German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that she will make Africa a priority during her country’s leadership of the G8 and the European Union.
But last weekend’s first official meeting under German G8 leadership, at which South Africa’s Trevor Manuel was a guest, was not a positive start. The finance ministers of the G7 (G8 countries: United States, Britain, Japan, France, Italy, Canada and Germany, minus Russia) failed to discuss aid to Africa. In fact, discussion of Africa was limited to the issue of financial governance.
This lack of attention to development in Africa is a far cry from 2005, when the G8 leaders promised with great fanfare to double aid for the continent to more than $50-billion a year. This commitment is only half of what the United Nations calculates is required to reach the Millennium Development Goals and it will take rich countries only halfway to achieving the target of spending 0,7% of their gross national income on development aid — a target they all signed up to 37 years ago.
The increased aid promised by the G8 in 2005 would, if delivered, make a huge difference in the fight against poverty. Yet development aid to Africa, excluding Nigeria’s substantial debt cancellation, actually fell by 2,1% in 2005, to $24,9-billion.
How can the most powerful governments talk about good governance and responsibility in Africa while reneging on their promises and responsibility to the continent?
Africa has demonstrated significant progress towards promoting good governance and showing sustained economic growth. The improved functioning of the African Union (even with its weaknesses), democratic elections in previously war-torn countries, good economic governance in many countries and cross-border infrastructure development has seen positive GDP growth rates for the continent, with some poor countries showing double-digit rates of growth, albeit from a low base.
South Africa and other influential and credible African governments need to use their own example and the space they get in forums like the G8 to continue calling for Africa’s development to be prioritised and for promises made by the richest countries to be kept. The announcement at last week’s meeting that a number of African countries will be invited to the G7 finance meeting in May offers one such opportunity.
Good financial management is a critical issue. But for many African countries such as Tanzania and Mozambique, which have improved accountability already and increased their own spending to fight poverty, more aid is urgently needed to save lives and get more children into school.
Increased aid and debt relief has enabled the Tanzanian government to more than double its education budget in the past four years and substantially increase its health spending. The result is an extra 3,1-million children in primary school, infant mortality rates have been reduced by a third and mortality rates for under-fives have fallen by almost a quarter.
It is not just the quantity but also the quality of aid that is important. In the past, aid for health and education has been short-term and concentrated on individual projects rather than building public services.
Developing countries’ governments also have a key role to play and must take responsibility for delivering these essential services, because only governments are in a position to deliver them on the scale needed to transform the lives of millions of people living in poverty.
The financial cost to the G8 of increasing aid is tiny — one-tenth of their military spending. The human costs of the G8 breaking their aid promises are huge — millions of people will continue to die from preventable diseases, 80-million children will not go to school and millions of Africans will be condemned to a life of poverty.
Debt cancellation and the increased commitment by African governments to fighting poverty and spending resources effectively are crucial steps, but they must be matched by more aid from the world’s richest countries if there is to be any chance of making poverty history.
Shehnilla Mohammed is director of Oxfam South Africa