Africa’s corruption — A case of warped europhilia

BY NDIDI UWECHUE

We need an answer to give African children and young people when they ask us, “Why is there so much stealing going on?” and “Why do our civil servants and politicians keep on looting public resources?” They deserve to be answered not only because they are going to have to suffer the consequences of living with the savagery of such high levels of corruption, but their generation could also be the one that will put up a good fight against it. So our children and young people need to know exactly what they are going to have to deal with.

To know the reason for the stealing, just “follow the money”. This is an expression that means that to expose illicit wealth or unjust enrichment, trail the money. So again then, why is Africa’s public money not being used for the welfare of its citizens, but is stolen by those in power who use their positions to wreak havoc on the people they had sworn to serve? Simple. It is all about Europe – and those places where European culture is dominant ie USA, Canada, Australia, etc.

African leaders (civil servants and politicians) together with their cronies, loot Africa’s public funds to enable them to buy all manner of assets and property IN EUROPE for themselves and their family. For medical and dental treatment for themselves and their family IN EUROPE. For boarding school and university education for their children IN EUROPE. For their babies to be born IN EUROPE. For shopping and eating clean foods IN EUROPE. Enjoying the safety, facilities and comforts OF EUROPE is all that matters. Being in Europe is a STATUS SYMBOL and a BOASTING. [But they want to be buried in Africa (with much fanfare)]. In short, looting of African public funds is all because of a PERVERTED love for Europe and all that Europe has. This contemptible love that leads to STEALING and CORRUPTION in order to have resources to buy up Europe’s goodies is what I call WARPED EUROPHILIA.

For Africans, especially those in leadership, that forceful lusting after European goodies AT THE COST OF THE SUFFERING AND DEATH OF THEIR VERY OWN PEOPLE is not a new thing. There is a history of this behaviour. For several centuries African kings, chiefs and powerful others, aided and abetted the enslavement of their people for personal gain. Africans were exchanged for things like European umbrellas, European mirrors, European furniture, European weapons (to capture more slaves), European rum and other spirits, European glass beads etc. In short, the love of European goodies fuelled the African role in enslaving his own. It was Warped Europhilia then, just as it is still now.

There is nothing wrong in itself in admiring European living and culture, and being a Europhile. However, when the love of all things European causes under-development for country, plus suffering and death for others, in order to acquire Europe’s goodies for self, then that is just perverse and deviant. I leave it for experts in the field of human behaviour, our psychiatrists, psychologists and sociologists to properly assess this Warped Europhilia. However, we can already see in it some aspects of the sociopath and psychopath viz, “not recognising the rights of others and seeing one’s self-serving behaviours as permissible, huge ego, pathological lying, lack of remorse, shame or guilt, callousness, lack of empathy, and a poor sense of right and wrong”. In addition, addictive tendencies can be seen because the craving to acquire more and more European goodies appears ceaseless, eg owning at the same time hundreds of pairs of Italian shoes or French shirts, or scores of German vehicles!

There are ways to tackle this Warped Europhilia. Several anti-corruption and civil society organisations exist and we are responsible to find them out and support them for they are there for our good. For instance in Nigeria, Transparency International, SERAP, and Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) are just a few of many. Being a whistle-blower is also a good thing to be because it means you protect your country from harm and from decay brought on by the corrupt, and you are taking a firm stand against those who are taken up with Warped Europhilia and their mindless criminality.

Furthermore Europe itself is beginning to feel the effects that looting of Africa’s public money under Warped Europhilia which deprives Africa of its developmental resources, is having on its own demographics. For, Africans in significant numbers are now heading to Europe any which way they can, since Africa has become destabilised and disabled by this grand looting of the public treasury. As both continents are affected, cooperation between Africa and Europe is needed to stop this corruption, and prosecute offenders. The “War On African Corruption” should include target hardening. The target of Africa’s looters is access to Europe. So target hardening would be measures to prevent this criminal class and their families from accessing Europe. Thus, no medical tourism in Europe for them and their families. No schooling and university in Europe for them and their families. No having giving birth in Europe for them and their families. No buying of houses and businesses for them and their families in Europe. No shopping in Europe for them and their families. Just as drug addicts are deprived of the illegal drugs they crave in order to save society from their behaviour when under the influence of drugs (as well as cure them).

To sum up, it is important that Africans, especially our young people understand that the differences between their environment and life experiences, and that of European youth is because of Warped Europhilia where those who should have been thoughtful and caring leaders, instead use their positions to steal the people’s common wealth, hoarding it away in Europe, to spend it living large in Europe as RICH MIGRANTS.

Uwechue is a retired Metropolitan (London) Police Officer, a Pro-Social Advocate and supports BribeCode writes from Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State.