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By Ike Abonyi

“ _My recent election has a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and give people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and indeed their freedom”-Donald_ J. Trump

Monday’s epoch-making inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America, USA, is already configuring global politics. From Europe to Asia, Africa to North and South America, China to Russia, the Middle East to the Caribbean, Western or Arab World, Christians or Muslims, name it, the global community will feel the impact of his coming.

Trump has, in several ways, established himself in a way that cannot be challenged or denied as the most controversial political leader in contemporary times.
No matter the pretense being witnessed since Trump’s victory last November, most World leaders except perhaps the two warmongers, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, never wanted him returned to the White House, but American voters agreed with his America First message, and donated the mandate to him.

The apprehension over Trump’s coming is not limited to any particular person or group because of his unpredictable and erratic behaviours in the past. Even his Republican Party members are still in trepidation over Trump’s unpredictability.

In fact, the majority of the American voters who chose Trump ahead of Vice President Kamal Harris last November are themselves even nervous, unsure of how and where the Trump wind would blow. Perhaps the general mood in the US is as captured in the valedictory address to Americans by the immediate past Trump predecessor, Joe Biden, who warned of the dangers of an oligarchy gaining power.

“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom,” he said.

The Octogenarian and immediate past President took aim at an ultra-wealthy “tech-industrial complex” which he said could wield unchecked power over Americans. Incidentally, what the Democrat President is bemoaning about and is apprehensive of is exactly what they dished to most African countries, including Nigeria, where the ultra-corrupt rich hijacked political power subtly supported by America and their European allies. What goes around comes around they say.

Americans, over time, have postured themselves as the global police, trying to directly or indirectly flog everyone to line and to define the mode of democracy applicable to each. If you are as old and demented as Paul Biya of Cameroun and you are dancing to American music, you can be allowed to define and operate your own form of democracy. It’s immaterial how the citizens of the country feel or whether good governance is being delivered.

And if you are doing well like the late Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi, delivering democracy dividends to your people, deploying the resources of the people accordingly to their welfare needs, and you are not in America’s good book, your brand of democracy will be blacklisted and they’ll find a way to eliminate you.
If you are a friend of America and grab power through any means outside the ballot and run with it to the embarrassment of the international observers and monitors, America will look away and come up with a statement saying some anomalies reported but they are not enough to discredit the poll.
America’s duplicitous behaviour in international politics has become so notorious and embarrassing that hardly is their voice still considered credible. America’s claim to being a lover of democracy has become as untrue as the Nigeria Police saying that they are our friends and that they are human rights respecters or that bail is free in their stations. To Nigerians, nothing can be farther from the truth than that.
Whether Republicans or Democrats, America’s global leadership has been integrity challenged even though more of this deficiency was recorded under the Democrats’ regime especially as it relates to Africa and third-world democracies.

The meddlesomeness of America in Africa under the Democrat regime has been below-par and disgusting.
As Trump climbed the throne of the almighty America again, our political musing this week will centre on global expectations with a particular interest in the people he, Trump in 2018 referred to as ‘shithole countries’.
During his crazy first term, President Donald Trump speaking during a news conference with Norwegian Prime Minster Erna Solberg in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 10, 2018, in Washington referred to African countries, Haiti and El Salvador as ‘ Shithole’ nations wondering why the US can’t have more immigrants from countries like Norway. Trump repeated the insult during a meeting with a bipartisan group of Senators at the White House.

Of all the anger and the hullabaloo that trailed the obvious aspersions, none could elicit any contrition from Trump. Not even after the United Nations Human Rights office and the African Union described the outburst as shocking and racist demanding a retraction and an apology that never came. Global condemnation of the obnoxious remarks meant nothing.

Incidentally, as Trump returned for his second term on Monday, nothing has changed fundamentally in the shithole nations to warrant any perception of  change from him. There has not been any political cleansing in Africa? Rather, the situation has even gotten worse; the exodus of Africans out of the continent, with the majority eyeing America, has even multiplied. In Nigeria, the giant of Africa, the ‘Japa’ syndrome entered an unimaginable tempo in the last twenty months of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s era.
Although it’s obvious that Trump did not prioritize the African continent in his political agenda there is still a lot he can do if he sincerely hopes to return America to the front seat in democratic governance by limiting immigrants from Africa to the US. This certainly cannot be done by his provocative and derogatory comments about non-white countries and immigrants without doing anything to fundamentally address their problems from the root. Trump’s unguided utterances if it continues in his second term will harm America’s image and his administration irretrievably. Trump’s rhetoric in his first term elicited a lot of criticism for perpetuating harmful stereotypes and fueling xenophobia and racism. He must learn this time to promote diplomacy, understanding, and cooperation between countries and stop treating nations with disrespect and disdain. This entails recognizing the inherent value and dignity of all nations and peoples, regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances.

America, with its supremacy image in global politics, should rather focus on promoting a more inclusive and respectful approach to international relations. Since Africa constitutes a chunk of America’s immigration challenges, even without prioritizing the continent, there are still a few potential ways Trump’s era could help Africa’s democracy.
The fundamental step is to first ascertain why Africans are leaving their homeland in droves to a place they are referred to as shitholes. Poor governance delivery is at the root and this is made worse by the leadership recruitment model applicable in the continent.
The Western World has not done enough to see the government of the people, by the people, and for the people to thrive in Africa. Instead, they align with a few rich greedy politicians who milk the land and leave the people impoverished.
Eighty percent of Africa’s wealth is in the hands of a few ex- and serving public officers who domiciled them in Europe and America for their children and siblings to enjoy while the people groan at home.
These criminal gangs holding power in Africa are friends and partners of the West who help them to abet bad governance.
So if Trump is sincere and really wants to address Africa’s immigration challenges, he must show more than a passing interest in democratic governance in Africa. If Africa gets its democracy right with the abundant natural and Human Resources at their disposal, immigration issues will be drastically reduced. Who really wants to leave his homeland to be a foreigner and embrace irritating cultures and innovations that are completely at variance with their values?

If Trump is sincere about his America Foreign policy, he should encourage good governance by developing an African strategy that emphasizes the importance of good governance and accountability. By promoting these values, the US could have helped African countries build stronger, more democratic institutions.
Trump should also deliberately initiate and promote economic growth aimed at increasing trade and investment between the US and Africa. Through this, African democracies will be strengthened by reducing poverty and inequality, which is a critical challenge of governance in the continent.
So long as the African region is not stable, America’s immigration issue will continue to be undermined and America will remain culpable. For instance, if America had not destabilized Libyan by eliminating Gaddafi unjustly, the security challenges in the Sahel region wouldn’t have been there including the menacing Nigeria Boko Haram terrorists. Democracy cannot flourish in an unstable environment.
If Trump sincerely wants to help Africa and other shithole countries, he should be pragmatic in dealing with them; he should not be transactional, which is what Western leaders do to keep us divided and impoverished while they come with their aides. What Africa needs is not donors, not suppliers of fish but those who can help them utilize their natural God-given gifts.

If Trump, this time, helps to reduce or eliminate bad governance and tackle corruption in Africa, his immigration headache will subside significantly. Let the seeming disquiet in the shithole nations over Trump’s return to the White House bring good tidings to their democracy, not to do that is to keep the shit in the hole smelly and dangerous to the body.
For African leaders, let us, for once, feel ashamed of our situation and refuse to be used as a subjugation tool against our people. East or West, we are taught that home is the best; let us remove the shit in our hole and make our homeland really the best.
God help us.

* Source: New Telegraph Newspaper Thursday Back Page of January 23, 2025