During the 36th Annual Black World Conference at Metropolitan State University of Denver on February 13, Africa Agenda founder George Bamu spoke about African Politics and the Western Media. It’s a subject that the organization and its leaders hold near and dear to heart.
Africa Agenda, a U.S. 501c (3) non-profit was founded with a mission to bring perspective, balance, and thoughtfulness to the reporting of global African news. This follows a period when the focus of reporters is still on what is wrong with the affairs of the continent, and not what is possible.
While the subject of Bamu’s discussion was about the reporting of the news by mostly western media organizations and how that impacted perceptions about the continent, each of the more than twenty speakers and panelists throughout the two-day event touched on a different aspect of elections and succession politics in the African continent. Africa Agenda board member, Andrew Katarikawe, originally from Uganda and who works as a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the state of Colorado, took part in a discussion about established and emerging democracies in Africa.
In his speech which lasted about 25 minutes, Bamu said misinformation about the African continent, perpetrated by people who knew very little about African affairs, costs the continent and its people much more than lost revenue in potential investments each year.
He said Africa misinformation, especially about its politics, costs the continent its dignity. “We need Americans to invest in the African continent and not turned away by bad news,” he said.
Bamu made reference to alleged negative remarks about the continent by U.S. President Donald Trump, which he said was probably one of the most misinformed statements an American president ever made about the African continent.
Please check out the attached link to hear remarks from our director. The speech and the Q & A that followed is about 30 minutes long. Look for the speech under the section “Black World Conf 2019 A”
https://msudenver.yuja.com/V/PlayList?node=1570612&a=29841394&autoplay=1