Dambisa Moyo Talks Dead AID on Norwegian TV
Dambisa Moyo to a well-meaning politician in Norway which gives 1% of its GDP in AID:
“Africa would like to be like Norway, would like to be able to stand on its own two feet, would like to be able to participate as an equal partner, not as a junior partner, not as a beggar on the global stage.I love her tone. It rings to me as firm but at the same time quite gracious. She's got something to say but she's not dressing up in full combat gear and brandishing an AK47 to get it said. She's assertive but not combative. Just what the doctor ordered.
As we know, Norway did not become Norway today from sitting back and relying on other people to provide education, healthcare, security and infrastructure.The government in Norway provides an environment where entrepreneurs and private sector Norwegians can flourish and develop…
The fundamental problem is that AID allows African governments to take a back seat. They don’t have to encourage Africans. They don’t have to report to Africans as the government in Norway reports to the Norwegian people. That’s not the case in Africa. In Africa the government can sit back and allow the Norwegians to provide us with healthcare, the Americans to provide the infrastructure, the Chinese to provide electricity or whatever…”
PS It’s not a hefty clip and it’s well worth a watch, both to place the above quote in context (to see for example how she isolates three types of AID and speaks here for the most part about Bilateral government to government AID) and to listen to the comeback arguments of the Norwegian politician who, as far as I can tell, goes only be the name Raymond.
I'm now about to finish reading the book.
Sure, she makes some sweeping statements where more nuanced arguments might be made, and perhaps it's all been said before, but the conversation she has revived (or at least inserted a young African woman's voice into, which in itself is refreshing)is an important one. Hopefully we are on the brink of a time when the people standing on opposite sides of this 'great question of our time' can drop their defences and engage in earnest, neither squirming uneasily or unduly defensive, each giving as good as s/he gets.
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5 Other Thoughts:
Any fight for self actualization against a predominant force needs both diplomats and soldiers, and their skills need to be applied in tandom. Dambisa's book is a best seller of sorts, but her arguments have been made before and have constantly fallen on deaf ears....
I have another take on this issue that I'm doing a write up for and will publish shortly, but there's no denying the complicity of African authorities in digging their heels squarely in the comfort zone provided by aid.
Another interesting book to read alongside Dambisa's Dead Aid is one called "The Aid Chain" by Tina Wallace, Lisa Bornstein & Jennifer Chapman
This delvs more into how the money works (pretty much in a sub-contracting fashion with at least 5 entities in the food chain) and illustrates the self fulfilling prophecy that is the industry of aid and development.
I still have to get my hands on the book, but I have been following Dambisa and watched a number of clips of her talking and until I read the book, I can't really pass judgement, however she is brilliant! It's great to see someone fighting to make Africa not seem weak, but passing the message that we can fight, we are able and we just need to be let to do so. Like one of my favorite speakers a Ugandan journalist says..."have u ever heard of a person get wealthy from begging?"
Sparkles...
I partly agree wirh Darius, that Dambisa's argument have constantly fallen on deaf ears. But what I have seen this time, the way some have got so much annpyed by her book there are some progress. What we need is to blow more noise to the ears, especially our African goverment who are constatly walking with begging bowl.
I will also recommend THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN:Why West's Effort to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Easterly. Though he is also pro aid, but he take critical look on aid.
Adam Foya
Tanzania
Tanzanian activist
I read intently Dambisa's work, and the more i read, the more i felt she is reverberating the voices of many of us in tanzania. There is an unaccoutable corrupt leadership , which drains all the billions into offshore accounts in USA. Andrew Chenge, Former Prime Minsiter Lowassa and many others including Basil Mramba and the like are puppets, colonialised , imperialists who have been sucking donor aid money at the detriment of Tanzanians.
if there was no aid, each one would be accountable, and then, a equity would have ensued....
Welldone Dambisa, you are a star to take up this challenge....
Hello! I thought you might like to know that I've interviewed Dambisa and one of her critics: a young African student attending college in Canada. You can hear it HERE.
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