Thursday, November 10, 2005

Whither African diplomats in the west?

Pan Africanist writer Baffour Ankomah, irked by the constant delvings of western ambassadors in Africa wants to know what Africa's diplomats in the west are doing that comparable.
"I don’t understand why Western ambassadors and their subsidiary diplomats in Africa are free to pronounce on, and many times even interfere in, African domestic affairs whilst African ambassadors and diplomats in the West never ever open their damn mouths about the internal affairs of the Western countries in which they serve. Why? Is it a case of colonial hangover? Shivering in the presence of the Master? Dear African ambassadors everywhere, please give us some education here. We all know about the exploits in Kenya of the American ambassador posted there many years ago under President Moi, and recently the British high commissioner in Nairobi, Sir Edward Clay, (who has since retired). There was once a British high commissioner in Accra whose frequent interference in Ghanaian domestic matters sent President Rawlings raving mad. And yet, you don’t ever hear a squeak from the Ghanaian (or any other African for that matter) high commissioner or ambassador in London about British domestic matters. I want to know why? Why don’t we ever see our ambassadors calling press conferences in London or Washington or Paris or Tokyo or Berlin or Stockholm or Amsterdam and criticising some British or other European domestic matter, like their ambassadors do in Africa? Or are they more human or smarter than we are?" From the July issue of The New African Magazine.
Your thoughts?

  • << Home