By Ben Kerrigan
David Cameron’s hypocrisy in calling Nigeria and Afghanistan fantastically corrupt has backfired.
The UK prime minister was blissfully naive in overlooking both the presence of the cameras and the corrupt state of the UK itself.
Indeed, the comparisons in corruption are marked by a big gulf, but are there nevertheless. Britain has for years opened their banks, Estate agents and property markets to those with corrupt money, without scrutiny.
Today, foreign nationals from Nigeria and Afghanistan can settle in Britain if they have £2m pounds. The source of their money could have been a bank robbery as far as anyone cares.
Besides, efforts by the Nigerian government and campaigning groups to get the UK government to prevent corrupt Nigerians from investing their stolen cash in Britain is likely to hit a dead wall. Millions , if not billions of pounds stolen from a country known for its corruption have for years been put in our banks and used to buy luxurious houses that some of these thieves don’t even live in.
David Cameron statement that Nigeria and Afghanistan are fantastically corrupt was unwarranted and an unnecessary show of arrogance against a country colonized by his ancestors. These are nations poorly trained by terrible leaders of the past. Nigerian president, Muhammed Buhari, has spent a great part of his regime combating corruption. It is for this purpose Buhari is in England to attend Thursdays anti corruption summit.
Afghanistan is also a country that has left many stains on the British government. Years of military involvement, however well intended, have failed to improve the country. The history of illegal arms sold there and to Iraq go a long way to showing an intolerable level of double standards that first require redress before Cameron can launch the sort of verbal assaults he did before her Royal highness in the presence of the cameras.
Cameron seems to have forgotten about the recent tax avoidance haven splashed across every paper following revelations he personally profited from his father’s offshore tax avoidance havens. The prime minister was evasive about aspects of that offshore account
David Cameron’s hypocrisy that Nigeria and Afghanistan are fantastically corrupt has surely backfired. There was no need for his comments.
