Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, is home to more than one million Kenyans. Getty ImagesFrom Wall Street Journal:
Money from rich countries has trapped many African nations in a cycle of corruption, slower economic growth and poverty. Cutting off the flow would be far more beneficial, says Dambisa Moyo.
A month ago I visited Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. This suburb of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is home to more than one million people, who eke out a living in an area of about one square mile -- roughly 75% the size of New York's Central Park. It is a sea of aluminum and cardboard shacks that forgotten families call home. The idea of a slum conjures up an image of children playing amidst piles of garbage, with no running water and the rank, rife stench of sewage. Kibera does not disappoint.
What is incredibly disappointing is the fact that just a few yards from Kibera stands the headquarters of the United Nations' agency for human settlements which, with an annual budget of millions of dollars, is mandated to "promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all." Kibera festers in Kenya, a country that has one of the highest ratios of development workers per capita. This is also the country where in 2004, British envoy Sir Edward Clay apologized for underestimating the scale of government corruption and failing to speak out earlier.
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My Comment: Foreign aid is probably one of the factors that has contributed to limiting Africa's growth .... but I believe the biggest reason has been a political and societal culture of corruption and tribal/ethnic conflict. Military coup d'etats, ethnic cleansing and/or genocide, corruption and bribery being the rule not the exception .... how can anyone develop and grow a thriving business in such an environment.
Where is the motivation to achieve success. Where is the incentive to improve oneself. This is all absent in Africa today .... and it is the fault of the Africans and the corrupt institutions that they (and foreign aid agencies) support.