Transcription
Hello and welcome to another edition of Inside 54. Well, we'll take a look at our interaction and conversion with Africans in diaspora journeying us today. On today's episode, I'm having Malcolm Boton. He's a best-selling author of the book The Black Box. He's also a political commentator. Good to have you, Mr. Boton.
Of course, it's always a pleasure talking with you.
Thank you. I appreciate it. Happy to be here.
Yeah. I mean, let's have a look because a lot of persons have been seeing a lot of work you've been doing and of course they may want to know what has really shaped, I mean, your insights. This of course how you've grown with so much of influence and your belief system. What are those things that have really shaped you so far?
Thank you for that. For me, I've had the unique fortune of traveling widely on the continent of Africa, which apparently is even unique for Africans. Um, strangely you find that it's cheaper to fly in some cases if you're in Africa to Europe and then get to another African country. So, uniquely I've traveled widely and in some cases I've been pleasantly surprised, in other cases I've been, you know, shocked and disappointed. But one thing we know for sure as Africans are part of the diaspora is that whether I'm an American or I call myself British or I'm Nigerian or I'm South African, when I go around the planet Earth, I'm looked at as black, as African before I speak, no matter what clothes I'm wearing. And so at some level, the respect of the black people is tied together. And so it's upon all of us to try to lift up the continent. There's no doubt that Africa is the future, has the youngest population, is rich with resources, but we so often say Africa is wealthy, but we don't say Africans are wealthy. So, I think we should all have an interest in bringing back Mansa Musa and all of us as individuals striving to achieve that. And so, we are linked together and for that, it causes me to fight in that cause. And here in America, we're really captives in the hells of North America, uh where we're treated as second-class citizens. And it causes me great sadness to see that in some African nations, black people are treated as second second-class citizens in the land of the blacks. So, that's what has, you know, really driven me to hyper focus on the continent.
All right. Quickly talk about, I mean, the book The Black Box. A lot of persons may not really get your inspiration behind that book. Can you quickly uh have a word on that? What inspired that uh the book uh The Black Box?
It was really Well, one I almost got killed two times. Uh and the most recent time was I was doing business in Puerto Rico. I was hit by two category five hurricanes. I have many children. I said, I I have to I have to leave something. And so, it was an effort to uh share, you know, the things that allowed me to thrive in today's world. You know, I was raised Christian. I know many Nigerians are Christian. Um but, you know, sometimes the good book might not tell you exactly how to use today's technology, operating today's culture, and context. And so, I wanted to leave that because in my unique case, I was born into extreme poverty. And, you know, my mother was on crack. My father was in prison. And I was able to rise up. And so, I want to share some of the lessons, values, and experiences that carried me through. And I wrote the book in a way that causes you not to think about me, but hopefully to think about you because I truly believe everyone has it in them. You already have the experiences that give you a well of strength to thrive and succeed.
All right. I I I I mean, you've really showed a lot of passion in terms of looking at how Africa can get better. Uh if for over decades, everyone have been talking about the problems in Africa. But, of recent, let me take you uh towards uh Macron, Emmanuel Macron, president of uh France visited uh Kenya. Uh that has really sparked a lot of uh reactions so far. Uh to you, uh do you think that that the visit is in alignment with some of the things uh France really stands for? Because a lot a lot of people that believe in that the Francafrique, I mean, question, the Francafrique policy has to do with uh political dominance, which has to do with uh uh military presence. And a whole lot of people have really said have criticized that for over decades. But, for them to be back again this time as polite in Kenya, what do you make out of that visit of Emmanuel Macron to Kenya?
We black people, we Africans, must only use history. We've never once seen the white man touch down on African soil to do us any favors. And, you know, sometimes we speak in coded language, we say the West. We're talking about the whites. And every time they've touched down on any land, we've seen they brought the same things, dominance, destruction, deception. And there is no doubt that as the Sahel and the former Francophone countries throw off the yoke of neocolonialism, the French and other Westerners find new lands to sink their talons into. And we'd be a fool to allow them to come in. They come in and they say investment, but they mean control. They come in and they say loans, but they mean slavery. And what we must do as black people who actually love themselves is ensure that our leaders are not co-opted and controlled by these foreign countries and these foreign NGOs, be it the IMF, the World Bank, or whatever cloak that the Westerners put on to control you and I.
