Filed under: Poli-ticks
"Well at least it's big..."
Imagine you’re the president of a country ranking 166 out of 182 in the Human Development Index, a country where roughly half the population lives below the poverty line, a country that still relies heavily on foreign assistance just for basic survival. Now imagine you have $27m to spend, what would you spend it on? Food? Housing? Schools? Hospitals? Paying off some debts? All of the above?
Well if you’re president Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal you would have shouted Big Giant Statue! The African Renaissance Monument is a 49 m bronze statue outside Dakar overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. For comparison’s sake it overshadows Rio’s Christ the Redeemer‘s mere 39.6 m and it is also a bit taller than the Statue of Liberty minus pedestal and foundation (46 m).
To be fair the president defends himself by stating that the statue wasn’t paid for with cash but with land but Economy 101 would suggest that land, not unlike money, could also be exchanged for other goods and/or services (you know like food, housing, schools, hospitals…). Well at the very least Senegal now has a beacon showcasing African craftmanship and creativity…except that it doesn’t. Don’t you think the monument has something of a communisty-look? That’s because it’s built by North Koreans in socialist realism-style. It’s not a huge leap to imagine Stalin stealing a baby from a woman bacause he wants a snack when looking at the monument.
The monument is supposed to stand for the African Renaissance but instead it represents what’s still haunts Africa today: bad governance. The fact that the president wants 35% of the profits raised by the monument just for the mere fact that it was his idea says enough.
The opening of the monument on April 4th 2010 also commemorates the 50th anniversary of Senegal’s independence from France. I’m all for splurging on big events but this is beyond splurging…Some already compare the monument to the Eiffel Tower but France at least had food and didn’t flood everytime it rained before thinking about prestige projects. Was there even a renegade Senegalese minister who said “Hey, it’s our 50th anniversary, how about eliminating illiteracy? (adult literacy rate of 41.9% in 2007) or maybe even strive to make our citizens live longer (life expectancy of 55.4 in 2007).”
Nope! Big Giant Statue!
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