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Themes in the News: Aid, Governance and Corruption
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Background information on corruption and development is available under Governance in Connect-World's Global Themes section.
What to do about corrupt or repressive governments?
The debate on governance and corruption and, to a lesser extent, repression continues in the Irish press below. It is not in dispute that corruption and government repression present very serious problems. What is in dispute is just how serious corruption is (relative to other issues) and what to do about it.
Irish Aid states in its white paper in general terms that it will take corruption into account, e.g.:
"These partnerships (with Irish Aid) also place obligations on the recipient governments, including commitment to democratic principles, respect for human rights and the rule of law and a willingness to combat corruption." (p. 71)
"(In Sierra Leone and Liberia) the scale of our assistance will be dependent on our being satisfied as to their capacity to absorb aid and to combat corruption." (p. 74)
One option is not to deal with national governments at all, either by managing independent projects, working with local organisations or channeling funds through Irish NGOs and missionaries. (Goal's John O'Shea favours more of the latter but may not rule out aid channeled through less corrupt governments under "strict conditions" to "create an era of accountability".) However, corruption may still occur and the task of monitoring would remain.
Avoiding government altogether would present at least two further problems: Irish NGOs and missionaries do not have the capacity at present to absorb Ireland's aid budget; also, it is difficult to strengthen institutions, infrastructure or public services, or to promote trade and investment, without working closely with governments.
If aid continues to go through some government channels, several issues arise (many of which are pertinent even if corruption is not seriously limiting the quality of Ireland's aid program, as some assume). For example:
- (How best) can accountability be ensured?
- How well is Ireland's aid program executed? And compared to other aid agencies?
- Has Ireland Aid too few staff monitoring too much funds?
- Are Irish NGOs sufficiently accountable or well-monitored? Is corruption a problem within NGOs and national and international aid agencies?
- Should some countries' governments be refused direct budgetary support (even if earmarked)? Using what criteria? Could the freed resources be effectively diverted?
- Should more aid be focused directly on directly or indirectly reducing corruption and state repression (e.g., strengthening the rule of law or a free press)? Part of Ireland's aid program is already.
- Should aid be distributed closer to the local level where possible? Is local corruption easier to prevent?
- Where should the emphasis lie between building the capacity of the state and that of civil-society?
- Should giving/withholding aid be used as a carrot/stick? How? For what?
Aid could be cut off to countries guilty of gross abuses (human or financial). But aid could also be a "carrot" - a direct incentive to promote transparency and accountability, human development, democracy and/or human rights.
(The Bush Administration took that approach with a portion of the US aid budget when it set up the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in January 2004, though it added economic freedom to its set of selection criteria which determine eligibility for program assistance.)
An original approach to incentives is the new $5m award for African leadership.
Alternatively, does Ireland benefit from a more neutral and flexible approach than that of some larger aid donors?
- How much control should recipient country governments have over the management of aid?
Corruption and the abuse of state power are universal problems. If corruption is a more serious problem in certain nations than in others at this point in time, it would be unwarranted to conclude that this was due to some immutable aspect of their local cultures or some inherent defect of their citizens [PDF].
[Updated 13/1/08]
12 January 2008
Why Ireland has got it largely right on foreign aid
Dermot Ahern, Minister for Foreign Affairs, in the Irish Times
4 January 2008
Funding corrupt regimes no answer to Africa’s ills
John O'Shea, GOAL, in the Irish Times
14 December 2007
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Aid and Corruption in Africa'
Hans Zomer, Dóchas
7 December 2007
Media must scrutinise Irish Aid
David Adams in the Irish Times
8 November 2007
Irish Aid should help journalists in Africa
Michael Foley, Dublin Institute of Technology, in the Irish Times
19 October 2007
John O’Shea on the Pat Kenny Show (Video)
18 September 2007
Global drive to recover stolen assets (FT) - The cross-border flow of illicit proceeds of corruption and corporate wrongdoing should be intercepted by rich countries and returned to the poor, the World Bank and United Nations said on Monday Sep 18 as they announced a new initiative to help recover money secreted away in international bank accounts. The scheme follows fresh research showing massive international flows of illicit funds, estimated to be worth more than $1,000bn (€724bn, £500bn) a year. The World Bank estimates that 25 per cent of the gross domestic product of African states is lost to corruption every year, amounting to $148bn.
