Hidden foreign aid to an incompetent and dishonest government is set to rob Mozambique of its gas treasure as no one can explain what happened to billions of dollars the country borrowed for a series of price-inflated, murky projects. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) reports.
Aid is best spent in poor, well-governed countries. That isn’t where it goes.
This Economist piece doesn’t mince words: foreign aid, it says, “is a mess in almost every way”. Hard-won transparency in aid over the past decade has actually revealed “just how badly things are going”.
Oil-rich Nigeria is ready to implode. There’s one way to stop it
Nigeria doesn’t need bailouts; it needs to change its governance. Lawrence Solomon reports for the National Post.
Public has more trust in foreign aid than government – survey
An international survey finds Ghanaians have more confidence in outside agencies and companies operating within the country, than their own government. Ghana Pulse reports.
If you know where the missing $6 million is, please tell Sierra Leone
A third of the $18 million slated to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone may have gone to pay non-existent “ghost” workers, a government audit finds.
Five years after earthquake, Haiti’s journalists show resilience amid threats to freedom of the press
Divided before the earthquake of 2010, the disaster united Haiti’s media landscape out of necessity and in the face of a strong adversary in the administration of President Michel Martelly. Nowadays, that landscape is facing a tight squeeze from a government opposed to press freedom and moneyed NGOs with communication agendas that outnumber the country’s news organizations 10 to 1. Shearon Roberts for Journalism in the Americas reports.
Just one more foreign investor
Much has been written about China in Africa — China’s #1 spot as Africa’s biggest trading partner, its massive investment in infrastructure development across the continent, its hands-off approach to domestic politics — but is talk of China’s domination in Africa overdone? The Economist reports.
Lion’s share of foreign aid diverted in war-torn Somalia
A UN audit of billions in aid money earmarked for starving Somalis remains largely unaccounted for due to violence and corruption in a country caught between Islamists and a kleptocractic government.
Africa in Fact: dirty dealing
The September 2014 issue of the monthly current affairs magazine, Africa in Fact, offers a dramatic snapshot of the all-embracing and, at times, astonishing ways in which the cancer of corruption impacts societies, diverting resources from much-needed public services, ranging from health care to national defence, into private pockets.
‘The Office’ meets NGOs
(February 12, 2014) That’s how Hussein Kurji, the creator of Kenya’s first mockumentary, describes his new television series, ‘The Samaritans’ — a satirical look at the absurdities of the international aid sector. Comic though the premise is, a far more serious critique of NGO accountability and effectiveness lies beneath.
Somaliland says “thanks, but no thanks” to foreign aid
(February 6, 2014) Somaliland – the, unrecognized, self-declared state north of war-torn Somalia – attributes a lack of foreign aid to its success.
USAID and Chinese state companies look to build white elephant
(January 24, 2014) USAID may join forces with Chinese state companies to build a controversial and uneconomic dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Foreign aid: supporting dictators one at a time
(January 7, 2014) British foreign aid money is being used to prop up some of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Why foreign aid to Zimbabwe won’t work
(November 5, 2013) A Zimbabwe-based newspaper says greater accountability and transparency will help the country’s struggling economy, not foreign aid.
SNC-Lavalin may have to abandon involvement in DRC dam project
(September 24, 2013) SNC-Lavalin may have to pull out from a consortium bidding on a contract to construct a massive dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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