Alioune Thiam, a.k.a. Akon, an authentic patriot is watching you!
By BOUNA SÉMOU NDIAYE
Originally published by Le Quotidien, Dakar, Senegal
The concept of dual nationality which was raised during the presidential elections deserves to be reviewed more seriously because it allows its holder to be able to play on two tables to serve his/hers interests to the detriment of a nation. The case of AKON with its two projects “Akon Lights Africa” and “Akon City” are good illustrations.
It was during a ceremony “Coca-Cola’s Africa Day celebration” on May 27 in Atlanta that Akon introduced his philanthropic agenda baptized ‘Akon Lights Africa’, a week after his friend Thione Niang and Samba Bathily presented to the United Nations at the conference on Renewable Energies For All in New York their solar energy program in Bamako, Mali.
It was in front of the authorities of Coca-Cola and their guests from the diaspora that Akon, according to Global Atlanta of June 1, 2015, in his Africa-Mali Business section signed by Trevor Williams, ran his “Humanitarian” program with a both a shameful and stateless strategy.
Akon’s strategy
You can believe me when I tell you that I am not against doing Business. This is the discipline that I learned and that I practiced in my dear Senegal and here in the USA. As for humanitarianism, I had a legal NGO here in the USA which fought malaria in my native Djolof area in Senegal for six (6) consecutive years!
Regarding elected officials in the areas where he intends to run his “Humanitarian” program, according to the source cited above taken up by The Corge in his article KONVICT MUSIC IS RIGHT: WHY AKON’S NEW SCUMBAG “PHILANTHROPY” IS THE WORST THING FOR AFRICA, AKON prefers manipulation! Akon is quoted in the two articles saying this:
“In Africa, you’ve gotta manipulate them. You have to. You have to trick ‘em. No, like, really: You’ve gotta trick ‘em,”
https://www.globalatlanta.com/singer-akons-unconventional-keys-to-social-investing-in-africa/
The “Humanitarian” project “Akon Lights Africa” is based on three points:
- He goes to an African country where elections are imminent and offers to give some rural areas free solar lighting
- Once some villages have solar lighting, this will put pressure on the authorities as the electorate of surrounding villages will include them in their grievances.
- This pressure at the time of the elections will be so strong that the authorities, who are only looking for votes, will be forced to bow down and accept the contracts that Akon will offer them.
What will Akon gain from all of this? A credit facility of up to one billion US dollars ($ 1 Billion) from Jiangsu International Group, a construction entity of the Chinese government. Who’s going to pay this billion dollar line of credit? Not him, it seems! What makes the deal more revolting is that the communities that purchase this solar lighting will be forced to “marry” China for life for spare parts.
The former Senegalese agricultural technicians are still alive. Go and ask my grandfather Amadou Diao Ndiaye, former Regional Inspector of Agriculture in Sine Saloum in the 1970s. He can tell you all about the World Bank tractors which have been immobilized for lack of expensive spare parts!
To end “Akon Lights Africa”, a large advertising campaign was launched on social networks when President Barack Obama went to visit Kenya. You could see the image of AKON with a certain Thione Niang on social media! I presented on a post the link of the article “Konvict Music …”. A lady who I was told was friends with the wife of the US Ambassador to Dakar at the time was so offended that she asked me to stop intervening on her Facebook wall.
I had to face the wrath of Akon’s fan club on Twitter. When they verbally attacked me, I let them know that I was the wrong target because I was not the author of the articles cited. Here in the USA where the authors reside, a simple lawsuit would have been enough to clarify the situation and wash your idol with water!
Akon and his futurist city: “Akon City”
On December 8, 2019 a former college friend in the USA, Ms. Allison Windfield sent me a message late at night asking me what about this futuristic city of AKON. I was in Dakar, Senegal then. I took the time to read the article about this city. What seemed odd and unacceptable to me was that it is said that President Macky Sall HAD GIVEN him “2,000 acres “. When I did the conversion it was 8,093,713 square meters. I was so ashamed that my country was perceived by all who know me in the USA as a country of S**T that anyone can buy because we are so corrupt and the one and only way to protect himself from this corruption in Africa is for AKON to create his own currency “AKOIN”! I replied furtively: Macky himself doesn’t have 8,093,713 square meters, let alone to give them away! I immediately started my research to finally come across an article published on the Au-Senegal.com site in which they talk about La Cité Verte of Mbodienne, a city that has been standing for decades. In this article, the memorandum of understanding signed between SAPCO (an entity of the Ministry of Tourism of Senegal) and AKON is 50 ha equivalent to 500,000 square meters! Can we talk about exaggeration, Fake News, or lies? I visited that area in December, 2019. There is no such space 5 minutes from the airport, like he said!
https://cbs4indy.com/2020/01/14/akon-creates-his-own-city-called-akon-city-in-senegal/
What hurts the most in all this is that this crazy story is published on the most visited sites in the USA (CNN, WTTV, … and FOX News).
The Fox News page is where it is said that most racists and “White Supremacists” are found. I took the time to go through the reactions of the readers of this page. While some with a lot of irony think that Akon is going to create the imaginary city Wakanda of the film Black Panther, others took the opportunity to launch their racist remarks like Harry T Bagger who says this, speaking of blacks: “GREAT! A PLACE TO SEND THEM ALL BACK! MAGA! “Great! A good place to return them, all of them! “” KAG! TRUMP 2020! MAGA “! Hold on tight, these phrases or acronyms are President Trump’s party’s slogans! MAGA = Make America Great Again. KAG = Keep America Great.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/akon-announces-futuristic-akon-city-in-senegal
Akon and his cryptocurrency
In the publication of “Grit Daily” on January 17, 2020 Akon explains his reasons for using his “cryptocurrency” which is nothing more than an electronic money that works with the existence of a database called Blockchain. The reliability of this database and the trust placed in it are decisive factors in judging the credibility of this instrument.
It is said in this article that the use of this cryptocurrency is to protect “his city” from political turmoil and unstable economic practices.
As I understand it, AKON’s cryptocurrency in “his city” is based on a private blockchain which is only accessible by centralized permission. If so, we are not talking about cryptocurrency but rather an alternative called RIPPLE!
Currency is generally known as something that is under the control of a state. In this case, control escapes the State. The recent case of Libra Cryptocurrency from Facebook, Visa, Mastercard… which created a lot of waves and Paypal which was supposed to be a major partner bowed out, when they wanted to go international, France and Germany have categorically refused because they saw a problem with the threat of their sovereignty! Unless President Macky Sall gives him (AKON) the OK to install his cryptocurrency with the blessing of the West Africa Central Bank (BCEAO), I don’t see how it can be implemented!
The recent history of cryptocurrencies has provided dramatic results. Endless scams, including five cryptocurrency managers BitClub, are accused of fraud to the tune of $ 722 million.
I thought it would be cowardly not to clarify Akon’s actions on the net relating to my dear Senegal and all of Africa! Doing so is a civic duty that comes from a Senegalese authentic Patriot!
This author, Bouna Sémou Ndiaye is the producer and host of “Bonjour Africa” in Dakar Senegal.
Email: barrometre1@gmail.com
WNCU 90.7FM (U.S.A.)
WRTU 89.7FM (Porto Rico)
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish