One may think that only the foes of the West or America stand to lose and fear at the advent of a Trump presidency. Not at all! There seem to be fear waves hovering over the African Continent. His rhetoric is nothing to play about! From his twitter pages, Trump appears to be a man to be taken serious. As the Washington Post puts it “ Trump is doing exactly what he promised he’ll do!” so what are these seeming fears ?
One has to do with immigration. His stand appears to be firmer than that of his predecessor Barack Obama. Obama was known as a deporter-in-Chief, with over 2.5 million illegal immigrants deported under his term in office. Therefore it comes as no surprise that some African would assume the sterner Trump to deport more than 2.5 million, with Africans being part!
Secondly, there is the fear that some trade deals as well as aid from American would be affected. Notable among these is the AGOA (Africa Growth and Opportunity Act), which has seen lose border controls for goods made in Africa for the American market! There is the fear also that certain financial as well as military commitments may not be forthcoming. Hence some Africans are justified in accommodating these fears. But let us ask ourselves this: must Africa always be at the mercy of another country?
Lastly, some Africans express the fear that should geopolitical peace be threatened, Africa would suffer the most. With little to boast about militarily, Africa does not look poised to wade off any attack from any global powerhouse such as USA, China, India, Europe and Russia. These have contributed to the fear herein expressed.
What can Africa now do to deal with these fears? There happen to be some ways out. One would do well to realize that there are other game players fit to stand up to the USA. China is one such powerhouse who has over the decades shown commitment to Africa. China’s investment in Africa in 2014 stood well over 210 billion USD. This is more than all the investments coming from Europe and USA Combined. Hence it would be wise to forge new trade and military alliances with such players as China (and India) to avert a possible trade and military confrontations with the USA.
Otherwise, Africa can look inward and trade among its member states. Africa’s internal trade is less than 10% of its total GDP. Africa trades more with its colonial masters than among its members. If future confrontation with others continents is to avoided, then it needs to begin looking inward.
Lastly, Africa needs to run and stop crawling. It is about time Africa rose to the challenge of building its military and industrialize itself. Currently, Africa with a quarter of the global population runs on less than 3% of the global energy stockpile. This tells you the kind of industrial activity going on in Africa! It is about time Africa rose to Beijing, Washington, Brussels and Delhi! We must build our infrastructure and military ourselves or we will forever remain the underdog on the geopolitical stage!
