“Corruption is not exclusive to
“Corruption is a terrible disease that destroys a country from within. Funds desperately needed to combat poverty and disease and to build roads, hospitals and schools are spent instead on everything from palaces on the
The above passage is part of a recent Editorial in the influential New York Times entitled “Grand Larceny Africa” and this is definitely not good for the continent which is stirring interest in western, particularly American, investors who think that
The western investors want to emulate the Chinese who have in the last decade poured billions of dollars into
Stories like the on-going court case involving Ministry of Health staff in which K27 billion is alleged to have been misappropriated, the Dora Siliya saga involving RP Capital in the earmarked privatization process of ZAMTEL, etc, all do not give confidence to potential western investors who think that their investments would go down the corruption drain.
But what is very sad is the reaction from the donors who finally appear to be putting a plug on funding to corrupt ministries and departments, and they cannot be faulted for their actions. They have to protect their taxpayers’ funds back home.
2 comments:
I would like the donors to suspend any funding to the Ministry of Education. Better still why not make Zambia an example of Dambwisa Moyo's thesis. Cut all AID to Zambia. Enough is Enough!
Gershom,
“Corruption is not exclusive to Africa, of course. Yet official corruption is bound to be more glaring on a continent where most people live in dire poverty.
Everyone should read Syndromes Of Corruption, by Michael Johnston, where he gives a very novel analysis of the types of corruption in economies at different stages of development.
Also, as usual, the NY Times article fails to address the real problem with corruption, which is that it is just a means to allow western corporations to walk away with a trillion dollars every year, with minimal benefits even to corrupt politicians. Very little of that money stays on the continent, which is why Africa is rich but the people are poor.
If all that money was stolen corruptly by African politicians, but they started to set themselves up as the new Donald Trumps and Walton families and invest in other economic sectors, Africa would be developed right now. It is the taking of this money out of the continent, so it does not get reinvested in other economic sectors, that is causing this widespread poverty and lack of economic opportunity.
Francis,
I would like the donors to suspend any funding to the Ministry of Education. Better still why not make Zambia an example of Dambwisa Moyo's thesis. Cut all AID to Zambia. Enough is Enough!
Only if it is followed by nationalisation of the mines - otherwise the government would collapse. Which is why they are not really going to reduce 'donor aid'.
I mean I wish they would, and we had a goverment with the guts to tax the heck out of the mines, instead of allowing them to send all the profits out of the country.
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