Africa’s green boondoggle will vanish the moment the illusion of free money from the wealthy West dries up—but illusions die slowly, especially when entire bureaucracies have already mentally spent the cash from projects that exist only as bullet points in someone’s PowerPoint. The Global North is still seen as an infinite ATM with a guilt complex, and as long as we keep mumbling about net zero and green transitions, you can’t blame African politicians for holding out their hands. The real problem is on our side: we need to stop broadcasting fantasies, but we won’t. So the hope lingers, the projects stall, and in the meantime, the dream of green billions keeps Africa distracted from solving its own domestic mess—which it absolutely should focus on instead.
https://tilakdoshi.substack.com/p/africas-renewable-leapfrog-is-a-miragea