KR#7: Poisonous partnerships and the colonial bogeyman
New investigations and analysis from ZAM and our network.
In this edition of the Kleptocracy Report:
ZAM’s new Sell Outs transnational investigation exposes the lobbyists, ruling party go-betweens and other local enablers who facilitate natural resource deals in Africa, selling out their countries’ wealth.
An op-ed by Ugandan NAIRE member Benson Mulindwa takes issue with African autocrats who use the “colonial bogeyman” to justify their own misgovernance and oppression.
An interview with Gilbert Bukayeneza, editor of the new Great Lakes journalism entity Ukweli, about an investigation into trafficking of young women away from Burundi and into domestic slavery elsewhere, enabled by powerful politicians
A project called “Glitching the Future” aims to wrestle tech away from the sole control of white billionaires.[Ed: Our mistake. Glitching the Future will be in next month’s newsletter!]Stories and comments from the network.
Apologies for being one week late with this issue of the Kleptocracy Report! We were busy finalising our latest transnational investigation into the poisonous partnerships between kleptocrats in Africa and Western multinationals. This work complements ZAM’s main op-ed this month by Benson Mulindwa about the “colonial bogeyman.”
In African investigative journalism, we often notice that leaders who oppress their citizens and exploit their countries’ resources for own benefit, counter criticism by crying about the “colonialism” of their accusers. While Mulindwa’s piece deals with Uganda, the most blatant example of this tactic in our recent memory is the case of Bell Pottinger in South Africa. The (now defunct) British PR company was hired to defend kleptocrat South African president Jacob Zuma from growing criticism by civil society and his political opponents. The firm’s campaign used ideas about “white monopoly capital” and “economic emancipation” — terms rooted in legitimate critiques about the post-colonial economic structure of South Africa — to frame Zuma’s corruption as progressive and pro-Black, and his detractors as handmaidens of neo-colonial white elites. Ironic, considering the firm’s role as an elite propaganda machine for the imperial core.
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Sell Outs: The patrons who make the deals about their countries
The exploitative stance taken by many multinationals in African countries has often been highlighted. Multiple reports expose how they appropriate natural wealth on the cheap, pollute communities, and exploit workers. But the facilitation of this all by powerful African political elites has remained in the shadows.
Thus starts ZAM’s latest transnational investigation called Sell Outs, which exposes an entire “corrupt political class” in Zambia; a cohort of ruling-party-connected (and often fake) businessmen in Mozambique; Congolese functionaries who guide investors to the richest prospecting; and other local partners who help multinationals extract wealth from African countries.
The first instalment in this publication consists of the general cover story, along with the first and second country case studies. The remaining chapters will be published in coming weeks.
The journalists behind Sell Outs
Talking about their experiences investigating the sell outs, Charles Mafa (Zambia) and Estacio Valoi (Mozambique) both emphasised the importance of unearthing local complicity in exploitative natural wealth deals in African countries. “We exposed previously undocumented instances of political interference in mining licensing, where ruling party insiders, chiefs, and ministry officials circumvent official procedures to obtain — or even fabricate — licences,” Mafa said, adding that he hoped that the report would “galvanise civic demand for investigations into and prosecutions of such sell outs.” He also pointed out that “the revelation that artisanal miners often earn more through informal means than through legal channels might spark community mobilisation for fair pricing systems and more inclusive participation in the benefits of mining.”
Valoi said that in this report, “we used different mechanisms and asked different key questions [than are usual in resource exploitation stories]. Here the main issue was to portray those directly involved in selling out our African countries: exactly who they are and how they do it.” He went on to say that, “by doing it this way we were able to link up with communities and expose to them the main people who contribute to their poverty, whom they should hold accountable. That is more useful to them than just saying that ‘a foreign company or government stole billions,’ without giving (local people) an idea of how this works.”
The work was risky at times, Mafa says when asked what, besides the content, was new to him during this project. “Particularly disturbing were the threats and physical intimidation I experienced at the hands of politically connected individuals. They wield such significant power and influence that they even dared to defy law enforcement with impunity.” As an example, given in the story, Mafa described how an individual who threatened him dared him to go to the police, saying it would not help because “he was a well-connected man.”