So, do you think Africa can do without all of this support? Because a lot of people feel that I mean we can't entirely do without, you know, the Western powers, you know, the the rise of China and all of these nations who are always coming into other countries. Is it a problem about proper negotiation or is it a problem of African leadership? What do you make out of how we can both manage, you know, the having trade bilateral relations and all of that with these Western nations and still protect the sovereignty of African region?
That's a brilliant question. I'm glad you asked it. So, number one, identity is hugely important. I've sat in Africa, we talked so much about identity and the challenge is that the black leaders are not for the black people. It's as clear as day. Well, how do we know? You cannot make Africa or African countries, be it Nairobi, be it Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, what have you, you can't make those countries strong and successful unless you invest into the people. When we hear the Chinese come in or we hear the French come in, maybe they build roads, maybe they build a a high-speed train station. But did they invest in an engineering university? Did they invest in apprenticeship programs where the Chinese engineers are there teaching Kenyan engineers so that we don't need Chinese engineers in the future? For example, and I've traveled in all the countries that we've named, I've done business in many of them as well, and I remember being very disappointed in my first trip to Nairobi cuz people speak quite well of Nairobi as a hub in East Africa. And the truth is I think that the average level of English is quite disappointing and you might say, "Mark, wait, that's a colonial language." It in fact is. But what we must know is that textbooks are in English, you know, engineering programs of study are in English, and so it's a useful lingua franca, language of business, and so this is a representation of the low quality of compulsory public free education. Even as a capitalist, I think that public education should be free and accessible and high quality. Iran is a great example of doing that, and they've been able to do that under crippling sanctions. So, the idea that African nations require loans and subsidy is foolishness, especially when you have resources under the ground that you can leverage to negotiate, but we should not be dependent only on those resources. The greatest resource of any nation are the people, and so often we fail to try to develop the people. You listen to President William Ruto speak, and you almost never hear him talk about education. We hear repetitive things from these African leaders. They're either lying or they're low IQ, or they just don't care about anyone except themselves and their small cadre of people who are participating in crony capitalism. Well, what do I mean? You talk about subsidizing oil. Well, why are we subsidizing it instead of figuring out how to remove oil dependence? We talk about taking in loans to help the fishermen. Is that an industry of the future? Will that not be mechanized? Why are we not preparing them for what is now? We continue to be behind the West, behind the even the Orient, because we're not developing the African people.
I mean, it it it really drew a lot of concern when you look at the fact that many Africans, you know, when you look at the diaspora as the population of Africans in the diaspora, population of about 30 million or over 40 million, I mean, you may really count for. But, the concern about what they do and they able to scout through in some of these nations and the fact that they get worried about what is actually happening at home. What do you think are depressing ways to tackle these from the diaspora perspective? You've seen how the Western nation works. How did it take them to build a nation because we can't Many Many scholars would think that we can't completely continue to point fingers. Uh I mean, for whatever might have happened historically, yes, the history is important, but should we continue to dwell on history where some of the leaders will tell you they'll point fingers to colonial masters, they'll point fingers to one excuses or the other to be the reason why the country is as today because a lot of people ask, is is is it colonialism that has made us not to have a proper system? You go through the rail system, you go through the services that we have in South African country. What do you Why How do you distinguish that?
