Discussion Forum

On the debt relief for the African countries; and Canada’s (CIDA) decision to hand aid money to the governments of the countries where the aid is needed.

September 8, 2005

My attention has been drawn to the decision the Government of Canada, together with other G-8 Countries, has reached to forgive the debt of the World’s poorest Countries (mostly in Africa). At the same time, a News Advisory from the Government of Canada indicates that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which “once paid directly for specific projects such as wells, schools or clinics, is today more likely to hand the 'funds' intended for international development, directly to the Governments of the Countries where the aid is needed.” If this is the case, and for all the good that it will do, CIDA may just as well "wire" the intended foreign "aid money" directly into the Swiss bank accounts of these African dictators and self-proclaimed Presidents-for-life.

In my opinion, the decision of the G-8 Leaders, and the perceived intention of the Government of Canada, may be well meaning but, alas, is at best naïve and at worst misguided. In tandem with enlightened Africans elites in Diaspora, I am in opposition to debt relief, per se, for the following reasons:

1. All the do-gooders for Africa have neglected to address the salient issues of how these debts were incurred in the first place: who incurred them, and for what purpose;
2. They have not proposed a mechanism whereby if the slate is wiped clean no new debts would be incurred;
3. They have culpably failed to understand the glaring fact that debt or no debt the lives of the abjectly impoverished masses of African people will remain the same: abysmal hopelessness, helplessness, and powerlessness, due to the nature of the dictatorial rule of the African leaders which is malevolent and despotic;
4. The virtual exclusion from the discussion of, and about Africa, of Pre-Eminent Africans in Diaspora like, Dr. George B.N. Ayittey, forced into perpetual exile by the “vampire” regimes that prevail in Africa.

In my opinion, debt relief should and ought to begin with the repatriation of the billions of dollars stolen by the malevolent leaders and dictators of Africa and stashed away in their private bank accounts in the Western countries like the UK, France, Germany, the USA, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The purport of a recent article declaration by the Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Ralph Goodale, presupposes that debt relief “will provide (the African governments) with the opportunity to invest in the future of their people”, health and education willfully and abysmally neglected for decades by the “vampire” political leaders of Africa.

Nothing can be further from the truth. In his book, Africa in Chaos, Dr. George B.N. Ayittey a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the American University, Washington, D.C., a Pre-Eminent Authority on Africa, writes, and I quote:

“‘Government’ as it is known in the West does not exist in much of Africa. Leaving aside the democratic requirement that a ‘government’ must be by the people and for the people, one expects at a minimum a ‘government’ to be responsive to the needs of their people; or at (the very) least, to perform some services for its people. But even this most basic requirement for ‘government’ is lacking in Africa. ‘Government’ as an entity is totally divorced from the people, perceived by those running it as a vehicle not to serve but to fleece the people.”

Dishonesty, thievery, and peculation pervade the public sector. Public servants embezzle state funds; high-ranking ministers are on the take. And the chief bandit is the head-of-state himself. Even diplomats cannot resist the routine plunge into frenzied banditry.

In Africa, government officials do not serve the people. The African state has been reduced to a mafia-like bazaar, where anyone with an official designation can pillage at will. In effect, it is a “state” that has been hijacked by gangsters, crooks, and scoundrels. They have seized and monopolized both political and economic power to advance their own selfish and criminal interests, not to develop their economies. Their overarching obsession is to amass personal wealth, gaudily displayed in flashy automobiles, fabulous mansions and a bevy of fawning women. Helping the poor, promoting economic growth, or improving the standard of living of their people is anathema to the ruling elites in Africa. “Democratic elections!” “Food for the people!” “People’s power!” “Houses for the masses!” are simply empty slogans that are designed to fool the people and the international community.

There are myriads of cases where African government officials get rich by misusing their positions. Faithful only to their foreign bank accounts, these official buccaneers have no sense of morality, justice, or even patriotism. They would kill, maim, and even destroy their own countries to acquire and protect their ill-gotten booty because as functional illiterates, they are incapable of using the skills and knowledge they acquired from education to get rich on their own by creating wealth.

Africa is a continent so richly endowed by God Almighty. Arguably, Africa is the richest continent on the face of the earth, but so badly led and misgoverned by all the malevolent despots and presidents-for-life. What baffles me, together with my fellow African elites in Diaspora, is the West continues to look up to the “vampire” leaders of Africa to be its saviour.

I have two suggestions. Firstly, the G-8 Leaders, Mr. Bono, Mr. Geldorf, and those talking about debt relief for Africa must eschew politics, and set aside personal aggrandizement. The opinions and ideas of the African elites in Diaspora must be sought, given serious consideration, and brought into the mix that discusses and seeks real and genuine solutions to the African problem. The crux of the matter is that Africa is in the throes of crises of failed leadership. New leadership, new thinking, not recycled bogus ideas is sine qua non for Africa if any change at all can take place in that continent.

Secondly, Canadian African Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) concerned about the events in their fatherland; possessed of passionate desires to make a difference in the lives of their kits-and-kins; working at the grass-roots level towards poverty reduction in Africa, must be given a chance to utilize the wealth of education, experience, and expertise they have acquired in Canada to help their people. The Canadian African NGOs understand their people; they know what they need: opportunity not charity. So far, these groups have been sidelined, alienated and marginalized by the Canadian Government in preference to the all-Canadian NGOs.

President Bill Clinton quoting Einstein once declared that to be doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result is madness. Fighting poverty will always be a fruitless exercise regardless of the means employed if malevolent dictatorships remain in place in Africa. Debt relief will change nothing but rather will merely prop up the continent’s dictators. It is unfortunate and very disheartening that the West routinely ignores the voices of the African elites in Diaspora, and continues to work with, and treat as heroes the African malevolent dictators who kill, steal and usurp power. That is why nothing changes in Africa.

The decision that was taken by Global Leaders in Scotland is sure to guarantee that in 20 – 25 years time the G-8 Leaders will again be faced with the very same issue(s). It then becomes predictable that they will be forced to again address the very same subject of Africa and poverty due to the ‘naivety’ of the decision that was reached in July 2005.

However, during the time that will have passed the Canadian and Developed World's 'caring concern' for Africa will have turned to public cynicism. There is no time to waste! Concrete action must be taken immediately, and it includes utilizing the very knowledgeable resources of Africans that live in developed countries.