They Are Rich Because We Are Poor
- Category: Peering Eye
- Date 09-07-2006
- 446 views
I am proud to be an African. Reason? Whenever I turn on my bed indolently, someone in Europe, especially Tony Blair sits pensively all night, worried that I might pack and head to the graveyard if he does not cure my poverty.
You see? It is upsetting to be rich. It makes you guilty, therefore responsible for your poor neighbour’s misery. Might you be robbing from him so much that he cannot become rich like you? Mind you, every time your pocket is bursting and I am broke; every time your belly is chock-full and mine empty, I am in danger of starving to death – but if I die, you risk being penalised.
In fact, the Bible tells a story of a wealthy man who ended up in hell for his lack concern about his wretched neighbour, named Lazarus (Luke 16: 19 – 31). The rich man never oppressed Lazarus. It is not even clear if he ever saw Lazarus, because this poor being always stopped at the rich man’s gate, lying there for dogs to lick his sores, which covered his whole body. Nonetheless, the wealthy man later died and was dispatched to hell, for the simple reason that someone somewhere was poor and hungry.
Commenting on this episode, St. Ambrose – a bishop of the early church – is quoted as having said, “When you give something to the poor, you are not giving him what is yours, but are just giving back what is his, since the goods of this earth belong to all, not just to the rich.”
Could this be the driving force for the G8 nations resolve to grant poor Africa hefty amounts of cash to cure the abjectness of the continent? The eight economic giants of the world – Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US - during a summit at Gleneagles pledged last year to lift aid to Africa by $25bn to $50bn by 2010. We had not requested for it.
Reiterating their commitment to the global fight against poverty in Africa, the G8 also agreed to reduce or altogether forgive the billions of dollars of debt owed to them by many African countries. Even before Gleneagles, the G8 countries had agreed to increase debt write-offs for poor countries i.e. African countries since poverty has become a trade name for Africa.
Now, the G8 has assigned an Irish pop star Mr. Bob Geldof to work hand-in-hand with the Microsoft founder Bill Gates and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to monitor the progress of their pledges (or adherence) on this unsolicited assistance. The G8 have always monitored how we use the monies they donate to Africa, but now have found it necessary to monitor themselves on how they could give us even more.
That is the price of sharing habitat with a poor person – whereas he might not really understand his own predicament, the wealthy neighbour must necessarily be worried about the squalor the innocent soul may have resigned to without a whinge. One can therefore realise why the richest nations on earth have undertaken to weep louder than the bereaved – yes, majority Tanzanians will tell you that with Kikwete in power, they have arrived.
It does not matter whether the G8 is writing off debts or multiplying aid to the country; poverty is addictive, so the sufferer worries less about their condition than the onlooker. It is like watching a patient in comma.
Peering Eye only gets unexcited about the G8’s unsolicited concern for Africa, drawing on our historical experience. Countries descended upon us with religious zeal to “civilise” the peoples but before long, Africans had become part of the stock for trade (slaves), bundled in chains, loaded on ships and dispatched overseas; while the lucky ones merely served as trucks to transport trade merchandise (e.g. ivory) to the coast.
Let genuine anxiety oblige the G8; let Africa receive the gifts with open eyes!
By Venansio Ahabwe
Source: Peering Eye, Sunday Citizen