By Henry Brefo
Fastening close to their hearts the old expression ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, many Africans in the Diaspora are returning back to their native lands to pay back their dues.
From time immemorial it has been the fashion amongst Africans in the Diaspora to give back to their country of origin in the form of remittances. However, today they are not only giving back through financial transfers but actually considering their former homelands as fertile ground for investment or relocation. The Office for National Statistics keeps records of immigration and emigration patterns via nationality but does not release them to the public.
The UK, which along with other European countries has long been preferred by African migrants, is now considered an option of circumstance rather than choice. One poignant fact often not mentioned is that, for most Africans in the Diaspora, life in the UK constitutes an ontological suicide, especially given the present climate of cultural hostility.
Fed up with the climate of xenophobia beclouding UK politics, Tony, an African beautician living in the London borough of Lambeth, told African Voice that he is pleased to return to Kenya, his country of origin, to open up his own business after ten years of being in the UK. Tony spoke positively about his prospects in his hometown of Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya. He is scheduled to leave the country before the coming summer.
Talented Africans and entrepreneurs in the UK also have their eyes set on the continent. According to African Arguments, when not seeking attractive managerial and senior corporate positions in Africa, they’re busily reinvesting in lucrative projects. It comes of little surprise that, whenever a new immigration bill is introduced, Africans in the UK are caught in the crossfire even if public concern seems to rest with EU migration. The coming immigration bill, which is expected to pass into law in the spring of 2014, allows for the deportation of suspected foreign criminals without a fair hearing. Landlords are to be required to quiz tenants about their immigration status before letting out their properties. Foreign students are discriminated against by expecting them to make contributions to the National Health Service. These provisions are, in one way or another, bound to adversely impact on African migrants in the UK.
The country’s main opposition, the Labour party, has condemned the bill as ‘shambolic’. In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s The World at One, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper firmly stated that the bill “doesn’t seem to address some of the serious issues around border control and some of the problems about exploitation of immigration in the labour market, particularly low-skill immigration, which has caused concerns about jobs and wages.”
The expected bill has also dragged welfare reforms into the fray. This has been met with harebrained proposals sonorously repackaged and sold to the British public as potent remedies. Speaking to the Sunday Times, the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith unashamedly endorsed denying those under 25 years of age the right to welfare claims.
Whilst British politicians on opposing sides fumble and prattle over immigration reforms, another side of the story seems to be muted. No one is talking about the toxic impact of the proposed reforms or the perilous atmosphere of fear and anxiety engendered by ongoing debates amid the culture of hostility and hatred they promote. In many ways the palpable lack of effective integration in our communities today is more down to the to-ings and fro-ings of rabid politicians than the actions or visible presence of colourful ethnic migrants.
No real attempt has been made to actually calculate the net benefit of migration to the British economy, yet the alleged cost is almost common knowledge. It is this depressing resurgence of Powellian bravado, cast in the likeness of present day conservative crusaders that has stirred the minds of many Africans into retightening their bonds with their homelands. African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Kenya, South Africa, and Rwanda are also doing their best to facilitate business ventures and investments from the Diaspora. As the allegorical rivers of blood gush in fury, diasporan Africans in the UK sets sail en route to the homeland.
