Clinton visits Congo on Africa tour
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer Matthew Lee, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 21 mins ago
KINSHASA, Congo – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton promoted democracy in the war-devastated country of Congo on Monday and drew attention to an epidemic of sexual assaults in its violence-torn east.
While in the Congolese capital, Clinton will visit a hospital founded by former NBA star Dikembe Mutumbo, a native of Congo, and will hold a town hall meeting.
On Tuesday, she plans to go to Goma where she will meet victims of horrific rapes and other sexual crimes committed by the military and rebel groups, many of which are fighting over the region's vast mineral wealth.
Clinton said in Kenya last week that she insisted on visiting Goma despite her staff's security concerns "to speak out against the unspeakable violence against women and girls in eastern Congo. It is the worst example of man's inhumanity to women and women are being used in conflicts."
On Monday, she told reporters traveling with her that she also wants to look at ways "to prevent the mining from basically funding a lot of these militias that are keeping the fighting going with all the attendant human rights abuses."
The United Nations has recorded at least 200,000 cases of sexual violence in eastern Congo since conflict erupted in 1996, at its height drawing in a half dozen of the country's neighbors, each greedy for a share of the region's rich mineral resources.
A 2003 peace deal reduced the fighting but both the army and rebel groups continue to attack villages and kill civilians.
More than 5 million have been killed and hundreds of thousands left homeless over the past decade, with brutalities commonplace in rural communities, including gang rapes, that have led to unwanted pregnancies, serious injuries and death to tens of thousands of women and girls.
Earlier this month a leading human rights group demanded that Congo crack down on rampant sexual violence perpetrated by military generals and other top officers.
Citing U.N. data that show 7,703 cases of sexual violence by the army reported last year, Human Rights Watch said the Congolese authorities have failed to prevent the attacks, most of which were on adolescent girls.
The group called on the U.N. Security Council to take "tough measures," including travel bans, and other sanctions against individuals or governments that commit or condone sexual violence in Congo and elsewhere.
On Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for global action to stop government forces and armed groups from using sexual violence "like a grenade or a gun" to pursue their goals, including in Congo, Chad, Sudan, Burundi, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Clinton's Congo stop is the latest in an 11-day journey through Africa to promote development and good governance and underscore the Obama administration's commitment to the world's poorest continent.
She arrived in Congo from Angola, South Africa and Kenya. She will also visit Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Congo Should Be Africa's Brazil
Congo-Kinshasa: We Should Be Africa's Brazil
Ali M. Malau14 May 2009
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It's true that Congo is a disappointment, says Ali M. Malau, responding to There is No Congo, an article which advocates carving up the country described as 'a collection of peoples, groups, interests, and pillagers who coexist at best'.
But that's no reason to write off its potential to succeed as a nation-state of a country that should rival rising powers like South Africa and Brazil with its wealth of natural and human resources. Malau argues that Congo's failure is the result of a Western campaign to weaken it in order to 'perpetuate the systematic plunder of Congo's resources' by foreign interests. Since 1885, says Malau, the affairs of the Congo have never truly been left to the Congolese people. With a great deal of work and investment from its people, Malau believes Congo could still become a 'powerful engine for the development, and the industrialisation of the entire continent'.
Foreign Policy magazine recently published a rather disturbing article, There is No Congo, by Jeffrey Herbst of Miami University of Ohio, and Greg Mills who directs the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation. The article makes a case against Congo as a unified entity. As a Congolese citizen, I could not disagree more with their arguments, and I believe they warrant an appropriate rebuttal.
Their article is a perfect illustration of the flawed approach with which much of the so-called international community, and some scholars on Africa, have analysed the situation in the Congo since its nominal independence in 1960, and frankly, part of the reason why they never get it right. It is often not due to inaccurate facts, or lack of knowledge on the region, but more due to inadequate prisms moulded in the inside-think of Western-world-centric academia.
In my view, and to illustrate some of the points I am rebutting, the article boils down to the following citations:
' ... And indeed, for centuries, this is precisely what Congo's colonial occupiers, its neighbours, and even some of its people have done: Eaten away at Congo's vast mineral wealth with little concern for the coherency of the country left behind. Congo has none of the things that make a nation-state: Interconnectedness, a government that is able to exert authority consistently in territory beyond the capital, a shared culture that promotes national unity, or a common language. Instead, Congo has become a collection of peoples, groups, interests, and pillagers who coexist at best.
