Attention African Leaders: Time Is Running Out

Photo: Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa is the newly elected chairperson of the African Union Commission

By Honourable Saka

The Chairperson

African Union Commission

Addis Ababa

17 July, 2012

Madam Chairperson,

A Pan-African Appeal

“African leaders must first and foremost recognize that unity in Africa is in our best interest and the only option we have if we want to attain peace, stability and economic development. We all must recognize that we can only make progress if North, South, East, Central and West Africa come together as one, act together as one and speak with one voice”. Lord Aikins Adusei

Madam Chairperson, before I proceed, let me first take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election into the office of the African Union Commission, the highest political office on the continent. The African people especially the women and children are proud of your determination to lead us to the promise land: a land of unity and prosperity where Africa’s vast resources will ultimately benefit the African people. The African people wish you all the best in your new job.

Introduction

African leaders, time is running out. The talk must be over. It is time to take real action. The business of the AU should NOT be about fighting malaria, tuberculosis and promoting sanitation. These should be the task for the World Vision, WHO and the USAID. The business of the AU should only focus on working towards the total liberation of Africa, promoting unity among Africans especially unity among our governments as well as fighting for Africa's economic independence. We must focus on removing the borders, ensure free trade among ourselves and promote the free movement of Africans on the continent. These should be our major focus. The talks and the distractions have been too much. It is time for real action. Some of these steps that require immediate action are as follows:

1. Industrialization and Economic Integration

“So long as Africa remains divided, it will therefore be the wealthy consumer countries who will dictate the price of its resources”. -Kwame Nkrumah (Neo-Colonialism, page11)

As a matter of fact, the whole of Africa’s economy is geared to the interests of the foreign capital that dominates it. Currently, processing plants for Africa’s resources are still held in Europe and Asia but not in Africa. This arrangement ensures that, Africans cannot at any time disrupt operations while they (the producers) continue to hold monopoly over the price for the finished products. This must change if we as a people are determined to exert some control over the price of our resources. It is very humiliating that, Africans continue to import a lot of soap, steel, iron rods, plastic, rice, sugar, chicken. But as you know, we have all the raw materials right here and a very fertile soil.

The 21^st century has no place for the African people if we continue to serve as the “producers of raw materials” for Western and Asian industries and the “dumping ground” of European, American and Asian commodities which often come at cut-throat prices. African countries must focus on industrialization. We must make all effort to produce what we use and use what we produce.

We must focus on building more industries, and expanding the power grid to sustain these industries. It is completely imprudent for Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Niger, Guinea, Mali among others to continue exporting ‘raw’ uranium and other strategic resources to power the nuclear reactors of Europe and Asia at a time when many African countries do not have reliable electricity. If nuclear and solar energy are good for Europe and Asia, then they must certainly be good for Africa. The African countries with these resources must also consider producing nuclear energy and exporting it overseas. We must not allow the future of our economy to be determined by decisions in Europe, America nor Asia. We must strategize so that we can determine the future of our own economy.

We must first pursue the technology by sending our youth overseas for training and also creating the platform for them to return and lead the charge. African leaders must unite and focus on shifting the industries from overseas back to Africa and get the African youth to work. We have all the resources. What is needed is for us to focus on putting the industries in place so that we can make the products right here and sell it to the outside world. The time when Africa was seen as the supplier of raw materials must end.

Today, Asia and Latin America are rising. Europe and North-America are in deep financial crises. Yet, Africa still remains a sleeping giant: very confused and doesn’t to seem to know the way forward. It is time for economic integration among African countries. Africans must begin to focus on trading among themselves. For instance, Ghana has a huge stockpile of salt which goes wasted every year. Yet, it is very sad that every year, Nigeria and many African countries, import salt from Brazil for their textile industries (which are gradually collapsing because African leaders themselves have abandoned African fashion for suits and tie all the time).

Oil producing countries in Africa are shipping their oil to Europe, America and Asia at cheaper prices, while many other African countries turn to the Middle East for oil and gas! West Africa has wide savannahs, ideal for the growing of cotton, with the right irrigation. Yet for many years we spent millions of pounds importing richly-patterned cloths from abroad. The whole situation in Africa is like waging trade and economic war among ourselves. Africans, please come together and protect your collective interest!

2. Movement of People, Goods and Services Across borders

Artificial borders were meant to divide Africans, making them weak and easy to conquer

Perhaps, the major challenge we have in Africa which affects our ability to trade freely among ourselves is directly as a result of the lack of trade agreements and also the current restrictions we have imposed upon our people. African citizens have been limited from travelling to Europe and America with tough visa restrictions. Unfortunately, travelling within our own continent too has become another burden. On the average, a Ghanaian visitor has to go through a period of 2 to 3 months visa routines, before he can travel to Zimbabwe or Uganda! Meanwhile, as a matter of fact, the Ghanaian can travel to Nigeria, Mali or even Kenya without needing a visa. Now the question we must ask the African leaders is: what are the differences between Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe? How can Zambians travel to South Africa without visa but this same people have to wait for a period of 2 months for visa before they can travel to Kenya, Togo or Ivory Coast? Why can’t we break these chains of visa restrictions which prevent the African citizen from feeling free on his motherland? Something seriously has to be done about these travel restrictions to allow inter-African trade. The African must be allowed to travel freely on the African soil so that we can experience our diversity in order to foster unity. The current visa restrictions must be removed and allow the African people the freedom to explore our beautiful continent.

Another challenge we face on this issue is the cost of transportation itself. It is very difficult to travel from one African country to the other due to the fact that Africa’s road and rail infrastructure still remains underdeveloped. Air transport has therefore become our major option. This is however too expensive. According to the current estimate, the cost of flying from Abuja to London is at least US$700. At the same time, the cost of flying from Abuja to Accra is more than US$800. It is even more expensive to fly within the ECOWAS region than to fly to Europe. Meanwhile, the cost of a flight from London to Paris or anywhere in Europe could be as cheap as US$100 and below. If in doubt, check www.easyjet.com and find out how cheap it is to travel by air within Europe. All these are happening to Africans because “our leaders” have not taken the issue of industrialization very serious. For how long can poor Africans afford to pay ten times the cost of the same services offered to their European counterparts?

The current exorbitant cost of air tickets in Africa is similar to what Africans had to pay for telecommunication and internet services few years ago. It is a fact that the charges for internet and mobile phone services in Africa were the highest on the planet. Today, thanks to Gaddafi and a few African leaders’ initiative. The introduction of RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Communication Organization) has paid off. This joint African project is expected to lower the continent's dependency on international satellite networks such as Intelsat, saving Africans a whooping US$500 million every year.

Consequently, telecommunication services are now affordable in Africa. This is a clear indication that if African leaders take similar bold steps and solve the challenge posed by the huge cost of transportation in Africa we can save more billions of dollars every year on transport. We only need the political will to do this and our burden will reduce.

