Sir, - I wish to refer to Kevin Myers's article (June 10th). In general Kevin renders a useful service in challenging all forms of political correctness and, in truth, the aid sector is not immune from this affliction. Nevertheless, I think his article goes too far in the other direction and is too extreme in its analysis.
I can agree that good governance is vital to sustainable development and that this means governments being both democratic and accountable. All the Irish Aid Agencies, and indeed the government, are committed to promoting development through what is known as the civil society project. This means that, at a macro level, aid transfers seek to promote good governance, an independent judiciary and a free press. At a micro level the objective is to work with people to help them take control of their own destiny by organising themselves to both improve the quality of life and to demand accountability from government.
The tragedies now unfolding in Sudan and Ethiopia/Eritrea require a more detailed analysis than is possible in this letter. Of one thing, however, I am certain, the ordinary people are suffering great deprivation and hardship and it is not their fault. As a humanitarian agency Concern's mission is to try as best we can to relieve this suffering. But I can assure Kevin that our intervention is not unthinking and is the product of a deep analysis designed to ensure that what we do is the right thing for the people, not just immediately but in the medium to long term as well.
The West is, of course, not responsible for all the ills of Africa, but there are policies pursued which are very damaging to the poor. Debt is a case in point. The incredible burden of debt under which most of Africa labours is causing terrible cutbacks in Health and Education for example, both services which require to be targeted in any strategy to eliminate poverty. The current process of Economic Globalisation, which is driven by the industrialised world, may result in even greater divergence between rich and poor nations. The fact is that many African and Asian countries have neither the infrastructure nor the institutional framework to compete in a world market on the so-called level playing pitch. A case in point, as regards institutional capacity, is the difficulty which the government of Bangladesh is having trying to handle the allocation of licences to develop a very valuable resource of natural gas. I do accept, though, that corruption has been a major factor in bad governance in Africa. It is a sad and topical fact that the per capita income of Nigeria is no more than it was before their oil boom. For this we must blame the late lamented General Abacha, but not the Nigerian people.
As to the motives of those who work abroad for Aid Agencies like Concern, or who contribute to our financial appeals, I think Kevin is too cynical. In my limited experience I have been quite overwhelmed by the genuine goodness of the thousands of people who support our fund raising. Likewise, the people who work overseas do so because they want to make a contribution, and very often this is at considerable cost in their personal lives. I will allow that Thomas a'Kempis once wrote that nothing we do is entirely without self-interest. Nevertheless, within the limits of human frailty these people of whom I speak are the best you will find anywhere. - Yours, etc., David Begg, Chief Executive, Concern,
Camden St., Dublin 2.