'The very concept of a Congolese state has outlived its usefulness. For an international community that has far too long made wishful thinking the enemy of pragmatism, acting on reality rather than diplomatic theory would be a good start.'
There is one general sense in this article that is right: The Congo has been a disappointment. With the vast swathes of fauna, flora, mineral, agricultural, hydroelectric, and human resources it inherited at its independence, one would expect the Congo today to rival, if not exceed, such rising powers as South Africa, Brazil, India, China, Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Instead, as the article justly points out, the level of deliquescence in Congo today is almost unprecedented; not acknowledging that reality would be intellectually dubious.
Nevertheless, what is equally dubious, is the misdiagnosis of the root causes of the current situation. The authors of this article repeatedly, and I believe questionably, confuse causes and consequences, to support and justify a desire, long-held in certain circles, for the balkanisation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The authors point out the weakness of the Congolese central state in governing the vast country, without fully and honestly addressing the international geo-strategic reasons why that reality came to be. The authors point out the various secessions and minor uprisings during the past 40+ years to justify their diagnosis of the Congo. Yet they fail to shine a light on the multiple foreign state and corporate backers that participated in those early attempts at derailing the Congo. The authors claim that 'the Congolese government's inability to control its territory has resulted in one of the world's longest and most violent wars', without actually addressing the reasons why the government was - and still is - not able to control its territory in the first place.
My contention is quite simple. The current conflict(s) in the Congo, the deliquescence of the state, the lack of infrastructures and 'interconnectedness', are not merely unforeseen, pathological consequences of bad colonial and/or cold war policy gone awry. The current situation is a direct, calculated, and progressively manufactured result of a long-standing operation by Western nations to maintain a weak state in this vast mineral rich swath of land in the heart of Africa and perpetuate the systematic plunder of Congo's resources by various foreign interests, and their proxies in the local elite.
Seems far-fetched? Let us consider that, until proven otherwise, the Congo is a sovereign country, recognised as such by international law, the United Nations, and, in theory, every country on the planet. Yet despite that, over the past five decades, these very countries, (including supposed champions of the rule of law like the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France and South Africa), have allowed their mining companies (like Banro, Freeport-McMoran, Anglo American, DeBeers, and others) to enter into odious contracts with corrupt elements of the leadership in Kinshasa, and worse, with murderous warlords, and near-genocidal militias, unhindered, and unpunished. Furthermore, several of these very countries and their corporations have provided the military, logistical and ideological support to the secessionist regimes in the 60s and 70s, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, their proxy militias AND/OR their rival militias, thus destabilising and creating a de facto partition of the country, and further guaranteeing maximised profits through cheap/slave/child labour under warlords. That is not happenstance, but cold, calculated, predatory business planning. In fact, one only has to examine the history of the ties between the Oppenheimer mining magnate family of South Africa - which founded, and finances, the Brenthurst foundation that one of the authors of There is No Congo, Greg Mills, leads - and the various regimes and rebellions we have seen in the Congo, to understand how integral these foreign corporate and state interests are to the conduct of ANY business in the Congo.
I contend that it is not so much that there is no Congo; nor is it that the Congo as a country is not possible. I contend that since 1959, it was deemed too much of a potential threat to several world and regional powers, and to the coffers of their corporate acolytes, to allow the rise of a strong, large, potential Brazil-type power, in the heart of Africa. And we can see why. Let us consider the Congo today. Despite being one of the poorest, most badly-managed countries in the world, by virtue of its position and of its potential, the country is poised - should there be a great deal of change in leadership - to be a major guarantor of the development of a truly functional African continent, and African Union. As Herbst and Mills themselves justly point out, 'the country is the region's vortex'. Former South African President, Thabo Mbeki notes 'There cannot be a new Africa without a new Congo'. President Barack Obama himself rightly notes 'If Africa is to achieve its promise, resolving the problem in the Congo will be critical'.
Over the years, despite all the adversity the Congo faces, and despite the desires they secretly harbour to see the Congo disintegrate to begin annexing its pieces, its neighbours in the region were forced to recognise its central and crucial position for the advent of further economic development for the entire continent. As a result, despite currently being, admittedly, an economic drag on all of them, the countries of Southern, Central, and Eastern Africa have all secured some form of regional economic/political supranational alliance with the Congo, whether through SADC, CEPGL, CEEAC or COMESA (all groups that constitute regional clusters in the building of the larger African Union).
