The World Bank and the Farce of Development in Africa
On September 25 President Faure Gnassingbé met with the World Bank’s Vice President for Africa, Hafez Ghanem. The two discussed the World Bank’s support of development initiatives in Togo and new cooperation opportunities. The meeting also exposed the farce that is the World Bank’s approach to development in Togo and throughout the rest of Africa.
Faure Gnassingbé has ruled Togo for the last 14 years as a very brutal dictator. This has been no secret, although Faure has tried to deny this reality. Faure likes to pretend that he is the democratically elected president of Togo and international institutions such as the World Bank treat him as such. The fact that Faure was originally installed by the military or that Togo does not have fair and free elections is of no concern to anyone, despite the fact that Togo’s developmental problems stems from the fact that Togo is under the rule of a very brutal, corrupt, and incompetent dictator who is only in this position of power because he is the son of Togo’s former dictator.
The international actors who pretend to be concerned about Togo’s development will never confront the true source of why Togo is underdeveloped. Poverty in Togo and poverty throughout Africa is treated as if it were an accident, and not the direct product of Africa’s ineffective leadership. But international institutions such as the World Bank do not concern themselves with effective governance in Africa. The World Bank is part of the international system which maintains Africa’s underdevelopment.
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Dwayne is the author of several books on the history and experiences of African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora. His books are available through Amazon. You can also follow Dwayne on Facebook and Twitter.
