Back in May 2010 Gordon Brown’s labour party lost power to a Conservative/Liberal Democratic coalition and since then most of us haven’t seen nor heard from Mr Brown, he appeared to have dropped off the face of the earth!
It turns out that he is alive and kicking and unexpectedly turned up in Kampala the capital of Uganda to attend the 15th African Union Summit
Why? If you read this BBC report and are a cynic you would conclude that he is job hunting! Please do forgive me but it does really sound that way. But who in Africa is Hiring? Can they afford him? Perhaps Libya or South Africa? Libya can certainly afford him but what sort of job would they offer him? Special envoy? Image consultant
One thing for sure Gordon Brown’s (GB) presence will boost Uganda’s confidence following the bombings on 11/7 in kampala that left 76 people dead and some badly injured!
He however made an interesting observation the “world should turn to Africa for future growth of the world economic” . Is this why the Chinese are all over Africa?
What did GB do about ensuring that African was treated as an equal economic partner and not simply as a continent from which to fetch raw materials and give hand outs to?
An observation that I made of GB he has a high sense of that which is fair and as Chancellor he appeared to be fighting Africa’s corner, although I would argue that he could have done more than throwing money at problems in Africa. For this reason he will be amongst friends at African Union summit and some will wish he was still Great Britain’s Prime Minister or at the very least Chancellor of the Exchequer . Mind you they need not worry as the Overseas Budget he left in place has been ring fenced. I do suspect though that GB may feel uneasy mixing with some who have not had the dignity to stand down when the electorate booted them out and are hanging on to power by the gun! This may not appeal to his values!
But what about the ICT industry in Africa? Is it really the key to unleashing African Growth?
The growth of ICT in Africa is very exciting indeed, the talent is certainly out there, it is certainly an area to watch!
So why is GB really in Africa?
