The African Union (AU) has unveiled its new home valued at US$ 200million that was financed by the government of the Peoples Republic of china.
However, the new AU complex in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has generated more controversy especially on Africa’s Aid dependency. Many argue that the construction that was financed entirely by the People’s Republic of China is a manifestation of the dependency on foreign AID that Africa has become.
“A man should build his own house”, they argue in reference to the fact that what will house the headquarters of the African Union must be solely built from Africa’s sweat and not AID.
To understand the actions of our leaders, one has to enter into their minds and think like them. For it is only by that route that some of the often bizarre actions of African Leaders can be explained or understood.
When the idea to construct new headquarters for the African Union came up, very few were surprised when the then “King of Kings” offered to build it by himself and proposed that it should be re-located to Sirte, Libya,the village of his birth. That preposition from Gaddafi was not welcomed by many of his peers for obvious reasons.
So if Gaddafi was to build this monster of a Headquarter for the African Union in the city of Sirte, his hometown it had to be and thus annually heads of states from Africa would trek to Gaddafi’s hometown to attend the African Union meetings in Gaddafi’s built palace.
But as is expected of Gaddafi, very few ever willed to disagree with him openly. Only President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has ever done so, disagreeing over the rapid formation of a political Africa Union and federation with ostensibly Gaddafi as its first President.
The disagreement didn’t go well as Museveni will later shop for a new jet fit with anti-aircraft missiles in fear for his life.
So with Gaddafi’s suggestion un-pleasant to many, only Alternative was for member states to contribute an agreed amount in millions of dollars to have the headquarters constructed by them.
Problem is, even such an alternative is lanced with two major impasses. One is ability of all the member states to raise their contributions in time and secondly and most important, which African country to host the Headquarters.
Thanks to the twenty nine years living as an African, I can stake my head that most countries will have defaulted on their payments. We are talking of African countries that cannot pay their workers in time even the peanuts they are owed. We are talking of African countries that hardly can build a hospital without AID.
Thus in such an arrangement, “normal” countries like South Africa would bear the brunt and weight of going the project alone. South Africa is reluctant to be drawn into the problems of the African Union especially after the departure of Thambo Mbeki as this often comes with a financial burden.
When Col. Muarmar Gaddafi lived and served as President of Libya, he used to bankroll entire African Union meetings and gatherings, as most members had defaulted on their contributions thus rendering the AU incapable of running the affairs of the African Union administration. That is what it means to be the rich country in a group of poor and poorly managed countries.
And even if the initial monies would have been got by the member states, it is impossible to imagine that some oil rich rulers like Theodore Obiang of Equitorial Guinea would allow to send millions of dollars to construct the tallest building in a foreign African country like Ethiopia other than their own.
To make up for no standing public infrastructure, many of Africa’s leaders attempt to hoodwink the public with white elephant projects and a few sky scrapers as a sign of development. So he takes the credit whoever has a few tall buildings in his city.
So when one enters the mind of rulers like Theodore Obiang of Equitorial Guinea,it is safe to suggest that they would have also insisted on the Headquarters to be re-located to their villages or home towns if at all they were obliged to use their enormous oil revenues to finance the construction.
So it is un-likely that the our very honorable excellencies that make up the human members of the Organization of the African Union would have successfully gathered the funds to construct the AU Headquarters or better still agree as to where to house them.
Instant dis-agreements would have surfaced to even ruin what remains of the African Union. So it is under these un-certain circumstances that the Chinese got wind of the desire by the Africans in the AU to have new premises.
So enter the dragon (China). “We will gift to you the building”. No charges, all free. It was relief to all, and a win -win situation for all member states. For Ethiopia, it meant that the headquarters would remain in Addis Ababa.
For the South Africans, it meant that they won’t bear the brunt of financing the project by themselves. For the rest who wouldn’t oppose openly Gaddafi’s desire to finance and re-locate the headquarters to his village, their prayers had been answered without a fight with Gaddafi.
So now who says that China didn’t save the day? Some time ago, Africa was like an open play-field for the west where all the powerful countries take turns at Africa without any competition. It was either France,Britain or America to screw or make Africa.
The door was always open to them as there was no any other opposing power to challenge them. Russia had long time died. Enter the dragon (China) now. The comfort zone seems to diminish. To get access to Africa’s resources, the west will have to compete with China.
I repeat, for the first time in history, the West will have to compete for a piece of the cake. That will raise the stakes and probably cost of the bribes and will consequently reduce on the lecturing some of us are now fatigued from.
So what does China get from this? The question should be, what does Africa also gain from relations with China. It is a win-win situation, I hope it will be. Not fertilized by stereotypes of Africa that characterized the last century.
In the words of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, “a western economic prescription of the late 20th century was “medicine that turned out to be worse than the disease.”
Adapted from Rwanda Journalists Online Forum
