Paul Kagame: An African role model?

[Zungu Pule]

Kisoda,

Ungetutendea haki kama ungetuwekea source (not author alone) na tarehe. Andrew Mwenda ninamfahamu. Ni Editor wa The Independent daily in Uganda. Kwa sasa yuko Yale hosted by the Department of African Studies akiandika kitabu similar to "Dead Aid", denouncing/calling for a radical cut-off, zero foreign aid to Africa. He is not an academic; he is a journalist. Hoja zake hazina evidence, mara nyingi kama si zote. Anatumia story kama hii to conclude that "Aid is not and can never Work". Hapa kuna mambo mawili: (1) how much aid are we talking about? (2) how do you evaluate the impact of development interventions whether funded by foreign aid or taxpayer's money? The second point is the key because if you use flawed method, you will end up with a wrong conclusion. And do we have any piece of empirical evidence to support the argument that foreign aid can never work? Haya ni baadhi ya maswali ambayo wataalamu katika taasisi kama Yale watataka majibu yake kabla ya kukubaliana na hoja ya kupinga foreign aid. In fact, I am not sure if he has given a talk in any econ department!(you know what I am talking about). Je, kuna yeyote aliyewahi kuona paper katika Journal yoyote (peer reviewed) by Andrew or Dambisa or anybody else concluding that aid can never work and it should be stopped because it's responsible for the Africa's economic misery? What about taxpayers money; is it working?

By the way, his dad was a senior minister in Uganda for many years. Arguably, he was a close friend of Kagame (Kumbuka Kagame kakulia Uganda na ndio waliomweka madarakani). Katika mazungumzo yake mara nyingi ana-imply kwamba yeye ni miongoni mwa watu wanaompatia bwana Kagame "policy prescriptions". So, his view of Kagame may be biased!

 

[Pdidy]

wallahi
KILA SIKU NAMWOMBEA MUNGU KUSIFANYIKE UCHAGUZI RWANDA
ABAKI HUYU HUYU daima

 

[Zungu Pule]

Kuna watu humu ukimtaja tu Kagame basi watakushukia kama tai vile, sijui kwanini huwa hatupendi kusikia mazuri ya watu. Jamaa kwa kweli anajitahidi sana, na ana uchungu sana na nchi yake, ni mzalendo wa kweli. Sasa rudi bongo halafu mthaminishe muungwana ... ni vituko vitupu! na bado anataka aongezewe term ya pili!! .... ajabu sana!!

Kuna huyu bwa'mdogo mwingine naye wa hapa DRC, anajitahidi sana. DRC nayo serikalini ilikuwa inanuka kwa rushwa kama bongo, lakini huyu kijana anajitahidi sana kusafisha, sasa hivi anaijenga nchi yake kwa kasi sana na sitoshangaa baada ya miaka 5 itajayo tukawa tumeachwa mbali. Bado yuko kwenye vita huko pembezoni mwa nchi yake, lkn ukiangalia highways anazojenga hapa Kinshasa (wenyewe wanaita boulevards) zina tia moyo, ni 6 lanes hata Dar hakuna. Wananchi wake wanampenda sana, sasa hivi anawapiga chini kiana wa-belgiji na wafaransa na tenda zote karibu za ujenzi anawapa wachina, hata ukifika hapa kinshasa utaona population ya china inaanza kuongezeka.
Jamaa hana majisifu kabisa kama muungwana, nina wiki 2 hapa kinshasa lakini sijawahi kusikia sauti yake kwenye media; .... bongo kazi tunayo .. lol!

Brother,

Wiki mbili tu Kinshasa hazitoshi kufanya conclusion yoyote kuhusiana na DRC. You have been there in a minute my friend! Na 6 lanes road si njia sahihi by itself kupima kama mambo ni mazuri au mabaya. Really? DRC? Je, kutomsikia kiongozi kwenye media maana ni kwamba hana majisifu?

 

[Adili]

Mkuu, hii ni historia ya 2005 - Je bado Kagame anaendeleza libeneke?

 

[Kilembwe]

I think Africa now need leaders like Kagame, leaders that have the guts to dare take actions to anybody no matter how close they are to those people. JK where are you? can't you see what your brother on the otherside is doing?