Relevant Links
Central Africa
Congo-Kinshasa
Sustainable Development
Peacekeeping
Conflict
There lies the issue for this country. Left to its own devices, a big, strong, unified Congo would be a powerful engine for the development, and the industrialisation of the entire continent. Herbst and Mills, I believe justly state that 'economically, the various outlying parts of Congo are better integrated with their neighbours than with the rest of the country'. But that is not in Congo's disfavour. Whether in terms of its abundant precious and strategic minerals, the tremendous amount of renewable energy that could be generated by the Inga dam project on the Congo river, the natural gas in Lake Kivu or the geo-thermal potential of the volcanic mountains in the east, the second lung of our planet that is its rainforest, or the extraordinary - and exhaustively demonstrated - resilience of its people, the Congo has everything to be the central pillar around which Africa rises. Should the people of the Congo find a way to build the infrastructure to interconnect its outlying parts, the country would instantly become the key piece in regional development. That prospect has always unsettled many, whose interests might not be as well served should there be a strong government, a functioning army and police, and rule of law.
Ali M. Malau14 May 2009
Email|Print|Comment(1)
Share:
It's true that Congo is a disappointment, says Ali M. Malau, responding to There is No Congo, an article which advocates carving up the country described as 'a collection of peoples, groups, interests, and pillagers who coexist at best'.
But that's no reason to write off its potential to succeed as a nation-state of a country that should rival rising powers like South Africa and Brazil with its wealth of natural and human resources. Malau argues that Congo's failure is the result of a Western campaign to weaken it in order to 'perpetuate the systematic plunder of Congo's resources' by foreign interests. Since 1885, says Malau, the affairs of the Congo have never truly been left to the Congolese people. With a great deal of work and investment from its people, Malau believes Congo could still become a 'powerful engine for the development, and the industrialisation of the entire continent'.
Foreign Policy magazine recently published a rather disturbing article, There is No Congo, by Jeffrey Herbst of Miami University of Ohio, and Greg Mills who directs the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation. The article makes a case against Congo as a unified entity. As a Congolese citizen, I could not disagree more with their arguments, and I believe they warrant an appropriate rebuttal.
Their article is a perfect illustration of the flawed approach with which much of the so-called international community, and some scholars on Africa, have analysed the situation in the Congo since its nominal independence in 1960, and frankly, part of the reason why they never get it right. It is often not due to inaccurate facts, or lack of knowledge on the region, but more due to inadequate prisms moulded in the inside-think of Western-world-centric academia.
In my view, and to illustrate some of the points I am rebutting, the article boils down to the following citations:
' ... And indeed, for centuries, this is precisely what Congo's colonial occupiers, its neighbours, and even some of its people have done: Eaten away at Congo's vast mineral wealth with little concern for the coherency of the country left behind. Congo has none of the things that make a nation-state: Interconnectedness, a government that is able to exert authority consistently in territory beyond the capital, a shared culture that promotes national unity, or a common language. Instead, Congo has become a collection of peoples, groups, interests, and pillagers who coexist at best.
'The very concept of a Congolese state has outlived its usefulness. For an international community that has far too long made wishful thinking the enemy of pragmatism, acting on reality rather than diplomatic theory would be a good start.'
There is one general sense in this article that is right: The Congo has been a disappointment. With the vast swathes of fauna, flora, mineral, agricultural, hydroelectric, and human resources it inherited at its independence, one would expect the Congo today to rival, if not exceed, such rising powers as South Africa, Brazil, India, China, Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Instead, as the article justly points out, the level of deliquescence in Congo today is almost unprecedented; not acknowledging that reality would be intellectually dubious.
Nevertheless, what is equally dubious, is the misdiagnosis of the root causes of the current situation. The authors of this article repeatedly, and I believe questionably, confuse causes and consequences, to support and justify a desire, long-held in certain circles, for the balkanisation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The authors point out the weakness of the Congolese central state in governing the vast country, without fully and honestly addressing the international geo-strategic reasons why that reality came to be. The authors point out the various secessions and minor uprisings during the past 40+ years to justify their diagnosis of the Congo. Yet they fail to shine a light on the multiple foreign state and corporate backers that participated in those early attempts at derailing the Congo. The authors claim that 'the Congolese government's inability to control its territory has resulted in one of the world's longest and most violent wars', without actually addressing the reasons why the government was - and still is - not able to control its territory in the first place.
