Have you ever received a poisoned gift? Do you remember the Fall of Troy with the story of the Trojan horse as told in the Odyssey of Homer? The Greeks built a huge wooden horse at the behest of Odysseus, and hid a select force of soldiers inside including Odysseus himself; they pretended to sail away leaving the wooden horse behind, and the Trojans thinking that it was a gift from the Greeks pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night, the Greek force came out of the horse, opened the city gates for the rest of the Greek army, and destroyed the entire city defeating the Trojans. 

Last week, we heard Bill Gates say that he will be leaving the majority of his $200 billions to the future of Africa towards education, healthcare, and innovation. His focus will be maternal and child health, infectious diseases, and poverty. He plans to work closely with governments, local organizations, and partners across Africa to implement plans. It is quite laudable that such a rich man would want to “give away” his fortune. However, one cannot be blinded by some loud elements that would make this questionable. 

In 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was involved in a clinical trial of cervical cancer vaccines in India which killed and handicapped thousands of girls, causing the organization to be kicked out of the country. In December 2024, Gates called India “a laboratory to try things,” which caused an uproar. Indian farmers have also protested against controversial laws promoting privatization of agriculture passed by the government supported by Gates.

In Kenya, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation faced criticism for its involvement in the livestock vaccination; the green revolution promised by Gates through one of his organizations AGRA has wreaked so much havoc and destruction. There have also been adverse effects of some of his other vaccines (including meningitis or tetanus) on young girls, or the polio vaccine which caused issues, in some cases there are claims of young girls getting sterilized or dying. This caused the removal of the foundation’s diplomatic immunity in the country. Can you imagine a non governmental organization and its staff receiving diplomatic immunity from legal action in a country? What are they hiding to need such? This was canceled in April 2025. Recently, we heard about genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes introduced by his foundation in Djibouti to fight malaria; who has approved this? Once the mosquitoes are released in Djibouti, what is to stop them from crossing the border to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, or even Yemen?

Thus, when this same person, who for many years was the richest man on earth and thus could pay off any government in the world, says he is pledging his money to Africa for “maternal and child health“, it raises concerns. Remember when Melinda Gates said that “family planning is vital” and pledged almost $5 billion to ensure that the African woman is less fertile, less encumbered and yes, she said more “liberated“. In a 2010 TED talk, Bill Gates expressed the hope that vaccines along with “family planning” could bring population growth to nearer zero.

Why is the fertility of the African woman such a problem to these people (remember Macron and his monologue about African women having too many children?)? We do not worry about theirs, why worry about ours? In a world where some countries (Japan, Italy, South Korea, …) are facing population crises, not producing enough children to regenerate the society, and trying to find ways to circumvent this, why do these people have issues with African fertility? It is no secret that the African population represents 18% of the world’s population, and has the youngest population in the world.

Thus, when Bill Gates says he is pledging his money for the well-being of Africa… it is clear that Africans should treat it as a Trojan horse. Why Africa? As shown in the article by S. Ahmed, and others on India, there are 54 countries and governments in Africa with very poor control and thus there will be little accountability for anything that could possibly go wrong, and as Gates said about India, and maybe now Africa, it is so easy “to try things” on the continent without much control! Africans, beware of free money! There is no free lunch out here!