open Democracy News Analysis - africa - Comments

Chola Mukanga on "Killing aid"

Chola Mukanga — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:18:10 +0000

With respect to the scope of aid under consideration, Dead Aid pretty much defines it as set out in the review. If Dr Moyo has departed from that position since the book was written then it is to be applauded. But to some extent that is irrelevant because we must take the book as given. Not every villager reading her book will have access to You Tube videos offering some of her reversals.

Although everyone would agree that some aid has flaws, and I make this clear in the review, there’s no evidence presented that aid causes poverty, as Dr Moyo argues. The assertion has no empirical basis.

I think there are many areas of aid which are ineffective and equally some which are useful. Infrastructure aid like the current NorthSouth Project http://www.zambian-economist.com/2009/04/north-south-project-14bn.html which is being funded by a group of donors in association withCOMESA countries to the tune of $1.4bn is welcomed by many. Another example might be aid to improveland titling as currently being implemented by DFID in Rwanda. The examples of positive are plenty.

I should also make it clear that my being a "fan" of micro finance, is probably best viewed within context. I simply note that aid to improve access to credit as taken forward by IFAD and targeted at Zambian farmers is good. In fact in the review, I specifically note that there’s no evidence that microfinance generates significant macro economic impacts, the test by which we should judge interventions, according to the Moyothesis.

In short, we are probably not too far apart. I think the key difference is what where you emphasise the problems involved, I see positive alternatives that if properly prioritised would make substantial difference to the lives of many of our poorest people.

Kokakevano on "A murderous muse: Idi Amin and the Last King of Scotland"

Kokakevano — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:18:10 +0000

I watched this film last night and I feel let down that it did not stick to true fact. There was more truth's waiting to be told that the film could have carried as fact. Kevan

JFox on "Killing aid"

JFox — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:01:40 +0000

It's unlikely that Moyo or anyone else would argue against humanitarian or emergency aid to assist victims of catastrophe. The assistance we are talking about here is Development Aid - the kind that is intended to promote a long-term improvement in the welfare and standard of living of the poor in recipient countries.
Having studied a significant number of individual government-to-government aid programs, I have yet to find one that was clearly successful. Those I have looked at over a long career have been, at best, poor value for money and largely ineffectual, and at worst - and most commonly - they were counter-productive.They tended to create or strengthen aid dependency, foment corruption (often of a kind so subtle as to be virtually invisible to casual observers), and all-too-often to come with strings attached that made them more beneficial to donor-country suppliers than to recipients.
In theory, measures can be taken to address such issues; in practice, however, the measures are either not implemented, or readily circumvented.

Government-to-government aid is, almost by definition, "top down". The intended beneficiaries - who are invariably acutely conscious of their condition and have a pretty good idea of how to improve matters - are seldom, if ever, seriously consulted. Nor are they given authority over the expenditures supposedly made on their behalf. Others do that - local bureaucrats or politicians, aid "professionals", foreign consultants etc. who, apparently, "know better". A vast international conglomerate of experts, corporations, officials and planners (all based either in the First World or in privileged Third World enclaves) have their hands in the till. For examples - and a startlingly vivid first-hand account of poverty and the ineffectiveness of conventional aid - I recommend P.Sainath's Everybody Loves a Good Drought.

Micro Finance - of which Mukanga among many others is a fan - has certainly proved to be an effective form of developmental assistance. But it is not - at least in the brilliant format devised by Muhammad Yunus - in any sense conventional aid and it is about as far from government-to-government aid as it is possible to be. Above all it does precisely what most official assistance fails to do, namely to leave development in the hands of those who both need it and know how to use it.

Rwanda SurViVors International on "DR Congo: arc of war, map of responsibility"

Rwanda SurViVors International — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:04:51 +0000

Qestion however:

According to our own sources: 3,5 millions of Rwandans got assassinated. No mention about this in the article.

4-5 million conflict-related deaths since the
mid-1990s. Assassinations, rapes and disappearances began earlier in 1990. => We do have credible information as witnesses. The DRC or Kagame's wars started in 1996 with the refugee camps brutal closure. Facts and other details=>RSIF

The Hutu Power forces in Rwanda in 1994 were unique in organising a large-scale, nationwide campaign of genocide. => The genocide has been planed and organized by General Paul Kagame(the Rwandan Genocide mastermind) and his supporters (outsiders). => No need to mention the role played by Clinton and Blair administrations.

albeit in smaller-scale, localised terms - the same type of violence that had been practised against Tutsis in 1994. Tutsis that got killed were less than it's claimed by RPF. For more details, please contact RSIF, our organization

...and determined to use the west's guilt at failing to stop the 1994 genocide to produce impunity for itself.
3,5 mllions of Rwandans were killed. Tutsis were killed in a very small scale. => we do have reliable sources as witnesses.

.... complex conflicts across northeastern Africa, centred on Sudan, still cast a long ,shadow that reaches into the DRC. Wrong. Those conflicts have nothing to do with the tragic Kagame's wars inthe Democractic Republic of the Congo. For more details: RSIF

Rwandan SurViVors International on "DR Congo: arc of war, map of responsibility"

Rwandan SurViVors International — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:17:01 +0000

We sincerely appreciate and welcome Martin Shaw's article that gives much more information and NOT THE BIASED ONE as others do while Congolese and Rwandan people suffer from Kagame's wars and dictatorship. We would appreciate if many of the Open Democracy members get involved to help our region to retrieve peace, bring back democracy in Rwanda through the creation of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission tasking with discovering and revealing past crimes by the RPF rebels since October 1, 1990, General Paul Kagame's main role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

MERSHA on "Ethiopia's famine: deny and delay"

MERSHA — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:05:12 +0000

THE FARMING PROCESS INVOLVES THE CAPABILITY TO CREATE HARMONY WITH THE TRADITIONAL METHOD WITH THE MODERN MECHANIZATION OF FARMING IN ETHIOPIA. THE GOVERNMENT (TPLF) MECHANIZED THE ARMY MAKING IT THE BIGGEST IN AFRICA.SECURING AMPLE PROFIT FOR THE WEAPON MANUFACTURERS AND GIVING FINANCIAL BACK UP FOR TPLF SYMPHATIZERS WORLDWIDE.FARMING IS SOMETHING TPLF DONOT WANT TO WASTE THE COUNTRYS RESOURCE OR TPLF'S TIME ON.PEOPLE DIE FOR LACK OF FOOD TPLF IS HAPPY.TPLF DONOT WANT TO SEE ETHIOPIANS PRODUCE.TPLF'S PRIME MINISTER MELES'S WIFE MSS. AZEB MESFIN SAID I ROB THE COUNTRY AND BUY REAL ESTATE IN USA.YOU OPPOSE THIS MY HUSBAND WILL KILL YOU SO JUST STARVE AND DIE.

Mersha on "Ethiopia's famine: deny and delay"

Mersha — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:03:52 +0000

nepali forum on "Chad, the CAR and Darfur: dynamics of conflict"

nepali forum — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:24:28 +0000

Thanks for the nice piece of information.
regards

Johan Van der Merwe on "Africa at the G8 summit: déjà vu?"

Johan Van der Merwe — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:40:32 +0000

Your article-inclusion-reference to Phyllis R. Pomerantz and her book on Aid Effectiveness in Africa does appeal to political irony and a suggestion for you to select more suitable-appropriate-adequate literary examples. In case you and your readers are not, yet, aware, when she was the World Bank Country Director for Zambia and Mozambique her estranged policies toward the cashew nut processing industry in Mozambique led to an average of 10,000 to 12,000 workers (43% women, 57% men) losing their jobs, being laid off. That would lead to the ex Arab and Muslim owners of the ex cashew nut factories, that went bust, to place a fatwa contract on her and her colleagues directly involved in the achievement. The fatwa would extend to the ex Secretaries of Treasure and the ex President Bill Clinton for looking the other way while the rampage was taking place. They would become a liability and all later on discreetly retire into early pension schemes and/or retire on natural causes. Speculation goes that it would (in part) backfire as well on the events of 9/11 WTC attacks. Why do you think Hillary was so jumpy and blunder-prone along the presidential campaign? Campaign fatigue? Why is she still so jumpy on questions lost over translation involving her husband? Frankly, to years later on publish a book about Aid Effectiveness in Africa sounds preposterous to say the least...