My contention is quite simple. The current conflict(s) in the Congo, the deliquescence of the state, the lack of infrastructures and 'interconnectedness', are not merely unforeseen, pathological consequences of bad colonial and/or cold war policy gone awry. The current situation is a direct, calculated, and progressively manufactured result of a long-standing operation by Western nations to maintain a weak state in this vast mineral rich swath of land in the heart of Africa and perpetuate the systematic plunder of Congo's resources by various foreign interests, and their proxies in the local elite.
Seems far-fetched? Let us consider that, until proven otherwise, the Congo is a sovereign country, recognised as such by international law, the United Nations, and, in theory, every country on the planet. Yet despite that, over the past five decades, these very countries, (including supposed champions of the rule of law like the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France and South Africa), have allowed their mining companies (like Banro, Freeport-McMoran, Anglo American, DeBeers, and others) to enter into odious contracts with corrupt elements of the leadership in Kinshasa, and worse, with murderous warlords, and near-genocidal militias, unhindered, and unpunished. Furthermore, several of these very countries and their corporations have provided the military, logistical and ideological support to the secessionist regimes in the 60s and 70s, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, their proxy militias AND/OR their rival militias, thus destabilising and creating a de facto partition of the country, and further guaranteeing maximised profits through cheap/slave/child labour under warlords. That is not happenstance, but cold, calculated, predatory business planning. In fact, one only has to examine the history of the ties between the Oppenheimer mining magnate family of South Africa - which founded, and finances, the Brenthurst foundation that one of the authors of There is No Congo, Greg Mills, leads - and the various regimes and rebellions we have seen in the Congo, to understand how integral these foreign corporate and state interests are to the conduct of ANY business in the Congo.
I contend that it is not so much that there is no Congo; nor is it that the Congo as a country is not possible. I contend that since 1959, it was deemed too much of a potential threat to several world and regional powers, and to the coffers of their corporate acolytes, to allow the rise of a strong, large, potential Brazil-type power, in the heart of Africa. And we can see why. Let us consider the Congo today. Despite being one of the poorest, most badly-managed countries in the world, by virtue of its position and of its potential, the country is poised - should there be a great deal of change in leadership - to be a major guarantor of the development of a truly functional African continent, and African Union. As Herbst and Mills themselves justly point out, 'the country is the region's vortex'. Former South African President, Thabo Mbeki notes 'There cannot be a new Africa without a new Congo'. President Barack Obama himself rightly notes 'If Africa is to achieve its promise, resolving the problem in the Congo will be critical'.
Over the years, despite all the adversity the Congo faces, and despite the desires they secretly harbour to see the Congo disintegrate to begin annexing its pieces, its neighbours in the region were forced to recognise its central and crucial position for the advent of further economic development for the entire continent. As a result, despite currently being, admittedly, an economic drag on all of them, the countries of Southern, Central, and Eastern Africa have all secured some form of regional economic/political supranational alliance with the Congo, whether through SADC, CEPGL, CEEAC or COMESA (all groups that constitute regional clusters in the building of the larger African Union).
Relevant Links
Central Africa
Congo-Kinshasa
Sustainable Development
Peacekeeping
Conflict
There lies the issue for this country. Left to its own devices, a big, strong, unified Congo would be a powerful engine for the development, and the industrialisation of the entire continent. Herbst and Mills, I believe justly state that 'economically, the various outlying parts of Congo are better integrated with their neighbours than with the rest of the country'. But that is not in Congo's disfavour. Whether in terms of its abundant precious and strategic minerals, the tremendous amount of renewable energy that could be generated by the Inga dam project on the Congo river, the natural gas in Lake Kivu or the geo-thermal potential of the volcanic mountains in the east, the second lung of our planet that is its rainforest, or the extraordinary - and exhaustively demonstrated - resilience of its people, the Congo has everything to be the central pillar around which Africa rises. Should the people of the Congo find a way to build the infrastructure to interconnect its outlying parts, the country would instantly become the key piece in regional development. That prospect has always unsettled many, whose interests might not be as well served should there be a strong government, a functioning army and police, and rule of law.
Monday, July 20, 2009
African Immigrants In The Western World: Whose Brain Drain And Whose Brain Gain?
Written by N. Amma Twum-Baah and Funmi A. Adeyele
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
I walked into the local library a couple of months ago and met a fellow Ghanaian working behind the counter. We got acquainted to the point where he felt comfortable enough to let me in on his personal plight as an African immigrant living in the US.