Gervais Djondo, a former industry minister of Togo has recently set himself a mission to create a pan-African airline serving for the continent. Like other Pan-Africanists, Djondo believes the way forward is for African carriers, instead of trying to compete with each other and jealously guarding their national markets, should rather combine their resources and create a consolidated service/network of a strong African airline company owned and managed by Africans. This idea must be welcomed and supported by the African leaders. African governments must invest in this project to help ease the burden.

3. African Central Bank

"It must be understood that the less developed world will not become developed through the goodwill or generosity of the developed”. –Kwame Nkrumah (Neo-Colonialism, page xviii).

This is the reason why we must be determined to put Africa’s future into our own hands. The West may pretend to be helping Africa. But we must be ready to map out our own strategies to facilitate our own development. The future of Africa cannot continue to remain in the hands of donor countries, the European Central Bank, the World Bank and IMF.

The existing African Development Bank has finally been hijacked by the West.  African governments must come together and establish an African Central Bank or a Bank of Africa where all African governments will deposit part of their national reserves. I must however stress that; this bank must be under the control and management of Africans. Instead of Francophone African countries to deposit their foreign reserves in France to later loan this moneys to the Africans at a huge interest rate, all such moneys can be deposited in  the African Central Bank where it can be used for our own benefits. If each African country were to deposit about $2billion (or more) of our national reserves into this fund, we could mobilize for ourselves more than $100billion in a matter of months.

African leaders or the millionaires could also be encouraged to save with this bank. When this is done, the interest that will be generated on this money will belong to the African people instead of giving this lucrative opportunity to the Western banks year after year. At the same time, African governments and the AU itself could have this reliable source of funds to finance their projects without the need to depend on aid from the West all the time.

Money does not grow on trees. The West has always generated money out of thin air and is using this system to enslave African nations into debt. African leaders please wake up! Our destiny is not poverty. We only need to take these bold decisions today. The EU has got its central bank. Asia and Latin America are recently following suit. This has saved some of them from selling their sovereignty to the World Bank and the IMF. Currently, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are also considering such an idea. Therefore what are the African leaders waiting for? How long must we continue to wait because we believe the time is not right? If the African leaders of today think they cannot do it, whom are they looking up to come and do it? Is it the youth they expect to be able to solve the challenges they themselves feel they cannot solve?

Our African politicians are piling up billions of African money in European and American banks while poverty continues to enslave our people because our own banks do not have the money to loan out to African business investors. Why can’t we set up these banks and encourage our politicians to deposit part of their moneys there?

4. Africa’s Security

Out of control: Careless security
personnel threatens national security.

Nkrumah held that, no single part of Africa can be safe, or free to develop fully and independently at a time when any other part is torn up in conflict; remains un-liberated or under the control of puppet regimes.

As a result, Kwame Nkrumah wrote:

"Unless we meet this obvious and very powerful threat with a unified African front, based upon a common economic and defence policy, the strategy of the imperialist will be to pick us off and destroy us one by one", (Africa Must Unite, page xvii).

African leaders need to establish a joint security force whose major responsibility will be to defend the African people from terrorism and foreign aggression. We must also commit needed resources to equip this security force to be able to defend our security and our sovereignty. We cannot continue year after year to put our security into the hands of the UN.  What happened in Libya and Ivory Coast recently, clearly shows the urgent need for such an idea.

5. African Court of Justice

Today, the whole world bears witness to the fact that, the current International Criminal Court is only a tool that targets African leaders. Many more serious war crimes have been committed by leaders of Western countries. Notably among them are George Bush and Tony Blair. Yet, for many years, the ICC has paid a blind eye to crimes committed by the West. African leaders must therefore take immediate steps to establish for ourselves a court of justice which will deal with crimes committed by our people. The current form of imported justice must end. We must boycott the ICC and set up our own courts. Time is running out because sooner or later, any of you African leaders could become the next victim of this “kangaroo court” which is seen by the African people rather as the “International Court of Criminals”.

6. The Educational Sector

According to Kwame Nkrumah: (Africa Must Unite, page 49):

“We were thought to regard our culture, our norms and values as barbarous and primitive. Our text-books are books that tell us about English history, English Geography, English ways of living, English customs, English ideas”.

These are past mistakes that must urgently be corrected. Instead of focusing on English customs, and Western ideas, our educational systems must be integrated with African culture, norms and values. We must begin to implement educational policies that harness our cultural heritage, be determined to sell African value to the outside world and to promote unity among Africans. We cannot lose our African fashion and our way of life for the sake of meeting the economic interest of the West. The current theory-based courses, with little or no practical models are not helping. Today, many Africans have all the paper knowledge but they lack the practical knowledge to solve real-world problems. We must create the conditions for the youth to learn to be able to build our industries. We must henceforth focus on technical education, science and technology and do more on practical courses.

“It is time for us to nurture our own culture and history if we are to develop that African personality which must provide the educational and intellectual foundations of our Pan-African future”. -Kwame Nkrumah, (Africa Must Unite page 49).

Therefore our educational system must also focus on training Africans in areas that will enable us to directly manage our resources and be able to resist neo-colonialism and the imperialists who often come in the form of “advisers”, “consultants” and policy makers, working at our expense. We must device educational systems that are aimed at fixing our political and economic challenges by ourselves instead of always taking orders from foreign capitalists.

“To allow a foreign country, especially one which is loaded with economic interests in our continent, to tell us what political courses to follow, is indeed for us to hand back our independence to the oppressor on a silver platter.” (Kwame Nkrumah, “Consciencism” pg.102).

Africa has invested so much to help develop the educational systems abroad while ours are falling apart. For many years, Africans have been paying so much money to European, Canadian and American educational institutions. According to a UNESCO report, more than 200,000 tertiary students from sub-Saharan Africa studied abroad in 2006. Currently, it is estimated that more than 500,000 Africans study abroad every year. The average African student pays more than $15,000/yr for his/her studies abroad. By a simple calculation, Africans spend at least $7.5billion to study abroad each year.

“…Today, an international student who leaves [the United States] with a good feeling is a life-long advertisement for the [U.S. business] community. For purely economic reasons, the U.S. should protect this market share. With over 500,000 foreign students and more than $11 billion per annum at issue, American education as export industry has become our chasse gardée”, -Robert Scott.

Europe and America are benefiting because our educational systems are not receiving adequate resources and infrastructure. But for how long must this cycle continue because we do not have confidence in our educational institutions?

There is no doubt that the Western educational institutions were one of the best in the world. However, it must be pointed out that they currently have their own issues which to some extent affect their integrity as well. Just visit: www.ukessay.co.uk and find out for yourselves how thousands of students in Europe have been buying degrees online with impunity. All they have to do is to pay some £300 to these agencies; email them their courseworks/dissertation topics and bingo, the work is delivered at their door steps as soon as possible.

