The US has compensated the family of a Cameroon boy who was struck and killed by a vehicle in the motorcade of its UN Ambassador Samantha Power.

The American government paid the family 1m Central African francs which is about $1,724.

That is about N603, 360- less than a million naira! That is the parallel market rate. Official interbank rate amounts to about N482, 720.

According to the Associated Press new agency, the US added two cows, flour, onions, rice, salt, sugar, soap and oil, to the family.

It also committed to building a well to provide fresh drinking water for the boy’s community, which is near the northern city of Mokolo.

Department spokesman Jeffrey Loree was quoted as describing the contribution as a “compensation package commensurate with local custom, as well as the needs of the family and village”.

“US diplomats have visited the family on several occasions following the accident and will continue to provide all support possible,” he added.

In terms of cash, Cameroon’s government, local aid organisations and the UN also donated 5m francs to the boy’s family. That is about N3.01 million – far higher than what US gave.

The seven-year-old boy, Birwe Toussem, was among villagers lined up along a two-way highway to greet the ambassador who was on a week-long visit in April to show support against Boko Haram.

He ran onto the street as the motorcade drove by at about 100km/h, and was hit by an armoured jeep which initially stopped before US security ordered it to continue travelling through the unsecured area.

An ambulance in the caravan immediately responded to the scene, but the boy died shortly thereafter.

But was the US right in paying just below $2,000 for the loss of the boy? Is that an African rate? Or was it apparently cheap because it was what “commensurate with…the needs of the family” as the department’s spokesman hinted.

While its appears the US government does not have a fixed rate as compensation for accidents involving its officials or vehicles, successful claims – if they go to US courts – certainly fetch millions of dollars.

Here is an example that won several millions in 2013 in US. Like the one in Cameroon, it involved a young child running across the road.

http://www.freespch.com/2016/07/01/did-us-pay-peanuts-for-cameroon-boy-killed-by-motorcade/

You echoed my thoughts after reading on BBC the miserly compensation the U.S government offered to the parents of the little lad who was struck dead by one of the vehicles in its UN Ambassador's motorcade. Was the peanut $1,724, two cows, flour, onions, rice, salt, sugar, soap and oil all the lad was worth? If a similar accident had happened in America, the parents of the dead lad would have been paid a lot of money. Is the life of an innocent African child so cheap? I weep for Africa.