I have been quite upset by some of the nay-sayers that Bob Geldof has attracted through his fronting of the Make Poverty History campaign. I am confident that his motivation is pure, and I think that the awareness that Make Poverty History and Live 8 have raised of global poverty and trade imbalance is an important tool in the campaign to alleviate these injustices.

However, on one small point I agree with some of his detractors. It is vital that aid and debt relief do not go to countries where bad governance mean that the finances stop with corrupt government officials. In Ghana, one of the 18 countries which has secured debt relief, everyone I spoke to said that World Bank, UN and IMF reports which hold the country up as a model of development and progress belie the reality of corruption which still exists there. These comments are borne out by Transparency International’s latest Global Corruption Barometer

I strongly believe that countries like America and the UK would do well to stop hypocritically condemning countries where their methods of corruption are not as sophisticated, and are therefore more easily exposed. And I think that Make Poverty History and Live8’s messages of getting the money in regardless of the bad example of a few African leaders is the right message to be preaching. However I think that there is a pressing need to ensure that in countries where aid is being given and debt cancelled, the right people benefit, and unless corruption is tackled throughout Africa and the developing world, this cannot be effectively targeted. This needs to be done concurrently with, not before, such initiatives as Make Poverty History, because the lifting of the burden of desperate and unnecessary poverty that Make Poverty History is trying to tackle is critical and needs to begin now.

Of course, the extreme of this corruption and bad governance is seen in Zimbabwe, which has unfortunately been back in the news these last few weeks. People I have spoken to there say that the situation is worse than ever – the people have had their human and basic civic rights taken away from them already, and now their homes and businesses are being decimated.

Make Tyranny History is a website set up by Zimbabwean human rights campaigners which shows 4 simple different ways that you can help the people of Zimbabwe restore dignity and democracy to their lives. Please check the site out, and forward it to your contacts.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 4th, 2005 at 1:28 pm and is filed under General, Topical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.