I was very fortunate to have had my education (up to degree level) in Africa, and I must say by my practical experience abroad, I can confidently say that the educational institutions we have in Africa are very good. Though not perfect, they are not as bad as we’re often made to believe. African leaders must invest enough resources into developing our educational systems to the highest standard so that we can attract more students to study in Africa and reap its economic and the cultural benefits. We must encourage foreigners to study in Africa to be able to appreciate our culture and our society.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we must always strive to remember the struggle of our founding fathers and their dedication to Pan-Africanism. Pan-Africanism cannot be seen as irrelevant in our political future. For it is this pillar which forms the basis of our political independence, and gave us the freedom we enjoy today: freedom from slavery, and freedom from colonial rule. It is this same idea that can provide the key to our economic challenges in the 21^st century. We must therefore work hard to teach the African youth this concept. Copies of all books and speeches by our founding fathers such as Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, Thomas Sankara and many other Pan-African books must be provided to the African youth to study and be able to think and act in this direction. This will help create millions of of their kind, to take Africa through the next stage of our economic independence.

We at Project Pan-Africa (PPA) are willing to cooperate with the AU in this regard.

To succeed, we must seek first the “political kingdom” (African Unity) and all the freedom and the economic emancipation shall follow.  We need political unity to be able to fulfill the dreams of our founding fathers and meet the aspirations of our people. Time is running out. Every single day counts. We must act now.

I am therefore appealing to the African leaders to take immediate decisive steps to alleviate our people from poverty in order to avert any imminent revolution from the youth, which may ultimately target the AU itself.

“The great millions of Africans are growing impatient of being the hewers of wood, the providers of unskilled labour, the drawers of water, and being the dishwashers and the cleaners of Europe and America”.  Kwame Nkrumah, (Africa Must Unite page ix).

Long live Africa!

Long live the African Union that must be!!

CC/

All African Leaders

The President, Pan-African Parliament

Executive Secretariat, Africa Forum

The President, African Youth Union

NOTE:

• Kwame Nkrumah (1964) “Consciencism”. Panaf Books: London
• Kwame Nkrumah (1963) “Africa Must Unite”, Pana Books: London
• Kwame Nkrumah (1965) “Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism”. Panaf Books: London

Yours faithfully,

Honourable Saka

(Coordinator, Project Pan-Africa)

saka@projectpanafrica.org

About Honourable Saka

The author is a regular writer and a political analyst on African affairs, and a well-known social commentator in Africa. He is currently seeking the establishment of the "Project Pan-Africa" to create a mental revolution across Africa. He is the editor of “The Doctor’s Report”, your most reliable source of critical analysis on African affairs. He’s strong Pan-Africanist, a youth activist and founder of the “Leaders of Tomorrow”, a transformational and inspirational group of possible future leaders. Please visit his blog at: www.honourablesaka.blogspot.co.uk and Email him at: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk

Patrice Lumumba, The Sacrifice of a True African Leader

Photo: Patrice Lumumba (2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961), the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Congo Republic was murdered by a CIA- sponsored  plot, over 50 years ago.

By Honourable Saka


We must move forward, striking out tirelessly against imperialism. From all over the world we have to learn lessons which events afford. Lumumba’s murder should be a lesson for all of us”. — Che Guevara, 1964.

“Dead, living, free, or in prison on the orders of the colonialists, it is not I who counts. It is the Congo, it is our people for whom independence has been transformed into a cage where we are regarded from the outside…” — Patrice Lumumba, October 1960. 

Introduction

The truth surrounding the brutal murder of Patrice Lumumba is an embarrassing event which, when exposed to the African youth of today, will definitely send the US government scratching its head. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had a troubled history since the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. Currently there is conflict in the eastern DRC. But who are the main actors in the conflict this time? African leaders, it is important to remember history so that you can appreciate what is going on today in Africa and the rest of the world.

Lumumba was a strong African revolutionary leader whose Pan-Africanist vision of a united Congo gained him many enemies from the outside world. Like Kwame Nkrumah, Lumumba sought for a country where the numerous resources of the Congo will benefit not only the Congo but the African people as a whole. In his famous first ever independence speech, a newly elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba who had not been scheduled to speak, stood up and made this speech (30^th June 1960):

“You who have fought for independence, and are today victorious, I salute you in the name of the Congolese government. We have been subjected to insults and sarcasms, to the blows we had to endure from morning to night just because we were Africans. We learnt that the law was never the same according to whether it was applied to whites or blacks. Who will ever forget the shootings or the barbarous jail cells awaiting those who refused to submit to this regime of injustice, oppression and intimidation?”

With this speech, it was said that he signed his death warrant. From the very first day, the West especially the American and the Belgian governments started to sabotage Lumumba’s government and sought the immediate removal of Lumumba all cost.

Ludo De Witte, the Belgian author of the best book on this crime, qualifies it as "the most important assassination of the 20th century". His assassination's historical importance lies in a multitude of factors, the most pertinent being the global context in which it took place, its impact on Congolese politics since then and Lumumba's overall legacy as a nationalist leader, writes Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, a professor of African and Afro-American studies at the University of North Carolina, author of “The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History”.

"Today, it is impossible to touch down at the (far from modernized) airport of Lubumbashi in the south of the DR Congo without a shiver of recollection of the haunting photographs, taken of Lumumba there shortly before his assassination, and after beatings, torture and a long, long flight in custody across the vast country which he so loved". — Victoria Brittain, The Guardian, 2011.

Exposing The Facts an Debunking The Then Media Distortions           

It is a fact that both the Belgian government and the United States actively sought to have him eliminated. The CIA ordered his assassination but could not complete the job. Instead, the United States and Belgium covertly funnelled cash and aid to rival politicians (just as they recently did in Libya) who seized power and arrested Lumumba. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had said something [to CIA chief Allen Dulles] to the effect that “Lumumba should be eliminated". This was revealed by a declassified interview with then-US National Security Council minute keeper, Robert Johnson which was released in August 2000 from Senate intelligence committee's inquiry on covert action. The committee later claimed that while the CIA had conspired to kill Lumumba, it was not directly involved in the actual murder. Therefore one must ask: on whose orders was the actual murder executed if not the United States? Which elements in the CIA ever faced justice for such a brutal murder?

In his book, “In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story” John Stockwell (1978), revealed that a CIA officer in Elizabethville was in direct touch with Lumumba’s killers the night he was assassinated. Later, another CIA agent admitted to have had the body in the trunk of his car to try and get rid of it (p. 105) This leaked cable went on to state that Lumumba was first picked up from the airport by "all white guards", taken to the bush where his fate was decided and his body completely dissolved in acid, leaving no traces whatsoever. What a horrible way to eliminate the traces of such a hero!

