[It pleases me to see that there is a semblance of growing sanity in the UK. It appears that the vast majority of British have a pretty good understanding of the wastage going on in Africa. I note that 79% blame Africa’s problems on African Governments and their corruption! Yep! They’ve got that one right too. The BBC has been keeping the British people better informed about the realities of Africa than the US Media has done in its corner of the world. Jan]

A huge majority of Britons believes that pumping billions of pounds into Africa would be a waste of money, a verdict that is a major blow to Tony Blair’s crusade to rescue the continent.

As the Prime Minister prepares to fly to Washington on Monday to try to secure American support for proposals to tackle poverty in the Third World, a poll for The Daily Telegraph shows that 83 per cent of people are not confident that money given by the West would be spent wisely.

It also shows that 79 per cent of voters believe that corruption and incompetence were to blame for Africa’s problems.

The Government is planning a package of measures designed to reassure the public that taxpayers’ money would not end up in the pockets of corrupt politicians. New legislation will allow money smuggled into this country by corrupt former African dictators to be seized and returned to the countries concerned.

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, hinted at the crackdown yesterday when he told a press conference in Edinburgh that the Government’s package for Africa would “combine action on debt, aid, and trade with good governance, transparency, an attack on corruption and the encouragement of private investment”.

His pledge follows growing public and celebrity support for the Make Poverty History campaign in the run up to next month’s summit of leaders of the world’s richest nations in Scotland.

Bob Geldof, who is organising Live 8 concerts in five countries before the G8 meeting in Gleneagles, has called for a million people to march on Edinburgh to press the politicians to do more to eradicate poverty. Yesterday, the Chancellor announced that he would waive the VAT fee for the concert.

Under a proposed deal, money owed to institutions like the World Bank could be written off
Britain is confident of securing a deal with America under which money owed by poor countries to multilateral institutions such as the World Bank would be written off.

However, the poll indicates that many Britons remain suspicious of the way money given to Africa would be spent.

YouGov asked how confident respondents were that donated money would be spent wisely, “rather than being wasted or finding its way into the pockets of criminals and corrupt governments”.

More than 80 per cent said they were either “not very confident” (41 per cent) or “not at all confident” (42 per cent). Only 11 per cent expressed some confidence that the aid would not be squandered.

The public’s lack of faith in Africa’s ability to cure its own ills was also revealed when respondents were asked to identify three factors most to blame for the condition of the continent.

Corrupt and incompetent government was seen as the main problem, with 79 per cent citing it as a factor. More than half of respondents also cited the HIV/Aids epidemic and civil wars.

By contrast only a minority said factors for which the West was responsible – such as colonialism, exploitation by multinationals or protectionist trade policies – were among the principal causes of African poverty.

Fewer than 10 per cent said the continent’s problems could not be solved. A majority said Africans could help themselves with assistance from rich countries.

According to Treasury sources, a new law, ratifying the UN convention against corruption, will be implemented under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in the autumn.

It will give the Government power to seize the assets of corrupt former politicians from overseas in a similar manner to the power that already exists when dealing with suspected terrorists and organised crime.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that several bank accounts, containing millions of pounds, are already being monitored so that they can be frozen as soon as the law is in place. A list of “politically exposed persons” has been circulated to banks and building societies.

The Government also intends to do more to deal with companies that offer bribes to corrupt officials.

Mr Blair wants to force all oil, gas, mining, forestry and fisheries companies to disclose their payments to governments. Businesses that want to qualify for export credit guarantees might also have to demonstrate that they do not offer bribes.

The Chancellor said yesterday that he believed America was now prepared to support his proposal for 100 per cent debt relief for the poorest countries.

“This is not a time for timidity nor a time to fear reaching too high,” he added.

“This year is our chance to reverse the fortunes of a continent and to help transform the lives of millions.”

3 June 2005: Bush slaps down Brown’s plan to double Africa aid
1 June 2005: Can this benighted continent be saved by the G8, Geldof and friends?

Source: The Telegraph (UK)
URL: http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/news/main…./p>