Corporate Re-Colonisation in Africa

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Aug 27, 2021

Story

Leonida Odongo

Kenya

Joined Oct 2, 2008

Corporations influence on the African continent and its people dates back to many years and this influence goes hand in hand with exploitation. Human being exploit the environment to make a living, but when human brings exploit fellow humans, the aim is to make super profits. As noted by Walter Rodney in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa[1] , one of the common means by which one nation exploits another is through trade. For example, from Africa, agricultural products originate in raw form, are processes in Europe and brought back to Africa as finished products, bearing the price tags that ordinary African cannot afford, yet they are the ones who toil. Another example of early extractivism was the Lever Company (currently Unilever) which was producing Lifebuoy, Lux and Vim. Lever sent out his own “explorers” to Africa and they made a decision that the Congo would be an ideal place to get palm produce, additionally Belgian government was willing to offer huge concessions of and with innumerable palm trees[2].

Rodney goes further to say that, when colonial governments seized African they achieved two things simultaneous. Satisfaction of own citizens (mining concessions or farming land) and creation of conditions where landless Africans had to work to not only to pay taxes but to survive. In other areas, Africans were forced to produce cash crops. Even in the 1880s transnational corporations existed in banking, shipping and manufacture of goods. Pre-colonial trade in slaves, ivory, gold and others things were conducted from the coasts of Africa. During colonialism, Africans provided cheap sources of labour and these were supported by legislations and other exploitative practices such as pass laws (known as kipande) in Kenya and hut tax. Africans were thus forced to work in order to raise money for the hut tax. The exploitative labour continues to date for example African immigrants who work in plantations work under harsh conditions in Europe[3] In 1904 to 1907 the German, led by Commander-in-Chief Lothar Von Trotha, committed their first genocide of the 20th century by killing 90 per cent of the Herero and the Namaqua people of South West Africa (now Namibia) when the people protested against the exploitation of their resources[4].

African countries got a flag independence but a new form of recolonisation is coming back in the form of exploitation of resource materials, trade agreements and corporate capture. Technology is being used as a weapon of conquer with corporations taking over every sphere of existence, from food production and processing , pesticides and fertilisers, machinery and data are all being controlled by corporations. Land as a natural resource which is for production is another factor that is often contested .Land grabs supported by multinational corporations are resulting into violent evictions of food producers as is exemplified in Kiryandongo in Uganda to pave way for foreign owned multinationals to operate.[5] The land grabbing is not a feature specific to Uganda only, it happens across Africa , for instance since 2000, 422 large-scale land acquisitions totalling 10 million hectares – almost the size of the United Kingdom – have controversially been concluded between African governments and foreign investors, largely behind closed doors.[6]Biotechnology is another worrying phenomenon for African people and with it comes GM trials , an example of this being GM cowpeas in Nigeria[7]

Corporations are currently wielding so much power and anyone coming their way faces a lot of challenges ranging from arrests, violent evictions and in extreme cases murder. Take for example the case of Berta Caceres who was brutally murdered for her protests against the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam.[8] In Africa, corporations take advantage of weak legislations and cheap labour. They are also taking advantage of availability of land

And human rights defenders who oppose multinational corporations are either arrested[9] , forced to pay high fines or are constantly being harassed. In localities where mining is done, it is done in an environment of human right abuses, environmental degradation , displacement , loss of land and livelihoods and conflicts in communities. The crisis in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado and South Africa’s Marikana[10] massacre confirm to this.

On food production, corporations are coming up with patents and exploiting local traditional knowledge for their own benefit. The continent is increasingly being opened up for bio-piracy. An example being Hoodia, an appetite suppressant that capitalised on the traditional knowledge of the San people. Developed and patented by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), exclusive rights were sold to a British company[11]. It was only after worldwide outcry that a percentage of the royalties - a minuscule percentage - came to the San in the form of a trust. The Hoodia case is still cited as a prime example of inadequate benefit sharing and questionable prior informed consent[12].Another example of bio-piracy is the case of the neem tree in India,[13] and in Gambia , SmithKline Beecham (now Glaxo SmithKline) has claimed ownership of a compound from a Streptomyces strain that, according to its patent, ‘was isolated from a termite hill at Abuke, Gambia[14]’.Another example is the inclusion of punitive clauses on food and crops for example Potato Regulations[15] in Kenya According to Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture, any dealer of the said crop whether they are the transporter, trader, warehouse, collection centre, importer, or exporter who is not registered will either pay a fine of Sh5 million or 3 years imprisonment or both. Also punishable in the list are those found processing a scheduled crop without a license, obstructing crop inspection and improper packaging, storage and grinding. Additionally, the notice states that the selling and buying of Irish potatoes for home consumption may be done through a collection centre, medium or designated market. The other food related controversy was the Livestock Bill 2021[16] which had regulations for bee keeping and stated that bee keepers would have to register and acquire a licence from the county government before setting up a hive and the government would prescribe the type of hives and brand farmers with use, additionally the bill if enacted into law would impose restrictions on the land to be used as an apiary, this is despite the fact that majority of Kenyans living in arid and semi-arid regions of the country who are already disadvantaged immensely depend on bee keeping as a source of livelihood.Fortunately this bill was recalled as a result of public outcry over the bill.

