Gazizza.Net

Ask Andrew Mwenda how rich nations can help Africa and you get a quick and disturbing answer.

"The best thing the West can do is nothing," he says.

The Ugandan journalist and broadcaster is in London telling anyone who is prepared to listen that aid has been a disaster for Africa, fuelling corruption and hindering development . . .. Aid is the problem, not the solution, he says. Debt relief is a moral hazard. What is the incentive for country "A" to continue paying interest on its borrowings if country "B" steals the money, defaults and then gets debt relief?

"Countries that are deserving don't get aid," says Mr. Mwenda. Aid creates the wrong incentives, he argues. It makes objects of the poor, passive recipients of charity rather than active participants in their own economic betterment. Africans don't need handouts, they need better institutions, land reform and access to cheap mortgages.

"Countries and individuals get richer out of self-interest. Capital is a by-product of development, not an input," says Mr. Mwenda.

Aid is directing self-interest elsewhere because, instead of engaging in a risky dialogue with their citizens about reform, African politicians would rather talk to aid donors and solicit handouts. "Africans need to move on from the slave trade and stop whining," says Mr. Mwenda.-- From an article in the Times of London by Carl Mortishead