Chinese aid and investment unlikely to pull Africa out of its predicament

The news that Kenya has received Sh980 million from China as part of a continuing technical co-operation agreement is music to those who believe that external aid will pull us out of poverty.

A report published in this paper (DN, July 13) states that a project for these funds is yet to be identified.

The Chinese are not in Kenya alone, but all over Africa. They are mostly funding infrastructure development throughout Africa.

It is, however, important to reflect on the true implications of external aid to Africa before we start celebrating. Africa’s experience with aid has, to say the least, been disastrous. Trillions of dollars have been poured into Africa for the past half a century, yet the continent has remained poor, ravaged by abject poverty and desperation.

The latest publication on the African experience with aid sheds light on the implications of the Chinese foray into the continent in recent years.

The book titled Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africans is written by Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian economist.

According to her, we should search for answers to our poverty from elsewhere and not through aid.

Ms Moyo’s basic argument is that much of the money that Africa receives is, in most cases, stolen by corrupt leaders. Aid money only helps prop up these leaders and keeps them in power.

This argument is further vindicated by a World Bank study that says that 85 per cent of aid funds is misused. Although these funds come with conditions, in most cases, these conditions are ignored.

In the final analysis, aid does not get to the people it is aimed at. But even when it does, at best, it undermines their confidence and belief in their capacity.

A close look at African economic history reveals that the past 50 years have seen over $2 trillion in development-related aid from developed countries to Africa. Unfortunately, the continent continued to sink into the mire of poverty. Simply put, aid has impoverished Africa.

It is, therefore, necessary to think outside the aid-casket. As Ms Moyo suggests, the only way Africa can develop is to reject aid from developed countries. Short of this, we shall continue to slide into a vicious circle that only leads to dependency and poverty.

We have to reject the strategies we have adopted, which place aid at the centre of our development agenda and adopt a new model that does not rely on grants and goodwill, she argues. It is impossible to dismiss this argument.

Though many African leaders may not want to buy into this argument, at least one has been converted. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has already invited Moyo to induct his government officials.

If African leaders get convinced that aid makes people dependent, lazy and careless, then they will initiate a paradigm shift in the way they do politics and how they do business with the West.

It is common knowledge that governments that rely on aid are vulnerable since they allow strong foreign influence on their politics.

But China is a different kind of donor. Kenya, and indeed, many other African countries are obsessed with the Look East Policy. This is why we need to listen to Ms Moyo.

She posits that the Chinese are not our friends. They reach out to Africa because of what they want to get from the continent. They are interested in our resources.