Poisoned Ivorians reject payout-What an insult.!

It comes as not much of a surprise that, for the nth time, Western Companies who treat African countries like dumping grounds or exploitation fields, depending on their mood, have again gotten of the hook. The Dutch oil-trading group Trafigura agreed to pay pay $198m (£102m) for a clean-up and investigation for dumping toxic waste that killed children in Ivory Coast. The families of 16 people who died when the waste was dumped in Abidjan were offered $200,000 (£100,000) each, with smaller sums to thousands who fell ill. And that amount is less than half the total allocated to the government.

It is such an insult that the government would treat its people like this. Though I understand the need to retain some money for the clean up, the government owes the people justice. It is mind boggling how on one hand governments want respect from teh West and on the other they show none to their people and even the dead. Of course no amount of pounds could bring back the 16 lives stolen by the quest for profits, but for the Ivorian government to go so far as just giving these people $200 K is insulting. More insulting is that these companies are just treating this as collateral damage or an unfortunate business expense, and I would not be surprised if they did this again elsewhere. But unless and until Africans demonstrate that African lives are worth more than a business expense, we will not in any way gain the respect we need and deserve. And I am yet to see what the Nigerians will do with Pfizer for coming in to the country to kill for profits that Nigeria will never enjoy. Are not these the same companies that do not want to release HIV AIDS drugs to the continent? What an insult to our collective self.