlines relations between the ACP countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) and the EU; the EU being the super-duper winner. While its aim has been to reduce and eradicate poverty, since its establishment in 1975, the opposite appears to be the case as vast poverty persists in the ACP countries.
The EU document and other western countries treat Africa like the continent is still in slavery and or the colonialism eras. Enter and arise giant lions of Africa! Presidents from east and west, north and south of the continent have arisen, and are speaking in unified tongues with the fire of heaven! Four examples are highlighted herein.
- Uganda and Nigeria have in the past month enacted laws that prohibit same sex relations and marriages. Uganda President Yoweri Museveni went straight to the source for the Ugandan law; like the Source, Uganda’s anti-Gay law speaks against exhibiting or promoting same-sex lifestyle in the country; he quotes biblical scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments. Both countries are steadfast in stating these are not African cultural values.
By the way on June 9, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights is said to have delivered its decision on the case of Chapin and Charpentier v. France (n°40183/07). It questioned the French courts’ decision to annul the “marriage of Bègles” contracted in 2004 between two men, in violation of French law.
By this decision, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously recalled that the European Convention on Human Rights does not include the right to marriage for homosexual couples, neither under the right to respect for private and family life (art. 8) nor the right to marry and to found a family (art. 12). Additionally, the question of same-sex marriage is “subject to the national laws of the Contracting States. Article 12 confirmed the traditional concept of marriage, which is the union between a man and a woman and “does not impose an obligation on the governments of the Contracting States to grant same-sex couples access to marriage.”
- Botswana has vast deposits of diamond mines. In recent months the southern African country has been in talks with the De Beers mining company. In the deal Debswana, a joint venture between Anglo American unit De Beers and Botswana’s government, sold 75% of its output to De Beers, with the balance taken up by state-owned Okavango Diamond Co. Not amused at being left out, the British government spoke against the discussions that kept the UK out of the room. It had vehemently insisted that Botswana signs the diamond share deal in London. The Tswana Government gave the Brits a mighty royal Batswana boot.
- Malawi and Tanzania recently made huge leaps in the language on the continent forum. Following Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s visit to Malawi’s Independence celebrations, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has requested schools in Malawi to start offering Swahili lessons. On her part, the Tanzanian leader flew home and announced that Tanzanian children will start getting English lessons in their curriculum. These are great and bold moves: what better way to know your neighbors than through understanding the language they speak!
- Kenyan President William Ruto (new kid on the block who has been serving as the fifth president of Kenya since 13 September 2022), enters the display of African might by hosting and speaking at the Pan-African Conference and straight declared to the world (sic) “we have been gentlemen for far too long. There shall be no more scrambling for our minerals by people from outside Africa to take them to Europe. These must be processed here on African soil.” He furthermore reiterated that Africans must be at the table of collaboration when the discussion is about Africa.
The notices from the continent are herein as follows:
- Africa says no to the EU or any other state backdoor entry of recolonizing Africa in any form or shape!
- Africa says no to same-sex marriage (and so does the European court of Human Rights) and other cultural values that are against laws already existing or to be enacted in African nations!
- Africa says no to sexualizing its children through graphic books in the comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) agenda!
- Africa says no to keeping Africans out at the discussion table on mining mineral wealth of the continent. At the table there must be a fair and ample representation of the 1,480,070,540 (1.5 billion) inhabitants of Africa!
- Africa, start to learn other African languages!