An impertinent question I know, however, I just had to ask. It sort of follows on from the last post.
Since the financial outlook globally is now so dismal, surely Western governments will have to cut, even suspend their aid budgets to Africa for now? The Wealthy West has suddenly become the Indebted West and for a while presumably East Africa and other developing nations will be left to fend for themselves financially? - So what happens if aid money is no longer flowing in to prop up corrupt governments and government officials? Will this global financial crisis represent the beginning of a sea change in Africa?
My favourite pet subject is the perceived value of foreign aid to Africa - I'm talking, in the main, about the government-to-government kind. I heard a rumour that UK aid money to Kenya is going to be pretty near to zero next year. Not sure if it's true - but even though David Cameron promised to ring-fence aid at the beginning of the crisis, he could never have anticipated how difficult today's financial situation has become, so it is sounding more and more like a real possibility.
Without the slush fund of foreign aid that has been pouring into the country over the past 50 years since independence, Kenyan politicians might now just have to shape up and personally deliver on some of the promises they make to the Kenyan people. Just look at how far Malaysia has got in those same years?
Am I being naive here? Whatever happens, things are about to change.
The diary of a British expat living in Kenya. News, views, debate and a healthy dose of trivia.
Well, you need to ask exactly what proportion of Govt. to Govt. aid comes from the UK, If relatively small, then the UK stopping Govt. to Govt. aid will mean very little.
ReplyDeleteThen you need to consider the trend for aid from other countries, e.g. Middle Eastern countries, the US, China etc. Is it increasing or decreasing? Who exactly gets it and how is it spent/monitored?
And in the final analysis, you could say that if a Government is determined to behave badly, it will do so anyway, aid or no aid. It can simply steal money from its own people.
I'm afraid the UK is small beer in all of this. And the snakes who run Kenya know it, and so do the FCO/DFiD/BHC.
And if i can comment on your country, the UK: personally I'd be very happy for DFiD in the UK to be wound up and their best people re-integrated with the FCO. But that is your maneno.