The colonial bogeyman
In his op-ed, Benson Mulindwa takes issue with oppressive rulers — like the Museveni regime in Uganda — who torture and disappear activists while accusing those same activists of being used by Western colonialists. “Put up with my torture”, say the despots, “or the colonialists will return to torture you”, Mulindwa writes, adding: “This while our our gerontocracy, which is what Uganda is, [is] stitched together by patronage that cannot build roads, schools, or improve healthcare or education.”
(Mulindwa is a pseudonym, allocated to the author precisely because of the risks faced by critics of Uganda’s regime.)
Human trafficking and undercover journalism
In a groundbreaking investigation, the new Great Lakes media centre Ukweli Coalition has exposed high-level complicity in the trafficking of young women from Burundi into hellish domestic work conditions in Saudi Arabia. The investigation reveals how state-approved agencies, including some run by high-level ruling party members and members of parliament in Burundi, have trafficked thousands of women into workplaces where they are often underpaid, beaten, and not given enough food.
The investigation “would have been impossible to do in Burundi itself,” says Ukweli editor in chief Gilbert Bukayeneza, “because the journalists there operate under bad conditions.” The authoritarian government, similar to other countries in the Great Lakes Region like Rwanda, is known for its human rights violations and their harsh actions against independent journalists. “If you are openly conducting journalism you are under great pressure to align with the narrative of those in power.” For this project, Ukweli therefore connected “outside” journalists, mainly exiled Burundian colleagues, with colleagues inside who “accessed the information undercover.” “We further worked transnationally with our partners Africa Uncensored (Kenya), and AfriqueXXI (France) for safety and impact.”
“This is the only way to get journalism going in our Great Lakes region,” says Bukeyeneza. “Most of our countries suffer trauma, conflict, and oppression. Only by working together we can hold leaders to account and provide hope for communities.” It is very difficult, he admits, because “we as journalists really need to get to know one another first before we embark on sensitive projects. Because of our history, we don’t trust easily, and rightly so, because we do place our lives into one another’s hands. We do a lot of workshopping.”
News from the network
A 6-month investigation by the Kenyan Nation in collaboration with Bellingcat has uncovered Kenyan-branded ammunition in Sudan’s war-ravaged capital Khartoum, raising serious questions about Kenya’s potential role in a conflict that has devastated the country. The investigation reveals how munitions linked to Kenya’s Ministry of Defence were found in former depots operated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Mozambique’s LNG project was supposed to bring prosperity to the country. Instead it has fueled the fires of civil unrest. And while local residents are struggling to survive, a small cadre of elite consultants have found success amidst the rubble. NAIRE member Estacio Valoi, also featured above as one of the team members in ZAM’s Sell Outs investigation, dived into gas exploitation in Mozambique, with its own set of consultants and enablers profiting from corruption.
Our colleagues at Ghana Business News have come out to slam an injunction against their reporter Samuel Appiah, who was forbidden by a judge to even start investigating a case of corrupt dealing between the Lysaro procurement company and the state. “That was not well-grounded in law,” says editor in chief Emmanuel Dogbevi. “But unfortunately, we have a history of corruption and incompetence of judges in Ghana.” Dogbevi is, however, optimistic that the case will be won eventually and the investigation will proceed. “The new government is arresting and prosecuting a lot of the corrupt people in the previous administration. In the judiciary too, previous appointments are being questioned. The Chief Justice has even been suspended.” Does Dogbevi not fear, like fellow Ghanaian Delali Adogla-Bessa, that the new administration will simply appoint its own corrupt and incompetent people?” “They would be rather stupid to do so. Because next time when another party comes into power it will be their turn. I am sure they are noting that.”
Several journalists based in Kaduna have shared accounts of alleged harassment, detention, and physical assault by security agencies – particularly the police – raising fresh concerns about press freedom and journalist safety in Nigeria. Read some of their stories on the ICIR website.
Meanwhile, The Insight looked at the impact of violence on the Nigerian economy, the government’s disproportionate spending on police and defence, and how the government’s failure to materially improve the lives of its citizens contributes to the ongoing cycle of violence.
Jaya Khamala reflected on the June 2024 protests in Nairobi, one year on, for ZAM.
And to come soon: the upcoming Sell Outs chapter from The Gambia describes how community engagement is stopping corrupt building on protected wetlands.