 

[Kachero]

Ideed Kagame has shown the way,my question is is there any other leader in our own Country who can dare do the same.l dont think so simply because we have leaders who lack moral authority to fight corruption.Its a pitty to our Country l must say.

 

[Bantugbro]

Wakuu hii kitu nimeona nifanze ile wenyewe munasema copy and paste.
Ila nimeipenda kweli hii kama iko in reality.
why not in TZ?

By Andrew M. Mwenda

Last week I was in Kigali , this time at the heels of a cabinet decision to
impound all luxurious four wheel drive vehicles bought at government
expense and driven by ministers, security and military chiefs, foreign
experts and their local handlers. In a morning crackdown, all the big men
and women of this republic woke up to find that police constables along the
main roads were stopping and taking away their vehicles and leaving them to
walk to office.
The international donor community, known all over Africa for its corrupt
and profligate life styles which they indulge in the name of fighting
poverty, was this time caught with their pants down. They claim to fight
poverty while riding in luxurious four-wheel drive vehicles, sitting in
opulently furnished offices, earning obscene salaries and living in
executive mansions. In a bold act of defiance, Rwanda impounded even those
vehicles belonging to donor projects. After cleaning his own government of
corruption, he has now taken on the profligacy of the international aid
industry and its experts are now scared.

In a discussion with President Paul Kagame, he told me that he had looked
at some of the "poverty reduction" projects and they smelt bad. "There are
projects here worth only $5m and when I looked at their expenses, I found
that $1m was going into buying these cars, each one of them at $70,000.
Another $1m goes to buy office furniture, more $1m for meetings and
entertainment, and yet another $1m as salaries for technical experts,
leaving only $1m for the actual expenditure on a poverty reducing activity.
Is this the way to fight poverty?" he asked as I shifted with glee in my
chair.

Already, the government is auctioning these vehicles and so far has gotten
over $3m from the sales. Mr Kagame has now issued a new directive, saying
government should not purchase cars for its officials with more than 2,500
cc. But there is more: the government has placed a ceiling on mobile
telephone expenses for all its ministers, military and security chiefs to
50,000 Rwanda Francs (Shs150, 000), and also ordered MTN Rwanda to cut off
their international roaming access.

The directive also stops the holding of workshops, seminars and conferences
on poverty reduction in posh hotels like the Intercontinental, Mille
Collins etc, insisting they should be in government owned buildings at no
cost. The order also requires all government ministries; departments and
agencies to move from privately owned buildings where they pay high rents
to government owned buildings.

I told Kagame that whereas some of the most highly skilled Africans are
going to Europe and North America to clean streets and toilets, our
development partners send us Œtechnical experts on these projects at
individual monthly salaries of between $10,000 and $20,000, a salary that
could pay 12 Africans of better training and experience and save this
continent from severe brain drain. In fact, most of these so-called experts
are a miserable, career-stranded lot in their own countries, but are dumped
in Africa and other poor countries through foreign aid protocols.

Donors never shy from lecturing our governments on fiscal frugality, yet
their aid driven projects are the most profligate. Of total project aid to
Uganda 's ministry of Health, 93 percent of it goes into technical
assistance (i.e. salaries and allowances for the experts) and overheads
(i.e. four wheel drive vehicles, opulent office furniture, computers,
stationary, tea and cakes).

Only a miserable 7 percent of this aid goes into purchase of drugs. Now you
understand why, in spite of a huge health budget, our people cannot find
drugs in hospitals. We in the media have been shouting ourselves hoarse
against government corruption. It is time to expose the worse forms of
profligacy, which forces our governments to pile up huge sums in debt.

In fact, of the total money from the Uganda government budget to the
ministry of Health, 98 percent reaches its intended beneficiaries, clearly
showing that in spite of its corrupt ways, the government of Uganda is a
better evil than donors. Of total project aid to Uganda , 68 percent goes
into overheads and technical assistance. Only 32 percent to its intended
beneficiaries.

A few weeks ago I presented the above facts to President Yoweri Museveni
and asked him to act. My heart bleeds to say he is so deeply discredited by
his inability to tackle corruption in his government, and his own
profligate public administration expenditure that he lacks moral authority
to take on donors.

