Why Do Foreign Countries Continuously Scramble for Africa Despite Independence?   

Foreign countries have continued their struggle for power over Africa despite the continent’s so-called independence and sovereignty. China, Russia, several Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey, have used private entities, state-run companies, predatory loans, and diplomacy to consolidate economic and political power across Africa.

We’ve seen how foreign powers are gradually taking of economies across Africa. For example, the take-over of an international airport in Uganda, the interest rates on loan apps are reaching 876% annually in Kenya, while bank annual rates rarely exceed 20%. And the endless mining of cobalt in Congo while the country consistently wallows in poverty.

Africa has had to bear the brunt for foreign excesses and the increasing trend of disrespect. 

Recently, the UK put a series of Africa countries on its redlist, which are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, has sparked a lot of unrest from the masses, especially with Omicron COVID-19 variant, which was first discovered in the Netherlands. 

Looking at this situation, Africa should hold the power to restrict travel to prevent the spread and infection from foreign countries such as the Netherlands and UK. Let’s not forget that South Africa was painted as the first place where Omicron broke. Later it was revealed that it actually broke in the Netherlands. Regardless, of the discovery, South Africa was added to their UK redlist, and other foreign countries followed suit.

This is proof of the cold discrimination of African countries by foreign powers, despite the fact that most raw materials are gotten from the continent. Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, was added to the list today, without prior warning. Such measures cannot be taken upon developed countries like United States, France or Russia without their knowledge.

However, not being an international economic powerhouse could be the reason why bigger foreign countries impose bans on certain African countries without taking the necessary steps.

African’s reliance on developed countries may be the primary reason why these foreign powers have so much leverage. Take, for instance, postage stamps are imported into Nigeria. The United Arab Emirates accounts for 96% of these postage stamps, with a total value of almost $700 million.

Africa needs to stop being reliant on foreign countries to generate revenue for its economy. The continent needs to develop itself, build more institutions capable of developing its own goods, commodities, and vaccines to be able to gain the right standing among developed countries, which rightly deserves.  

READ MORE: Is Uganda’s Airport Take-over by China a Cause for Worry?