Chofor Che: "The World Bank Has A Double Standard Over African Land Grabs Quagmire"

The libertarian blogger in Cameroon comments on Africa losing much of its land to foreign private investors due to unscrupulous African statesmen, with little public accountability: "In as much as I am an advocate for economic development, there has to be some equity on the way these land concessions are negotiated in Africa. Most of the land in Africa is given away without appropriate bargaining negotiations. The local populace are not involved in negotiating agreements. I firmly believe there should be transparency in such negotiations, which is lacking. The local populace should also be given a great chance to also benefit from the economic gains of such opportunities. More locals need to be employed to work with such initiatives. Most of all, environmental protection should be paramount, because the ozone layer is fast depleting as a result of some of these ‘land grabs’ projects. The World Bank should come out of the ‘double standard closet’ and make a firm statement, castigating state practice that favours inequity in the global ‘land grabs’ quagmire. There is no point for this financial institution to claim to have Africans at heart while it is a major instigator in the ‘land grabs’ quagmire."