The other reason is that his regime lives off this coalition of mutual
deceit with donors that both are fighting to eradicate poverty in Uganda .
Kagame, however, is able to act boldly because he occupies a moral high
ground in fighting corruption, has ensured fiscal frugality and also
because his government pursues strategies of survival - not necessarily
dependant on donor approval.

In Rwanda , ministers and other high ranking public officials resign and or
are fired by the week because of allegations of corruption. From the lowest
clerk in a government office to the most powerful minister or military or
security chief, no one is immune to jail when they steal; none close to the
president, none distant from him. You steal, you get jailed.

If there is some prima facie case that you stole, but there isn't not
enough evidence to convict you in a court of law, then you are asked to
resign or get fired. What a tough guy this Kagame man is!!

The way of a Samurai ooh no a dictator teh teeh teh! ...we mpigie debe tu mtu wako anajitahidi lakini mapungufu yake ni makubwa subiri aachie ngazi utaona kama kuna mtu atakumbuka hayo unayo-mpamba..

 

[moyo]

I can now clearly see who will be the first president of East African Federation.

 

[Ben Saanane]

First EAF President,who?Kagame,plz talk about somebody else

 

[sblandes]

Rais Kagame kama jina lake the Mighty,kupunguza matumizi yasiyoyalazima nchini kwake,ni mfano mzuri wa kuigwa na wale wanaoafiki katika kuboresha hali ya mwananchi kwa ujumla.Tatizo la kwetu Tanzania si kwamba hilo hatulioni,la hasha tatizo ni utekelezaji.Miaka ya sitini Marehemu Profesa Babu akiwa waziri katika serikali ya Muungano alikuwa akija kazini kwa baiskeli.Sisemi mawaziri warudi kupanda baiskeli lakini wanatakiwa watambue ufukara unaowakabiri wananchi wetu.
Matumizi yao yafanane na hali ya uchumi wetu.Kupandisha bendera ya taifa na kuimba wimbo wa taifa letu hayo tu hayatoshi bali ni kutenda kwa ufasaha yaliyomo katika bendera na wimbo wa Taifa.Maazimio bila matendo ni sawa sawa na kumtafuta paka mweusi kwenye giza totoro na hali hayupo.

 

[Nkamangi]

Kisoda,

Ungetutendea haki kama ungetuwekea source (not author alone) na tarehe. Andrew Mwenda ninamfahamu. Ni Editor wa The Independent daily in Uganda. Kwa sasa yuko Yale hosted by the Department of African Studies akiandika kitabu similar to "Dead Aid", denouncing/calling for a radical cut-off, zero foreign aid to Africa. He is not an academic; he is a journalist. Hoja zake hazina evidence, mara nyingi kama si zote. Anatumia story kama hii to conclude that "Aid is not and can never Work". Hapa kuna mambo mawili: (1) how much aid are we talking about? (2) how do you evaluate the impact of development interventions whether funded by foreign aid or taxpayer's money? The second point is the key because if you use flawed method, you will end up with a wrong conclusion. And do we have any piece of empirical evidence to support the argument that foreign aid can never work? Haya ni baadhi ya maswali ambayo wataalamu katika taasisi kama Yale watataka majibu yake kabla ya kukubaliana na hoja ya kupinga foreign aid. In fact, I am not sure if he has given a talk in any econ department!(you know what I am talking about). Je, kuna yeyote aliyewahi kuona paper katika Journal yoyote (peer reviewed) by Andrew or Dambisa or anybody else concluding that aid can never work and it should be stopped because it's responsible for the Africa's economic misery? What about taxpayers money; is it working?

By the way, he was a senior minister in Uganda for many years. Arguably, his dad was a close friend of Kagame (Kumbuka Kagame kakulia Uganda na ndio waliomweka madarakani). Katika mazungumzo yake mara nyingi ana-imply kwamba yeye ni miongoni mwa watu wanaompatia bwana Kagame "policy prescriptions". So, his view of Kagame may be biased!

