African aid etc etc

[Loosehead]

Ok, it's in the news again. I have enormous sympathy for the poor and starving in Africa, however, I refuse to line the pockets of all the middle men and finally the African dictators. How much of my donated pound actually gets anywhere near the target? If we could sort this out then Bob and his mates would have a far easier task.

[Quicksilver]

I should think that most aid goes to replacing the Presidential Learjet or upgrading the fleet of Mercedes or, indeed, just going into Swiss bank accounts. Most officials in most African countries are on the take and what's wrong with that? It's African culture and their way of doing things and we Europeans shouldn't poke our noses in. That's why I have no problem with President Mugabe - he's just doing what comes naturally to his culture while we in the West wring our hands in despair.

[jake-the-peg]

How do you know this?

I have had a quick look around the net and can't find any good data supporting this - maybe you can help?

I did find this from a statement by Clare Short in regards to the efficiency of debt relief in Africa:

...

The enhanced HIPC initiative has made a good start in delivering multilateral debt relief. By and large, it has succeeded in ensuring that the money that is released is put to good use and does not line the pockets of corrupt dictators and arms dealers. Well-managed debt relief has produced a number of a success stories. Uganda used the money to double primary school enrolment and invest in a successful HIV/AIDS plan. Mozambique's debt relief has enabled its Government to immunise 500,000 children, and Benin eliminated school fees in rural areas, allowing thousands of children to attend classes for the first time.

...

I don't think that counts as hand wringing

[Dom Tuk]

loosehead entirely my sentiments. while the performers may or may not take a fee for playing in live 8 i doubt if the organisers /goldsmith will do it for free. There is a lot of m oney to be made in charity and some people draw very good salaries out of it.

Clare Short presided over the DFID. If you google farmers suicide DFID, you will find reports on DFIDs involvement with farmers in Southern India. The report mentions 'consultants'. DFID consults on a monumental scale and in this day of video conferencing and emails, the number of consultants who fly out to far away countries (in first class flights/5 star accomodation) to tell DFID what needs to be done is astounding.

[galltin]

I had a look round the net as well Jake , and found this

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2005/05/3 0/1062819-sun.html

[galltin]

Try again

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2005/05/3 0/1062819-sun.html

[galltin]

And one last try. Go to the above , and in the search box at the top put swaziland. That should reach what I meant .

[WaldoMcFroog]

Unfortunately, the HIPC mentioned by Jake is not terribly effective. Zambia, formerly one of sub-Saharan Africa's wealthiest countries, is now one of its poorest and least developed. The living standards of Zambians are in free-fall and Zambia is now lower placed on the human development index (HDI) than in 1975.

With a life expectancy of just 33 years, Zambians die earlier than people anywhere else in the world. The Zambian Ministry of Health has said that it expects that half the population will die of AIDS, and roughly half the teachers trained every year die of the disease. 28 The Zambian government is crippled by the massive debt recalled by international financial institutions. Debt repayments are making it impossible to respond to the health, educational and economic challenges facing Zambians.

In 2004, Zambia used 7.35% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ($377 million) repaying its debt. It spends twice as much repaying its debt as it does on education. Zambian students struggle to learn in classes containing 70 pupils on average. Zambia has endeavoured to meet the stringent conditions imposed by HIPC. At the behest of foreign governments it has privatised public utilities, removed subsidies, deregulated its markets and opened its doors to foreign imports. In spite of these efforts, by 2003 Zambia's debt had been reduced by only 5% of the levels promised under the HIPC initiative.

The failure to cancel Zambia's debt in full is having catastrophic consequences for poor Zambians. Current trends suggest not only that Zambia will be unable to meet most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but also that it gets further from them as time goes on.

[WaldoMcFroog]

That text was from the Make Poverty History site, btw

[jake-the-peg]

I take it galtin's referring to the story of the King of Swaziland taking his 11th bride and living in a huge palace.

I don't see anything in that article that indicates that money came from western aid donations.

Can anybody find any figures for how much cash from charities like comic relief or live aid made it into the hands of dictators? That after all is Looseheads question.

The best I found was an off the cuff remark Bono made about live aid that "too much did". But that doesn't tell you whether that means 2% or 98%

The point (perhaps poorly expressed ) about the HIPC is that aid can be effective - although there are plenty of ineffective and politically motivated programs too.

In the last analysis Waldo is right that political aid not financial aid is required. Cancelling debt, allowing Africa to trade at fair terms and protect it's industries and markets and putting stricter controls on our arms industries.

And I think it's exactly that idea that Geldoff is aiming at with the G8 conference.

[galltin]

Yes I agree with you , and I think it's important the public get behind this initiative, but I do think Loosehead's original point was valid also,i.e. that if we knew with some degree of certainty that what we were donating (both individually and as a country's taxpayers) was getting to those that most deserve it then Bob Geldof would have a greater chance of success.

[kick3m0n]

Can I just point out (as it seems to have been totally missed on this thread() that LIVE 8 is NOT about money.  It's about political will and awareness. Showing the uber wealthy G8 that we wan them to do something about third world debt (eg cancel it).  Stop carping about where your pounds might go, just show support (cosst you nowt guys!!). 

[galltin]

So, if the debt gets cancelled (and I'm not saying it shouldn't) surely some money is involved somewhere along the line.I'm not too up on the whole issue but presumably it will be the taxpayers who will take up the slack (again I'm not saying we shouldn't).Therefore money is involved.