CNN - Dambisa Moyo talks about Dead Aid

[josephc28]

Ms. Moyo is dead on here. Much of the aid that is submitted through the UN ends up being misused or confiscated by corrupt governments anyway. Then there's the carrot/stick policies of the IMF and World Bank. They submit aid to many of these countries as a conditional means of controlling how governments operate within the country. There needs to be more emphasis on economic development.

[CharmingLordSausage]

Aid= racism

[andylumeh]

Will the " Baby Worshipping White Europeans" allow black Africa to manufacture the Raw MATERIALS like Iron, Leather goods, Clothes, Mobile phones, Computers, Cars?

[andylumeh]

Why poor nations are poor.

in 1729, Joshua Gee advised colonial Britain;

All negroes be prohibited from manufacturing Hats, Stockings, or Leather of any kind. He further advised: Indeed, if they set up manufacturers, and the government afterwards shall be under a neccessity of stopping their progress, we must not expect that it will be done with Ease that now it may. My advise: if Africa can break that yoke, and depend on God, then wealth shall come in like a flood. but will they?

[andylumeh]

Why poor nations have no wealth.

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he that gives yu power to get wealth.  - read Deuteronomy 8:18.

In 1729, Joshua Gee made this suggestion to Britian for African nations. . That all negroes shall be prohibited from weaving etheir their linnen or woolen, or spinning, or combing of wooll, or working at any manufacture Iron, further than making it into pig or bar iron. That they be also prohibited from manufacturing of Hats, Stockings or leather...

[liosot88]

I really believe in independence,long term and specificity by that I mean:

Independence: poor people need to learn how to lift themselves from poverty education and if they getting mosquito nets why not teach them how to make mosquitos nets? Long term is not about trowing money there and let it do wherever we all hope. Specificity don't just donate give money to Africa make sure the money goes to whoever is intended to help and it does not go to the corrupt goverment or the corrupt people...

[gabriel82030]

True! Where is the so called aid going anyway? Poverty and hunger couppled with diseases are still rampant in subsaharan Africa!! Aid has apparently not been of any help to the needy to help themselves but rather it has held them increasingly crippled as the Eritrean president maintains.

[gabriel82030]

I hope to see your ideas in practice without delayment. African misery due to a combination of issues needs to be addressed and dealt with now and should be priority number one.

[GerudoUK]

less politics moar Isha Sesay plz kthx

[JordanjamesX]

But where is the money going? Where is it going? We have to ask this question? Dambisa Moyo makes a cogent argument. Moyo she is not letting African dictators off the hook BUT the western world is a part of the problem. The west PROVIDES the money that the dictators USE to buy guns and waste money in decadence. The African people in many countries are suffering. Moyo is right!

[Seltue12]

Dead Aid is Dead Wrong and aid can contribute to economic growth and development. Her point is that all aid is bad is absurd, Dead Aid chooses to push the envelope of absurdity, proposing a "world without aid" on a five-year timetable. Moyo does not detail the possible outcomes. But we can reliably predict one of them. Many now alive would be dead.

[KinglyNumbaOne]

Before arrogantly writing simplistic reviews about a book, perhaps you ought to try reading it.

If you did read the book, you'd know that Dr. Moyo doesn't argue that all aid is bad and specifically delineates the type of aid she is addressing: government-to-government aid flows of billion-dollar packages.

Also, Dr. Moyo's five-year plan to end aid can only be categorized as absurd to a clueless statist who thinks there is an infinite amount of western money to pump into the African continent.

[Seltue12]

Did you read the book? The book is something of a marvel: Seldom have so many sound economic arguments been employed to justify such disastrously wrongheaded conclusions.

[Seltue12]

Also Moyo does not take sufficient account of the broad reaction against this kind of direct aid beginning in the 1990s. . The Millennium Challenge Account directed new aid to nations willing to work as responsible partners, dedicated to reform and transparency. Initiatives on AIDS and malaria required and achieved measurable outcomes and have often worked through civil society instead of giving money directly to African governments.

[KinglyNumbaOne]

Bait-and-switch much? Hilarious.

[leboharold]

@Seltue12 ya were has all the aid gone ask the Congo ask Ethiopia ask Sudan theyl tell you the african leadership the government stop being self righteous and be realistic aid dose not help same thing with welfare over here it only corrupts

[jiggyskunk15]

This all stems from the international bankers who run the US Federal Reserve. They have put the US Government in debt which in return put all these developing nations such countries in Africa and South America. This debt system that alot of us live under is making the poorer poorer and richer richer. The US population digests 25% of the worlds enerngy, and the population only makes up 5% of humanity.

