/ 2 June 2005

‘Assess African countries’ aid use individually’

With Africa expecting $25-billion by 2010 if the Commission for Africa’s recommendations are implemented, Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa said each country should be assessed individually to see if previous aid funds were misused.

“I really must insist that we should go country by country, situation by situation, and see where it has been misused, where it can be better used,” Mkapa told delegates at the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town on Thursday.

Mkapa was part of a panel, including South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, that spoke on how new aid can be allocated and used effectively, and what sort of partnerships are needed to increase the capacity of countries to use aid effectively.

He said Africa has made a case for increased aid. The common impression that funds are misappropriated and misused is not altogether true.

While some states lack the necessary legal and administrative systems to use aid properly, others have done “pretty well” with their aid in uplifting their countries.

Mkapa, using his home country as an example, said the best aid he received recently was to qualify for the highly indebted poor countries initiative.

“On the strength of that qualification, we’ve been able to absorb [save] … an average of $80-million a year. We have expanded the education system absolutely wonderfully, we have improved the health-delivery system in terms of medicines and medical training” and infrastructure development.

Mkapa said a short burst of aid, as envisaged by the Commission for Africa report that recommended a doubling of aid by 2010, will certainly help.

“If $80-million a year, which was a quick, short injection, has made this kind of difference, can you imagine what $160-million a year would do?”

Asked about the commitment of donor countries to implement the Commission of Africa’s recommendations, Manuel emphasised the need for “mutual accountability”.

“If we’re asking of President Mkapa to deliver on the [United Nations’s] Millennium Development Goals, then by the same token the donors who made commitments together with him in the UN should be asked to account for their inaction or action.”

Manuel said among the proposals by the commission is to maximise predictability and coordination between donors, to ensure adequate reporting and that aid should not be “tied”.

“We can’t approach this now as an all-or-nothing. We must be able to leverage maximally from every country and ensure that we can place the onus on the governments in poor countries to be able to deliver on their commitments to their electorates, and ensure that we can take this campaign forward,” Manuel said. — Sapa

Read more about the Africa Economic Summit on the World Economic Forum website