Kwame holds a master’s degree in Agriculture from the University of Ghana, and moved to the United States six years ago on a visitor’s visa. He overstayed his visit, married an American woman, had two children with her, and got divorced all in the last six years. He is still an undocumented immigrant because his now ex-wife refused to show up for their immigration interviews. She continually holds the children (and his illegal status) as bait to get him to do what she wants. As he openly lamented about his situation to a complete stranger – turned confidant - he at one point looked to have reached his breaking point.
Before Kwame arrived in the United States, he had what most consider, by Ghanaian standards, to be a good job with one of the government ministries in Accra. Though he admits his salary left much to be desired, Kwame says he had his dignity and felt fulfilled. When his longtime friend extended an invitation to visit the United States, Kwame thought his prayers had finally been answered. He got a job stocking the counters of a local grocery store, while he stayed with his friend in Texas. The money was good (a whole lot better than what he earned back home in Ghana) and the temptation to stay illegally grew stronger with each weekly paycheck. When he met his ex-wife he saw that as another answered prayer. His woes, however, began when his now ex-wife started holding his legal status in the United States over his head. He left everything to her in the divorce, without a fight; the house in her name, but that he was making mortgage payments on, the “good” car, and their two adorable children. He is hoping to save up enough money to go back home and live in dignity. The good news, he admits, is that in the six years he has lived in the US, he has managed to build a beautiful house back in Ghana and even managed to start a trading business currently being managed by his younger brother; so he has something to look forward to when he returns.
Okey Aramide, a medical doctor by profession graduated top of his class from the University Of Lagos College Of Medicine in Nigeria. Before moving to the US, he worked as one of the top level administrators at Nigeria’s premier hospital, and was well respected by his peers and all who came in contact with him. Okey says the respect was great, and the job was fulfilling, but the pay did not match the status he felt he had earned. He currently works as a parking attendant at one of the country’s rental car companies, while he prepares to write the US medical board exam that would allow him to practice medicine in the United States. While Okey seems outwardly unfazed about his circumstances, he did admit that this is not the life he imagined when he moved to the United States a little over a year ago. He does not intend to stay in the US for long and says he has plans to go back to Nigeria and start a private clinic in Abuja. In the meantime, he keeps a low profile for fear that someone might recognize him and cause him to be embarrassed for what he has become.
When doctors, nurses, lawyers, professors, engineers and other highly-educated, highly-qualified professionals leave the continent of Africa, there is a dirge and an outpour of grief over what is termed “brain drain” for Africa and “brain gain” for the countries they migrate to. But, with stories like Kwame’s and Okey’s, all educated professionals with advanced degrees working menial jobs, Afrikan Goddess had to ask: whose brain drain/brain gain is it, really? Why are so many Africans choosing to leave noble jobs back home to work menial jobs abroad?
Brain Drain
It definitely is a brain drain for Africa, according to Dr. Olusegun Phillips, PhD, a retired lecturer of Economics and now a consultant for an economic advisory firm in Abuja. “Brain drain in Africa has financial, institutional, and societal ramifications. African countries find themselves investing in higher education, and getting nothing in return since too many graduates leave or fail to return home at the end of their studies abroad. In the end what you have is a government that is pumping resources into individuals who do not return the favor by serving the country that sent them abroad in the first place.”
According to the International Development Research Centre, in Ottawa, Canada, African institutions are increasingly dependent on foreign expertise largely due to the dwindling professional sector. In order to fill the human resource gap created by brain drain, Africa employs up to 150,000 expatriate professionals at a cost of $4 billion a year. The centre further states that the “departure of health professionals has eroded the ability of medical and social services in several sub-Saharan countries to deliver even basic health and social needs. Thirty-eight of the 47 sub-Saharan African countries fall short of the minimum World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 20 physicians per 100,000 people.” Dr. Phillips points out that the money used to bring in these foreign workers is money that could have been used to pay the many departing African professionals. He thinks Africa’s main problem is the fact that we have bought into the stereotype that foreign educated workers are better qualified than those educated at home. This, he says, is why an African educated abroad is highly favored over someone educated at home. Once we get over this illusion, we will pay our professionals what they are worth, keep the profits and use the money to develop ourselves and our country. The fact that we are even spending that much money to bring in foreigners means we have the money, but are unwilling to pay them what they are worth.