Brilliant question. Necessary. History cannot be forgotten because history is what has created today. That's why 85% of Kenya is Christian. That's Maybe that's why 11% is Muslim. And then traditional religions are much less. We know the Portuguese came in the 15th century and brought their Catholic missionaries. History's important. We have to understand how we've grown to be this way. But there is no doubt that we waste time and we excuse our own responsibility when we blame everything on what has happened in the past as though we have no control over today. There are in fact many examples of countries taking control. If you look at Cuba on the doorsteps of the United States, they've been under sanctions. They're an island for Christ's sake. Small population, highest per capita of doctors and teachers. Critical professions. Why can't the same be done in a place like Kenya with a population like 5. 58 million, 10% of the population in Nairobi? There's so much that can be done. And what's more is they have great countries around them. They have Sudan, they have Tanzania, they have Ethiopia, they have Uganda. So so little is done with the extreme amount of wealth that is right there. And when we mention colonialism, we could talk about it as something in the past, but it's in the future today. What is What sense does it make to have an Africa forward summit and it's co-organized by Kenya and France? France is so far away. All the while, you have South Sudan, you have Ethiopia, you have Somalia, you have Uganda, you have Tanzania on your borders. And they're absent, and they're not the co-organizers. It lets you know something is funny. If France wants to invest $14 billion into Kenya, the question is why? What is in it for them? That's what we must understand. But if you don't understand the history of colonialism, you won't understand the nature of white countries and how they operate broadly around the planet Earth and specifically in Africa. It has only been extractive, and we must understand that in business, there must be mutual benefit. Of course, no one is going to show up and say, "Hey, I just want to help you just because." But there's no doubt that when the former colonial powers show up, they come to colonize. And France, for example, if we look at I don't know, their most recent major effort in Africa with Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, we found that the result was a destroyed country and a place where they had open slave markets selling black Africans. That was a direct result of French intervention. They are not for the people, they are not for freedom, they are not for Africa developing. The European nations operate as bloodsuckers requiring extraction of raw resources from the African continent, where they will refine them in Europe and then sell them for a much higher price, and they will reap the benefits. They have not transferred business know-how or technical skill, and most importantly, the Africans have not demanded it. We saw a great example of skill transfer between the Soviet Union and China. China used to be very underdeveloped. It's a fact. And now, they are hegemon. So, we need to look at the examples, which are all over the place, and have enough self-respect as black people, belief in the self, belief in our own capability and IQ, and execute. Cuz the only reason that we would say that we can't develop without help, the only reason we would say that we need the Europeans is if we truly believe in white supremacy and black inferiority. And that's why everything starts first with knowledge of self, love of self, respect of self, which has to be explicitly taught. I mean, I I remember so many times cuz I've done business in South Africa. You know, I'd be in a taxi, and I'd ask someone about their tribe, they don't know about their tribe, they don't know about the um the uh the king of this or that tribe. And I just think, "Wow, that's so strange. You know everything about the South African nation-state that was created by your colonizer, but you don't know who you are." And it is in not knowing who we are that that we don't love ourselves. And there's so many levels to that. I yield the floor.
All right. I mean, when you look at that, this is some person who said, "Was it development purpose? Always it was about issue of geopolitics." Because if you see the show China, of course, Kenya still has some some relations with with with China with with the Chinese and even other African country. So, the rise of the geopolitics, do you think France visited the recent visit and the conversations of summoning all almost all the African leaders to Kenya, was that really for development purpose?
Why would France want to develop Africa? How would that benefit France? France wants to maintain their own development. France realized that they lose they've lost assets in terms of Burkina Faso, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, and other countries that have good leadership, indigenous leadership. They're not controlled by foreign governments. And those leaders, Ibrahim Traoré and others, they have removed themselves from the control of France. And now France scrambles to find leaders and countries that are still hypnotized, that are still begging, and that is where they will re-entrench themselves. There is as clear as day because we must only ask ourselves, why Africa? Is it maybe because the African leaders are weak? Why Africa? Is it maybe because Africa has been a a breadbasket that everyone has stuck their hand into and pulled out of, but never put anything into? It's easy. They're the weakest. Uh for example, you find nuclear weapons in Pakistan. You find nuclear weapons in Europe. You find nuclear weapons in Israel. You don't find any in the African continent. They can't develop themselves, and they need to be suspicious of European partners who want to have mutual defense pacts. And what they've done is they've provided you all of your technology and all of your training, so they understand how to pick you apart, whether it's having backdoors in your defense tech or it's having double agents in your military that are essentially on American payroll and influence.
I mean, a lot of a lot of concern. From the diaspora perspective, how can Africans living abroad continue to contribute to this kind of conversation? They have seen what happened at back home, the geopolitics, uh sometimes the concerns about the sovereignty of African nation.
