Africa’s appetite for free things invite Chinese troubles – Prof. Lumumba warns

Staunch Pan-Africanist professor, Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, has warned African politicians to be wary of borrowing from China to fund developments, calling it a “dangerous” bait.

The eloquent lawyer said the Chinese are a world economic power looking to colonise Africa in ways “much more dangerous” than the continent’s previous colonisers from Europe.

The Kenyan professor, who was speaking to Asaase FM in an interview monitored by theghanareport.com, expressed concern that African countries were falling into what he observed as a Chinese debt-trap diplomacy.

Prof. Lumumba faulted politicians who seek to win elections by making populist promises which require huge budgets their governments cannot fund without aid.

“The political class will borrow from even the devil to feed populism,” he said and observed “Africa has a huge appetite for free things.”

He mentioned Zambia and Sri Lanka as some of the ‘victims’ of this China strategy.

The defaulting Sri Lankan government in December 2015 had to hand over a major economic and strategic asset, it port and 15,000 acres of land around it for 99 years.

Without asking questions about sustainability, China doled out more than $8billion in loans to Sri Lanka. But the island country in south east Asia has been unable to pay up. The surrender of the port alone wiped off $1bn of its debt to China.

Zambia is also one of the top five African countries heavily indebted to China. It owes the sino power house $7.4billion. There are reports of a Chinese takeover of the country’s electicity supply company, Zesco, as the country struggles to pay back the loans.

Prof. P.L.O Lumumba described the Chinese as shylocks” who would “demand their pound of flesh” when the day of reckoning comes.

He also said the Chinese have adopted cultural education as a strategy for gaining influence in Africa.

He pointed to the Confucius Institute as the tool through which China wants Africans to study its language and culture. This strategy has worked well for the British, French and the USA, he said.

But the Confucius Institute is actually a Trojan horse. “While learning their culture looks very innocent, I am looking at the hidden motive,” prof. Lumumba said.

While criticising the Chinese and Western powers for working against Africa, Prof. Lumumba said ultimately, Africans are to blame for the state of poverty and underdevelopment.

The anti-corruption campaigner and prolific author urged African leaders to be generational thinkers in the design of policies and programmes for their people.

He said Tanzania president, John Magufuli, is an example of leaders working to avoid the Chinese debt- diplomacy policy.

Photo: John Magufuli leads Tanzania

In April 2020, Mr. Magufuli cancelled a $10billion Chinese loan signed by his predecessor, Jakaya Kikwete.

The loan was to build what would have been the largest port in East Africa. Chinese investors in the project, as part of the conditions, told the Tanzanian government that it would have ‘absolutely’ no power in questioning who invests in the port.

The Chinese were also to manage it for an interrupted 99 year lease.

But Magufuli said the terms of the contract could “only be accepted by a drunken man.”

Prof. Lumumba has urged Africans to look for domestic solutions to domestic problems.

He is an admirer of assassinated African revolutionary leaders such as Patrice Lumumba of DR Congo and Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso.

He served as Director of Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission for less than a year and was dismissed under controversial circumstances.