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RealityLicks -> RE: Corruption in Africa (10/30/2007 12:09:56 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: LadyEllen
When teachers are not being paid, police officers are not being paid, hospital and medical staff are not being paid - it is no wonder they have to ask for "tips" simply in order to survive, whilst their rightful wages are misappropriated.
This is the thing - its not that the people themselves are immoral or evil or criminal - they are doing what they have to do, and exactly as we would do in their situation. E
If only you'd adopted this tone in your OP! It definitely appears to me that corruption in Africa differs greatly between workers at the front line, like teachers, insisting on taking something home for their families and dodgy officials pocketing their staffs' salaries.
Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to see Sorious Samura's film but I have seen other work by him and I know he is both unstinting on the corruption in Africa and quite clear that it could not exist without a failing approach to Africa by us in the developed nations.
It's also worth noting that, like any programme, this one has to deliver ratings and often they have to make sensational claims just to get people to sit and watch them.
Nowadays its accepted that project based aid - like setting up a clinic - is very open to this kind of abuse precisely because it relies on the involvement of local officials who often haven't been paid in years. The better direction is to help families and individuals and cut out the middle man.
But remember that the UN aims to see developed nations giving 0.07% of GDP as aid to the poor. Currently, only FIVE countries in the world do so - chiefly Scandinavians and Middle East nations, the latter are the most generous by far. The US gives just 0.014% of GDP. Thats $15bn spent on aid against $500 billion on the military.
What is even harder to fathom is the silence on the amount paid into Africa by "foreign remittance". That's relatives and friends here in the developed nations sending money home - not including charities you might support - but personal funds through channels like Western Union.
In 2001 African expats in the US alone sent home $18 billion. The figure grows each year and is matched by similar sums in each of the developed nations. For some reason, this is not talked about in the media and the image of the people of Africa is often quite poor - victims or crooks. That is why I resented your statement :
quote:
No wonder they all want to come over here, to get away from their own people
When the reality is, we seem not to notice the silent army of workers who are outstripping the richest nations on the planet with their industry and generosity. Not escaping - just helping as best they can.
Anyway... The real problem is not aid or charity, they are short-term measures often administered by well-meaning people who arrive in air-conditioned Land Rovers, still yet to react to real criticism. Talk to someone in the biz, they throw their hands up in the air and say "yeah, we know but we can't change." Sound familiar?
We "just" need a fairer economic system so that the obvious energy determination and talent the Africans have in abundance can be set free to flourish instead of being harnessed to making profit for Shell and their ilk.
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