“People get rich off drought as it means very rapid procurement, people can cut corners and favoured contractors can make a profit.”
http://www.sfexaminer.com/files/b21d8a66fa15140ef20e6a706700895f_0.jpg
The above are the words of John Githongo, “a well known anti-corruption activist who heads the Inuka Kenya Trust campaign group.” He contributed to BBC News’ article on the food crisis in Kenya here.
Corruption in aid agencies and government is stalling aid to the Horn of Africa, where a drought hit since early July 2011. An article by Huffington Post reports: “[Kenyan] spokesman Alfred Mutua said [in early September] that legislators also raided a fund for emergencies to reimburse themselves for taxes on their $10,000 a month salaries.”
“‘This is a governance drought. It is a situation caused by the failure of the government to plan,’ said John Githongo.'”
NDTV’s commentary also affirms this fact: “Critics say Kenya’s coalition government is partly to blame for the grain shortfall because of poor planning and high-level corruption involving the import, storage and sale of maize.”
The day business or governance are not so intimately intertwined in Africa will be the day when natural events, such as drought, do not devastate the entire population.
http://iovotopli.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/corruption.jpg
Kenya’s economy is categorically not “intimately intertwined” with the government. The economy is one of the strongest in Africa despite having an abysmal government, not because of it.
The best thing that could happen to Kenya and Africa in general would be for all aid to stop; then these governments would be forced to do their job instead of leeching off the country and depending on the international community to bail them out. Besides, only a tiny fraction of aid sent actually trickles down, as your excellent cartoon points out.
http://www.dambisamoyo.com/books/?book=dead-aid