Madam, - David Adams (Opinion, December 7th) says we should not deal with corrupt governments in Africa. Can he point out a government anywhere that is completely free from corruption?
The purpose of development aid is to help countries become self-sufficient and capable of looking after the needs of their people - as EU aid assisted us. The main cause of poverty in Africa is bad government and we cannot cure this by ignoring it or working around it, as David Adams suggests.
To ignore or to work around the governance issue will not only perpetuate it but it will put everything else we do at risk. In countries such as Somalia, Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and soon probably Zimbabwe, years of patient work by missionaries and aid agencies were destroyed when, after years of corrupt and inept government, the countries descended into bloody civil wars.
Tackling the governance issue is not easy but it has to be done if Africa is to prosper and become self-sufficient. The promotion of good governance is one of Irish Aid's stated aims.
We are in a better position than most countries to help in this area because we do not carry any colonial baggage except our own, and all of our official aid is untied. The fact that we have had our own problems with corruption lends authenticity to our voice.
We can only improve the performance of these governments by engaging with them, government to government. This engagement carries certain risks, as does any programme of rehabilitation. It may not work. But that is a risk we have to take and Irish Aid should not make any apologies about it.
To accuse Irish Aid of handing over money to dictators and the likes is misleading to the point of mischievousness. Irish Aid agrees a multi-year programme with a recipient government, usually in the areas of education, health or sanitation. Budgets are agreed and monitored to ensure that the money goes where intended and also to see that the programme is having the desired effect. If it doesn't, it stops.
Developing and fragile states need long-term commitments from Western governments, commitments that NGOs are either unable or unwilling to give. - Yours, etc,
JOE MANNING, Sierra Leone Honorary Consul to Ireland, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow.