While Mr. Donald Trump was campaigning for the White House, he did not mince words in saying that his administration would cut down the huge resources the country was spending around the world. He formulated his thoughts better when he won the presidential poll. During his acceptance speech on his inauguration day, he said his focus would be America first.
Now the Trump administration has proposed to cut down on the funding of some programs undertaken in Africa. Two State Department officials have been thrown on the defensive as African-Americans in the US Congress denounced the Trump administration’s move to trim down the size of US programs in Africa.
The Republican chairman of a US House subcommittee on Africa joined his Democratic colleagues in criticising Mr. Trump’s intention to sharply reduce food aid and to scale back other initiatives benefiting sub-Saharan countries, including Kenya.
The Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Mr. Donald Yamamoto, and Cheryl L. Anderson, an acting administrator for Africa at the US Agency for International Development, USAID, told lawmakers at a subcommittee hearing that the austere presidential budget was a product of “trade-offs” and “tough choices. I know you have to support this budget, and it must be very painful because it’s just filled with contradictions,” Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass, a Black American, told Mr. Yamamoto and Ms Anderson.”This budget does not reflect your illustrious careers, and I’m sorry you have to be put in a position to defend it,” Ms Bass stated.
The California congresswoman was particularly scornful of the Trump administration’s proposal to eliminate all funding for family-planning programmes in Africa.
Such a move will lead to an increase in abortions, Ms Bass predicted, noting that the Trump team strongly opposes abortion. The congresswoman also warned that limiting access to contraception will heighten maternal death rates, which, she said, are partly a product of women’s inability to space the intervals between pregnancies.
“What’s the reason for that?” Ms Bass asked the officials in regard to the proposed elimination of family planning funding. “What’s the logic? Policy decision,” Ms Anderson of USAID replied.
Earlier in the hearing, Mr. Yamamoto and Ms Anderson had sought to justify President Trump’s Africa-related budget cuts as efforts to enhance the cost-effectiveness of US programs on the continent. The two officials also insisted that the proposed budget will not imperil peace-making and security in conflict-stricken African countries.
Congresswoman Bass pointed out, however, that “the budget is cutting peacekeeping and development, so to me that’s a direct contradiction.”
Congressman Chris Smith, the Republican chair of the Africa subcommittee, vowed that Congress will block the White House’s attempts to cut funding for nutrition and agriculture initiatives such as the Obama administration’s Feed the Future program.
Mr. Yamamoto noted that Feed the Future would continue in reduced form under the Trump proposals, as would Mr. Obama’s Power Africa plan and the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).Under that three-year-old program, as many as 1000 young Africans identified as potential leaders are brought to Washington for seminars and training.
Mr. Yamamoto said YALI is so popular that administrators have received 74,000 applications for 740 available fellowships. The State Department’s top Africa officials also described YALI as “a very good program”, but as Congresswoman Bass pointed out, it is likely to be cut under Mr. Trump’s budget proposals.
“Fifty percent,” Mr. Yamamoto affirmed. Democratic Congressman Amerish Bera, has taken issues with the ‘America First’ approach that underlies President Trump’s budget making.”The policies the president is putting forward will make us weaker and do not reflect our values,” Congressman Bera declared.
Another Democratic congressman, Joaquin Castro of Texas, warned that a diminished US presence in Africa will reduce US influence and open political opportunities for rival powers. With the Trump budget proposals, Mr. Castro said, “the US will be ceding a lot of ground to other countries, such as China”.
