African Dictators - Charity, Foreign Aid, And Nothing Down, The Greatest Scam Of The Century

Justin Blair had worked for Africa Development Associates, a non-profit agency funded by the US government to assist African countries on their path to economic development.  As such he was a frequent visitor to many sub-Saharan nations which after independence charted their way to full membership in the commonwealth of nations but which fell short.  Colonialism, went the current meme, was an insidious, destructive, and demeaning movement with lasting effects, so it was no surprise that African nations on every point on the compass were finding emergence into the competitive, modern world difficult. 

On that assumption, liberal Western governments decided to give them a helping hand, and millions of dollars in foreign aid and the expertise that accompanied it were handed out on trust.  Surveillance, financial vigilance, and private sector accountability would be unnecessary given the good will, spirit, and intelligence of the continent's new rulers. 

This generosity was a boon to the big men who took power after independence. No fools and anxious to repay those who helped them accede to power and to play the credulous, black-loving European nations for fools these men quickly consolidated power and authority, and ruled their fiefdoms with an iron hand. 

 

They were as canny as any modern European dictator.  In fact many African regimes with their secret police, amply and generously financed military, and brutal, intimidated, unrestrained power were as successful as Stalin.  Their gulags were as cruel and penitential, their bullying, threats, and insidious influence as universal and effective as Papa Doc Duvalier in Haiti. 

These big men had no interest in civil governance, nor any interest in any constituency except those willing to support them.  They encouraged international private contractors to mine their natural resources and took a healthy bite from each negotiated agreement.  Everyone was happy, for the oil, gas, and mineral companies made millions from African underground wealth, the big men were delighted, for their Swiss and offshore bank accounts grew, and Western governments, turning a blind eye to corruption, praised them for their important developmental advances. 

And so it was that Justin Blair was sent as special State Department, Agency for International Development envoy to a resource-rich central African country.  Wined and dined and put up at the new five-star hotel built on the banks of the river, its top floors overlooking the canopy of a thousand miles of forest, Justin was always eager to travel.  He knew that his job was not to reform the N'gomo government, but to keep the President and his associates happy and supportive of America. 

During his watch millions of unaccountable dollars were 'invested' in the country, and at each non-performing audit, loans and grants were renewed and doubled.  'We have learned from our mistakes' was the popular meme in official Washington, as Congress, anxious to keep a foothold in Africa and a bulwark against Russian and Chinese influence, and to show their African American constituents that they meant business, kept the sluice gates open. 

The World Bank's Annual Development Report was a classic of self-interest.  The Bank, sitting on trillions of dollars of reserves, was in the business of lending them, and few if any country's loans were ever cancelled.  The report was high-chicanery and obfuscation, charts, numbers, equations, and quotations all pointing to 'a better job next time'.  It was a joke. 

Everyone was in on the scam.  The Scandinavians, seeing socialist potential in the person of Tanzania's Julius Nyerere, gave him untold financial resources.  France and the UK, hoping to retain at least some presence in their old colonies were equally generous; and the big men raked it all in, siphoned it off to Aruba and Barbados, and lived like kings.

The Minister of Finance of a West African country when challenged by a US contractor for total non-performance and for the disappearance of $11.5 million in grant monies, adjusted his burnous, took a sip of tea, and stood to his full six-foot height, and replied.  'With all due respect' he began and went on to give a post-independence history lesson.  'I am in high office because of the undying support of my family, my tribe, my village, and last but not least, my government; and I will repay them in that order'. 

The political algorithm was different in Africa, Justin Blair knew.  It wasn't so much venal political corruption as it was in the West but a moral corruption - the repayment of sacred debts. The Big Men of Africa - all of them - operated under a different code of principles if not honor.  

The United States, still beholden to political exceptionalists who insisted on accountability and the proper implementation of reformist conditionalities, kept up the hypocritical drumbeat.  The State Department kept banging on about doing the right thing, but turned a blind eye when the Big Men did nothing of the sort. 

They caviled, bitched, and moaned about the Chinese who went to Africa with no agenda except national self interest.  They told Angolan dictators that they would rebuild the country's entire transport infrastructure for a guaranteed, permanent, below market price of oil.  Simple. No judicial reforms, no demands for free and fair elections, just a mutually favorable deal. 

Justin Blair was a favorite of Joshua N'gomo and his colleagues in neighboring nations all sitting on billions of underground wealth and welcoming to the invitations and support of the West.  Justin was complaisant, dutiful to his terms of reference provided by the State Department but also accepting of N'gomo's.  Justin would recite chapter and verse of America's conditionalities - reform of the judiciary, free and fair elections - and sit quietly while N'gomo nodded and looked elsewhere. 

Under the penumbra of 'moral corruption', there was no chance in hell that the United States would make any headway against the Chinese in Africa; and yet its diplomats and development specialists kept banging their heads against a wall.  'We must do right by black people' they and their Congressional supporters insisted. 

It all came to an end in President Donald Trump's second term when he abolished USAID and put an end to the scam of complicity that had persisted for so long.  Other foreign aid agencies like the development banks were still in business, and Justin had no difficulty securing consultancies.  When Justin returned to Africa under new auspices but with the same tacit understanding, he was enthusiastically welcomed by President N'gomo, put up at the five-star Independence Hotel and introduced to Fatima Diallo, a Fulani princess, who would be his companion for the duration of his visit. 

International development was still alive and well, thank God, reflected Justin.  And as long as there is credulousness, a persistent debt to the black man, and an exceptionalism that no Western nation has been able to expunge, there always will be.