Madam, - I feel compelled to respond to Hans Zomer's claim (June 15th) that in respect of aid and corruption in Africa I am, in essence, advocating "running away from the problems, abandoning the poor, and leaving the problem of corruption untouched".
This is a gross misrepresentation of my position, as anyone who has taken the time to read or listen to what I have actually been saying will be only too aware.
Mr Zomer writes that the "vast majority of corruption cases [in Africa] arise not from development aid, but in the interaction between private businesses". Not in my experience.
Where private business in Africa is concerned, most corruption takes the form of having to pay kickbacks, not to other companies but to a myriad of local and central government officials.
From his initial false premise, Mr Zomer goes on to argue for "donor countries and developing countries to work together to address both 'supply' and 'demand' sides of corruption". This is about as hopelessly naïve as it is possible to get.
Does he not realise that many of the governments that he suggests as partners in a battle against corruption are themselves profoundly corrupt? If he doesn't then, given his position as Director of Dóchas, he should. Sending a thief to catch a thief makes for a handy cliché but it doesn't quite work as a strategy in real life, and certainly not in the real life of Africa.
Some of the most corrupt regimes on that continent are being entrusted with large amounts of aid and only a percentage of this is finding its way to those of their citizens who are most in need. This is a fact.
It is these governments that concern me - more precisely, I am concerned about donors filtering aid through them when it is clear that the bulk of them have no interest whatsoever in the lives of their own people. Government to government aid, when the governments involved are either institutionally corrupt or have been brutalising their people, is of absolutely no value to those who need our aid most.
What I have been advocating for over 25 years is that, instead of allowing aid to be misappropriated and used to prop up corrupt regimes, wherever possible it should be filtered directly through missionaries and effective NGOs and UN agencies. We have also argued that Western governments should adopt an entrepreneurial approach, acting as project managers to deliver the aid themselves so that greedy despots will not get their hands on the billions of taxpayers' funds.
Contrary to Mr Zomer's outrageous claim, I am in fact lobbying for maximum accountability so that we can ensure that aid is of maximum benefit to those who most require it.This should be of at least some concern to all of us.
- Yours, etc,
JOHN O'SHEA, Goal, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.