henry_n on "Guinea-Bissau: drug boom, lost hope"

henry_n — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:11:33 +0000

So now we know what's the problem, what are United Nations going to do about that? The country urgently needs help and support otherwise it will soon become a drug heaven for most traffickers. Thousands of people need by now addiction recovery, how about them?

srigotti on "South Africa’s unequal prospect"

srigotti — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:05:17 +0000

True as the article may be in its anecdotal examples and in some of the causes for the persistence of inequalities it remains a decidedly one-sided analysis; No mention of the absorption of millions of emigrants at the deperate and poor end into a society that was already distorted in terms of equity and very little balance in terms of recognising the need for innovation to accompany "freedom" or the (significant?) efforts that have been applied to rectify the imbalance.

Philipp Schmidt on "South Africa’s unequal prospect"

Philipp Schmidt — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:02:37 +0000

While I agree with many of the points made in the article, the analysis remains shallow and avoids reflection of the complexities of transformation.

I am angry when I see politicians or the small group of "black diamonds" (those, who benefited from the "black economic empowerment" policies) flaunt their wealth. The sight of a begging street child approaching an exotic sports car at the traffic light (tinted windows remain closed) is much too common. But I realise that undoing 80 years of exploitation by a small minority is an incredible task. One that could maybe compared to undoing the wrongs of colonialisation, which in very few countries has progressed smoothly.

We need to acknowledge that the disparity that we observe in societies like South Africa is no different from the disparity between the developed countries and the least developed ones. Only that in the latter case, the proverbial street child is too far away to bother the rich at the traffic light.

The author calls South Africa "history's most successful attempt to concentrate wealth in the hands of the few.". Surely, that distinction must go to the colonial history of many of today's richest countries. With the recent global financial experimentation, during which the banks managed to privatise gains, but socialise losses, coming in as a close runner-up.

David Cohen on "Democracy-support: from recession to innovation "

David Cohen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:16:32 +0000

I'm glad that our authors recognize the value of elections and why that alone doesn't produce a vibrant and accountable civil society even as elections that can be respected are necessary.

We have to get past the warn out phrase "free and fair." What's necessary is for elections to be free and fair is for the election cycle to have people engaged in robust discussion. That discussion, even debate, comes from people whose loyalty is to issues. Elections need people who are ready to create a politics of issues and ideas that are based on democratic values. For many it will mean foregoing partisan politics to advance their issues.

Nor does the process stop on election day. The work of advocacy is ongoing. It will mean addressing common governance issues centering on the right to know, transparency, making budget decisions understandable and accessible that lead to equitable results and ending instituionally embedded corruption.

Yes, that's a steep climb. The test is to not be paralyzed by perfection but to work to make constant improvements in the lives of most people.

None of this is a western monopoly of ideas or practice. Having worked in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central America, Southern Africa, the Balkans and Eastern and Central Europe as well as the United States, I see the election process, and what comes afterwards, as practical and necessary. I have seen it work and am seeing it working.

What we need are rich case stories. The emphasis is on stories--what works and what doesn't, and what practical lessons are learned. That's our future and it's a hopeful one.

Lawrence Efana on "Democracy-support: from recession to innovation "

Lawrence Efana — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:26:12 +0000

Shy critique of the new administration in Washington under cover of democracy promotion. At this time of our conflicting realites and experiences, it seems learning or culture of doing well to descriminate has not yet taken roots. Sad indeed, but good to keep working for if only one can be 'honest' in [party] politics!

Clearly this paper underestimates challenges of 'a turning-age' diplomacy and a variety of ways democracy allows those who hold power in their own time to experiment in accord with the mandate given them by the electorates. Frankly, this in itself is a paper "paying the fox to guard the chicken coop" - what it uses to argue, muddle-up and make it hard to cleanly separate and or reason the rather complex connectedness of the multiple issues or challenges involved.