Yes. That's a brilliant question. I thank you for asking that one. So, for Africans abroad or in the diaspora to contribute back to African countries, I think that it also requires a a ready and willing receiver of those contributions. For example, I think that there's really an underdeveloped pipeline of receiving direct investment from individual citizens who are well-to-do. Um for example, if you look at the small country of Benin, which, you know, recently had a coup attempt, and I'm glad that that didn't succeed, but they suggested that you could get citizenship if you're in the diaspora, but it's really a farce. They really use it to just take the fee that you pay to apply and then they never give it to you. I know cuz I applied and I financed a number of other people to apply. But the idea that you would deny a well-educated wealthy American who's black with no criminal record who wants to come in and invest, that's just dumb. That's bad politics. So what I'm saying is this, if they open up citizenship for well-to-do Africans in the diaspora to get a passport, to buy real estate, to get some of the same benefits of citizens, you can have non-predatory investment, people who want to live, who want to contribute skills, people who have education, people who can teach, and that pipeline is not pop properly formed. And so because of that, you usually get the support in the form of remittance. And remittance, I would say is dumb money, rather than intelligent investment coming in. Well, what do I mean? Well, you're sending money back to your uncle and your cousin, your mom and your dad, and they're just spending it as a consumer, but it's not building business, it's not building infrastructure. One thing we have to be honest about is the West is very developed in terms of infrastructure. If you have, for example, an influx of say wealthy Africans in the diaspora going to a country that is a bit, you know, has a retrograde economy like Benin, they're going to expect when you hit the light switch that the electricity turns on. They're going to expect that the roads don't flood when it rains, that there have to be gutters, and there has to be proper sanitation. And that will raise up the expectation and standards. They will lobby for that, they will pay for that, they will do what is necessary to help pull the country up, especially if the receiving government is organizing this. So there needs to be a better pipeline to get money into the continent in ways that are not necessarily remittance to your family, but direct investment. And most importantly, we have brain drain in Africa. You're Nigerian. The most gifted black people I've met in many cases in the African continent. and to Johns Hopkins for graduate school were Nigerians, doctors, engineers, hardworking, diligent, but they're working for Americans and American interests. They're not in the continent. And so making it easy for them to come back and contribute. I'm not saying come back and take over, but come back and contribute in meaningful ways. And like with real estate for example, a lot of black Americans have wanted to invest into Ghana and other countries in Western Africa because that's mostly where foundational black Americans are connected to. But they've not been able to because there's fraud in the real estate markets. You have, you know, tribal leaders or you have government reselling the same plot of land. So due to the corruption and mismanagement, it makes people scared to lose their money. So when you can hyper-focus on cleaning that up, you can see a boom in the real estate market. And of course, at the same time you want to protect the people who are there already in Ghana earning in a currency that's, you know, devalued and make sure that you can allow the tide to lift all boats.
Very brilliant answer. I I mean, reply to to that. We cannot overemphasize the importance of Africans in diaspora, but a lot of concerns are about how we can actually move forward as a region. A lot of persons have said, removal of visas, you know, in Africa, African unity, or United States of Africa. A lot of people have come out with a lot of I mean, school of thoughts in terms of how Africa, you know, can get better. Do you think that is possible? If you look at uh issue of Africa I mean, free trade zone, and the conversation has really, you know, I've not really had a way forward. It has been where that introduction comes in a yearly, but no actions have been taken. Driven by that, a lot of persons are worried that we might not move forward if we don't get to remove all of these barriers. What do you speak to to that? In terms of what we have, the structural thing we have, is the AU living to the responsibility? Is the ECOWAS standing up to, you know, do what they needed to do? How do we manage all of that and also get a better future for the region? For the continent.
