(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Norway is generous, but is trying to do too much at once. That is why aid has not worked effectively, says Ghanaian economist George Ayittey.
"As long as development aid does not contribute to the reform of the political and economic system in Africa, it is a waste of time and money," Ayittey told Ny Tid. The economist is aware that traditional aid has not helped Africa. The key to development does not lie in Live Aid and Live 8 concerts, doubling of aid and increased dependence on Western aid, he believes.
- It is the African people and civil society that can best drive reforms from within. Contributing to that is a more effective development aid policy than the one pursued today, says Ayittey.
The problem in Africa is corrupt leaders and that aid does not reach those who need it. Ayittey believes that the criteria for granting aid have not been clear enough, and that the money has therefore not helped to prevent what is creating poverty and misery in Africa. Ayittey is not only critical of Norwegian aid policy, but believes that the West's aid policy has failed precisely because the money has been given to corrupt leaders.
- Africa does not really need aid. The continent is like a begging bowl with holes in it. The 148 billion that disappear every year in corruption could instead have been used for development. What is needed is help to strengthen the African people, says Ayittey, who this year was named one of the top 100 intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine. Today, Friday 3 October, he will give a presentation on the future of development assistance at the seminar "New thoughts on development assistance" in Oslo.
Heated aid debate
The Ghanaian economist's views on aid to Africa are at the center of the debate on Norwegian aid and development policy. The aid budget for 2008 is record-breaking, but Nupi director and former UN summit Jan Egeland spoke this summer to double the aid. Stoltenberg denied that a doubling was appropriate, while Frp leader Siv Jensen quickly responded by stating that aid does not work, that it must be cut until it finds instruments that work, and that poor countries want free trade rather than aid. In Frp's country mode in May, the party was helped by its views by Ugandan editor Andrew Mwenda who stated that today's assistance has been poor for Africa's development. He has more faith in a liberalized economy than aid.
The economist Ayittey from Ghana is also positive about increased free trade. He still thinks the discussion "trade versus aid" takes the focus away from the most important.
– It reinforces the perception that Africa's solution must come from outside. Free trade will only take Africa a long way. What Africa should do is trade with itself. Today, only 10 percent of Africa's trade is within the continent, says Ayittey, who also does not believe that more aid is the solution.
- More money will not solve the problems we have in Africa. Those who suggest it are naive and do not understand our problems. If Western countries provide more aid, it rewards bad leaders. Aid must go to countries that are democratic and that have an independent press. If Norway really wants to help, it is with information and knowledge and help to set up independent election commissions that you should contribute, says Ayittey.
Agricultural sociologist Diamon Kambewa from Bunda Agricultural University in Malawi, who is also in Norway this week, completely agrees that more money is not the solution.
– We need less money and more focus from the donors. The money must go to those who really need it, Kambewa says to Ny Tid. He calls for better monitoring of how the aid funds are used to find out if they contribute positively or become a sleeping pad for the population.
institution building
How can developing countries free themselves from aid that does not help? That is the question Yash Tandon tries to answer in the book Ending Aid Dependence from 2008. Tandon is the director of the South Center, which is a development policy cooperation organization with more than 50 member countries. He points out, among other things, that countries must budget for the poor and not for donors and create institutions to invest national savings. Tandon is one of the speakers at Fritt Ord's development assistance seminar and also participates in
The Globalization Conference in Oslo in November. He also provided input to the government-appointed development committee, which in September presented its report on the correspondence between Norwegian development policy and other policy areas.
"The greatest support the North can give to the South is unconditional help to build institutions in the South that can think for themselves," Tandon recommended to the Norwegian government. He is also aware that it is okay for Norway to get involved in development aid projects, trade and investments in the South of its own business and foreign policy interests, but that this must be discussed openly.
"It is more honest to call a shovel a shovel rather than a drawer," he writes in his post.
Deputy head of Attac Helene Bank has sat on the board of the South Center. She agrees with Tandon and believes that the self-interests of providing assistance are to a small extent visible in Norway today.
– We must to a greater extent have a power perspective and ask who benefits from politics. When the Norwegian return on oil activities in Angola is greater than development assistance, then who is providing development assistance to whom? asks Bank. She points out that the aid debate today has two tracks. One track is about aid efficiency, the other is about whether aid must be cut and that instead the focus is on trade liberalization.
- The danger is that you reject aid and only look at trade without looking at the power perspective in trade policy. Trade is not enough if the countries are only allowed to export raw materials and not develop industrial processes, says Bank.
- Lightning arrester
Today, Friday 3 October, Tandon, Ayittey, Kambewa and other international aid experts are the speakers at the seminar "New thoughts on aid" which foreign policy commentator Asle Toje arranges at Fritt Ord. Toje is also a member of Frp's international committee. However, he emphasizes that he arranges the seminar as a researcher because he believes that the input from African and international experts, who have had little say in Norway in the past, is important for the Norwegian development aid debate. He also points out that he has invited researchers with different perspectives. Beyond that, Toje will not comment on the event in Ny Tid.
Political deputy head of the Joint Council for Africa, Magnus Bjørnsen, is positive that new voices will be heard in the development assistance debate, and does not react to the seminar being arranged by Toje who is affiliated with Frp.
- Yash Tandon is a Marxist, so it is not just the FRP's policy that emerges here, Bjørnsen says. He believes that development assistance takes up far too much space in the debate on poverty and sees it as a major problem that the conclusion is often that more development assistance must be provided.
- It is a lightning rod for the important things, such as creating a good economic climate with debt relief, better payment for raw materials from Africa and the fight against tax havens. Of course, we must also give them market access, says Bjørnson.
In the debate on Norwegian development aid policy, critical views have been expressed to a greater extent in recent years. One reason that is pointed out is that the geopolitical changes in the world mean that the West can no longer use aid power in the same way as before.