Having realised the complicity of the United Nations and the world powers, on this brutal murder, Kwame Nkrumah thus made a broadcast to the people of Ghanaian :

“Somewhere in Katanga in the Congo- where and when we do not know- three of our brother freedom fighters have been done to death.  They have been Patrice Lumumba, the Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, Maurice Mpolo, the Minister in his government who was elected from Katanga Province and Joseph Okito the Vice-President of the Congolese Senate. About their end many things are uncertain, but one fact is crystal clear. They have been killed because the United Nations, whom Patrice Lumumba himself as Prime Minister had invited to the Congo to preserve law and order, not only failed to maintain that law and order, but also denied to the lawful Government of the Congo, all other means of self-protection.” Kwame Nkrumah, (Challenge of the Congo, page 129).

“History records many occasions when rulers of states have been assassinated. The murder of Patrice Lumumba and of his two colleagues, however, is unique in that it is the first time in history that the legal ruler of a country has been done to death with the open connivance of a world organisation (the United Nations) whom that ruler put his trust”, -Nkrumah concludes (page 129/130).

I believe what happened in Libya in 2011 goes to affirm the real agenda of the UN, so long as Africa is concerned. Just as it had always been, it is always the same for Africa. But who cares when an African leader is brutally murdered on the orders of Western agents? After all we are used to it.

Between 1961 and 1973 alone, six African independence leaders were assassinated by their ex-colonial rulers, including Patrice Lumumba of the Congo.

Complicity of the Belgian Government

A recent report by a Belgian Commission revealed that Belgium wanted Lumumba arrested and was not particularly concerned with Lumumba's physical well-being.  Though informed of the danger to Lumumba's life when later arrested, Belgium did not take any action to avert his death.

Under its own  laws, Belgium was legally culpable for failing to prevent the assassination of the leader of a country where it had colonial ties. It was also in breach of its obligation (under U.N. Resolution 290 of 1949) to refrain from acts or threats "aimed at impairing the freedom, independence or integrity of another state.

In 2001, a Belgian Commission exposed that there had been previous U.S. and Belgian plots to kill Lumumba. Among them was a CIA-sponsored attempt to poison him, which might have come on orders from the then U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb was made to devise a poison disguised as toothpaste for the elimination of Lumumba to which the corporate media intended to blame on “opposition elements”. This plot however backfired. 

In another book, “Congo Cables”, the author details many communications by local CIA Station Chief, Larry Devlin at the time who continually urged the total elimination of Lumumba as the only outcome the US government wanted to see (p. 53, 101, 129-133, 149-152, 158-159, 184-185, 195).

Thanks to the power of suppression, political intimidation, as well as the fear and panic on the part of many African leaders who surrender at the expense of the African people. The bloody hand of colonialism, imperialism and neo-colonialism has always fought hard to burry the facts surrounding the brutal murder of many African heroes, African reggae legends, and tens of thousands of the people. The African people of today, continue to live under the illusion of so-called “independence, as foreign pressure continues to mount on their leaders to either comply or face similar fate.

That notwithstanding, we the African generation of today, cannot sit aside and watch our history to be distorted nor completely buried for the sake of satisfying the wishes of the oppressor. Our revolutionary leader Patrice Lumumba has underlined that the history of the African people must be written. This history should not be the type that Brussels, Paris, Washington, the United Nations nor the corporate media will teach. Rather, Africa’s history should be written by the African people and should be taught in all the countries emancipated from colonialism and its current puppets… a history of glory and dignity.

African scholars and all historians of African origin therefore owe our children, the youth and our children’s children, the responsibility to teach them the true history of their ancestors. The future generations have every right to know the sacrifices and the price which many of their ancestors had to pay (with their blood) before we were able to attain our political independence. It was Lumumba’s wish that “Africa writes her own history, a history of glory and dignity”.

Lumumba and his kind we fall short of today, but we will get there. –A message to the African youth.He is a true African hero who must be celebrated by the African people all over the world.

Long live Patrice Lumumba,

Long live the people of the Congo,

Long live Africa.

Video: The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba

NOTE:

1.      "Patrice Lumumba: the most important assassination of the 20th century" available at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/patrice-lumumba-50th-anniversary-assassination

2.      Kwame Nkrumah, (1967) “Challenge of The Congo: A Case Study of Foreign Pressures in an Independent State”, Panaf Books: London.

3.      Patrice Lumumba, (1972) Lumumba Speaks: The Speeches and Writings of Patrice Lumumba, 1958–1961. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

4.      Patrice Lumumba, (1962) “Congo, My Country” London: Pall Mall Press.

5.      John Stockwell (1978), “In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story”. W.W. Norton.

6.      CIA document #CO 1366116.

7.      Plan to poison Congo leader Patrice Lumumba (page 464). pdf copy available at:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/top06.pdf

8.      Biography of Patrice Lumumba, available at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba#Writings_by_Lumumba

9.      Karen De Young (2007), “CIA Releases Files on Past Misdeeds”, The Washington Post. Available at:

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062600861.html?hpid=topnews

10.  Victoria Brittain, (2011) “Africa: a continent drenched in the blood of revolutionary heroes”. The Guardian (London). Available at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/lumumba-50th-anniversary-african-leaders-assassinations

About Honourable Saka

The author is a regular writer and a political analyst on African affairs, and a well-known social commentator in Africa. He is currently seeking the establishment of the "Project Pan-Africa" to create a mental revolution across Africa. He is the editor of “The Doctor’s Report”, your most reliable source of critical analysis on African affairs. He’s strong Pan-Africanist, a youth activist and founder of the “Leaders of Tomorrow”, a transformational and inspirational group of possible future leaders. Please visit his blog at: www.honourablesaka.blogspot.co.uk and Email him at: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk

Ghana’s K-Pad Set To Rival Apple's iPad

K-Pad, Ghana's version of the iPad

K-Pad tablet, A product launched by Alltel Ghana Limited is gaining worldwide attention as a result of it’s increased user patronage, low cost and and locally developed free web applications for users.

The product is already making waves, taking away worries of many Ghanaians and Africans over high prices of tablet devices, it has become a preferred product for many on the continent. It runs on Google’s Android operating system as well as Microsoft’s Windows 7 and 8.

he ‘K’ in ‘K-Pad’ is for Kludgeson. Kofi Kludgeson, the Executive Chairman of Alltel Limited, a Ghanaian IT company in an interview with journalists in Accra on Tuesday he stated: “After five years of technical development, we have come out with a product that is a major breakthrough in the world of technology.

“We have come out with a K-Pad and in three months the product has hit the world market in a might way.”

The KPads range in size from 7 inches up to 10.1 and run Android and Windows. Kludjeson’s company, Alltel Limited (not to be confused with Alltel…), has made this product available to customers for 75 Ghanaian Cedis (around $43) per month for three years, making them 2,700 GH₵/$1,548 total.
The Specification is as follows:

K-7 inch Specification

7inch K-PAD tablet with Marvell Armada 166 ARM11 800MHz CPU, touch screen, Android OS, Resistive touch panel, LCD screen, SDRAM 256MB DDR2 RAM, 4GB MLC FLASH, WIFI Support 802.11b/g, USB, 1.3 megapixel webcam, scroll ball, e-learning and e-books.

