Russia Ukraine War – 1 Lesson for Africa
By Ebenezer Awuah
It is now quite clear that Africa is not self sufficient in food production, with all its arable land, good rainfall, untapped labor and certified Agricultural Officers. This happened probably because the African Union never put any plan in place towards this direction.
The recent visit by the AU Chairman, President Macky Sall of Senegal to Russia to meet President Putin over grain crops and fertilizer exports to Africa gives credence to the above fact.
The AU Chairman appealed to Western nations to lift embargos and sanctions against Russia in order for Africa to have access to food and fertilizers from Russia. Truth is not Africa alone will suffer from shortage of grain foods; it will affect other countries outside Africa.
But isn’t it a shame for Africa that Africans cannot feed themselves without importing food from elsewhere? What can be our limitations? Of course knowing this is not a new thing but shall we maintain the status quo and for how long?
Our leaders must learn a lesson from the effects of the Russia Ukrainian war and think of ways to improve food production in Africa; otherwise somebody somewhere can one day cause sanctions on food exports as a tool to punish Africa should we do something to his dislike.
GM Foods
There is a grand scheme by some western nations to coerce African leaders to accept the importation of GM foods. These genetically modified foods shall eventually replace our original or organic foods, so that without GM seeds we will have no seeds from our organic foods to plant.
In effect our organic foods will be replaced by their inorganic foods. Also the quality and quantity of it that we consume has to be controlled from elsewhere to make it a weapon of control which can be used to manipulate us to their advantage in the future. There must be a hidden agenda behind this.
This agenda by the West must be rejected outright by African leaders. By now this appeal might be too late to heed as the pressure from the West might have carried with it some packaged incentives to make it accepted by some leaders.
The African Union must be more committed to the general well being of Africans and not act as mere forum for annual socializing and talking by leaders.
Colonization
A divide and rule concept is subtly sustained by our colonial masters because it divides us to their advantage. They can penetrate and do what they like if we are divided and not united. In unity lies strength as we have the strength to reject what is not good for us, for example LGBTQ.
Colonization continues but in a different way. It continues in terms of economic assistance because Africans are always dependent on their colonial masters for grants and aids for development and food. These loans are paid back with some interest affixed to serve our masters. It seems we cannot wean ourselves from depending on them but we claim to be independent.
The United States and China are fighting for control of Africa. Fighting involves building infrastructure and offering economic assistance. What happens if a country is unable to pay its debt? This is a new way of colonization and leaders must beware.
Before putting my pen down I want to congratulate and thank the AU Chairman, President Macky Sall for thinking about the imminent hunger looming on Africa and taking steps to visit Russia to put things right.
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