Brain Gain
Not so much for brain gain, however. Most of the professionals who migrate abroad most often end up in fields they are less qualified for or that have nothing to do with their areas of expertise, and most others end up working menial jobs, mostly for lack of legal documentation. Mr. Sam Bernard operates a nursing certification program in Connecticut and has observed that of the 50 people enrolled in his courses for the spring 2009 term, almost half are trained African professionals trying their hands at the nursing field in hopes of getting their foot in the door. “There are three certified accountants, an engineer and a number of other highly trained health professionals starting at the bottom of the ladder either because their certificates and degrees are not recognized by the states in which they wish to practice or because of lack of jobs in their trained fields.”
So why are so many Africans choosing to leave respectable jobs back home to work menial jobs abroad? The answer always seems simple: for the money. But, is it really that simple? If opportunities were greater, and the money fit for the job performed, would Africans still migrate to the US and other Western countries in search of greener pastures? Many Africans we asked answered “yes” leaving us to believe it isn’t all about money and greater opportunities.
For African men, it’s mostly about working and earning a living free from dictatorship, judgment and fear of expressing an opinion; being recognized for their contributions to national development, having a say in the way their countries are governed, and free from fear of unstable lives brought about by civil wars.
For African women, it is working without limits, earning what their labor is worth, and living free from cultural oppression and views that delegate them to subservient roles in society; having a say in their government and the matters that affect them the most. It is seeing that their children have equal opportunities as the people at the top, and in government, and knowing that their children’s future is secure.
In the meantime, Africans continue to leave in massive numbers every year, thanks to the US diversity lottery and, now, the European Union with the blue card program, in hopes of finding freedom from unappreciative governments; to a land where you are guaranteed an honest wage for honest labor even if it means working at the local grocery store with a PhD.
(Dr. Olusegun Phillips contributed his expert opinions to this article via email. He is a retired professor of economics at the University of Lagos and now owns his own economic consulting and advisory firm. He lives in Abuja with his wife)
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/12758/55
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
I walked into the local library a couple of months ago and met a fellow Ghanaian working behind the counter. We got acquainted to the point where he felt comfortable enough to let me in on his personal plight as an African immigrant living in the US.
Kwame holds a master’s degree in Agriculture from the University of Ghana, and moved to the United States six years ago on a visitor’s visa. He overstayed his visit, married an American woman, had two children with her, and got divorced all in the last six years. He is still an undocumented immigrant because his now ex-wife refused to show up for their immigration interviews. She continually holds the children (and his illegal status) as bait to get him to do what she wants. As he openly lamented about his situation to a complete stranger – turned confidant - he at one point looked to have reached his breaking point.
Before Kwame arrived in the United States, he had what most consider, by Ghanaian standards, to be a good job with one of the government ministries in Accra. Though he admits his salary left much to be desired, Kwame says he had his dignity and felt fulfilled. When his longtime friend extended an invitation to visit the United States, Kwame thought his prayers had finally been answered. He got a job stocking the counters of a local grocery store, while he stayed with his friend in Texas. The money was good (a whole lot better than what he earned back home in Ghana) and the temptation to stay illegally grew stronger with each weekly paycheck. When he met his ex-wife he saw that as another answered prayer. His woes, however, began when his now ex-wife started holding his legal status in the United States over his head. He left everything to her in the divorce, without a fight; the house in her name, but that he was making mortgage payments on, the “good” car, and their two adorable children. He is hoping to save up enough money to go back home and live in dignity. The good news, he admits, is that in the six years he has lived in the US, he has managed to build a beautiful house back in Ghana and even managed to start a trading business currently being managed by his younger brother; so he has something to look forward to when he returns.
Okey Aramide, a medical doctor by profession graduated top of his class from the University Of Lagos College Of Medicine in Nigeria. Before moving to the US, he worked as one of the top level administrators at Nigeria’s premier hospital, and was well respected by his peers and all who came in contact with him. Okey says the respect was great, and the job was fulfilling, but the pay did not match the status he felt he had earned. He currently works as a parking attendant at one of the country’s rental car companies, while he prepares to write the US medical board exam that would allow him to practice medicine in the United States. While Okey seems outwardly unfazed about his circumstances, he did admit that this is not the life he imagined when he moved to the United States a little over a year ago. He does not intend to stay in the US for long and says he has plans to go back to Nigeria and start a private clinic in Abuja. In the meantime, he keeps a low profile for fear that someone might recognize him and cause him to be embarrassed for what he has become.