[tekenareuben]

Brilliant woman I'll love to get that book

[bffishe]

This woman is brilliant. I hope people start listening to her.

[sexy1234]

Aid for the things that matter most.... it only takes

[Seltue12]

Aid agenda of the developed countries are overly ideological effort to impose neo-liberalism and market fundamentalism on developing countries. Privatization and free trade, which are considered central pieces of the structural adjustment package, appear to have no direct link with creating stability. These policies were in appropriate, were forcibly implemented by the regimes and where they are said to have succeeded; the result was increased poverty and massive unemployment in Africa.

[champagneluvr]

I'm a big fan and heartily agree with Dambisa Moyo's views. Having grown up and lived in an African country, I'm glad to see an insider offering new solutions the problems that have plagued us for far too long.

[cubanbwhitby]

such a brave, bold woman to bring to attention such matters. Stand strong Dampisa

[cmbradford]

because its the West that is giving the aid and where all the development ideas breed from.

[Seltue12]

We need practitioners. African Union or countries in Africacan make use of her expertise.

[godanddevilareone]

She regularly speaks in African countries, as far as I know. Knowing politics in Africa, I suspect many African leaders don't want to listen to her, however.

[arronnov]

Africa can have its own so-called market money and system that they control. Case point China and Japan have a so-called great free market and economic system but both of them have to import resources to function. They don't control the money system or trade system. That's been controlled and dictated by white European/Americans the past 600. They also control the world bank world trade organization and etc. If America stops buying China and Japan are threw.

[godanddevilareone]

So let's abolish the IMF, the Worldbank and especially the WTO. They are statist political organisations run by national and international politicians. You can't mix politics with the economy. The economy must create it's own institutions in which only economic interests (from ALL participants) may play a role.

[arronnov]

She advocates foreign investment and control of the land and resources. What does she thinks been going on the past 600yrs in Africa. Where does she thinks the gold diamonds rubber cocoa and etc been and benefiting the past 600yrs. She wants to model a system that has kept countries and their people except a few who where put in power by their white master to keep things status quo.

[godanddevilareone]

Well, the past 600 years have been very differentiated, haven't they? 600 years ago, Africans largely ruled themselves. 200 years ago, they were colonized. 50 years ago, they again ruled themselves.

[arronnov]

Think long and hard do they really rule themselves. Do they control the land resources education politics and etc. All these things I mention are ran and controlled with a European and Arab consciousness and paradigm. There's not one country being run under a African consciousness of thought. Until that change things will remain the same and the Chinese are in the mix.

[arronnov]

Africans need to be self dependent and self determining. That means the Chinese have to go along with the long over due enemy thieve Europe and its kid America has to go also. All resources and land goes back to the people and the control and ownership. People want resources their going to have to pay top dollar. Matter of fact the the majority of the manufacturing of the resources can be done in Africa to produces jobs for the people.

[Chnamanjx]

I'm usually liberal, but the problem with some left-leaning people is that they don't take into account all the side-effects of actions, they ignore game theory.

[Seltue12]

I concur.

[godanddevilareone]

Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that the real towering experts in the Third World are against aid - Hernando de Soto, Muhammad Yunus, Dambisa Moyo - while the Western experts are usually in favour - Jeffrey Sachs, Paul Collier, William Easterly et al.? Jeffrey Sachs is angry now: poor Africans should be humble and grateful for the handouts that they're given. Did China, India and Brazil rely on aid to develop? No, they did it the free market way.

[arronnov]

There's no such thing as a free market! That's the white man western illusion of a free and open markets. The United states sent admiral Perry over to Japan in the 1850's to blast open the so-called free market with force which less than a 100yrs later lead to Japan attacking Hawaii after America and the allies placing economic embargoes on Japan just like in the 1850's. The western world forces countries into their market with threat of embargoes or military action in some sort.

[godanddevilareone]

I agree that historically, it were often the powerful players that were in favour of free trade and free markets, but that doesn't mean free markets are a bad thing. If the USA or the EU goes against fair trade, we have to criticise that too. I do this all the time.

And with "free market" I'm mainly refering to the absence of government interference. That does not equal die-hard capitalism. Fair trade (which I support) also has no government interference.

[arronnov]

You do know historically Africans had a market with trade among themselves and other countries. This was done without any help or control by thieving greedy and evil outsiders. We need to look no further than wall street and federal reserve. The white elite took control when they took away money being back by gold silver diamonds and etc.

[godanddevilareone]

In the last 50 years Africa does NOT have a history of trade among each others. The little trade that there is (Africa = 1.5 percent of world trade), has been with the EU and North America. Africans have the highest trade barriers among each other , about 35% on average. African governments SHOULD allow trade among each other, but their governments are more interested in a big bureacracy that keeps their power.

