Bolstering The Link Between the African Diaspora and the African Continent for Prosperity.
By Geoffrey Ndege and Ian Kenji.
The African Diaspora plays an important role outside and back on the continent. To begin with, let us understand who they are. The African Diaspora is often defined as a group of people of African descent with a shared culture, language and origin predominantly in the Americas and Europe; and by extension Asia.
Rotimi et al. (2016) indicated that the term ‘African Diaspora’ appeared in literature for the first time in the 1950’s. It included all people of African origin from the 15th century much as a narrower approach was later taken to refer to the trans-Atlantic slaves. The latter is largely accepted because the slave trade period saw a massive migration – irrespective of consent, well it was ‘trade’ anyway – of Africans to the New World.
Whereas the first generation of Africans in the Diaspora came as slaves, a later pact has come as free individuals driven by different reasons. Today, a lot of Africans leave the continent in search of green pastures abroad in terms of employment, others to study and return with higher prospects of employment, some as political asylum seekers as well as refugees fleeing wars and political turmoil in their home countries. It is ubiquitous to find out that most African leaders studied abroad thus making education one key component taking up a relatively huge component of those comprising the diaspora.
Even as we discuss the concept of the African Diaspora and the role they play and can play to aid the African continent out of her misery, we must understand that there are some differences in Diaspora classifications with one key metric being based on potential of impact. The degree of impact has a direct relationship with traceable connections to the continent, and the likelihood of returning for instance to contribute to development through skills transfer.
In looking at the challenges facing Africans Diaspora in Great Britain, Seuwou & Ajani (2022) argue that the experiences of local blacks in the US and UK are different compared to ‘newer’ migrants. The Local blacks here represent a class of individuals who can trace their ancestry to the great slave trade but have totally been assimilated as Americans or British people except for skin colour.
They may not have any idea of where exactly their African ancestry originates and any ties to the continent are severed. Seuwou and Ajani point out that within the larger African Diaspora, whilst there is little understanding of how they have dealt with racism, class and nationality over time, there is a group that has done well and comprises great industry, political and academic leaders holding places of influence in their new dispensation. Their point then becomes that, more than decolonizing the African continent ideologically, the diaspora has more to do to pull the continent out of poverty and underdevelopment.
How can the African diaspora help?
As already pointed out, there is a potential for misrepresentation of the diaspora based on identity and even perhaps on race alone. Secondly, ideology itself is not enough. For instance, arguing how Obama became the first ‘black’ American president and how that was good for Africa simply stops at that. Any impact in terms of conceptual change in attitude towards corruption for example didn’t change an inch even after visiting Africa and speaking with several heads of state as could be argued – as brothers of the same origin.
Money loaned to African economies in the form of infrastructural financing by global institutions has been a burden mostly because of budgeted theft and open practice corruption. Rustomjee (2018) rightly points out that financing African development and infrastructure is escalating and becoming unsustainable. On the other hand, the African diaspora population has been rising steadily as has been their savings.
But then these savings have not been mostly invested in their home countries. The governments have done little to attract these investments at home by issuing diaspora bonds for instance. Nevertheless, the success of these tapings must be well structured and not exploited as a form of gain by some corrupt individuals given the political instabilities and volatile policy environments in the continent. Organizing a successful diaspora bond needs proper planning to address things such as promotion, interest rates, currencies, tax treatments, and repayments among other considerations which some governments are not ready to undertake.
Lately, most governments have been sending workers abroad to try an increase foreign remittance. It needs to go further than that. A proper environment should also be cultivated locally to encourage diaspora groups with savings to invest at home in ventures that have the potential to address long-term issues such as unemployment. Political stability should also be paramount as it encourages long-term investment and curates trust in systems.
In their study, Mohan & Zack-Williams (2002) made a very poignant statement that it is important to look at the survival and adaptation of the African diaspora in their environment but most importantly to consider their potential development impact back on the continent. To some of these people, their stay in these foreign countries is a dependency thing that means life and death. In their home countries, several people look up to them for survival.
Potentially, the phrase it takes a village to raise a child is the culture they have been brought up in. Some of these folks remember this and take it a notch higher to pool resources and take on small development projects within their home villages and families. This is important work because that way, they sometimes help address things the governments have neglected such as drilling boreholes and equipping schools.
These developmental endeavours not only serve to act as ways of giving back to society but also create an environment that one can look forward to returning to. Thus, the governments must do much more as these individuals can only manage very little. Electricity, roads, water and other major resources must be available to the people by their governments and made affordable for industrial development. As this gets sorted, the diaspora will need to strengthen their networks and channel their resource power and investments in the continent.
Also, governments should commit to addressing corruption as a matter of urgency. One problem with corruption in the African continent is that it is structured. Structured and budgeted corruption is deadly. It is one of the most discouraging things for potential investments. The amount of kickbacks officials expect, or rather ask is detrimental to the capital investment. Someone may set aside capital and it potentially zeroes without achieving a tangible thing.
In a nutshell, there is a systemic and structural disconnect between the African diaspora and the continent. Most of these are due to weak policy frameworks or lack thereof, the unique social and cultural dispensation which informs how people generally operate plays a role (including how people relate with others back in their countries) as well as endemic and systemic problems such as corruption and poor governance.
These, singularly or in plurality, result in neglect to invest in the continent with its full potential therein. These among other issues not listed need to be addressed to reap the enormous potential the African Diaspora has towards changing the beautiful continent of Africa.
References:
Mohan, G., & Zack-Williams, A. B. (2002). The African diaspora and development.
Rotimi, C. N., Tekola-Ayele, F., Baker, J. L., & Shriner, D. (2016). The African diaspora: history, adaptation and health. Current Opinion in Genetics & Development, 41, 77–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gde.2016.08.005
Rustomjee, C. (2018). Issues and Challenges in Mobilizing African Diaspora Investment. www.un.org/en/development/desa/
Seuwou, P., & Ajani, R. (2022). Experiences and Challenges of African Diaspora in Great Britain and Their Role in the Future Development of Africa. In African Development Perspectives: A Holistic Reflection. Austin Macauley Publisher.