When doctors, nurses, lawyers, professors, engineers and other highly-educated, highly-qualified professionals leave the continent of Africa, there is a dirge and an outpour of grief over what is termed “brain drain” for Africa and “brain gain” for the countries they migrate to. But, with stories like Kwame’s and Okey’s, all educated professionals with advanced degrees working menial jobs, Afrikan Goddess had to ask: whose brain drain/brain gain is it, really? Why are so many Africans choosing to leave noble jobs back home to work menial jobs abroad?
Brain Drain
It definitely is a brain drain for Africa, according to Dr. Olusegun Phillips, PhD, a retired lecturer of Economics and now a consultant for an economic advisory firm in Abuja. “Brain drain in Africa has financial, institutional, and societal ramifications. African countries find themselves investing in higher education, and getting nothing in return since too many graduates leave or fail to return home at the end of their studies abroad. In the end what you have is a government that is pumping resources into individuals who do not return the favor by serving the country that sent them abroad in the first place.”
According to the International Development Research Centre, in Ottawa, Canada, African institutions are increasingly dependent on foreign expertise largely due to the dwindling professional sector. In order to fill the human resource gap created by brain drain, Africa employs up to 150,000 expatriate professionals at a cost of $4 billion a year. The centre further states that the “departure of health professionals has eroded the ability of medical and social services in several sub-Saharan countries to deliver even basic health and social needs. Thirty-eight of the 47 sub-Saharan African countries fall short of the minimum World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 20 physicians per 100,000 people.” Dr. Phillips points out that the money used to bring in these foreign workers is money that could have been used to pay the many departing African professionals. He thinks Africa’s main problem is the fact that we have bought into the stereotype that foreign educated workers are better qualified than those educated at home. This, he says, is why an African educated abroad is highly favored over someone educated at home. Once we get over this illusion, we will pay our professionals what they are worth, keep the profits and use the money to develop ourselves and our country. The fact that we are even spending that much money to bring in foreigners means we have the money, but are unwilling to pay them what they are worth.
Brain Gain
Not so much for brain gain, however. Most of the professionals who migrate abroad most often end up in fields they are less qualified for or that have nothing to do with their areas of expertise, and most others end up working menial jobs, mostly for lack of legal documentation. Mr. Sam Bernard operates a nursing certification program in Connecticut and has observed that of the 50 people enrolled in his courses for the spring 2009 term, almost half are trained African professionals trying their hands at the nursing field in hopes of getting their foot in the door. “There are three certified accountants, an engineer and a number of other highly trained health professionals starting at the bottom of the ladder either because their certificates and degrees are not recognized by the states in which they wish to practice or because of lack of jobs in their trained fields.”
So why are so many Africans choosing to leave respectable jobs back home to work menial jobs abroad? The answer always seems simple: for the money. But, is it really that simple? If opportunities were greater, and the money fit for the job performed, would Africans still migrate to the US and other Western countries in search of greener pastures? Many Africans we asked answered “yes” leaving us to believe it isn’t all about money and greater opportunities.
For African men, it’s mostly about working and earning a living free from dictatorship, judgment and fear of expressing an opinion; being recognized for their contributions to national development, having a say in the way their countries are governed, and free from fear of unstable lives brought about by civil wars.
For African women, it is working without limits, earning what their labor is worth, and living free from cultural oppression and views that delegate them to subservient roles in society; having a say in their government and the matters that affect them the most. It is seeing that their children have equal opportunities as the people at the top, and in government, and knowing that their children’s future is secure.
In the meantime, Africans continue to leave in massive numbers every year, thanks to the US diversity lottery and, now, the European Union with the blue card program, in hopes of finding freedom from unappreciative governments; to a land where you are guaranteed an honest wage for honest labor even if it means working at the local grocery store with a PhD.
(Dr. Olusegun Phillips contributed his expert opinions to this article via email. He is a retired professor of economics at the University of Lagos and now owns his own economic consulting and advisory firm. He lives in Abuja with his wife)
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/12758/55
Monday, July 13, 2009
Message From the Chairman
Roster 2009-2010
Advisers
Thierry Tubajikka
Felicia Kadima
Marco N.
Muadi Mukenge
Chairman - Muamba Kabongo
Communications - Tshilumba Kabongo
Media Chair- Isabelle Kalubi
Chief Editor LBYAO Newsletter- Tania Kasongo
Travel Coordinator - Kanku Kabongo
West Rep/LB Photographer/Cameraman - Kalongi Kadima
East Rep- Ilunga Kalala
Felicia Kadima-Fundrasing Chair
LBYAO needs a presence in every section of USA
Southwest (Dallas area, maybe Marco or those on facebook can find us a new friend to rep LB cause in Dallas Area)
South (especially ATL and Miami, we need contacts out here)
Midwest (shall we tap Jolie Kadima?)
