GMOs – the greatest existential threat to Africans

Africa’s social and economic transformation has, over the years, been severely derailed, delayed and disrupted mostly as a result of slave trade, colonialism and debilitating corruption. Its negative effects are far worse than the combined negative effects of colonialism, corruption and slave trade.  Its name is Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). 
 
Multinational corporations are the ones behind the drive to popularize GMOs.  They have mastered and perfected the art of propaganda and misinformation and are using the power of money, science and threats to deceive and intimidate African populations and their governments to the effect that GMOs are the golden bullet that will address Africa’s ills such as hunger, poverty and climate change.

 Imposition and legalization of GMOs in our agriculture ecosystem would spell disaster to Africans as a whole.  Let me remind you.  Seed is life.  African farmers have been planting, saving and exchanging seeds for countless generations.  Millions of them rely on them for their farming livelihoods, providing incomes and healthy food to feed their families and communities.   Then there is also a dubious and wicked plan to use GMO seeds and crops as a weapon to control the population growth rate of Africans/Black people!  GMO promoters are enamoured with a belief that black people are far too many and a way must be found to curtail their population growth rate.  In their view, GMO foods present a perfect weapon to use in order to de-escalate the growth rate of Black people!

Our impeccable call to ban GMOs in agriculture is grounded in compelling and powerful facts.  These include:
A primary goal of GMO seeds and crops is to replace indigenous seeds and crops.  That way, our livelihood, sovereignty, culture and nature will be changed forever.  
The vision of multilateral companies which are promoters of GMOs is to become the sole global suppliers of seeds for planting.  Such control would have serious political, economic and social ramifications across Africa. 

Multilateral seed companies are seeking to institute legal and financial penalties throughout Africa for farmers who fail to adopt GMO seeds which are protected by patents.  They hope to achieve this by intimidating and ‘cajoling’ African governments and their officials into submission.  They are also counting on some of our officials’ known propensity to adore and accept bribes.  Four, most Europeans and nations like China and Russia are opposed to GMOs.
 
 A considerable number of other nations around the world have banned GMOs.  Over 300 eminent research scientists in Europe are opposed to GMOs.  They include Dr. Antoniou Michael (PhD) who is a world re-known molecular geneticist.  The question is: why would Uganda choose to oppose these impeccable actors?  

GMOs are a threat to commercialization of agriculture.  All our key regional and international markets do not accept GMOs or GMO products in their countries.   These markets include the European Union, America, Japan, Canada and China.  Growing GMO crops would seal the fate of our traditional products.  There would be no market for them.  
Food insecurity on a national scale would threaten our national security as well as national stability.  Seven, as the experience of South Africa has demonstrated, GMOs are not a panacea against hunger among the population.  

Numerous negative effects of GMOs such as soil toxicity, pests resistance to toxins, antibiotic resistance, allergic reactions, immune suppression, loss of nutrition, disruption of biodiversity, tumours and cancers, decreased learning and reaction abilities and organ abnormalities have been linked to GM foods.  
As mentioned above, GMO foods are now treated as a weapon for population control.   Contraceptive corn has already been introduced on the market.   Other seeds will soon be treated the same way!  

There is dishonesty of some of our local research scientists. While they are promoting GMOs, they have not declared to what extent the scholarships, research grants and salaries they continue to benefit from multinational companies might influence their resolve to impose GMOs on Ugandans as a means of accounting to their benefactors.  
Whereas they insist that GMOs are safe, they do not want to be held liable in the event that consumers suffer harm from GMOs.  Our Ugandan scientists ruthlessly fought the inclusion of a liability clause in the Biosafety Act, 2017.
 

The writer, Dr  James Nsaba Buturo, is the Member of Parliament for Bufumbira East.