There is need to be realistic, genuinely call, argue and work on democracy promotion. But it is good to remember too that nothing was that much easy else it would have been done. The current state of world economy and finance problems, in addition to insurgent and environmental problems, it has to be remembered also jointly hurt the 'pride' of our western values and practices. "Neo-liberalism" failed to see the risks ahead as all jollied over victory and the "bubbles" called growth. The iron curtains were down, and many seemed to join that bubble, but when all bursted, the psychological burden of the loss of pride must be well managed. If in it someone recalls the saying that pride goeth before destruction, wouldn't it sound helpful to halt a while and rethink strategy in a dangerous world of both rationality and irrantionality, capped by possession of weapons of mass destruction.

The very history of democracy at a time of economic and financial recessions would exonerate and help adjust sympathy for "democratic recession": relatively a causal arguement not too strange], thinking of calls to prioritize on what to invest in left and right due to reality of scarce resources. Mounting borrowings by states to revamp 'private' and 'public' sectors progress have not made for easy party politics debates. Whether the purpose of this paper is to provoke: whatever it is, a lot of issues are subsummed to disadvantage of agreeing with their analysis even if the theme of democracy promotion worldwide remains a "high" priority.

Larry Diamond and many others have written a great deal in different ways about its larger problem: "Democracy role back". In the same way the Freedom House, whose data are familiar to democracy scholars and workers, remind now and then about why there has to be enough understanding for its problem hence effective actions. At the same time when looking at this as a central world problem, one has to be 'properly' analytical. The most 'problematic' countries on the theme of democracy promotion, going by some of that agency's (Freedom House) data information, though many, are: China, Russia, North Korea, Burma, Cuba, Iran, etc. These are heavy weight countries in today's carefully framed meaning. It is necessary to separate these from the 'loose' democracies of Africa - making the writers play on the names: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, or Zimbabwe, etc.; or those elsewhere in other parts of the world - all of which should be systemtically talked about as the objects of democracy promotion endeavours.

President Obama and members of his team have definitely not given-up on promoting democracy. Because of its challenges: lessons of Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan - all of which tend to weigh that country and its NATO allies heavily down, it sounds wise to be cautious. Lessons have been learned from countries in the Middle-East. Paradoxes are understudied, there as in other places, for example Latin America. There is wisdom in hesitating to think practically and diplomatically after ages of failures, so that past mistakes are not repeated at least in degrees we have seen frustrate dialogues and progress. On the military element and lessons learned, we have heard from the new NATO Secretary General, who like the old doesn't give-out on restraints in using force or believing wrongly/blindly that with it all is achieveable, including democratization of strange peoples with strange religions and social habits (culture).

Why are those writing about democratic reccession rather impatient? Coupling both EU and Sweden to poor picture levels of some analysts, many would doubt the sense farsighted or convincing. No matter the types of government coalitions and party political values associated at any of the levels, it would be frightening if democracy as object for promoting worldwide, wouldn't ring them a bell of risks to call for good estimates, diplomacy and call for peace in doing or pursuing it in a world as dangerous as the one we have made for ourselves now. Western pride and values have to be well managed to look attractive and convincing and that truly cannot be done by force but carefully strategised policy in a world of competition and freedom feelings which can turn raw at times. Interpretations to prevent democracy from rolling back in nations will galvenize success. No one should be manipulated or shut out. It pays to take views kindly and open-up!

Prabhat on "Somalia: between violence and hope"

Prabhat — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:39:37 +0000

Somalia is facing humanitarian and basic needs crisis. Nobody is listening the voice of people; their voices have been suppressed by militia leaders. The first target of world community should be to disarm the militia and provide basic needs to the citizens coz there is no place of violence for love, peace and unity. Then, the second target should be to invite all the peace loving leaders to frame the basic infrastructural plan for the united Somalia. The world community should support the peace process and provide financial help also. [ Prabhat Misra, blog: http://www.mynature-myfuture.blogspot.com ]