Call Schedule
5:00 pm PST (8 pm est)
7/19
8/2
8/16
9/13
9/27
10/11
10/25
11/8
11/29
12/6
12/20
Holiday Break Christmas
1/10
1/24
Winter Break
2/21
3/7
3/21
Spring Break
4/11
4/25
5/16
5/30
6/20
6/30 Congo Day
7/2-7/4 Miami 2010 18th LB Annual Conference
Meeting Agenda And Minutes to be handled by Comm Chair
With Schedule and Agenda Planned Prior to Call Would like to rotate a Call Monitor to take roll of participates and moderate/facilitate during call.
Message from the Chairman
As we start another year, let's not forget why we do this work. This is a labor of love and the work of God. Each one of us knows this is our moral obligation. With any organization there needs to be structure and a foundation. We are accountable to each other, the Leja Bulela board of directors and the almighty. Let us bring out the best in each other to complete the work that was started before us. We RUN DRC.
LBYAO
Muamba
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Congo opens bidding for Inga 3 hydro dam investors
Democratic Republic of Congo has opened bidding for partners ready to help finance the long-delayed $7-billion Inga 3 hydroelectric plant, its energy minister said on Friday.
The government has created a new company to manage the project's construction, which is expected to last eight years and has attracted interest from mining giant BHP-Billiton.
The combined potential of Congo's Inga dams, in the relatively peaceful west of the country, has been estimated as high as 100 000 MW. But current output is around 700 MW and projects to revamp the dams have failed to find investment.
Congo opened the bidding process for companies interested in investing in the 4 320 MW Inga 3 plant after hosting talks on the project in Kinshasa this week, United Nations-backed Radio Okapi reported on Friday.
"Today, BHP-Billiton is interested in this production, because it wants to build an aluminium smelter in Bas-Congo (province). This is the first client we have," Energy Minister Laurent Muzangisa Mutalamu told the radio.
BHP-Billiton, the world's largest diversified miner, could contribute up to $35 million in financing, Radio Okapi reported.
Inga 3 is expected to link up with the southern African power grid to help address growing strains on the region's power supply as well as provide electricity to Congo's mining heartland in the country's southeast.
Congo's government is currently focusing on repairs and upgrades for the faltering Inga 1 and 2 hydro projects. It hopes to increase their capacity to 1 700 MW by 2012.
Congo plans one day to bring on line the 40 000 MW Grand Inga project. However, investors have so far been wary of the risk involved and have baulked at its $80-billion price tag.
source:http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/congo-opens-bidding-for-inga-3-hydro-dam-investors-2009-06-19
The government has created a new company to manage the project's construction, which is expected to last eight years and has attracted interest from mining giant BHP-Billiton.
The combined potential of Congo's Inga dams, in the relatively peaceful west of the country, has been estimated as high as 100 000 MW. But current output is around 700 MW and projects to revamp the dams have failed to find investment.
Congo opened the bidding process for companies interested in investing in the 4 320 MW Inga 3 plant after hosting talks on the project in Kinshasa this week, United Nations-backed Radio Okapi reported on Friday.
"Today, BHP-Billiton is interested in this production, because it wants to build an aluminium smelter in Bas-Congo (province). This is the first client we have," Energy Minister Laurent Muzangisa Mutalamu told the radio.
BHP-Billiton, the world's largest diversified miner, could contribute up to $35 million in financing, Radio Okapi reported.
Inga 3 is expected to link up with the southern African power grid to help address growing strains on the region's power supply as well as provide electricity to Congo's mining heartland in the country's southeast.
Congo's government is currently focusing on repairs and upgrades for the faltering Inga 1 and 2 hydro projects. It hopes to increase their capacity to 1 700 MW by 2012.
Congo plans one day to bring on line the 40 000 MW Grand Inga project. However, investors have so far been wary of the risk involved and have baulked at its $80-billion price tag.
source:http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/congo-opens-bidding-for-inga-3-hydro-dam-investors-2009-06-19
Friday, July 10, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Dallas Banquet Photos
http://www.imagequix.com/photog.php?id=P9LYW9E&ec=lejabulela
Go to the following link to access photos from a truly fabulous night!
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