Muso Okwonga reflects on Godfrey Bloom’s racial outburst against aid to African countries:
The first thing is that I think that Godfrey Bloom’s comments, for which he subsequently expressed regret, are spectacularly racist. To dismiss Africa, a continent of over fifty nations, as “bongo bongo land”, is to conjure an image of several million generic dark-skinned beggars anxiously squeezing at the benevolent British teat. It implies an image of countless people, somewhere over there, unaccountably waiting for colonial charity. That image is both wrong and offensive (of which more later).
I quite like Muso’s reflection on this issue. Thoughtful, cogent reflection on the unfair yoke that is international aid to the continent. I hope that from this collective and sober perspective that we as Africans dig into and work towards a future where we are self-reliant. I say that with full knowledge that a proud self-reliant Africa will also make enemies. Better an enemy I can proudly say “no thanks” to than a lender I can’t afford to say no to.