Zungu Pule. Kama matatizo ya waafrika yangekuwa yanaweza kutatuliwa na watu wanaoandika "articles kwenye peer reviewed aarticles" basi ungekuta tulishafika mbali sana. Vitabu vimeandikwa, majarida , machapisho n.k. Sasa hakuna kinachofanyika. Ni wakati wa kujaribu njia mbadala bila kutegemea academics. Dambisa Moyo na Andrew Mwenda ni "realists", you don't need to have published an article in a fancy journal to know that foreign aid is the worst thing to happen to the poor in Africa.

 

[Drifter]

wallahi
KILA SIKU NAMWOMBEA MUNGU KUSIFANYIKE UCHAGUZI RWANDA
ABAKI HUYU HUYU daima

Hapa ndipo ulipo mtihani wetu waafrika. Tukubali ma-dikteta "wema" kwa vile demokrasia haionyeshi dalili za kutupatia viongozi thabiti?

 

[Bulesi]

Kisoda,

Ungetutendea haki kama ungetuwekea source (not author alone) na tarehe. Andrew Mwenda ninamfahamu. Ni Editor wa The Independent daily in Uganda. Kwa sasa yuko Yale hosted by the Department of African Studies akiandika kitabu similar to "Dead Aid", denouncing/calling for a radical cut-off, zero foreign aid to Africa. He is not an academic; he is a journalist. Hoja zake hazina evidence, mara nyingi kama si zote. Anatumia story kama hii to conclude that "Aid is not and can never Work". Hapa kuna mambo mawili: (1) how much aid are we talking about? (2) how do you evaluate the impact of development interventions whether funded by foreign aid or taxpayer's money? The second point is the key because if you use flawed method, you will end up with a wrong conclusion. And do we have any piece of empirical evidence to support the argument that foreign aid can never work? Haya ni baadhi ya maswali ambayo wataalamu katika taasisi kama Yale watataka majibu yake kabla ya kukubaliana na hoja ya kupinga foreign aid. In fact, I am not sure if he has given a talk in any econ department!(you know what I am talking about). Je, kuna yeyote aliyewahi kuona paper katika Journal yoyote (peer reviewed) by Andrew or Dambisa or anybody else concluding that aid can never work and it should be stopped because it's responsible for the Africa's economic misery? What about taxpayers money; is it working?

By the way, he was a senior minister in Uganda for many years. Arguably, his dad was a close friend of Kagame (Kumbuka Kagame kakulia Uganda na ndio waliomweka madarakani). Katika mazungumzo yake mara nyingi ana-imply kwamba yeye ni miongoni mwa watu wanaompatia bwana Kagame "policy prescriptions". So, his view of Kagame may be biased!

If you have read DAMBISA MOYO"S DEAD AID betwen the lines and have understood her arguements, there is so much glaring empirical evidence to conclude that foreign aid has been detrimental to the development aspirations of the African continent!! The evidence so produced in the the book is so conclusive that you do not need anything more to reach that unfortunate conclusion!!

 

[Felixonfellix]

That sounds good for tz to learn a lot particularly big fishes

 

[Zungu Pule]

Zungu Pule. Kama matatizo ya waafrika yangekuwa yanaweza kutatuliwa na watu wanaoandika "articles kwenye peer reviewed aarticles" basi ungekuta tulishafika mbali sana. Vitabu vimeandikwa, majarida , machapisho n.k. Sasa hakuna kinachofanyika. Ni wakati wa kujaribu njia mbadala bila kutegemea academics. Dambisa Moyo na Andrew Mwenda ni "realists", you don't need to have published an article in a fancy journal to know that foreign aid is the worst thing to happen to the poor in Africa.

Nope. I respectfully disagree! Kama unachosema hapa ni kweli, kwanini basi watu wanatumia pesa na muda mwingi kufanya tafiti? I would argue that the very same foreign aid you are denouncing has failed (if at all true) because donors didn't ask for the evidences in the first place. They assumed that any interventions would work! They were wrong. Now, this doesn't mean that Africa is poor because of foreign aid and that cutting aid would trigger economic development. This, by itself, is a misguided conclusion. Let me ask you this, how would you go about evaluating impacts of a particular project? Is it simply by your naked eyes? Will you bother to establish some verifiable indicators? Or you will simply rely on Dambisa's book and conclude that aid is not working? What about this: if foreign aid is not working and should be stopped, what about our own taxpayers money? Is it working? Wait, don't tell me that taxpayer's money is not working because of foreign aid? May be yes but the question remains, how much foreign aid are we talking about? Do you know the numbers? Is it enough to register any big impact one would expect of foreign aid? Njia mbadala sio kudharau tafiti, ni kuzifanyia kazi.