Firstly, ECOWAS, African Union have to be truly African, truly African, not influenced by the United Nations, not influenced by the IMF, the World Bank, not controlled by any other country through their money, political influence or otherwise. So, they must be truly African. And secondly, they must take the strong position and we see the Polish doing this. We see various European nation-states and the United States as well saying, "Hey, you know, this is our identity. This is what it is. This is what it is not. I cannot tell you how often when you look at the list of most wealthy Africans, many of them are not actually Africans. They're Indian, they're white, and the African Union, ECOWAS, they must make the the statement that Africa is for the black people, the black people first. This is the land of the black people. I find it strange that we're scared to say that. We're the only people who have never committed a genocide. We've never done anything heinous to any group of people by our own doing. Only when we've been divided up by colonial lines that was brought to us by the Europeans. It has never been our in our nature to do that, but it is our time to say that this land is for us. And because we've made that statement, now ECOWAS and African Union, at least at a basic level, understand that their mandate is to prioritize and protect black people. Sometimes protect them from these international bodies and from foreign influence. Now, that being said, we know that they don't have any teeth because they're allowing South Africa to brutalize black Africans and South Africa's not the only guilty country. They're allowing foreign governments like the United Arab Emirates to operate in Sudan in ways that are dangerous and detrimental. And it's because of a lack of African identity that we yield to the ideological and religious influence of foreign actors. And they create havoc in the African continent, and they come in under the cloak of humanitarian aid, under the cloak of religion, but they're really just there for the gold, for the diamonds, and for the farmland. And so, we have to protect Africa because Africa will be robbed blind again. Again, the Berlin Conference occurred a long time ago, but that mindset is still operating. So, no, African Union, ECOWAS, um are not doing enough, but we do see that the Sahel states are really leveraging foreign relations in a way that is more strategic. I think the Russians have been better partners than say the Americans. Uh the Chinese have been decent partners, but sometimes the loans are predatory, and the collateral that's being put up for the loans, ports, rail stations, um airports, uh it's it's draconian the punishment that would occur. And there are so many loans with interest rates that are unmanageable. So, these things must be dealt with, and we have to look, like, are there situations where the Europeans defaulted on loans or changed their currency entirely? And what was the consequences? Why is it that Africa always has to play completely fair and get the harshest consequences? And more importantly, why is it that the United States and Israel, they don't obey the UN, but Africa has to get on their knees for the IMF to restructure their whole economy and obey them, this foreign entity? So, ECOWAS, African Union will not have power until they first say Africa is for the black people. We may have Indians in our territory, we may have Asians, we may have whites. They are not going to rule here.
Would that Would that not be termed I mean, racism?
No, sir. The place is called Africa. It's for the Africans. If you're Indian, you are from India. Have you ever seen an African running India? If you look at the the five wealthiest people in India, are any of them African? You look at the five wealthiest people in Asia, in the Middle East, are any of them African? You look at the five wealthiest people anywhere, are any of them African? So, why is it that we must be infinitely accepting, yet no one else accepts us? This is the truth. People hate to deal with the truth. The problem with the African is that we continue to be docile. We continue to be welcoming to all, even our enemies. But, we do not get the same welcome in return. We've already tried this bit. We must learn a little something. If we learn something from the white man, it should not be their Christianity. If we learn something from the Arab man, it should not be their Islam. It should not be their style of dress. It should be the fact that they take care of their own, they prioritize their own, and they take what they need to thrive. Those are the things we failed to learn. And as a result, we've been victimized by them. Why are we so scared to be posed as like a racist? We've been the victims of racism. We are not the racist, we are the victims of racism. So, now that we say we should have something for our own, they would call us a racist. Who cares what they have to say? We can only go to the historical record and say, "You can call us a racist, but we observe that you are the committers of genocide. You were You were the thieves of You stole entire civilizations." Like, how much How many artifacts from your country are in British museums? How many artifacts from Ghana are in British museums? How many artifacts from Egypt are in British museums? Now, think of it the other way around. Does Nigeria have a museum filled with things they stole from Europe? No. So, we have to stop being scared of what they say and what they think. They are not above us. They're not father to us. In actual fact, we are the father to them. Their scientists say that all life started in Africa. So, what sense does it make for the father to follow the child or to yield to the child? We don't have enough pride in ourselves.
Do you do you do you feel do you feel we didn't have um we don't have uh I mean, when you look at the fact that yes, we agree with all of that from the history, but moving on on the future, do you feel we don't have uh good negotiators to say take it or leave it? Because if you look at the kind of conversation we having now about France and China all coming to Africa, even the US, of course, we will look at the terms. Uh some of the things that they get to agree on. Don't you think, you know, it should be a case of take it or leave it or is about some of the African leadership looking weak? What is your perspective to that? Because they are not forcing you will look at some of the things they will tell you they are not forcing I mean, anything. They are not they are not on a gun I mean, gunpoint that they make all of these trade agreement and all of that. People put down their their pens in the signatory in terms of having the powers of the state to do that. But, who do we now get to blame? And how do we have a proper model of this kind of negotiation moving forward? Because it's still history.
