Sierra Leone over the years have received millions of dollars worth of aid that should have been utilized in the development of the country, but the more the country received, the poorer it becomes, so the question is whether aid to us is a blessing or curse.
Most often we complain that the money given to Sierra Leone is always stolen by corrupt leaders and these monies helps keep them in power, and the aid does not get down to the right people who need it.
Recently, David Rieff a contributor at the New York Times Magazine said and I quote: ‘The problem with aid, in short, is that it sets itself up as the kind of know-all and end-all. …Aid, by definition, is outsiders telling people in a place how to do it, and telling them if they don’t behave satisfactorily-that is, the best practices that you now see in humanitarianism: if you’re not democratic, if you are not transparent, if you don’t do this, that or the other thing – then we will withdraw the aid. Well, if ever there was an example of any unequal form of relations, I would submit to you that that’s it, which is why, precisely, in depriving people of their agency; aid does more harm than good.
There are lots of misconceptions about aid that most people don’t know or understand. Aid has never been free to us; it is either a soft loan that is given to the government at a very minimal rate. Also aid is tied very tightly by extreme conditions. More than fifty percent of the aid to Sierra Leone from Europe and U.S. are spent inside the individual country that have given us the aid to buy vehicles; pay consultancy, higher professionals with fabulous salaries.
Fancy a package of let say one hundred million pounds is being courted for Sierra Leone and through the above mentioned fees and purchases fifty percent of the money has returned to them. When they report to the world, they will say one hundred million pounds has been given, when in fact we received half of the amount.
I don’t want to offend anyone, Sierra Leone needs help, but for Gods’ sake ask us what we want, and don’t assume that you know better than us inside the country. Also give us the money as there are lots of technocrats that can handle the money and consultancy for far less than what you will be paying your own brothers and sisters. The most important thing that we need in Africa now is REFORM.
The current aid situation in the country is not right and I want the government to frown at it so that we can have the opportunity to change the status quo. The programs in the country must be Sierra Leonean biased, they must be led by Sierra Leoneans and they must be sustainable and they must be accountable.
The Chinese proverb says one must learn how to fish so he can eat everyday rather than begging for fish. So can we in Sierra Leone learn how to fish with or without hook, line and sinker so that we can be more sustainable? China and the rest of South East Asia succeeded today and they are now food self sufficient and have very viable economies and prosperous countries.
I would say the millions of dollars that the Western powers has been pumping into our economy have failed and would continue to fail until we are taught how to ‘fish’ and how we too can cast our own nets so we can be self-sufficient.
Some people say the aid we have been receiving has helped reduce poverty and increased economic growth, The quantum of money that have come into our system since independence should have drastically reduced poverty, but instead poverty has escalated to an unprecedented height. Economic growth rates have been declining with thousands of Sierra Leoneans continue to suffer because the aid is not reaching them as part of it has been left in the country of origin.
At some point in time, I would say aid has been a disaster to Sierra Leone hindering development and fuelling corruption on both fronts the donor as well as the recipient. Aid agencies and charities are just coming to feather their nest and for their own self interest, expanding their market share.
The beneficiaries of aid are governments, politicians, the staff of aid agencies and charities. Just take a look around and count the number of children’s agencies in the country, then check the number of street kids, child labourers then you will understand the information I’m trying to bring out.
Vast sums of money have vanished into the pockets of politicians, the agencies and corrupt government officials. Money from Western taxpayers, corporations and individual donations have been wasted and we are left to pay the loans and with little or no project to be accounted for.
I believe that aid is the problem, not the solution to our problems. As for debt relief, it is just a moral hazard. What is the incentive for us to continue paying interest on money borrowed from the West, when they take the money back, defaults and then we get debt relief from our masters?
Aid creates the wrong incentives; it makes objects of the poor, passive recipients of charity rather than active participants in their own economic betterment. We don’t need handouts but better institutions, land reform and better economic plans. The country, individuals and aid agencies get richer out of self interest and capital becomes a by-product of development and not an input.
Maybe I might be wrong, but thousands of Sierra Leoneans are poorer today because of the so called aid; poverty and misery that have not ended but increased throughout the country. Aid has been and will continue to be an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster for us.
I am urging the government to encourage more trade and investment from China and press the West for genuine free-trade access and develop microfinance tools that operate in the Asian world.
The aid to us and the rest of Africa is directing self-interest elsewhere and instead of engaging in a risky dialogue with us about reform, our politicians rather talk to aid donors and solicit handouts. The time is ripe for us to move from the slave trade and stop the whining.
The Global recession is a typical example of what we are going through. The West is in recession and the crumbs stop falling from the table, the end result our economy breaks down, the Leone depreciating and the poor are dying.
Where are the economic structures, where are the innovations from our political leaders, where are the exports; to all these I say the problem has just started even though we are 48 years old, we still have no sense of direction we are just waiting for crumbs like dogs sitting at its master or mistress’s feet waiting for the bones to fall.
Take a look around and think of the colonial era for those who were around and remember the Landrovers all over the country, and then today look around and see the army of foreign aid officials and Land cruisers you can count daily.
Aid has destroyed the concept of civil society in Sierra Leone. What exist are the NGOs. They are bureaucracies committed to the interests of donors.
Telephones ring on the desk of finance minister with news of a pioneering aid initiative: The West plans to halt all low-interest lending and grants to us within five years. We have become so addicted to aid that we need and depend on its regular fix, finding it hard, if not impossible to contemplate existence in an aid-less world.
Finally I want to close by saying that why can’t we stand up to the donors and tell them that we have enough technocrats to administer the aid so that they can stop sending those small boys and girls to eat the money.
The time is now right for us to be challenging the West on their tactics of using the NGOs to administer the aid and at the same time taking back almost 50% of the total given to us. We are not being innovative enough.
What the Chinese have done for us in the last 10 years has been amazing. They have brought in infrastructure where it has not existed before and they have provided jobs where we’ve not been able to get jobs in the past 60 years. I think I have the right to say that they have been a positive force towards economic development in the country.
They’ve diversified their approach to Africa. Initially it was heavily dependent on the mining and mineral sector, oil and gas. They have now become much more focused on things like agriculture, banking sector, much more diversified.
I am not saying the Chinese are perfect and that they should take over, but I think that there are issues that the media, especially the Western media picked up on and there are a lot of scope for trying to actually improve the discourse and the alliances between African countries and the Chinese, but that is not the responsibility of the international community to police that.
So I want to ask you to give your own opinion on this issue as it is very important for us to find a solution to our chronic backwardness and poverty. Waiting for your comments.
By Austin Thomas