If Dambisa's argument makes any sense, the first group to approve it should be her peer. Her fellow economists, in particular development economists. They are the one well positioned to tackle the question of whether aid is working or not. And not otherwise. Now, for this peer review to happen, you must submit your idea to the peer reviewed journal. Not to your friends and siblings. The peer reviewed journals is the only robust system for testing the validity of an argument I am aware of. I am yet to see Dambisa's paper on the bad side of foreign aid, other than her advocacy book entitled "Dead Aid". Observe that advocacy is inherently biased. Therefore, she may be dramatizing things to sell her book. Tell me, why should I believe Dambisa? Because I hate Western propaganda? or Because her command of the English language cannot be matched? na unaburudika ukisoma kitabu chake?

YES, I need an article in a "fancy journal to know that foreign aid is the worst thing to happen to the poor in Africa". By the way, do we have any other region other than Africa that is receiving foreign aid? How are they fairing?

 

[Koba]

A Supply-Sider in East Africa

The man who ended Rwanda's genocide doesn't want foreign aid. He wants investment and free trade.

• Article
• Comments (20)

By ANNE JOLIS

London
Sixteen years ago, the world watched in horror as 800,000 Rwandans were systematically murdered by their neighbors. In just 100 days, well over 10% of the country's population-mostly Tutsis, the country's minority group, and some politically moderate Hutus, the country's majority-were slaughtered by an extremist Hutu government. Paul Kagame led the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the guerilla army made up largely of Tutsi refugees that ultimately overthrew the government and ended the bloodshed. Now he's president.
You might suppose that the leader of a country synonymous with genocide would be far more interested in scoring foreign aid than in talking about supply-side economics. But then you probably haven't met Mr. Kagame. His agenda for improving the state of his country boils down to one goal: "spurring private investment."