36 months Subscription

GH¢ #

Price bundle includes: wireless internet connection (WIFI) and a leather case with keyboard.

K-8 inch Specification

8inch K-PAD tablet with LED screen, Android OS, Multi – touch screen,512M DDR2 RAM, Freescale i.MX515 CORTEX A8 CPU, 4G Flash memory, WIFI support 802.11b/g, GPS, 1.3 mega pixel webcam, USB, Memory card slot, 1.3 megapixel webcam, e-learning and e-books.

36 months Subscription

GH¢ #

Price bundle includes: wireless internet connection (WIFI) and a leather case with keyboard.

K 9.7 inch Specification

9.7inch K-PAD tablet with Android OS, Multi–touch screen, LCD screen, Freescale i.MX515 CORTEX A8 CPU, 2G Flash memory, Bluetooth, WIFI support 802.11b/g, 1.3 mega pixel webcam, supports word, excel, PowerPoint, PDF and TXT, supports most video and audio player formats, USB, e-learning and e-books.

36 months Subscription

GH¢ #

Price bundle includes: wireless internet connection (WIFI) and a leather case with keyboard.

K-10.1 inch Specification

10.1inch K-PAD tablet with LED screen, Win 7 OS, Intel Atom Mobile N455 1.66GHZ(Dual Core) CPU, Multi–touch screen, DDR2 slot, 32GB(Hard disk), WIFI 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, 1.3 Mega Pixels Webcam, 3G connectivity, 3in1 card reader, VGA port HDMI port, RJ-45 port for LAN, cooling thermal system with smart fan, e-learning and e-books.

“Our focus on K-Pad is to look at the rural communities because there they have problems with data. In the health sector for instance, we want nurses to use K-Pad to record the basic data requirement for patients in order to make healthcare more accessible and efficient,” Mr Kludjeson stated.

He also added that K-Pad has transformed into an African project and the goal of Alltel is to target only five per cent of each economy’s population.

“In the last few months, we have had a lot of the international press some from Belgium Television, Reuters and BBC wanting to know more about Alltel and its products, especially the K-Pad.”

Alltel is going to introduce in the next two weeks, a product called “K-Phone”. K-Phone, which is a mobile phone with an Android operating system and dual SIM that will give 24/7 internet service to users. In addition, Alltel hopes to develop a 4G network in Ghana, he added.

“In the next three years, we should be able to create and empower skills development for about one million youths in Ghana. The country is growing currently at 15% and a lot is happening and if we do not take advantage of the knowledge and technology gap, a time will come foreigners will do that for us.”

Alltel is making plans to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange in the next 12 months.

Tech Talk

Ghanaians Discuss AFRICOM & Obama’s Visit; It's A BIG NO to AFRICOM!

Source: http://crossedcrocodiles.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/ghanaians-discuss-africom-obamas-visit/ 

This is something that no one among us has the power to do with our sovereignty. It amounts to the attempted robbery of the nation by the force of arms. In a fundamental matter such as this, that has serious implications on our status as an independent nation, that could even mean life or death to Ghanaians, as we have seen in the bombs that continue to fall on marriage ceremonies in Afghanistan, the minimum expectation ought to have been an open democratic national debate and not secretive and conspiratorial manoeuvres.

TAKORADI, Ghana - A traditional fishing boat sails in the Gulf of Guinea near the fishing village of Takoradi, west of Ghana's capital, Accra, on March 2, 2009. U.S. Africa Command's civilian deputy, Ambassador Mary C. Yates, met with local fishermen to discuss ways that maritime security programs can protect fishing stocks, which are a vital source of food in West Africa. Inset: Nana Ekow Akon, chief of the Takoradi fishing community, speaks with U.S. Africa Command's civilian deputy, Ambassador Mary C. Yates, on March 2, 2009. Yates visited West Africa to discuss international cooperation in illegal fishing, counter-narcotics and illicit trafficking. (Photos by Vince Crawley, U.S. Africa Command)

Nana Akyea Mensah writes in US Military Base In Ghana in response to a feature article on GhanaWeb by Asare Otchere-Darko, Obama’s Visit – What’s In It For Us And U.S.? Otchere-Darko’s article describes and implies that Kufuor did a deal with Bush and General Ward, bringing the Africa Command into Ghana without informing the Ghanaian people.

… in August 2007 Major-General Ward, who was later confirmed as AFRICOM’s first commander, visited Accra. He held discussions with President Kufuor on “ways of strengthening military cooperation.” His high-powered secret meetings with the President, Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff triggered huge speculation. Much was made of Maj Gen J B Danquah’s public statement about the visit when he said Maj Gen Ward had ‘done enough to resolve’ Ghana’s concerns about AFRICOM, adding, “I have had the chance to hear [Ward] explain what is the reasoning behind the command, and it’s all about partnership.”

This passage is preceded by:

At the moment the Americans say they are happy to keep the U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Germany, to coordinate all U.S. military and security interests throughout the African continent. But any reasonable assessment must conclude that this can be nothing but a temporary address and arrangement. Ghana should welcome that it is thus the target of America’s desire – and we should make the most of this, using it for our own advantage. After all, the process has already started.

The U.S. and Ghanaian militaries have cooperated in numerous joint training exercises, including the African Crisis Response Initiative, an international activity in which the U.S. facilitates the development of an interoperable peacekeeping capacity among African nations. And the head of AFRICOM has already reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to assisting the Ghana Armed Forces “to become more robust”. There is also the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program. Beyond that, Ghana and the U.S. have an active bilateral International Military Education and Training program. In 2007, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, the Managing Editor of The Insight newspaper and the energy behind the pressure group Socialist Forum, warned Ghanaians against what he saw to be the looming danger of a U.S. military base in Ghana. He cited, inter alia, the erection of the huge American Embassy complex in Cantonments as evidence of this.

And Otchere-Darko follows it with this:

General T. Hobbins, head of the U.S. Air Forces Europe, has held discussions with his counterparts here on the possibility of establishing “lily pads”, landing and rapid airlift facilities in otherwise deserted terrain in certain strategic sites in Africa. Tamale Airport has come up as one of the “forward operating sites” targeted. That airport is said to have a runway capacity of accommodating massive U.S. C-3 cargo planes and troop transports.

Ghana is also already the site of a U.S.-European Command-funded Exercise Reception Facility that was established to facilitate troop deployments for exercises or crisis response within the region. The direct link to our oil is only too apparent: the Facility came out of Ghana’s partnership with the United States on what is termed a Fuel Hub Initiative. It may sound like a mere gas station for the troops. But the choice of stable, imminently oil-rich Ghana as a Fuel Hub reflects a greater strategic interest in the country than as merely a filling station.

The Americans have not been shy in establishing a clear economic link alongside their military cooperation.

