Chika Onyeani
Monday December 10th, 2007
The European Union has fined five condom makers the sum of $366 million for price-fixing of the rubber used in making everything from shoe soles to condoms.
Five companies that make the rubber used to make condoms, plus other products, have been fined a total of $366 million, for price-fixing. The companies include the Italian firm Eni, Germany’s Bayer, US firms DuPont and Dow Chemical, Japan’s Denka and Tosoh. The product, Chloroprene rubber is used in many household products, including rubber soles and condoms. The US is yet to fine these companies, and the fear is that the US’s fine will be heavier.
The question here is not that the EU fined these companies, but the fact that we Africans are big consumers of condoms, especially what with the HIV/AIDS pandemic in our continent. I believe it is time that we begin to look into all these settlements of the products that Africans consume in large quantities. You remember the $250 billion settlement by cigarette makers in the US, I don’t know how much the European Union fined these cigarette makers, and then the asbestos case. All these are products that Africa consumers.
At the least, Africa should be demanding to share in these settlements, or on the alternative, begin their own probes with a view to getting settlements for Africans as consumers.
Chika Onyeani
Saturday December 1st, 2007
Overall, we must give the World Bank a grade of “A” for initiative and nothing else for the time being, after all this is the first time we have ever seen something like this. Most importantly, it goes to show that the efforts of the African Union in defining and harnessing the African Diaspora, as defined, is an model that others are willing to follow, and that Africa is capable of setting its own agenda.
When I received an email from a Mr. Richard Cambridge of the World Bank inviting me to the Bank’s “first Open House for African Diasporas,” and that the event would be held at the Bank’s headquarters in Washington, DC on November 29, 2007, I thought it would be something quite interesting and I quickly replied that I would attend, though that is a production day for the African Sun Times.
At the event, Mr. Cambridge wrote, “At this event, we expect to share information on the several ways in which the World Bank Group can support the African Diaspora in contributing to development in their home countries, and as well, how the Diaspora can support on-going and proposed Bank investments in Africa. Please share this invitation and information with other African Diaspora organizations and individuals in your community....
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