Conference on Mosquito/Malaria Control (4)
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Dear Daniela Schöneburg,
The problem of holding the Head of State accountable is not a
new one. But it has been very bad in Africa during the past
forty years or so. I like Bill Nessler's observation that "no-
body gives a damn" because I think it is almost correct. The
world's "leadership" has allowed the transparency and account-
ability issue to be avoided, and as a result fund flows have
been severely compromised. The world's leadership has only done
easy things and things that they "wanted". The tough things have
never been done.
I have done "national level planning" in Africa, working with
the government and local professionals... and it has been terri-
ble to watch the priorities get moved from what the country
needed to what the donors were prepared to fund. It has been
terrible to watch the donors insisting that their projects had
to be accounted for using their systems and procedures, and even
their currency for accounting and reporting. Few, if any of the
international donors and international financial institutions
have been willing to support the country plans, and the country
systems (like the Min Finance financial accounting systems) so
that good transparency and accountability would be the norm
rather than the exception. In Namibia, as I understand it, few
donors allowed their assistance projects to be managed "inside"
the government systems, claiming they could do the accountabil-
ity better themselves. WRONG. All it did was to create a system
of leaks that the donors and some of the leadership could ex-
ploit inappropriately.
At some point people have got to figure out how to stop the
thievery, and use the funds in the best possible way.
Heads of State may be above the law... but they are not above
criticism. And since they are largely funded by international
resources... the donors should also feel the heat. I am sure
there are a lot of "stories" that people know... and these
should be systematically compiled into a meaningful collection
so that we can start to make waves around everyone who is in-
volved in the fund flows that end up doing inappropriate things.
Sincerely
Peter Burgess
Transparency and Accountability
a global not-for-profit Network
Tel: +1-212-772-6918
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com