I have a friend in the village whom I shall call Angus. Angus, like too many Scots, is a serious alcoholic. I like him immensely, for he has the most wonderful sense of humour, but I have a problem when he comes to visit. He asks for it, but I do not give him alcohol. Alcohol is killing him. I don’t want to be part of that death.
Africa has the most terrible problems. I used to collect money to help solve those problems. At school, the form I supervised sponsored a little girl in Kenya. I wanted the British Government to increase its aid budgets. I was wrong, terribly wrong. Sending aid is like providing Angus with a constant supply of neat whisky. According to Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian who worked for the World Bank and Goldman Sachs and who has recently published ‘Dead Aid’, aid is killing Africa:
So Africa is becoming more and more like Angus, down-at-heel, dishevelled, increasingly sick, a slight embarrassment, someone best not mentioned and, certainly, best kept over there. Yet, led by our government, we continue to use aid to salve our collective conscience: last year our DFID spent around £1.25 billion on bilateral and regional programmes to reduce poverty in Africa, which will rise to £1.75 billion in 2010/11. Oxfam, Cafod and other charities pour in many more millions. Despite this, the average African is poorer than ever, and getting poorer still.
Moyo doesn’t like to admit it but misplaced generosity has created a huge kleptocracy of corrupt politicians and businessmen who have a vested interest in the continuation of aid. ‘Black Mongoose’, due out at the end of this month from PaperBooks, is a fast, action-packed thriller which tells of how a small group of conspirators sets about freeing their country from its corrupt and repressive elite.
Jon
Jon Haylett's second novel Black Mongoose is out on 25th April