"We believe in private enterprise, free market, and competition. . . . So we have to make sure there is a conducive environment for people to be creative and innovative," he told me last month in a suite in the West End's plush Langham Hotel. Our interview followed his debut appearance at the annual meeting of the Commonwealth, which Rwanda joined last year.
Bespectacled and as twiggy as when he led the RPF, Mr. Kagame looks like an unlikely warlord. And yet this is the man-not the U.N. and not the U.S.-who led forces outnumbered two to one to defeat the genocidal government and their machete-wielding militia.
Gangly in a dark gray suit, Mr. Kagame meets me precisely on time for our interview. He speaks in paragraphs, eyes wide, and without a trace of the cynicism that it seems should be his right. The overall effect is more impassioned academic than storied warrior.
Don't be fooled.
Asked how much of Kagame-the-general remains in Kagame-the-statesman, he replies "100%." I laugh, but he's serious. "My respect and enthusiasm for softness and diplomacy and negotiations-really reaching out to people-has only been growing. But it has not diminished my ability and desire and conviction to give a good fight when a fight is called for," he says.
These days, the battle he is fighting is for national prosperity. Unlike many of his peers in the Third World, his focus is on how to create wealth-not on how to beg for charity. During our entire conversation, Mr. Kagame doesn't once utter the word poverty. "We can only have ourselves to blame for our failures," he says. "We don't expect anyone to hand us any success or progress we hope to be making."
That attitude makes Mr. Kagame a skeptic when it comes to foreign aid, which he faults for many of the world's ills. "It has created dependency, it has distorted the markets, it has detached people from their leaders and their values, it has created conflicts in some cases."
He notes that Rwanda has cut its dependence on aid by half in the past 15 years, and he speaks with undisguised pride that Rwanda has become self-sufficient in food for the first time in its history. Gradual improvements to property rights, along with government money for fertilizer to farmers (which the farmers have since repaid with the revenue from their produce), have even allowed Rwanda to begin exporting some of its crops.
What the country needs now, Mr. Kagame says, is the freedom to market itself around the world. His key bugaboos include import tariffs and agricultural subsidies: "Trading fairly with developing countries would put more money in the hands of the developing countries than [donor countries] give through aid."
In September, the World Bank named Rwanda its "top reformer of business regulation," as the country soared to 67th place from 143rd the year before for "ease of doing business." On the matter of "ease of paying taxes," Rwanda, in 59th place, now bests the U.S. (which has fallen to 61st). All sectors are open to investors, and the government places no limit on foreign equity ownership. The reward has been 8.8% yearly average GDP growth since 2004, according to government figures.
But there remains work to be done. Rwanda has been criticized for a lack of judicial independence, for instance, and for property rights that leave much room for improvement. Mr. Kagame has no intention of slowing the pace of reforms.
"We ask would-be investors what is it they're really interested in when they come to Africa or when they come to Rwanda," Mr. Kagame explains. "We say, 'What would you be interested in seeing happen in Rwanda that would facilitate your investment?' We put all this together and start seeing what we don't have and put it in place-whether it's about laws, institutions, or different aspects of relations, so on and so forth." Mr. Kagame says his approach has lured New York-based electric and heating utility group ContourGlobal. It is investing in Lake Kivu's methane reserves for electricity generation, with an eye to producing enough power to export to Uganda.
The president's other major project is simplifying the country's tax code. While the World Bank puts Rwanda's total levies on profits at 31.3%, well below the OECD average of 44.5%, Mr. Kagame predicts that streamlining taxes to bring down administrative costs and cut incentives to cheat is probably the best way of "actually increasing the level of revenue you collect."
He's been sending members of his government around the world to study different tax systems, and says he is close to unveiling plans to simplify Rwanda's. One solution that appeals to him is a flat tax.
"We sent our team to Georgia because we learned they have been very successful with their flat tax. . . . We want to see where it works," Mr. Kagame says.
And if the experiment fails miserably? "We're not afraid."
His ideology, he says, is not the product of study but of "the life I have lived." Born in 1957, his Tutsi family fled Rwanda in 1960, when the impending departure of the Belgian colonizers was already giving rise to "Hutu Power" violence. This was the culmination of the ethnic animosity that had been nurtured by Brussels's decades-long institutional favoritism towards the Tutsi minority. Mr. Kagame spent 30 years in Uganda as a refugee before taking the helm of the Inkotanyi-RPF army in 1990.
"For so long, I've lived injustice, and have had to struggle and fight for my freedom and my people's freedom," he says. "I think you tend to have more passion for freedom and for rights to exist, for you and for everyone. . . . With that kind of life, you don't take things for granted, you want to earn every step of your life. You want to work hard, you want to achieve, you want to reach where you have not been before."
It's hard not to like his message. And yet Mr. Kagame has strong critics. Lately their concern has focused on Rwanda's upcoming presidential elections, in which Mr. Kagame remains unopposed in his run for a second seven-year term. His main would-be challenger, Victoire Ingabire-who returned to Rwanda in January after 16 years in the Netherlands-was arrested on Wednesday on charges of associating with a terrorist group (the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, founded by perpetrators of Rwanda's genocide) and advocating ethnic division.
Ms. Ingabire was released on bail the day after her arrest. But unless she's officially cleared of the charges she's barred from registering her party in the elections.
Her exclusion feeds neatly into the narrative, favored by the international press and advocacy groups such as Human Rights Watch, that Kigali regularly uses genocide-related accusations to target and discredit its critics. While Rwanda does have limits on free speech, they more closely resemble Europe's laws against Holocaust denial than blanket political censorship.
Rwanda shows none of the outward signs of a president who imagines himself indispensable, as I noticed during my recent visit. Policemen and soldiers are thin on the ground and citizens readily discuss politics with strangers. Decentralized local governance is the official policy and Mr. Kagame's visage is not plastered around the country. But there's no denying that Mr. Kagame's democratic credentials would benefit from a rival-especially after he beat three challengers with an eyebrow-raising 95% of the vote in 2003. "It is not my duty to create an opposition," he tells me.

