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<h1><b>How the present day land-grabbing in Africa is forcing thousands
to migrate to
Europe</b></h1>
<a href="https://yasinkakande.com/2020/06/06/how-the-present-day-land-grabbing-in-africa-is-forcing-thousands-to-migrate-to-europe/" eudora="autourl">
https://yasinkakande.com/2020/06/06/how-the-present-day-land-grabbing-in-africa-is-forcing-thousands-to-migrate-to-europe/<br>
<br>
</a>ON
<a href="https://yasinkakande.com/2020/06/06/how-the-present-day-land-grabbing-in-africa-is-forcing-thousands-to-migrate-to-europe/">
2020-06-06</a> BY
<a href="https://yasinkakande.com/author/yasinkakande/">YASINKAKANDE</a>
IN
<a href="https://yasinkakande.com/category/africa/">AFRICA</a><br><br>
<a href="http://tlio.org.uk/how-the-present-day-land-grabbing-in-africa-is-forcing-thousands-to-migrate-to-europe/" eudora="autourl">
http://tlio.org.uk/how-the-present-day-land-grabbing-in-africa-is-forcing-thousands-to-migrate-to-europe/<br>
<br>
</a><i>IN
THIS<a href="https://www.voice-online.co.uk/entertainment/books/2020/04/16/how-the-present-day-land-grabbing-in-africa-is-forcing-thousands-to-migrate-to-europe/">
exclusive excerpt</a> from his new book Why We Are Coming, author Yasin
Kakandean international journalist, migrant activist and TED Fellowlays
bare the shocking truth about the Western exploitation of Africa that is
the root cause of Africans choosing to leave their homelands for the UK,
US and other developed nations. <br><br>
</i><b>Across</b> Africa many Western investors, including Wall Street
bankers and wealthy individuals, are rushing in to acquire agricultural
land and are displacing hundreds of thousands of Africans. This
shift places the food system in Africa in the hands of a few Western
corporations whose interests are, first and foremost, economic
gain.<br><br>
<img src="cid:7.0.1.0.1.20210316015434.051ac3f0@cultureshop.org.uk.0" width=389 height=129 alt="Emacs!">
<br><br>
The list of these recent acquisitions is long and still many of these
shady deals are going unreported. Here are a few reported cases which are
as graphic; The American investor Philippe Heilberg signed a farmland
deal with Paulino Matip, a Sudanese warlord, to lease 400,000 hectares of
land (an area the size of Dubai ) in South Sudan in July 2008. South
Korean conglomorate Daewoo announced it was leasing 1.3 million hectares
(3.2 million acres) of Madagascar for 99 years for about $12 an acre in
2008. In Southern Uganda about the 14,000 villagers who were evicted from
their land when the Ugandan government leased 8,000 hectares of land to a
Norwegian timber company (Green Resources) in the forest area of
Bukaleba. British’s Tullow acquired 102,500 hectares in Lake Albert Rift
basin to explore oil.<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>“The west’s acquisition of continental land is a threat to African
economies and livelihoods”<br><br>
</dl>In 2017, the Ugandan government tabled a land bill amendment
proposal on compulsory acquisition of land for public use, and that it
may deposit in court a befitting sum for the land it wants to acquire
from the owner. President Yoweri Museveni, a western corporate puppet
went on broadcast outlets to explain to the citizens that the amendments
are framed for the country’s better interests, and that the government
taking over land from owners they deem not suitable for agriculture and
giving it to investors ultimately will bring in more revenue to Uganda.
Designating some parcels as public land has been the easiest way African
leaders have facilitated the land grab in their countries and then they
would hand over that land to foreign investors with not so much of a fair
compensation to the previous African land owners.<br><br>
The African leaders who are handing over fertile African land with easy
access to water to Western corporations are doing the same thing that
colonialists did in earlier times when they designated millions of acres
as public land. In Kenya after the highlands were declared “crown land”
the British colonialists handed over to Lord Delamere 100,000 acres at a
cost of a penny per acre. Lord Francis Scott purchased 350,000 acres and
the East African Syndicate Ltd. took 100,000 acres, all at give-away
prices. In Liberia in 1926, the Firestone Rubber Company acquired a
million acres of forest land at a cost of six cents per acre. And in The
Congo King Leopold II issued decrees that designated all free parcels as
government land in effect as his own property, sole proprietorship. He
amassed all parcels that natives had not cultivated but instead set aside
as hunting grounds or as a plentiful source of wood for building, or for
mining iron ore to be used in tools and weapons. The 21st century has
seen that practice continue, albeit in a different form.<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>“The future is much darker than what even analysts have
predicted”<br><br>
</dl>Even though it is important to invest in the African agricultural
sector, the West’s acquisition of continental land is a threat to African
economies and livelihoods. Evidence shows that these land deals often
lack transparency and are frequently mismanaged by governments.
Smallholder farmers who are the majority in Africa are being displaced in
the process. These farmers are starting to realize what the foreign
investors are doing to their livelihoods, and with nothing much to do
many are resorting to migration to these countries.<br><br>
In Africa the European and American foreigners own the land, mines,
banks, factories, fuel stations, airlines, and all the wealth coming from
these sources are shipped or transferred to the West and what is left in
Africa for Africans? What do the citizens of African countries have in
their countries to keep them home not to emigrate – nothing or too little
to sustain their families even on the most modest expectations. This is
worsened by the fact that even prospective means like employment that
would give them the opportunity to own their titles and deeds to land are
nonexistent. At least they can see prospects of employment even in menial
jobs in the West or in Middle East countries, much less than the
potential to collaborate and start their own enterprises.<br><br>
African resources are fast becoming depleted and its population is
growing at a faster corresponding pace. By 2050, it is predicted the
population in most African countries will have doubled and the continent
will have almost depleted all of its resources. The future is much darker
than what even analysts have predicted and, for sure, more African
migrants will continue trying to get to Europe or the U.S. where their
resources have built stable economies. Europe and America are already
definitely concerned about these demographics and more worried because
even family planning strategies that have been promoted in the continent
for a long time have not had any yields. Europe and the U.S. stand alone
to address honestly the exploitation of Africa and demand from their
corporations honest and decent trade practices with the continent.<br>
<img src="https://www.voice-online.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/yasin-front-cover2-1.jpg" alt="[]">
<br><br>
Why We Are Coming by Yasin Kakande is out now, priced £15.43 in paperback
and £4.64 as an eBook (£4.64). Visit
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0851LLFWB/">Amazon</a>. For
more information, visit
<a href="https://yasinkakande.com/">www.yasinkakande.com</a>.<br>
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