There are already lily pads and a robust American military presence in Ghana, which I have written about previously in this blog.

Kwesi Pratt was one of the first to raise the alarm about oil and US military bases in Africa. In a 2007 interview he said:

Kwesi Pratt: I am very alarmed after reading what is called the Cheney Report. When Bush came to power, he set up a committee chaired by Dick Cheney his Vice President to assess America’s energy requirements up to the year 2015. The Cheney Report actually says that by the year 2015, twenty percent of American oil requirements will be supplied by West Africa and therefore it is important to maintain a foothold in West Africa in order to ensure that oil supplies from West Africa to the United States of America will not be interrupted.

Consequently, the United States is planning to establish military bases across West Africa including Ghana. And I am very worried that at a time when we are celebrating our national independence we are going to tolerate the establishment of foreign military bases, especially American military bases on our soil. The great Osageyfo Dr. Nkrumah, Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, and all of them emphasized that Africa ought to be free from foreign military bases and weapons of mass destruction. We cannot allow that dream to die.

That is why, it is important for us to resist all attempts to establish foreign military bases on African soil especially forces of the United States, must be prevented from establishing on African soil. Clearly because they are not on African soil to protect our interests, they are on African soil to facilitate the exploitation of our resources for the benefit of the tiny minority that controls the wealth of the American people and who are sitting on top of this world exploiting the Chicanos, exploiting the African Americans and exploiting all of the other independent and healthy forces in the United States on America. We have to resist all attempts to build U.S. military bases in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa.

Nana Akyea Mensah writes:

I feel greatly incensed by the casual manner Mr. Ochere-Darko breaks this news as though it is simply a matter of business, and not even making any attempt to explain the basis of the conspiracy that he confesses in the article. What does this mean? According to Asare Ochere Darko, even though the NPP government did not allow Ghanaians to have a say in whether or not they want a US military base on our soil, it is too late for the Atta-Mills government to say “No”! In other words, without any national debate, whether we like it or not the process has already been started and they cannot be reversed, so we are as good as being already occupied by a foreign power!
…
Is this supposed to mean that the NPP government was simply throwing dust into our eyes whilst plotting secretly to undermine our national independence and sell us to the Americans? Fortunately for Ghana and Africa, the elections did not go their way. From the article under discussion, it seems to me that with Obama and Atta-Mills in power, the same special interests behind the establishment of the military base in Ghana, the military industrial complex of the USA, are acting as ventriloquists, using their local stooges, to revive their diabolic plot, and rope the two newcomers into the deal. Who else could fit better in the role of selling Ghana to the imperialists more than the very right hand man of Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo, the great Asare Ochere-Darko, himself? If you should ask me what it was that worried me most in the article, I believe I would put my finger on the following seven words written by Mr. Ochere-Darko: “After all, the process has already started.” Most of us are still dazed by the question. What this man is virtually telling Ghanaians is that for months, the NPP has been secretly plotting with foreign powers to establish military bases on our lands without letting out a word about it to the Ghanaian public.

The picture above is of Mary Carlin Yates, AFRICOM’s top civilian employee, promising that AFRICOM can help protect Ghana’s fishing rights, and help protect against drugs. But money for these programs was cut from the Pentagon’s budget. As Daniel Volman informs us in AFRICOM from Bush to Obama:

AFRICAN COASTAL AND BORDER SECURITY PROGRAM (ACBS) – provides specialized equipment (such as patrol vessels and vehicles, communications equipment, night vision devices, and electronic monitors and sensors) to African countries to improve their ability to patrol and defend their own coastal waters and borders from terrorist operations, smuggling, and other illicit activities … No dedicated funding was requested for FY 2008 [or in 2007]

With this in mind, I cannot help thinking that Ms. Yates is, in the very best interpretation, being misleading.

Ms. Yates said in Washington on May 12th:

She disclosed that of the four major target areas of its mission-statement, which explicitly are, reducing conflict, improving security, defeating violent extremism and supporting crisis response. The three words that highlight the Command’s activities are “sustained security engagement”.
…
“When I was U.S. Ambassador in Ghana, we had a robust military-to-military program. We started the State Partnership Program. What we want to do is to find the African partners who are looking to build peace and stability in their nations and in their regions – partnering with those African standby forces as they build their goal is to come online with battalions for each of the five geographic areas by 2010”.

Five battalions do not mean more peace. Just like lots of police in a neighborhood are an indication of crime and violence, lots of soldiers in a country or region are a sign of war and conflict. If it is not there already, they will bring it.

Open and democratic debate is the currency of democracy. It is sadly lacking in many places that call themselves democracies, including being far too lacking in the United States. Mr. Ochere-Darko says:

But we must not ignore America’s interest. After all, whatever his connection to the African continent, Obama is President of America – and acts in the interest of its people at home above all else.

And so far, in terms of policies, Obama has shown himself to be a willing and enthusiastic supporter of the entrenced elites, what Kwesi Pratt calls the tiny minority that controls the wealth of the American people. Obama has allowed a certain amount of democracy theater in his political manueverings so far. But he has carefully closed off any areas of debate he does not wish to entertain. And President Obama seems to be continuing all the same military imperialist programs initiated by Mr. Bush.

I have been an enthusiastic supporter of President Obama. I made my own small contributions to his campaign. He is wildly and justifiably popular in Ghana and Africa. This should not blind us to what is going on. And it should not stop us from exercising our democratic responsibility to speak out and say what we see.

ADDED June 8th:
For a broader sampling of Ghanaian opinion, read the comment threads on these three posts, listed below, from GhanaWeb. As Nana Akyea Mensah says:

We had an interesting discussion on Ghanaweb yesterday, and as usual an overwhelming consensus was a clear and mighty “NO TO AFRICOM!”

Ghana Launches K-Pad Tablet: Hurray!!

The 9.7inch K-PAD tab

By Samuel Dawuona 
30/05/2012
Source: http://samuelobour.com/2012/05/30/ghana-launches-k-pad-tablet/#.T8iX8UHmVpS.facebook

In a groundbreaking moving, Ghana has launched it first tablet – the K-pad.
The K-pad was developed by Alltel Limited, a technology company.
The tablet comes in four sizes – 7 inches, 8 inches, 9.7 inches and 10 inches.

The 9.7inch K-PAD tab, for instance, runs on Android OS and has a Multi–touch screen, LCD screen, Freescale i.MX515 CORTEX A8 CPU, 2G Flash memory, Bluetooth, WIFI support 802.11b/g, and 1.3 mega pixel webcam. It also supports word, excel, PowerPoint, PDF and TXT, supports most video and audio player formats, USB, e-learning and e-books.