He is rankled that outsiders would suppose that "the progress we make [in democracy] is because somebody is whipping us with a stick. We believe in freedoms . . . we believe in democracy, not because anybody tells us to do so." He insists that if and when a legitimate comer enters the race, he will not stand in his or her way. "Our life has been that of a struggle against that."
Many African leaders have been hailed as liberators in the past, only to later trash their term limits and install themselves permanently in power. I ask Mr. Kagame whether, assuming he wins another seven years, the world can expect him to pursue such a presidency-for-life.
Speaking into two tape recorders, he is unequivocal: "No. No. I would not be responsible for that."
Miss Jolis is an editorial page writer for the Wall Street Journal Europe.

 

[Zungu Pule]

If you have read DAMBISA MOYO"S DEAD AID betwen the lines and have understood her arguements, there is so much glaring empirical evidence to conclude that foreign aid has been detrimental to the development aspirations of the African continent!! The evidence so produced in the the book is so conclusive that you do not need anything more to reach that unfortunate conclusion!!

Are you talking about causality here? Did she conclude that or this is your own making?

 

[Nkamangi]

There are other non African countries receiving aid but similarly they are all still depending on it. The Singapores , Brazils etc developed on their own. All foreign aid does is fuel bad governance.
So many things have been researched and evidence based interventions published lakini haisaidii chochote Afrika ndio maana nasema Afrika haihitaji research zaidi, tufanyie kazi hizo interventions zilizo kwenye hizo journals basi. Research nyingi siku hizi zinafanyika kwa maslahi ya wachache ya kifedha au kitaaluma Na hakuna "aid" ya bure, wanafaidi wao wanaotoa hiyo aid kuliko wanaopewa hiyo aid.

 

[Masanja]

Zungu Pule. Kama matatizo ya waafrika yangekuwa yanaweza kutatuliwa na watu wanaoandika "articles kwenye peer reviewed aarticles" basi ungekuta tulishafika mbali sana. Vitabu vimeandikwa, majarida , machapisho n.k. Sasa hakuna kinachofanyika. Ni wakati wa kujaribu njia mbadala bila kutegemea academics. Dambisa Moyo na Andrew Mwenda ni "realists", you don't need to have published an article in a fancy journal to know that foreign aid is the worst thing to happen to the poor in Africa.

Mkuu heshima mbele. Hapa umegonga ikulu kabisa. Muungwana Zungu Pule..anataka kutuaminisha kwamba huko Yale..ndo wanauelewa wa matatizo yetu. Hii si sahihi. Huwezi niambia eti Professor wa Yale au Harvard atakuwa na analysis bora ya matatizo yetu kuliko sisi tunaoishi na hayo matatizo. Kama ulivyoainisha..tumewaona maprofesa wangapi..wakiandika volumes na volumes?...Ukweli ni kwamba....we need the Kagame`s of this world...take it or leave it, Kagame knows what he is doing na..anajua trick ya hawa wazungu. Wanakupa $$10M za kupambana na malaria..wakati wanaleta "technical experts" ambao watakula zaidi ya nusu ya hiyo hela. Kama Kabila anajenga barabara....jamani tahst what a common Mwananchi needs! Au mpaka WORLD BANK waje waseme kwamba huo mradi una manufaa? Duh..

Kama anavyosema Profesa ninayemheshimu sana..Thandika Mkandawire wa LSE...Its only Africa which has been condemned to develop while democratizing! Hakuna nchi popote pale ulimwenguni.....iliyowahi kuchanganya democrasia na maendeleo ikafanikiwa! Leo Kagame hata angefanya kipi kizuri kwa wananchi wake..watu watakwambia eti Rwanda hakuna uhuru wa habari....I think its high time..waafrika tujue priorities zetu..hii aina ya demokrasia ya magharibi..Itatulostisha tuu!

Unajua juzi nilikuwa nasoma ile report ya Brahimi yule mzee wa Algeria aliyekuwa mwakilishi wa Kofi Annan kule Afghanistan....aliambiwa na Kofi Annan afanye tathmini ya misaada kule..Guess what? Mzee anakwambia zaidi ya 90% ya hela zote zilizopelekwa na donors Afghanistan..zilirudi huko magharibi. Lakini hao hao wazungu..ukiwakuta wamekusanyika Intercontinetal London..wanakwambia eti we have pledged $50Billions for Afghanistan Recovery.....Go fgure..hiyo recovery itakuja ipatikane lini!


