don't you know we are far too busy and deeply involved in saving brown Muslims from killing other brown Muslims and replacing one set of dictators with a brand new set, the kind we can control who will okay our plans to lay oil and gas pipelines in the countries where the dictators we got rid of, pooh-poohed our plans? So ... please stop your pleas for helping black Africa uplift itself. Okay? Message received? Do you capiche?
From IPSnews:
....The Southern African Development Community has had to revisit its plans to raise funding for its ambitious regional development plan in the wake of a cold-shoulder from western nations and multilateral finance institutions.
“Nobody has come forward to fund any of the projects we have outlined. I have been to Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, among other countries,” SADC deputy executive secretary for regional integration Joao Samuel Caholo told IPS.
“What is holding us back as SADC is our inability to fund our own priorities and programmes. Therefore, a sustainable funding mechanism has to be established if we are to show that we are committed and progressing.”
However, development experts have questioned whether SADC is sufficiently mature to handle ambitious projects such as the Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP), which is estimated to cost 500 billion dollars.
The RIDMP aims to rebuild the region’s deficit road, rail and ports infrastructure, increase its power-generation capacity, and establish communication and weather systems. Access to water, and providing the infrastructure for its distribution is also a priority.
“SADC has the potential and we are asking for the goodwill of all member states. Let them put in the seed money,” said the outgoing executive secretary.
The long-awaited SADC Development Fund will be modelled on the European Investment Bank and other regional funding ventures. SADC countries will initially contribute 1.2 billion dollars or 51 percent. The private sector and international partners will contribute the remaining 37 and 12 percent respectively.
Contributions will be over a five-year period starting in 2013 based on a country’s affordability, institutional capacity and other criteria, which Caholo was reluctant to divulge.
“If after five years a country fails to pay its contribution, its shares will be recalled and distributed among the complying states so that the 51 percent shareholding by African states is maintained,” Caholo said.
However, a member state will still be able to access funds for its development projects as outlined in the RIDMP.......
Sending money to anywhere in Africa is just a waste of funds due to rampant corruption.
ReplyDeleteI won't deny that premise. Especially after Nigeria's corrupt masses have shown the world the kind of mega fraudsters that country has .... but there are ways and means to circumvent those nasty traits prevalent in those parts of the world. One of which would be to have representatives of each Western country doling out the dough to keep a full time eye on the org. trying to set up a kind of entity like the European one. If the West does not get involved, you know who will jump at the chance to get a firmer foothold in those lands. China is the biggest investor in the southern countries of Africa and that's because the West has focused on the Middle East and not given a damn about what's happening in that part of the world.
DeleteOne of these days, expect to hear that a Chinese enterprise operating in one or more of the African countries has struck oil ... and then it will be too late for anybody else to take a slice of the pie. It would be all on China's plate ... and well deserved too, IMO ... because the Chinese are far-sighted people.