7 September 2007
Letters to the Independent, 'Atheistic errors...Route of problems...Dirty money'
John O'Shea, Goal
21 August 2007
Letter to the Independent, 'Corruption real problem in Africa'
John O'Shea, Goal
2 August 2007
Mission impossible, nearly (Economist) - The Economist says of Nigeria, "There must be few other countries on earth with such a glaring mismatch between their actual state and their extraordinary potential." It blames "extravagant corruption and mismanagement, coupled with a political culture that owes more to the principles of gangsterism than to any textbook on democracy." According to the article, the problems of the Niger Delta "do not stem from the federal government’s miserliness towards local people, as is often claimed, but from the theft of the funds it sends the region."
10 July 2007
African corruption ’on the wane’ (BBC) - a report on the release today of the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators 1996-2006
8 July 2007
Compelling account of why the poor get poorer - Book Review: The Bottom Billion, OUP, 2007, by Paul Collier
John O’Shea, Goal in the Sunday Business Post
(Paul Collier spoke about his book on RTE's Morning Ireland on 20 July, 2007  )
6 July 2007
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Aid and Corruption in Africa'
John O'Shea, Goal
2 July 2007
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Aid and Corruption in Africa'
Thomas Geoghegan
1 July 2007
A man of Concern (interview with Jim Miley, chairman of Concern Worldwide; see end of interview)
By Susan Mitchell in the Sunday Business Post
26 June 2007
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Aid and Corruption in Africa'
Hans Zomer, Dóchas
21 June 2007
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Aid and Corruption in Africa'
John O'Shea, Goal
15 June 2007
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Aid and Corruption in Africa'
Hans Zomer, Dóchas
12 June 2007
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Debt, Aid and Development'
John O'Shea, Goal
27 May 2007
Letter to the Sunday Business Post, ’Ireland’s voice must be heard’
John O’Shea, Goal
11 April 2007
Aid and hunger
Editorial in the Irish Times
4 February 2007
Letter to the Sunday Business Post, ’Oil-for-food corruption’
Dr Coilin O hAiseadha
28 January 2007
Letter to the Sunday Business Post, 'UN fraud casts dark cloud'
John O’Shea, Goal
7 January 2007
Letter to the Sunday Business Post, ’Tyrants funded by our taxes’
John O’Shea, Goal
21 December 2006
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Audit of overseas aid'
Gerard O’Connor, Chairperson, Audit Committee, Department of Foreign Affairs
(with a response by Paul Cullen)
19 December 2006
Audit of overseas aid finds major problems
Paul Cullen in the Irish Times
28 November 2006
Goal founder accuses Lenihan of arrogance over Ethiopian remarks
Deaglán de Bréadún
24 November 2006
John O’Shea is right on aid policy
David Adams in the Irish Times
21 November 2006
Ireland’s aid policy on Ethiopia balanced
Conor Lenihan (then Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with Special Responsibility for Overseas Development and Human Rights) in the Irish Times
20 November 2006
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Policy on Irish Aid to Ethiopia'
Tomás Mac Giolla
16 November 2006
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Status of Irish aid to Ethiopia'
Zerahun Retta, Ambassador, Ethiopian Embassy
15 November 2006
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Irish aid for Ethiopia'
Brody Sweeney, Co-Founder, Connect Ethiopia
13 November 2006
Review needed of the way Irish Aid is channelled through Ethiopian regime
John O'Shea, Goal, in the Irish Times
14 June 2006
Letter to the Irish Times, 'Aid and Corruption in Africa'
John O’Shea, Goal
12 June 2006
Honesty about corruption best policy for aid agencies
Joe Humphreys in the Irish Times
(See related articles on corruption in Tanzania funded by the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund)
27 April 2006
Letter to the Irish Independent, 'Health in the Third World'
John O'Shea, Goal
30 January 2006
Yes, Africa deserves aid - but only with some strings attached
Ian O’Doherty, in the Independent
(Comment: The object of the author's admiration, John O'Shea, is unlikely to think much of the article's closing sentence.)
25 January 2006
Letter to the Village 'Statement: Not the time to lose faith in Ethiopia'
Brody Sweeney, Co-founder of African Connections
31 December 2005
Aid at Gunpoint?
Diren Valayden, in Metro Éireann's 'Ireland in 2006'
Thursday, 19 May 2005
Ireland's aid must foster a free press
Conor Brady in the Village
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