On land rights , land rights defenders get arrested , for example in Kiryandongo in Uganda ,Alfred Mwawula , alongside other defenders were arraigned in court[17].Alfred mobilises local communities to defend their land rights and oppose the forced evictions by private companies Agilis Partners Great Season Company Limited and Kiryandongo Sugar Limited, which have been implementing farming projects in the area.[18]Many land defenders continue to suffer from criminalisation of their work, illegal arrests , lengthy and expensive court proceeding as well as defamation. A case in point is Ogada[19]of the Malindi Rights Forum(MRF) who was convicted of a 7-years imprisonment because he defended his land against salt mining corporations in Malindi.

Africa is the new frontier, the new market for corporations. Many corporations have invested in technology, industrial seeds and chemicals all being exported into Africa. In some instances, these chemicals have been outlawed in other continents such as Europe but still find their way into Africa because of weak regulations. For example, the International Agency on Research on Cancer found glyphosate to be probably carcinogenic in 2015, several countries have banned or restricted glyphosate use[20]. According to the European Commission, glyphosate is currently approved for use in the European Union until Dec. 15, 2022. However, Austria became the first EU country to ban glyphosate in July 2019. Germany announced in September that it will begin phasing out the controversial weed killer by 2023.Sometimes African biosafety institutions downplay the potential negative impacts of pesticides in the name of observation[21], as reported by John Njiraini, the Kenya Pest Control Board’s Managing Director says “We are monitoring the debate going on globally, but as far as we are concerned, glyphosate will continue to be available for use by farmers in Kenya because there is no scientific proof it causes cancer.[22]”

Today, Consumption and production patterns are being influenced by corporations. As observed by ETC Group, Corporate-centric forces have been driving and shaping consumption and production patterns, often locking in those patterns through corporate capture of politics and policy-making at all levels from the national to the global, and across sectors. Agroecology, biodiversity, farmer centred agriculture and sustainable food systems are being pitted against industrial monoculture and genetic engineering.[23] Global seed and agro chemicals is in the hands of a few companies. Six corporations control global seeds/agrochemicals with collective sales of more than US$65billion a year and account for over 75 percent of all private sector agriculture research in seeds and chemicals. Monsanto, Dupont and Sygenta control 55 percent of the global seed market while Sygenta, Bayer and BASF control 51 percent of agrochemical production[24].These few corporations have such a strong market power that they are able tin get legislations that turn seeds into private “intellectual property”, get smallholder farmers penalised for saving, re-planting and selling seeds.

Supermarket wave is another phenomenon that African countries have to contend with. In many African countries multinational retailers are setting up shop and there is an absence of protection of local producers. Supermarkets are selling sukumawiki[25] , spinach, tomatoes and ready food. What happens to the roadside vendor locally known as mama mboga[26] across East Africa? Africans are displeased about this invasion, for example as reported by GRAIN, in July 2018, Gueule-Tapée market in Dakar, Senegal are outraged. They have just heard that the local mayor plans to demolish their market and build a four story shopping mall in its place. To make matters worse, the media is reporting that part of the mall would be occupied by the French supermarket giant Aachen[27].To many Africans, especially smallholder farmers and small vendors, supermarkets is a form of colonisation[28].With supermarketisation comes the loss of livelihoods of small vendors, loss of markets for local farmers and a change of attitude towards traditional food. Everyone wants to be seen as “modernised” and “westernised”, traditional African vegetables begin to be referred to as “herbs. Local vendors in their small dukas[29] always sell at a lower price that supermarkets, furthermore, the local vendor is always known in the community and can give on credit. But the irony is that, customers would rather bargain a bunch of bananas with the local vendor, but would dare not bargain in a supermarket for the same produce. The other sad fact that is yet to sink is that supermarkets thrive of selling processed food. This has negative consequences on diets and nutrition. As reported by the Malabo Montpellier Panel, obesity is becoming a challenge to African countries, many of whom are already dealing with malnutrition and stunting, this is in addition to rising cases of diabetes. In Africa, hanging dietary habits are creating an obesity crisis in African countries as middle-class people buy their food from supermarkets rather than eating food they grow.[30]

On the trading arena, corporate enslavement comes through countries being forced to liberalise, to open their markets. This is especially at a disadvantage for African countries who are mostly relegated to the position of exporters of primary product(raw materials ) which fetch less compared to processed goods, and to make matters worse, this condition is ingrained in international trade rules.

Re-colonisation of the African continent is real and coming at a very alarming rate. Africa is the new market for obsolete products. The continent needs to be more vigilant and Africans need to be more conscious of what they consume and where it comes from. There is need for deliberate conscientisation sessions with the African people and a political-re-education of African policy makers to value citizens before foreigners and to value people over profit.

References

[1] https://www.lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-persisting-relevance-of-walt...

[2] ibid

[3] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-immigrants-tomatoes-idUSTRE58R1...

[4] https://www.pambazuka.org/governance/multinational-corporations-new-colo...

[5] https://grain.org/en/article/6518-land-grabs-at-gunpoint-thousands-of-fa...

[6] https://newafricanmagazine.com/12585/

[7] https://theconversation.com/nigeria-has-given-a-new-gm-cowpea-variety-th...

[8] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-57725007

[9] https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/nasako-besingi-arbitrarily-ar...

[10] https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/marikana-massacre-16-august-2012

[11]https://www.google.com/search?q=biopiracy+of+african+varieties&oq=biopir...