This is why I’m in support of US aid freeze in Africa

The United States has frozen its aid programme to developing countries for 90 days, but I wish it could be scrapped in Africa for good except for a select desperately poor countries. 

It is hard to justify aid to countries whose leaders pilfer resources rather than invest in public programmes on behalf of the citizens. Aid is making African leaders lazy as they know the West will do their work for them through aid.

At the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Kenya’s National AIDS Council was riddled with financial mismanagement. The organisation was largely funded by foreign aid and instead of using the funds to tackle the epidemic, its management was apparently engaged in embezzling of the funds. One notable case was of a senior official who spent Sh20 million of the stolen funds to build herself a mansion.

The case ended up in court but, like many corruption cases involving senior officials in Kenya, it was killed on arrival in court. The Lancet, a medical journal, provided a catalogue of the financial mismanagement at the National AIDS Council in its report published in April 2004. 

The funding for AIDS programmes led to the mushrooming of briefcase non-governmental organisations (NGOs), especially in poor villages and slums where victims were exploited by unscrupulous individuals hoping to benefit from the funds. 

Mundane programmes in Africa

Something similar is now being experienced with the so-called “fight” against female genital mutilation (FGM). In my opinion FGM is just a traditional form of female circumcision that is being demonised by NGOs (not doctors) as a transactional policy with Western donors, who are themselves being exploited over something that is less of a danger to society than African girls’ illiteracy, domestic abuse and sexual violence. 

Climate change is another global programme that is offering stealing opportunities for African governments that care more for the funds for personal use than tackling climate change.

The whole notion of Aid to Africa seems to be built around naivety of the West, on donors not fully understanding the politics in Africa and the level of corruption that hampers their good intentions to support the continent. It could also be driven by corrupt aid enthusiasts in the West who perpetuate the concept for their own benefit. 

The United Kingdom’s aid programme was reported as being exploited by UK officials themselves. The officials spent UK taxpayers’ money on mundane programmes in Africa at huge expense. For instance, millions of sterling pounds were used to support an Ethiopian girls’ pop group, Yegna.

Although the funding to the group was stopped, this only happened after a long campaign by the UK media that the funding was a waste of taxpayers’ money and could have been better spent on Ethiopia’s poorer communities instead.

Unjustifiable perks for politicians

It is hard to justify why a country is poor when its leader is considered one of the richest and on the Forbes rich list. With a poor healthcare system, countries such as Kenya, for example, spend huge amounts of money to privately insure senior officials, then expect Global Health, World Health Organization and the West in general to help fund public hospitals for citizens.

A huge percentage of tax is spent on unjustifiable perks for politicians, which put to shame what the donor countries pay their own MPs, for instance. It makes no sense to help a country secure one ambulance through aid, when its officials spend billions of taxpayers’ money on private jets, luxury mansions, and designer clothes and watches.

The donor countries would best serve Africa if they focused more on ending corruption than throwing aid at various other problems; money which ends up in the pockets of the corrupt officials. The Wealth Declaration Order in the UK has helped in minimising use of corrupt proceeds by African leaders to invest in the country, but it’s not enough to stop the drain of public funds from Africa.

Sending some of the loot recovered in the West back to Africa is not a solution. The same money will find its way to other destinations that are less hostile to corrupt African leaders. The West needs to push for all countries to shut their doors to corrupt African leaders by making corruption an international crime. 

Aid to Africa has helped, but it cannot have far reaching positive impacts in vulnerable communities in a climate of corruption and poor governance. The latter two is what the West needs to focus on. Aid would be better spent on improving governance structures to help countries tackle corruption and poor leadership. 

Trade not aid is a great mantra, but it is not easy to trade with countries that have weak judicial systems that allow corrupt politicians to stand in the way of progress. If the West is insistent on aid, then it ought to work with communities by offering basic universal income and directly funding projects for the poor.

Ms Guyo is a legal researcher. [email protected], @kdiguyo