[arronnov]

I wasn't talking about the past 50yrs or time under colonization. I mean invasion and unprovoked war that Europeans and Arabs have brought to the continent of Africa. Its not about big bureaucracy. Its about the sellout leaders who are kept or put in power by the past colonizers. That's why there are so many coups and regime changes to the keep the land and resources in the hands of the western former colonizers.

[arronnov]

When a African leader doesn't do what the western powers want like Mugabe or Edi Am-in. They west will paint them as evil and put sanction and other restriction on them. The western white world does not want Africa free to whats best for them.

[godanddevilareone]

Arronov, what you SAY and DO don't match. You SAY that Africans should be independent. But at the same time you blame everyone else for Africa's problems. If Africans are fighting stupid wars, or allow , it's never the fault of Africans (who have ruled themselves for 50 years now) but always the fault of others. Get angry at AFrican governments: they are the ones who only think about their own positions of power and luxury. Income inequality in Africa is much higher than the EU or North America.

[arronnov]

How are all the weapons and guns getting to Africa if the countries and people are so poor? The last time I checked Africans aren't gun manufacturers but the guns still get into Africa. Who benefits by making sure things stay status quo? Can guarantee that the securities agency in the west like the CIA MI6 and others aren't interfering with African countries. Why do you think the west started Africom? It wasn't for the benefit of African people.

[godanddevilareone]

So Idi Amin and Mugabe are the brave African leaders who do the best for Africa? This comment of yours shows it's a waste of my time to be talking to you.

[arronnov]

Those leaders had the guts and understanding to tell the world that Africa belongs to Africans which includes its land and natural resource that have made and help maintain Europe/America into power economically and military.

[godanddevilareone]

"How do the guns get into Africa?" Well, because Africans have ordered them and payed for them, that's why! You seem to think (subconscioulsy perhaps) that Africans are little children who cannot be held responsible for anything they do. That's the real problem here. The moment you and Africans will start to see this, is the moment real change is going to begin in Africa. As long as you keep blaming everyone else for all the problems in Africa, there will NEVER BE ANY PROGRESS.

[arronnov]

Yeah! They keep ordering them! You keep thinking that! You must just don't know what is in Africa and a mineral and resource level. The America and Europe you know now would exist without them. There's a particular mineral that goes in cell phone that's only found in abundance in Africa. Think about that for a moment. That's the vary reason their now recycling cell phones.

[arronnov]

Over 90% of the coco used for chocolate comes from Africa. Over 70% of the rubber used for tires comes from Africa. 90% of the diamond over 80% gold and platinum come from Africa. Can you know start seeing the big pictures.Africans don't control the prices of their resources. Those are set by the western powers. The Africans sell the materials raw that go into a computer for pennies on the dollar. They in turn are sold back a computer that cost them hundreds of dollars.

[godanddevilareone]

Just like the Chinese, Indians and Brazilians have take other paths that gave them dazzling growth figures, so could Africa. The Chinese operate very clever. In return for market access for Western companies, they demand that Western companies give the Chinese step by step all the technology needed to make products themselves. In matter of years, China has turned many sweatshops into Chinese-run corporations. Africans can do this too. They just need to grab the opportunity.

[arronnov]

The Chinese Japan Indians and Brazilians don't have the mineral resources that run the planet! China can have the rug pulled from under them if America/Europe produce things in America or else where. All these country are in the system that the western powers establish but they don't control it. They run a money and trade system that they don't control.

[arronnov]

That's a buyers market and that's why the government are kept unstable or by puppet leaders who are in favor of the west. This lady wants Africans to use the same money trade and government system that has been abusing enslaving and oppressing them. Only a fool would do that. If she was really down she would first be talking about building a army to protect try resources from outsiders.

[Seltue12]

Who order those guns? Who took war to Africa? We Africans do harm to ourselves. So stop blaming the west for everything.Though the binding constraint upon Africa's growth may have been externally-oriented policies in the past, those policies have now been softened. Today, the chief problem is those policies which are ostensibly domestically-oriented, notably poor delivery of public services. So the policy reform effort needs to be intensified.

[agitari740]

good good stuff...

[KinglyNumbaOne]

I am waiting for my book to arrive in the post. I ordered it a few days ago on Amazon.

Dambisa Moyo is so articulate -- as you would expect from someone who holds SEVERAL postgraduate degrees from the best universities in the world.

I agree with her premise 100%.

[Craigvadams]

I'm reading her book now, she is brilliant, beautiful, and brave.

[macalimuu]

I am reading it now!