OPINION: How Trump’s aid cuts to Africa will actually help the continent, hear me out

By Hans Ngala

The scaling back of funding to Africa and other developing nations by the Trump administration has taken the world by storm. Trump got into the White House on January 20 and hit the ground running with the signing of numerous executive orders (the equivalent of decrees in Cameroon). One of those, was for the USAID, the government’s humanitarian aid arm, to halt funding for a period of 90 days while reviews are undertaken.
However, with Trump’s America-first approach to foreign policy, there are fears that the 90-day window could be extended or that the halt on foreign aid could even become permanent. That left a lot of African governments scrambling to fill the gap. The Nigerian government immediately stepped up to the challenge and announced it was setting aside (state sum) to help respond to the country’s HIV/AIDS program.
Kenya’s former president, Uhuru Kenyatta also weighed in, stating that this ought to serve as a wake-up call for Africans who don’t pay taxes in the United States, to start thinking of how to steer their affairs themselves.

Can this Be an Opportunity for Africa?

While the uncertainty looms, this could be a great opportunity for Africa to take up her destiny in her own hands. One thing that Trump has demonstrated clearly is that the talk by America of human rights was mainly a farce and a way for them to exert control over others. Trump recently expressed overt support for Israel which in its war with Hamas, has disregarded almost every human right under the sun: bombing hospitals and arresting hospital staff, blocking food and medicines from reaching the populations most in need of them in Gaza and targeting civilian areas in the name of targeting Hamas. Not once has the US called Israel to order but has continually heaped support on Israel, empowering the country to disrespect international conventions governing conflict. Israel has repeatedly insulted the United Nations and said all its reports that Israel was violating human rights are false – and so we are supposed to believe Israel and not the UN.
To make matters worse, Trump has pulled the US from the United Nations after having pulled out of the World Health Organization with the excuse that the US was paying more than anybody else – again making it clear that rights are not important to him but that money is.
The lesson this leaves Africans with is that they should also not be held accountable by the UN since the US which projects itself as the “greatest” country in the world can simply get up and do what it wants. The US went on a witch hunt against WikiLeaks founder Edward Snowden when he exposed atrocities by US soldiers in Afghanistan, making it again clear that the US will bully and threaten anyone who tries to tell the truth about them. They (the US government) must be the ones that decide what is said about them, when it is said and how it is said and the rest of the world must just believe them.
Three African countries already saw through such Western hypocrisy. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso saw through the charade that was ECOWAS. ECOWAS had become a little more than a puppet being used by France to dictate the politics of the then 15-member regional bloc. France, an ally of the United States, had been in these Sahel countries to fight off Boko Haram but after a decade, there was no sign of them actually doing anything to fight off the terrorist group and so these three countries broke off and formed their own alliance. The over dependence on France (and the US) was not helpful and only when these countries understood that and kicked France out, did they begin to realize their true potential in a very short span of time. The trio formally exited ECOWAS this year and have since launched their own regional passport. Burkina Faso, once thriving under Thomas Sankara and often portrayed by Western media as one of the “poorest countries in Africa” – has gone even further, launching its own electric vehicle. So much has been achieved in such a short span of time.
The three Sahel countries have turned more to countries such as Russia and China – which are often demonized by the West as “not respectful of human rights” but the results on the ground are speaking for themselves. What point is there in preaching human rights when people don’t have peace because of terrorists? What good are human rights when they are apparently applied selectively to white people (like Israelis) and not to people of color like Africans and Palestinians? That seems to be the question Africans are asking as Trump pulls out of international organizations.
Another benefit in Trump cutting aid is that now, Africans can talk on the global stage and make their voices heard without fearing that someone will cut aid from them – since there won’t be any aid to use as a remote control over Africans. We are all familiar with how Uganda was demonized by Western governments and media for passing a bill that was in the interest of the Ugandan people themselves. The Biden administration immediately told Uganda that they won’t receive any more aid because of this bill. Thanks to Trump, if there is no aid, Africans can focus on other sources of finances for their countries such as selling their minerals and crude oil at market value and using the proceeds to run their countries on their own terms.
So while the cutting off of funds by the Trump government may affect African countries temporarily, the 90-day period is sufficient time for the governments to think of how to gain their full and true independence from the West. For far too long, aid has held Africa back and kept her on her knees and some African leaders have repeatedly mismanaged this free monies that have been doled out to them for decades and with no accountability. This should be a turning point for Africa to start developing and to finally be free from the West for good!