"For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"

From SPIEGEL Online International:

The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.

SPIEGEL:

Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa...

Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop.

SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty.

Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape. Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor.

To continue reading the interview, go here.

There's something to that old proverb: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." When it comes to fighting poverty simply throwing money at the situation can do more harm than good. We see this in Africa with generic "aid" and the loads of money being spent on "AIDS." Instead of creating a higher standard of living, these programs are creating a society split between a corrupt upper class and a deeply impoverished and dependent lower class.