Former President John Kufuor has pleaded in favour of development aid for Africa. He argued that people like Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian economist who advocates pulling the plug on development aid, do not speak for Africa. The ex-President made the plea in a speech he delivered at a congress in The Hague on '60 years of development aid'.
"Aid is necessary. Aid works. People like Dambisa Moyo, the Zambian economist who, in her controversial book, 'Dead Aid', proposed to phasing-out of development aid to Africa in five years, don't know what the reality in Africa looks like. "Mrs. Moyo is not the voice of Africa," Kufuor said.
"She lives in an ivory tower, far away from the reality of Africa. Perhaps she should go back to Zambia to see how much that country still needs help. Maybe then I will pay better attention to her." "I worry that development aid is decreasing," Kufuor told NRC Handelsblad.
"Of course, the donor countries have to monitor case by case to see that the money is well spent. Donor countries have to get their money's worth." One example of a successful project, according to Kufuor, is the school feeding programme in Ghana. For the past four years Ghana has been aspiring to provide each pupil under 15-years-old with one hot meal a day. More than 600,000 children are now part of the programme, which is supported by the Netherlands.
Critics have reproached Kufuor for being too docile towards institutions like the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
During Kufuor's first term Ghana joined the HIPC programme for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries. It provides debt relief and low-interest loans in return for which countries have to bring inflation under control and get their state finances in order.
An often heard criticism of the RIPC programme is that the budget cuts that go with it often come at the expense of the poorest citizens of those countries. "Ghana has become less dependent [on aid] since I came into office," Kufuor defended himself, saying that "it was thanks to the debt relief that we were able to get a market economy off the ground." "Consequently, credit rating agencies like Standard&Poors and Fitch raised our rating. We were able to raise 750 million dollars in government bonds on the international market, which allowed us to invest in health care and the infrastructure."
President Kufuor had to admit that government bonds have recently taken a hit because of worldwide economic crisis. Ghana even had to go back to the World Bank for help. But Kufuor is not discouraged.
Kufuor said he agrees with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who believes the ultimate goal of development aid should be to make itself redundant.
But he strongly disagrees with Zambian economist Darnbisa Moyo, who also happens to have Kagame's ear.
Moyo says aid to Africa should be cut entirely because it only leads to inertia and corruption. A graduate from Harvard and Oxford, who has worked at the World Bank and Goldman Sachs, Moyo, has become the darling of the critics of development aid since the publication of her book, 'Dead Aid', this year.
October 1, 2009
