I remember reading some years ago -- though I don't have the link before me -- an article that claimed most of the money raised in Bob Geldorf's first Band Aid act in '84, had been wasted or looted by crooked politicians.
A bit later I read a number of articles from African thought leaders who said "enough already" to aid. What they wanted was investment and decent trade deals.
I saw with my own eyes, in 2011, when I did a car trip from Cape Town to Cairo, the enormous waste of international aid. Especially the reps from the UN, each of which costs $US500,000 to keep in Africa for one year. Imagine if you just gave that money to African women. They would do so more with it than the aid officials driving around in their white, black-windowed Land Cruisers.
That's why I'm inclined to agree with the editorial below.
We could do much more for Africa by opening up western markets for their goods, and going there to invest, as the Chinese are doing.
All else aside, it's what Africans want... And it's what Bob and his acolytes would better off doing.
Just not so much PR in that, I guess.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/leading-article/9375992/spare-us-a-bob/
Sent from my iPhone
A bit later I read a number of articles from African thought leaders who said "enough already" to aid. What they wanted was investment and decent trade deals.
I saw with my own eyes, in 2011, when I did a car trip from Cape Town to Cairo, the enormous waste of international aid. Especially the reps from the UN, each of which costs $US500,000 to keep in Africa for one year. Imagine if you just gave that money to African women. They would do so more with it than the aid officials driving around in their white, black-windowed Land Cruisers.
That's why I'm inclined to agree with the editorial below.
We could do much more for Africa by opening up western markets for their goods, and going there to invest, as the Chinese are doing.
All else aside, it's what Africans want... And it's what Bob and his acolytes would better off doing.
Just not so much PR in that, I guess.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/leading-article/9375992/spare-us-a-bob/
Sent from my iPhone