Hivi waafrika lini tutaamka na kuuelewa ukweli kwamba..AID is simply a ploy to keep the poor poorer?

 

[Zungu Pule]

Mkuu heshima mbele. Hapa umegonga ikulu kabisa. Muungwana Zungu Pule..anataka kutuaminisha kwamba huko Yale..ndo wanauelewa wa matatizo yetu. Hii si sahihi. Huwezi niambia eti Professor wa Yale au Harvard atakuwa na analysis bora ya matatizo yetu kuliko sisi tunaoishi na hayo matatizo. Kama ulivyoainisha..tumewaona maprofesa wangapi..wakiandika volumes na volumes?...Ukweli ni kwamba....we need the Kagame`s of this world...take it or leave it, Kagame knows what he is doing na..anajua trick ya hawa wazungu. Wanakupa $$10M za kupambana na malaria..wakati wanaleta "technical experts" ambao watakula zaidi ya nusu ya hiyo hela. Kama Kabila anajenga barabara....jamani tahst what a common Mwananchi needs! Au mpaka WORLD BANK waje waseme kwamba huo mradi una manufaa? Duh..

Kama anavyosema Profesa ninayemheshimu sana..Thandika Mkandawire wa LSE...Its only Africa which has been condemned to develop while democratizing! Hakuna nchi popote pale ulimwenguni.....iliyowahi kuchanganya democrasia na maendeleo ikafanikiwa! Leo Kagame hata angefanya kipi kizuri kwa wananchi wake..watu watakwambia eti Rwanda hakuna uhuru wa habari....I think its high time..waafrika tujue priorities zetu..hii aina ya demokrasia ya magharibi..Itatulostisha tuu!

Unajua juzi nilikuwa nasoma ile report ya Brahimi yule mzee wa Algeria aliyekuwa mwakilishi wa Kofi Annan kule Afghanistan....aliambiwa na Kofi Annan afanye tathmini ya misaada kule..Guess what? Mzee anakwambia zaidi ya 90% ya hela zote zilizopelekwa na donors Afghanistan..zilirudi huko magharibi. Lakini hao hao wazungu..ukiwakuta wamekusanyika Intercontinetal London..wanakwambia eti we have pledged $50Billions for Afghanistan Recovery.....Go fgure..hiyo recovery itakuja ipatikane lini!


Hivi waafrika lini tutaamka na kuuelewa ukweli kwamba..AID is simply a ploy to keep the poor poorer?

This is interesting. Unauhakika gani tukifutiwa misaada ya nje tutaendelea kiuchumi? Hii ni sawasawa na una familia yako, ukiishi kwa kutegemea msaada wa ndugu zako (partly). Nyumba unayoishi ni mbovu, inavuja, na haina umeme. Wanachokupatia ndugu zako ni msaada kidogo tu ili watoto wasilale na njaa au wanakusaidia kurudishia mabati kidogo ili nyumba isivuje sana. Lakini kimsingi pamoja na msaada wao, bado uko kwenye hali ngumu. Unahitaji pesa ya kujenga nyumba mpya, wanakupatia msaada wa kurudishia dirisha lililong'oka. Sasa badala ya kujishughulisha na kujitafutia maisha mazuri, unasema utafanya hivyo pindi tu watakapoacha kukusaidia. Unanung'unika kwamba ndugu zako kwa kuwa wanakupatia msaada, wanakuzuia usijenge nyumba mpya wala usisomeshe watoto shule nzuri. Unasema watakapoacha kukusaidia tu, utajenga nyumba nzuri na kusomesha watoto shule zenye ubora unaostahili. This is what you are telling me. That Africa is waiting for the foreign aid to be stopped in order to attain economic development. Funny!

Blaming foreign aid for our misery by itself explains why Africa is poor, and why smart people are doing whatever they want in this continent. When Kagame you are talking about was asked to weigh on the possibility of China influencing his country's foreign policy in return to the aid Rwanda receives from China; he replied, if that happens it's Rwandan's to blame and not Chinese! Kusema kwamba donor countries are using aid as a weapon to undermine Africa's development is a sign of weakness and says it all. Before blaming foreign aid, let's blame ourselves first!