That's correct. We we need to develop using our own resources. And we need to be much more staunch in our negotiations. And you observe the the Arabs, they have the uh OPEC. And when you have this cartel of oil producing countries, uh they have more negotiating power and they're collaborating. In Africa, the nation-states have not joined together. And that's because some of them are destabilized. Uh the DRC is an example. Sudan is an example. Um some would say Somalia. Um, and the reason for that is largely foreign intervention that they're destabilized. I hate to say it, but the fact of the matter is that Africa needs to block off all of the foreign actors that come in with anything other than a fair exchange. What do I mean? During the Obama administration, you saw Barack Obama coming into Kenya, uh coming into East African states and saying, "Hey, you guys need to uh or in Uganda, you guys need to have better um treatment of the LGBTQ. You need to change your laws." So, he's basically coming into Africa saying, "You Africans are too African. You need to do like us, the whites, the Europeans, the Americans, because we don't mind allowing people to engage in perversion. So, you need to do it, too. And if you don't do it, we're not going to give you a loan. We're not going to give you subsidy. We're not going to give you all of these goodies, these freebies." But, what you find is that free is the most expensive price. So, they can't come in with their money having things attached to it, policy changes, economic restructuring, um cultural changes, changes in law. It has to come in. It's just a dollar. You're buying something specific, and it's a fair exchange. And we really do need Africa's talented business class to be negotiating these deals. But, before anything, the number one qualification has to be that if they're a Nigerian, they're really for Nigeria. For all of the peoples of Nigeria. They're really for Nigeria first and foremost. And the African population, and I appreciate those in Tanzania, I appreciate those in Kenya, the youth in the opposition who are uh causing unrest against governments that don't love them and don't represent them. I respect it. They're being proactive. And that is what should happen anytime an African leader is not showing that they are working on behalf of the people. And I think Burkina Faso is a good example of one of our shining stars today. We've had many. Many of them have been killed by the Central Intelligence Agency. But we must reject anyone that is not negotiating deals strictly for the benefit of Africa. And when you negotiate that deal, the African people should say, "Okay, if you're going to accept $14 billion from France, where's the money going? And how does that money benefit an everyday citizen? Do you put us in apprenticeship program so that we can learn how to be engineers? Uh does it build necessary infrastructure to transit goods through the country? How can we have the appropriate level of transparency and capital punishment for politicians who are stealing? And most importantly, what we can't have, and this is occurring in Tanzania right now, is we cannot have the current government utilizing the legal system to punish their enemies by accusing them of treason only because they've tried to, you know, run against you and putting them in jail because in the rule of law and civilization itself degrades. And that's what you're seeing right now in uh Tanzania.
Yeah, just before we wrap up, what is your I mean, when you look at the continents, how promising is the continent Africa? I understand a whole lot of projection have been said, but when you look at all of that, do you think that the world someday will rely on Africa?
The world will only rely on Africa. Um or let's not talk about Africa cuz when we say Africa, we might be talking about the continent and the land. The world has been relying on Africa for a long time.
Yeah, Africa.
So, will the world rely on Africans? Will the value of Africa not be the land, the gold, the minerals, the diamonds, the timber, the farmland, will it ever be the African people? And it will only be the African people if we work diligently to develop the African people culturally and educationally. And right now that is the least of investments. When France comes in, the investment is not to develop the African people or the Kenyan people in this particular case. So, I think if that occurs, then yes, the world will rely on the Africans, which is to say the first shall be last, the last shall be first again. And it is my hope that we can invest more uh in the people. And I I hope that African leaders heed this message and the African people enforce the message.
Mark Golding, best-selling author, political commentator, it's a pleasure having you here on Inside Africa 54. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Do have a wonderful time. And of course, that was our interaction with Mark Golding, of course, who have really hold some perspective to Africa's future. We do hope that the conversations takes us to a better continent and a promising one for the population of the people we have in the continent. Thank you so much.