Something's missing in Africa--and it's not aid dollars

As I discussed earlier, I am skeptical of Live8's campaign to forgive African debt, and also the worldwide aid movement in general. Interestingly enough, so is Der Spiegel, Germany's "most influential weekly news magazine." According to the article,

[D]evelopment aid doesn't really help. Again and again finance is hurriedly provided for one project after another, without any evidence of a convincing overall concept. The money is just thrown at projects as quickly as possible.
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the debt relief is an admission of how much traditional development policy has failed. It shows that despite the massive sums of money which have flowed into Africa, it has not been possible to make much progress in the fight against poverty.
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Why is it that the billions, which both the West and the East poured into Africa during the Cold War, have been so useless? The suspicion is hard to avoid that aid, sometimes, paralyzes.

How true. Accountability for aid is just as important as the aid itself, perhaps more important. Regardless of how good our intentions are, mis-used aid, taken and used by corrupt African regimes to further the demise of their peoples, does far more damage than had we kept our wallets shut. For example:

The late gun potentate of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, was well off to the tune of at least $4 billion. The former despot of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi, who stood down in 2002, is likewise thought to have swindled $4 billion during his 24 years in office. "When the gravy train passes by, they all jump on," says Ross Herbert of the South African Institute of International Affairs.

If intentions and their accompanying dollars equaled results, Africa would be in better economic and social shape than the West.

Yet anyone who tries asking the question about how cost-effective development aid actually is, is quickly labeled a misanthropic cynic.

In an historic new development, a record number of African economists and intellectuals are calling "for an end to the classic type of development aid."

The worst thing about foreign aid, says the Monitor from Uganda, is that it prevents democratic development and urgently needed reforms. The paper also believes that aid stands in the way of long overdue and highly beneficial transparency in society.

And yet, Tony Blair's international pledge drive at the G-8 summit just succeeded in doubling aid to Africa--from $25 billion to a whopping $50 billion. This will only fuel the apathetic attitude that Africans are begining to maintain:

The complete dependence on help from abroad and the World Bank's absurd demands have killed off individual economic incentives. Western therapy for Africa is like giving poison to a sick man. Or chocolate to a diabetic.

Africans must be encouraged and allowed to create their own wealth, strengthen their own industries, and build their own economic independence. Hand-outs from the West throw a wrench into the free-market economics that could be allowed to create prosperity in Africa. Giving money is easy and simple, yet detrimental. Giving political ideology and the tools so Africans can help themselves, not to mention democratic support against tyrannical regimes, is the real solution to the problem in Africa.