The Catholic Church in Uganda Accused of Child Labour by the BBC
The BBC Telling the African Story the Wrong Way
In a very strong statement the BBC recently
linked the Uganda Catholic Church to child labour. Once again it was very bad
reporting, that bad manners of theirs, they simply never seem to grow some
balls in bothering to get to understand the African context before pretending
to narrate African stories. I mean it is extremely difficult to draw a line
between child labour and a child being taught to learn to work in Africa. I can
do that, the BBC cannot. In the west, not most of the people are peasant farmers, as such
they may be teaching their children how to learn to work by training them how
to type on a computer or how to use an electronic moper. It would be
unreasonable for an African from black Africa to conclude that there is child
labour at the sight of children doing that in the West. What do they expect
with African children whose parents know only hoes? Why must it be always child
labour if and when African children accompany and help their parents to carry
out the only activities that are known to them? How then will they ever learn
to work and how do we then ensure they do not grow to be lazy and useless
adults? I do not know. I honestly know for sure that it is time western media
and indeed western civilization in general stopped narrating our story until
they are ready to accept to learn and appreciate some things.
The Really Issue
That said, here is the point. Why should the Catholic Church in
Uganda, particularly Kabale Diocese engage in tea farming? I think that should
have been the question. The BBC should have exposed the Catholic Church's
rather unbecoming tendency towards unacceptable form of capitalism in which its
leaders who dwell in the sanctuary are becoming modern time bourgeoisies and
turning their members who dwell in the assembly into modern day proletariat,
mimicking cheap labour, exploiting the poor and perpetuating poverty. On what
grounds can the Church justify any form of economic engagement that in effect
impoverishes the people? What is the morality behind such acts? Is the Vatican
aware and what are they doing about it? Is this the kind of African Catholic
Church that we want to build in the 21st century? Is the Church becoming a
colonizer and a tool of systematic oppression? I think these are some of the
issues that the BBC should have brought out, not simply jumping to the aroma of
child labour which might not even be the case. Actually most of those children
who were seen 'working' in the tea plantation fields were simply helping out
their parents who had been cheaply hired out by the Church to plant tea
seedlings.
The Catholic Church in Uganda Accused of Child Labour by the BBC
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
January 11, 2016
Rating:
No comments: