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"For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by ling ling, Oct 30, 2008.

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  1. ling ling

    ling ling Member

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    Just an interesting read.

    here

    SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH AFRICAN ECONOMICS EXPERT
    "For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"
    The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.

    SPIEGEL:
    Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa...

    Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop.

    SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty.

    Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape. Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor.

    SPIEGEL: Do you have an explanation for this paradox?

    Shikwati: Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.

    SPIEGEL: Even in a country like Kenya, people are starving to death each year. Someone has got to help them.

    Shikwati: But it has to be the Kenyans themselves who help these people. When there's a drought in a region of Kenya, our corrupt politicians reflexively cry out for more help. This call then reaches the United Nations World Food Program -- which is a massive agency of apparatchiks who are in the absurd situation of, on the one hand, being dedicated to the fight against hunger while, on the other hand, being faced with unemployment were hunger actually eliminated. It's only natural that they willingly accept the plea for more help. And it's not uncommon that they demand a little more money than the respective African government originally requested. They then forward that request to their headquarters, and before long, several thousands tons of corn are shipped to Africa ...

    SPIEGEL: ... corn that predominantly comes from highly-subsidized European and American farmers ...

    Shikwati: ... and at some point, this corn ends up in the harbor of Mombasa. A portion of the corn often goes directly into the hands of unsrupulous politicians who then pass it on to their own tribe to boost their next election campaign. Another portion of the shipment ends up on the black market where the corn is dumped at extremely low prices. Local farmers may as well put down their hoes right away; no one can compete with the UN's World Food Program. And because the farmers go under in the face of this pressure, Kenya would have no reserves to draw on if there actually were a famine next year. It's a simple but fatal cycle.

    SPIEGEL: If the World Food Program didn't do anything, the people would starve.

    Shikwati: I don't think so. In such a case, the Kenyans, for a change, would be forced to initiate trade relations with Uganda or Tanzania, and buy their food there. This type of trade is vital for Africa. It would force us to improve our own infrastructure, while making national borders -- drawn by the Europeans by the way -- more permeable. It would also force us to establish laws favoring market economy.

    SPIEGEL: Would Africa actually be able to solve these problems on its own?

    Shikwati: Of course. Hunger should not be a problem in most of the countries south of the Sahara. In addition, there are vast natural resources: oil, gold, diamonds. Africa is always only portrayed as a continent of suffering, but most figures are vastly exaggerated. In the industrial nations, there's a sense that Africa would go under without development aid. But believe me, Africa existed before you Europeans came along. And we didn't do all that poorly either.

    SPIEGEL: But AIDS didn't exist at that time.


    NEWSLETTER
    Sign up for Spiegel Online's daily newsletter and get the best of Der Spiegel's and Spiegel Online's international coverage in your In- Box everyday.

    Shikwati: If one were to believe all the horrorifying reports, then all Kenyans should actually be dead by now. But now, tests are being carried out everywhere, and it turns out that the figures were vastly exaggerated. It's not three million Kenyans that are infected. All of the sudden, it's only about one million. Malaria is just as much of a problem, but people rarely talk about that.

    SPIEGEL: And why's that?

    Shikwati: AIDS is big business, maybe Africa's biggest business. There's nothing else that can generate as much aid money as shocking figures on AIDS. AIDS is a political disease here, and we should be very skeptical.

    SPIEGEL: The Americans and Europeans have frozen funds previously pledged to Kenya. The country is too corrupt, they say.

    Shikwati: I am afraid, though, that the money will still be transfered before long. After all, it has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason. It makes no sense whatsoever that directly after the new Kenyan government was elected -- a leadership change that ended the dictatorship of Daniel arap Mois -- the faucets were suddenly opened and streams of money poured into the country.

    SPIEGEL: Such aid is usually earmarked for a specific objective, though.

    Shikwati: That doesn't change anything. Millions of dollars earmarked for the fight against AIDS are still stashed away in Kenyan bank accounts and have not been spent. Our politicians were overwhelmed with money, and they try to siphon off as much as possible. The late tyrant of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, cynically summed it up by saying: "The French government pays for everything in our country. We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it."


    DPA
    Former Central African Republic leader Jean-Bedel Bokassa: "We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it."
    SPIEGEL: In the West, there are many compassionate citizens wanting to help Africa. Each year, they donate money and pack their old clothes into collection bags ...

    Shikwati: ... and they flood our markets with that stuff. We can buy these donated clothes cheaply at our so-called Mitumba markets. There are Germans who spend a few dollars to get used Bayern Munich or Werder Bremen jerseys, in other words, clothes that that some German kids sent to Africa for a good cause. After buying these jerseys, they auction them off at Ebay and send them back to Germany -- for three times the price. That's insanity ...

    SPIEGEL: ... and hopefully an exception.

    Shikwati: Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, our tailors lose their livlihoods. They're in the same position as our farmers. No one in the low-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products. In 1997, 137,000 workers were employed in Nigeria's textile industry. By 2003, the figure had dropped to 57,000. The results are the same in all other areas where overwhelming helpfulness and fragile African markets collide.


    INTERACTIVE MAP

    Click here to load our interactive African development aid map.
    SPIEGEL: Following World War II, Germany only managed to get back on its feet because the Americans poured money into the country through the Marshall Plan. Wouldn't that qualify as successful development aid?

    Shikwati: In Germany's case, only the destroyed infrastructure had to be repaired. Despite the economic crisis of the Weimar Republic, Germany was a highly- industrialized country before the war. The damages created by the tsunami in Thailand can also be fixed with a little money and some reconstruction aid. Africa, however, must take the first steps into modernity on its own. There must be a change in mentality. We have to stop perceiving ourselves as beggars. These days, Africans only perceive themselves as victims. On the other hand, no one can really picture an African as a businessman. In order to change the current situation, it would be helpful if the aid organizations were to pull out.

    SPIEGEL: If they did that, many jobs would be immediately lost ...


    AFP
    Congolese line up for a United Nations food delivery in 2002.
    Shikwati: ... jobs that were created artificially in the first place and that distort reality. Jobs with foreign aid organizations are, of course, quite popular, and they can be very selective in choosing the best people. When an aid organization needs a driver, dozens apply for the job. And because it's unacceptable that the aid worker's chauffeur only speaks his own tribal language, an applicant is needed who also speaks English fluently -- and, ideally, one who is also well mannered. So you end up with some African biochemist driving an aid worker around, distributing European food, and forcing local farmers out of their jobs. That's just crazy!

    SPIEGEL: The German government takes pride in precisely monitoring the recipients of its funds.

    Shikwati: And what's the result? A disaster. The German government threw money right at Rwanda's president Paul Kagame. This is a man who has the deaths of a million people on his conscience -- people that his army killed in the neighboring country of Congo.

    SPIEGEL: What are the Germans supposed to do?

    Shikwati: If they really want to fight poverty, they should completely halt development aid and give Africa the opportunity to ensure its own survival. Currently, Africa is like a child that immediately cries for its babysitter when something goes wrong. Africa should stand on its own two feet.

    Interview conducted by Thilo Thielke
     
    #1 ling ling, Oct 30, 2008
  2. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    Interesting. I'll read this one later tonight. Thanks.
     
    #2 durvasa, Oct 30, 2008
  3. JeopardE

    JeopardE Contributing Member

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    Good, another African economist sees the light.

    Now if only some of the leaders would wake up and smell the coffee. Enough with all the billions of dollars in "aid" and "relief". The western world has been the biggest culprit in perpetuating poverty and underdevelopment in Africa by continually supporting dictators and corrupt wasteful government bureaucracies through these "aid programs".

    You want to help Africa? Invest in businesses there. Buy stocks. Build factories. Secure infrastructure development contracts from local governments and employ locals. Create jobs. The charity is OK and is needed for war-torn regions where there simply is no other alternative, but for most African countries, the relentless stream of "aid" really has got to stop.

    The video below is a great speech by Nigeria's former finance minister and current World Bank director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on the subject of aid versus trade.

    <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="320" height="285" id="VE_Player" align="middle"><param name="movie" value="http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/loader.swf"><PARAM NAME="FlashVars" VALUE="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/NGOZIOKONJOIWEALA-2007G_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="scale" value="noscale"><param name="wmode" value="window"><embed src="http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/loader.swf" FlashVars="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/NGOZIOKONJOIWEALA-2007G_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true" quality="high" allowScriptAccess="always" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" scale="noscale" wmode="window" width="320" height="285" name="VE_Player" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></object>
     
    #3 JeopardE, Oct 30, 2008
  4. ChrisP

    ChrisP Contributing Member

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    Wow... interesting discussion. I never thought about it like that.
     
    #4 ChrisP, Oct 30, 2008
  5. ghettocheeze

    ghettocheeze Member

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    Oh lord the rarity of a Ling Ling thread that actually informs and promotes healthy debate on an intellectual level!

    Congrats Ling Ling your credit ratings just got bumped up to A. You can now purchase talk time for some more threads. However please avoid sub prime paper (Basso and Trader Jorge).

    FIVE STARS ***** ;)
     
    #5 ghettocheeze, Oct 30, 2008
  6. BetterThanEver

    BetterThanEver Contributing Member

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    That's a really good article. I nver thought of international aid being more harmful than good before.. We should rethink our aid to other countries also. I think we should provide economic expertise and teach them how to be independent by sending more agricultural and business experts to them instead of money.
     
    #6 BetterThanEver, Oct 30, 2008
  7. Landlord Landry

    Landlord Landry Member

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    no more pandas?
     
    #7 Landlord Landry, Oct 30, 2008
  8. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost be kind. be brave.

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    Just like when basso posts a good thread, instead of LOLcats he gets positive responses...

    Although I am missing the panda action :(
     
    #8 DonnyMost, Oct 30, 2008
  9. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    That is an enlightening article -- thanks a million, ling ling. Seriously.

    I'm so happy about this thread, I'm going to have to post a picture of my favorite dog:

    [​IMG]
     
    #9 B-Bob, Oct 30, 2008
  10. SamFisher

    SamFisher Contributing Member

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    he get some bamboo bamboo
     
    #10 SamFisher, Oct 30, 2008
  11. TECH

    TECH Contributing Member

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    I thought that was posted a good while back. If not, there was another article that was very much the same.
     
    #11 TECH, Oct 30, 2008
  12. MadMax

    MadMax Contributing Member

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    You don't stop the aid...you just don't filter it through the corruption. You work directly.

    Living Water International is a great example of a group that does this. They locate villages and areas where the people have no clean water....they raise money to drill a water well....they send people there to drill it...and they give instruction to the people on how to maintain it. You change the entire life of a village when you do that.

    I'm all for being smart about it. I'm all for being direct...meeting need at its source. But the need in much of Africa is gigantic....and the thread title would suggest that help isn't needed. Help is needed.

    I don't know this guy's experience...or if he has a different angle...but I know people who've been on the ground in Africa in multiple nations...and I don't believe you can overstate what AIDS is doing and has done to that continent...leaving behind a huge chunk of a generation to be raised in orphanages.
     
    #12 MadMax, Oct 30, 2008
  13. JeopardE

    JeopardE Contributing Member

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    Even this is NOT the solution. Nobody is saying aid is not needed at all -- in places like Darfur that have been ravaged by war and genocide, aid is the most immediate and pressing need. But in the vast majority of the continent, it is not working.

    This is where the West gets it wrong: they think they can solve the problem by throwing money at it, and they have this sadly condescending view of the continent that reduces its inhabitants to a bunch of subhumans incapable of fending for themselves. It really doesn't matter whether the money is passing through government bureaucracies or not: you're not going to solve the problem by just spending money on aid. You only help to perpetuate it by making the people dependent on aid. There's something better than airlifting food supplies and providing water: building factories and creating jobs. Even better: investing in local industries and providing grants for people to start their own businesses. When people can earn a decent income and provide for themselves, then they don't have to deal with horrible living conditions and disease epidemics.

    I grew up in Africa so this is sort of a passionate subject for me. I'm sick and tired of people over here in the West looking at Africa as some vast remote safari that's full of malnourished children and an AIDS-riddled populace. Lose the freaking stereotypes and take sometime to actually see Africa for what it is: a continent with REAL people like you and I who share the same dreams of freedom, success and wealth. We already know that welfare programs are a bad thing here in America -- what makes us think they're any better elsewhere? And YES, the AIDS problem *is* often overblown. Most of us don't live in remote villages without water and electricity, we grow up in urban cities too. Most of us have never seen a wild animal outside of a zoo cage. If you really want to help Africa, invest in it. Do business there. Stop feeding people as if they're household pets. There's nothing wrong with non-profit organizations and charities doing relief work alongside, but countries like Brazil and India did not become modern economic powerhouses through relief and aid. What makes you think African countries are any different?
     
    #13 JeopardE, Oct 31, 2008
  14. Mathloom

    Mathloom Shameless Optimist
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    I agree completely. This guy has a point, however, he seems to be saying he doesn't mind if one generation starves to death so that the next one gets moving. I'm not for that. Human life is too valuable.

    I prefer that someone rich is giving money to a poor family forever than to see them perishing. I don't care if there's never another tailor or chef in Africa. Life comes first. Not economy. Not money. Life.

    His ideas work, but they are too extreme IMO. I'm not so sure what this guy's experience is.

    Here's how I plan on helping: I plan on working for an airline, where I will get tickets at great prices and a decent salary. I will travel as much as I can to help people. I will donate where necessary. I will do what I can. I hope everyone is making an effort to help Africa. They have the natural resources to take care of themselves + most of the world. Yet they are starving. We have to invest there. It's a good oportunity to make further cash to send to them and to help them get going. Schools, hospitals, housing, restaurants, AGRICULTURE. Start with basic needs - food, water, clothing, shelter. Invest in these things.
     
    #14 Mathloom, Oct 31, 2008
  15. u851662

    u851662 Contributing Member

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    Good isht!
     
    #15 u851662, Oct 31, 2008
  16. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Contributing Member
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    I just skimmed the article but I've heard the argument before. I think within aid circles everyone realizes the huge projects funded by aid don't work and as the original article notes has fueld corruption and propped up regimes that otherwise should collapse. Economic development is critical but that depends on what type of economic development as Africa is rich in natural resources yet companies that have come in to tap those have often exacerbated the problem. See Nigeria's experience with oil. At the same time too Africa has some serious health and education problems that can't be solved by just building factories or funding local businesses if there aren't enough healthy or educated people to work them.

    I don't think there is any single or even a small set of solutions to Africa's problems. It is going to take investment in businesses and entrepeneurship but aid for health and education are still very much needed. The best solutions I've seen are things like micro-loans that encourage small business development from the ground up coupled with programs that provide health services and education. It seems to me too that smaller scale programs work better than huge efforts.
     
    #16 rocketsjudoka, Oct 31, 2008
  17. MadMax

    MadMax Contributing Member

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    Love it!!! Great stuff. Exactly how I feel.

    Again, I'll go back to Living Water...not only do they fund the drilling...they fund and train the people there to build the well themselves. Now they have a skill....and then they are able to use them again and pay them fair wages for drilling the next time in a proximate area.
     
    #17 MadMax, Oct 31, 2008
  18. MadMax

    MadMax Contributing Member

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    interesting perspective...thanks for sharing it.
     
    #18 MadMax, Oct 31, 2008
  19. justtxyank

    justtxyank Contributing Member

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    I opened this thread to see Panda pics.

    Massive fail.
     
    #19 justtxyank, Oct 31, 2008
  20. Joshaaronb

    Joshaaronb Member

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    I think what these countries need to do is tax the upper-class working poor and give the money to the lower-class non-working poor. With this policy they can make everyone middle-class poor and life for the Africans would be grand.
     
    #20 Joshaaronb, Oct 31, 2008
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