Former UN Secretary-General, Koffi Annan this week penned a letter to Italian Prime Minister, Sylvio Berlusconi, urging Italy to fulfill her promise of increasing aid to Africa.

These donors owe nothing to Africa. They are not gods nor superhuman. These are human beings, with brains and other faculties like Africans.

Why then should we always expect them to feed us, treat our diseases, build our roads and hospitals?
I come from a culture where a man takes pride in fending for his family; a culture where hard work is a virtue; a culture where self-reliance is a source of pride; a culture where begging is shameful; a culture where idleness and laziness are abhorred and I am sure this same culture cuts across the entire continent.

 So at what point did this shameful begging take root and become part of our genetic make-up?
Koffi Anna, you could be well-meaning, but this gesture will end up sending wrong signals.

Africa can feed herself, develop like any other civilised nation on Earth, without a single penny from aid.
The Malawi ‘miracle’ is home-grown.

Not a penny from the donors, not even your AGRA, being touted a final panacea to Africa’s food crisis. THE KEY IS IN LEADERSHIP.

Otherwise, the path you are taking is both dangerous for yourself and Africa.

Dangerous for you because it will lump you in the same club as Oxfam, Action Aid et al, whose ‘crocodile tears’ about Africa’s plight are their own way of seeking bigger purses for the executives at the centre of the Aid Industry
THE GREATEST THING TO HAPPEN TO AFRICA TOMORROW WOULD BE THE FOR ALL MANNER OF AID TO STOP! AND THIS IS THE BEST GIFT OBAMA CAN GIVE AFRICA!!  

Amon Mbekiza
Kampala, Uganda
 kagap@yahoo.com.au

Ends