The 7 inches K-pad costs GHC1450 ($725). The 9.7 inch K-pad is worth Ghc1850 ($925)
While the 10.1inch K-pad is going for GHC2,150 ($1,025) Buyers will get a three year flexible payment plan.
Continue reading the following report from Samuel Nii Narku Dawuona

The owner of Alltel Ltd., Mr. Kofi Kludjeson, said the K-pad had gained international recognition as the single tablet coming from Africa comparable with Apple’s I-Pad.
Mr Kludjeson: said that K-pad was an improvement on the i-Pad, because it has everything else that I-Pad has, including a USB port, ADMI.
He added that unlike the I-Pad which was a closed system, the K-Pad has an open source for users to access more applications for free.
“Now we have I-Pad one, two and three but this is just K-pad one and it already has more than what the three I-Pads have, so you can only imagine where K-pad would go from here,” he said.

K-pads come in three specifications – the Android 7-inches which works as a phone as well because it has a SIM slot, the 9.7-inches, which is the flagship product from Alltel, and the 10-inches one developed specifically for education and for teachers, and therefore comes with both Android and Windows applications.
“Currently we are testing Windows 8 on the K-pad 10-inches and it working fine so far,” Kludjeson said.
He said the company has struck direct deals with Google and other application markets and developers to provide users with wide range of opportunity to obtain applications to meet their specific needs.
“K-pad has gained so much international recognition such that over the past three months that since we did the pre-launch release, we have had BBC radio come to us twice, Reuters News Agency from the UK and recently Belgium TV also come to interview us about the product,” he said.

He noted that all the international media houses, which reviewed K-pad passed it as the only product of its kind coming from Africa, which has passed the test of international standards in terms of its sleek design and usability anywhere in the world.

“As we speak now K-pad is already in Nigeria, Liberia, Mozambique and just at this fair we have had approaches from South Africa, Zimbabwe and other countries, and we have also struck a deal to provide K-pad to Kenya, which we would be doing in the next few months,” he said.
He said the company was targeting just about five per cent of each economy within the next three years and that was expected to reach about 1.2 million customers in Ghana for instance.
Mr. Kludjeson said the main focus of K-pad and K-phone was to provide e-learning and e-health solutions among other data communication for the Ghanaian, African and eventually the world markets.
He said over the past three months, K-pad had been piloted among selected groups of workers like the police, the military, doctors, nurses, teachers and even some churches, and it the pilot had been very successful.

“K-pad has enough memory to download several books for students and also has a voice application for the bible and our team is developing applications for the 1992 Constitution for teachers and students, we are also working to have school curriculums on K-pad all for free and for hymn books on K-pad specifically for churches,” he said.
Mr. Kludjeson said Alltel was also working with schools to establish e-learning centres in all second cycle school because the Ministry of Education had approved of K-pad and asked all teachers to participate, adding the first e-learning centre was piloted at Accra Academy weeks ago.
He said moves were underway to provide K-pads to university students within the next three years, and also supply health workers in the rural areas to take and easily transmit basic health data of patients to the appropriate quarters so those patients could have access to quality medical care from specialists, who may not be presents in the rural areas.
Mr. Kludjeson said Alltel was also working with the telecom and other companies to provide 4G and LTE networks in Ghana to ensure that K-pad users, for instance, would have high speed internet on their tablets.

Story Credit: Samuel Dawuona

You can follow him on twitter @SamuelObour

Hiding Africa's Looted Funds: Silence of Western Media

Western media condones corruption in Africa
by covering-up Africa's looted funds in
European and American banks.

By Lord Aikins Adusei 

Source: Modern Ghana

Quite often when you read newspapers, listen to radio and watch television in the West you learn how poor Africans are and how corrupt African leaders are. But you will never watch, read or hear anything in these media outlets about the role being played by Western banking institutions; property development and estate companies; the big corporations; and the western political and business elite in promoting corruption in Africa. When it comes to Africa and the developing world the Western media pretend to be doing a good job only when there is an embarrassing story or a scandal that undermines their credibility as the watchdog of the state.

It is not uncommon to see poverty stricken Africans in poor living conditions being shown in documentaries, movies, and television screens in the West but the same documentaries and movies are always silent on the role play by the institutions in the West. Bribery as we all know involves a giver and a taker but it is always the taker who is reported in media. In many instances as we shall soon see bribes are offered in order to secure contracts, secure official favour or to induce officials in order to influence the out come of a government decision. In other instances people become corrupt because of the existence of favouring conditions as can be seen in most western countries with their banking secrecy laws.

Many Western media condone corruption in Africa by
covering up Africa's looted funds in overseas banks

The media in the west tend to ignore the role of western institutions for many reasons. One main reason why they would like to show the poverty level in Africa but refuse to show the role played by the western banking, property, multinational corporations is the fear of loosing revenue through adverts. Many of the media outlets survive through advertisements from the property, banking and multinational corporations so while would they want to incur their wrath? Another reason is that the editors, programme directors and the other bigshots in the media are themselves shareholders of these banks and property companies so why would they want to jeopardise the source of their own wealth? 

The enthusiasm with which CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, ITN, SKYNEWS and other television producers portray Africa as poor and least developed; the same cannot be said about the way they report on the role played by the Western banking and other institutions. They fail to tell the world that the looted funds that make Africans poor are indeed sitting in Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand and the offshore Islands controlled by the West. They fail to tell the world that Africa would be a different place if all the stolen monies are returned, but would they ever raise a voice in support of such a laudable idea? Why would the media change the way they report when for centuries they have been the source of all the misinformation and misrepresentation of anything unwestern?

Corruption is rife in Africa because there are banking institutions in Europe especially Switzerland, France, Jersey Island, Britain, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, US and many others who accept money from African leaders without questioning the source of the money. According to the UN around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by the political leaders, the business elite and civil servants every year with collusion and connivance of banking industries in Europe and North America.

Even though it is a common knowledge western banks are acting as safe havens for looted funds from Africa, very little attention is received from the western media to expose them. The media tend to focus their energies on the corrupt leaders with little or no mention at all as to where the monies they have stolen are being kept. There has not been any concrete effort to expose the banks that collude and connive with these corrupt leaders who are impoverishing the people. No effort has been made by the political elite in Europe and America to force the banks to return these stolen monies to the poorest of the poor because they are often the shareholders and beneficiaries of profits made by these banks. They talk about corruption because it is embarrassing to them but they have no agenda to fight it as that would mean no fat dividends for them and no cheap credits for their citizens.

\Even the Pope knows that the monies stolen are in Europe and America as is seen below. Within five years of his reign (1993-98) Sani Abacha of Nigeria according to official figures was able to stash four billion dollars and between 12 and 16 billion dollars in unofficial terms. After his death in 1998, investigators in Nigeria, Europe and America stumbled on over 130 bank accounts in abroad where some of the money stolen was kept.

