UNBIASED AFRICA REPORT

By Mayambala Mwana W’Afrika 

As a Ugandan, I’m implored by my comrades from all over the world to give my perspectives on Kony 2012, a video that has gone viral online, attracting more than 75 million viewers on YouTube alone.

Invisible Children, the filmmakers are criticized from lack of accountability to simplifying the26year old LRA/Kony war in northern Uganda. This noticeable criticism has left many free thinkers wondering what the facts on the ground are.

Kony 2012 in summary is a white charity with 3 Western boys posing as the long-awaited saviors of Africa, exploiting stereotypes of Africa to dig deep into the emotional minds and pockets of Western philanthropies, naively thinking awareness of Americans is the solution to African problems, with little understanding of the ‘real problem’ they’re claiming to solve. Let me elucidate how I arrive to this summary.

Tens of thousands of Western charities and NGOs are exploiting pictures and videos of poor African children to fund raise money that never reaches the captured children. Instead, the money isused to buy luxury cars and paying themselves Wall Street salaries.

Killing Kony isn’t the utmost need – Congo and Somalia are.

In 2006, UPDF, the Ugandan army conducted military operations that ended Joseph Kony’s guerilla attacks in northern Uganda without the much allured international attention. Kony with a few remaining rebels were scattered into the thick forests of DR Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan. In 2008, Operation Lightening Thunder – a military operation destroyed Kony’s camps in Garamba forests of Congo, rescued 100 child soldiers but Kony managed to escaped withonly 260 rebels.

Last year in October, the Obama administration sent a team of 100 US troops totrack him down. Government recently declared that Kony is no longer an internal security threat to Uganda. One wonders where these groups like Invisible Children were when Kony was killing us. If these groups are truly helping children, they should campaign to stop wars in Congo and Somalia where thousands of women and children are raped each year – other than flogging a dead horse, Kony.

The Scam behind Western Saviourdom

Tens of thousands of Western charities and NGOs are exploiting pictures and videos of poor African children to fund raise money that never reaches the captured children. Instead, the money isused to buy luxury cars and paying themselves Wall Street salaries.

Awareness of Americans is not the solution to Africa’s problems

In a much worse incident last year, Action Aid International was taken to the Industrial Court in Kenya for using pictures of ‘poor African children’ online to raise money that was diverted to help prostitutes in Asia. Invisible Children is one of them. Invisible Children reported revenues of $13.8 million last year – aided by a $2million contribution from The Oprah Winfrey Foundation – up from $8.3 million a year earlier, according to its Internal Revenue Service filling.

Their expenses yielded a surplus of $4.9million. To the shock, transportation expenses totaled more than $1million and $850,000 for film production last year. Only 31% of its budget went to those intended, according to US Foreign Affairs.

Only a half of their budget, if used appropriately, can build thousands of houses for people who were internally displaced due to Kony. Yet they prefer to advance their filmmaking careersother than building houses for those without shelter.

Invisible Children and many other charities continue to exploit misrepresenting videos of nasty poor African kids to dig deep into the emotional minds and pockets of  Western philanthropies without doing any meaningful work on the ground. They naively spread the illusion that awareness of Americans is the solution to the problems of African and the world.

Majority of global citizens aremanipulated by Western media into thinking Africa is a poverty war stricken slum dwelling, occupied by helpless rabbit like breeding infidels on the verge of dying of HIV and mosquitoes – who need a foreign savior to survive. Has that over exaggerated awareness solved any problem for Africa? In fact it scares away tourists and investors.

Solution in Conclusion 

Individuals, charities and philanthropies who embody the interests of African people at heart should campaign to hold African leaders accountable for atrocities that occur within their jurisdiction. President Museveni should answer why 50,000 Ugandan soldiers have failed to capture 260 rebels. Overlooking the relevance of African leaderships to seek Western military interventions as Kony 2012 campaign seeks has historical destructive implications.

It’s time the world joins African people to liberate our motherland from self-centered corrupt dictators. With the right leadership in power, Africa is capable of solving ALL her problems; ending wars, educating children and protecting the human rights of women and children.

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Mayambala Mwana W’Afrika is a revolutionist and humanitarian activist from Uganda. He occasionally blogs at Mwanaw Afrika on Blogspot.