Why I have been pessimistic on the WTO conference in Nairobi

The moment I got the indication that the World Trade organization 10th ministerial meeting was headed for Nairobi I was really happy. I was happy because it would significantly expose Kenya as a good country where one can visit and sample the beauty and the many nice things there in. It was also significant to me more so with other confirmed significant visits by US President Barrack Obama and Pope Francis. All these coming after a lot of image dent caused by terror attacks on Kenyan soil that almost completely wiped out important industry tourism made me optimistic. I have however been very pessimistic on the outcomes of the talks having combed the past meetings and many other trade conventions in the world.

One must take cognizant that trade and global politics go hand in hand. If you study bits of European and the discovery of new lands (the Americas) and colonialisation you would strongly link the fortunes of nations to economic prosperity or lack of. Africa has borne the brunt of two significant devastating, milieus that has failed to wash away at least for now – namely slave trade and colonialism. These two were a direct consequence of the fortunes of foreign powers in Europe and Middle East. This with more clout and significance in Europe as the Middle east were traders in slaves to feed the demand for free labour in European empires while at the same time serving the prestige’s and needs of Arab kings and merchants. European economic woes and expansionist need fueled greatly global colonialisation and Africa with abundance of raw materials and ‘free’ labour then was important in the mix.