The banks that received Abacha's stolen funds are: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, ANZ, London Branch; Bank Len, Zurich; Bankers Trust Company, London; Bankers Trust Company, Frankfurt; Bankers Trust Company, New York; Banque Barring Brothers, Geneva; Bank in Liechtenstein A. G. Vaduz; Barclays Bank, New York; Barclays Bank, London; Banque Edouard Constant, General; Banque Nationale De Paris, Geneva; Banque Nationale De Paris, London; Banque Nationale De Paris, Basle; Citibank N. A. London; Citibank N. A. New York; Citibank N. A. Luxembourg; Citibank Zurich; Credit Lyonnais , New York; Credit Suisse , New York; Credit Suisse, General; Credit Suisse, Zurich; Deutche Morgan Grenfell, Jersey; FIBI Bank (Schweiz) A. G. Zurich; First Bank of Boston , London; Goldman Sachs and Company, Zurich; Gothard Bank, Geneva; LGT Liechtenstein Bank, Vaduz; Liechtenstein Landesbank, Vaduz; M. M. Warburg and Company, Luxembourg; M. M. Warburg and Company,Zurich; M. M. Warburg and Company, Hamburg; Merrill Lynch Bank, New York; Merrill Lynch Bank, Geneva; Midland Bank, London; National Westminister Bank, London; Paribus, London; Paribus, Geneva; Royal Bank of Scotland , Leeds; Standard Bank London Limited, London; UBS AG, Zurich; UBS AG, Geneva; Union Bancaire Privee, Geneva; Union Bancaire Privee, London; London Branch; Verwaltungs Und Private Bank A. G., Vaduz; and ANZ, New York; ANZ, Frankfurt. Source: Tell Magazine, October 7, 2002.

On February 2009, a French court had Omar Bongo's 9 bank accounts containing several millions of Euros frozen. In confirming the court's decision lawyer Jean-Philippe Le Bail said, "This concerns Crédit Lyonnais, in which the president of Gabon has two current accounts, two savings accounts and a share account, and BNP, in which he has two checking accounts, a savings account and a share account".

These are the banks whose shady dealings with the political and business elite in Africa continue to impoverish African countries but which for profits sake the media refuse to tell the world about. 

The banks know these corrupt leaders have stolen the money yet they pretend not to know until there is a scandal before they begin to act as if they are responsible institutions. Most of the above named banks have also been implicated for receiving billions of dollars of looted funds from the lates Mobutu of Zaire; Lansana Conte of Guinea; Eyadema of Togo; and a number of dictators and tyrants such as Omar Bongo of Gabon; Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea; Dos Santos of Angola; Denis Sassou- Nguesso of Congo; Paul Biya of Cameroon; Arap Moi of Kenya; Jerry Rawlings of Ghana; Ibrahim Babadjinda of Nigeria and a number of sitting and ex-presidents in Africa yet western media are silent about where the funds are being kept.

According to a 110 page report prepared by international risk consultancy firm Kroll, Arap Moi and his family have banked £1 billion in 28 countries including Britain but the media in the west will not expose the banks involved.

Apart from the banking sector, the property sector in Europe, America and Australia have also colluded and connived with the political and business elite in Africa to impoverish the people. It has been revealed that several African leaders have bought properties in Europe and America using the monies stolen from their poor countries. It is on record that Mobutu of DRC (Zaire)bought several villas in France, Switzerland, Belgium and many European Countries. Yet again the companies selling the villas have been kept secrete. They will not be exposed by the media. Why would they? According to AFP a French police investigation has established that Bongo and his family own at least 33 luxury properties in France, including a villa located at Rue de la Baume, near the Elysée Palace, in Paris bought in 2007 for 18.8 million Euros. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been spotted greeting Bongo in this villa bought with funds looted from Gabon (Ali Bongo is believed to have funded Sarkozy's campaign in 2007 with looted funds from Gabon). However, other investigations have uncovered that he and his family have at least 59 properties, several bonds and stocks in France alone. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was embarrassed when it was revealed that Bongo's government paid his consultancy firm a staggering 2.64 million Euros for advice on health policy drawn up by Kouchner before he took office. It has recently come to light that Arap Moi of Kenya and his family bought several multimillion pound properties in London, New York, South Africa including 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds. While majority of Kenyans live in slums and in rural areas, with little roofing on their heads and lacking water and other basic necessities of life, Moi's family live in a £4m home in Surrey and £2m flat in Knightsbridge yet the media will not expose the estate companies involved.

Another area often ignored by the western media is the role play by western companies and corporations in encouraging corruption, bribery and thievery in Africa. It is very common for western companies looking for lucrative contracts to pay bribes and kickbacks to induce officials into awarding them contracts. For example on 17th September 2002, a Canadian firm called Acres International was convicted by a High Court in Lesotho for paying $260,000 bribe to secure an $8 billion dam contract. In 2002 Halliburton a company once controlled by Dick Cheney former US Vice President, Harliburton, was accused of establishing $180m flush fund with the intent of using it to bribe Nigeria officials in order to secure a $10 billion Liquefied Gas Plant contract in Nigeria. Achair Partners a Swiss company and Progresso an Italian company have been accused of bribing Somalia Transition Government officials in order to secure contracts to deposit highly toxic industrial waste in the waters of Somalia. Such corrupt practices by western companies seeking contracts in Africa are one of the reasons why poverty and diseases are rife in the continent.

The catastrophic environmental damage being caused by Oil, mining and timber companies such as Shell, BP, Total, Elf, Texaco, Mittal, Anglo-America Corporation in Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, DR. Congo, South Africa, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal do not make the news in the West. How often do we hear about the huge environmental price Africans are paying to satisfy the west insatiable appetite for energy and technology? Apart from the huge profits being made by these conglomerates which we often hear in the news, do we hear also their complete disregard for environmental rules; the pollution of rivers, lakes, streams, wells, and the environment?

In October 2002, after a three year investigation a UN Panel of Experts implicated Cabot Corporation (Boston), Eagle Wings Resources International, and George Forrest's OM Group (Ohio) for arming rebel groups and collaborating with them to traffic from DR. Congo gold, diamond, timber and most importantly coltan (columbo-tantalite)-a precious ore essential to Sony playstations, laptop computers, and cell phones. Coltan is often spirited out of DRC to U.S., Swiss, Belgian, and German clients by Uganda and Rwanda army officers, rebel groups and through a network of criminal syndicates. In all 85 companies were implicated by the report. Except the wars and the stranded faces of hungry refugees, do these illegal activities by the corporations make the news in the Western media? Definitely not. Even when local journalists and writers document these for broadcast in the western media they refuse because it does not serve their interest in the wider scheme of things. These are the hypocrisy and the double standard of the western media. They want the world to know how poor Africans are but fail to tell the world that Africans are poor because Western banking institutions, property development companies, defence companies and defence contractors, oil, mining and technology corporations are major stakeholders in promoting Africa's poverty and underdevelopment.

Corruption and bribery in Africa and indeed the developing world could be reduce tremendously if the media for once put aside the pick and choose journalism and attach the same importance to show the degree of involvement by western capitalist institutions in Europe, America and Japan and their role in keeping Africans poor.

By Lord Aikins Adusei