African Aid

"A swell of opposition is building in the aid world to a new protagonist who has thrown down a strident challenge to the rock stars and liberal economists who have long dominated debate over foreign assistance to developing countries. ... Yet is it proving hard to suppress the hyper-active graduate of Oxford and Harvard, who pops up weekly in a new capital to promote her book Dead Aid--the title itself an affront to rock star Bob Geldorf's Live Aid campaigns. ... Within days of reading about her, Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president, flew Ms. [Dambisa] Moyo out to address his government. This month, Col. Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, invited her to Tripoli. Broadly, Ms. Moyo argues that official development assistance has fostered dependency and perpetuated poor governance. ... Her ideas are not especially new. But the publicity she has attracted poses challenges to an industry accustomed to having the most vocal campaigners on its side. ... Some critics claim her ideas are gaining prominence because of the novelty of a passionate, young African woman taking on the aid establishment. ... Academic Jeffrey Sachs is among those who have denounced her ideas. ... 'The aid establishment is scared to death of the public relations disaster that a growing movement of independent African professional would be', said William Easterly, the US academic", original italics, William Wallis at the FT, 23 May 2009.

"The former Goldman Sachs strategist, who won scholarships to Harvard and Oxford before joining the World Bank, is rapidly becoming a headache for the aid industry. ... Her solution: cut off funding within five years and encourage poor countries to access international capital markets. A mix of foreign investment, particularly from China, fairer trade, remittances and micro finance would do the rest. ... Panicked at the prospect that her ideas are gaining traction, Jeffrey Sachs, the US academic and aid advocate, accused her of endangering lives", my emphasis, William Wallis at the FT, 23 May 2009.

Imagine, there is a "Foreign Aid-Expert" complex, an aid industry.

Given our 50 years of failed aid to Africa, the aid establishment has been one of history's largest mass murderers. How may millions died in the Congo in the last 20 years for example? Sachs, shut up. Is Moyo really a "former" Goldmanite? If so, she may be unique.