Editorial
Africa and the West – Talking Past Each Other
Talking past each other, we gathered, was at the heart of what is happening with Uganda and the rest of the world. It was in Brussels that we learned that the World Bank was going to reject Uganda’s request for a US$90 million dollar loan for the country’s health sector. On the surface, it seems like a cruel thing for a major development institution to reject a country’s need for developmental funds. However, the point to all this is that if a country is going to discriminate against a section of its population – however small – they do not deserve the World Bank’s money.
But on the other hand, our investigation found out that had Uganda provided a comprehensive response as to why they had chosen to implement the anti-homosexuality law, it would have kick-started a conversation that could have led to a position more palatable to the World Bank.
Simply, much of the West did not know what Uganda was thinking – and Uganda appears not to appreciate that the West would like them to recognize the fact that the world is a lot more interconnected for anyone not to help everyone else have a proper exegesis of their actions – however popular the anti-homosexuality law is with the Ugandans themselves.
When we left off, both the diplomat and ourselves agreed that the ‘talking past each other’ was essentially on both the West and on the Africans as well. And the diplomat conceded that the Africans have also been a little “bone headed” when it comes to dealing with the West. How can we expect, he opined, the West to keep giving us their taxpayers’ money and not account for it by talking or engaging them in the way they know how. We should have proper communication strategies and should start the process of taking advantage of this thing called social media.
At this juncture, the dinner hall had begun to thin out. The wine was still flowing and the hostesses were starting usher people back to their hotels. The part of Brussels that hosts the European Union is beautiful both in the day and night – setting the stage for a pleasant and warm post-summit social event that evening.
What was especially surprising is that at the after party we found ourselves at, the Africans kept to ourselves and the whites also kept to themselves. The few fellows that mingled received hostile looks from the other Africans. The Habari Network discussed this issue with the diplomat. All the discussants agreed that we are in trouble, if we cannot even connect at the social level.
Editorial Board | The Habari Network
