Advocating to end corruption

Corruption is about more than money. It deepens inequality, and it is the poorest and the most vulnerable who bear the brunt of it. Usually it is they who, unable to pay the bribes and backhanders, have to forego the basic goods and services that should be free - or at least affordable. Sometimes even the fundamentals, like the clean water, the education, the basic healthcare to which they are entitled, never reaches them.

Ultimately – and far too often - corruption kills. It is emphatically not, as some claim, a victimless crime.

Massive embezzlement and extortion by officials in recipient countries, weak financial administration, and lack of oversight have limited the effect of international assistance. The renowned Africa observer, Martin Meredith, points out that of the 53 countries in Africa, only South Africa and Botswana are better off today than when they were freed from colonialism forty years ago, despite billions of dollars in foreign aid. This is a direct result of corruption.

WHERE IS OUR MONEY GOING?

By the African Unions’ own estimates, Africa loses $148 billion a year, or a quarter of its entire income, to corruption and they have accepted that no business ever gets done without a present changing hands.

Similarly, according to a 2004 study by a U.S. Senate committee, the World Bank has lost about US $100 billion slated for development in the world’s poorest nations to corruption since 1946 – almost 20% of its total lending portfolio. Other experts estimate that between five and 25% of the US$525 billion the Bank has lent since 1946 has been misused.

Given that up to 40% of private sector companies surveyed worldwide admitted to paying bribes to win government contracts, in a recent World Bank study, it is statistically impossible for corruption not to affect more aid-funded development projects than was currently admitted by donors, bank officials say.

GOAL ADVOCATES TO END THE SCOURGE OF CORRUPTION

GOAL advocates on corruption and other issues integral to the issue of poverty in order to realise a greater and more lasting impact from its development work. GOAL aims to influence policy makers who have the power to help remove the underlying causes of poverty.

The international community must acknowledge that corruption is the single greatest obstruction to the safe delivery of aid.

The presence of corrupt government structures in a recipient country is the biggest threat to the effective distribution of aid for donor bodies (governments, institutions and agencies). Corrupt governments cannot be relied upon to disperse aid and an alternative aid modality must be championed.

GOAL believes that money is not the solution, but rather ensuring that government structures in recipient countries are capable of absorbing aid in a transparent and efficient manner that benefits the poorest of the poor.

The aid community can never, of its own volition, help the people of the developing world. It relies on the involvement of the international community to bring about the structural changes needed to carry out their work in the most direct and effective manner. Only the international community can make the changes needed to ensure that aid gets to those who need it most and is not lining the pockets of despots and politicians worldwide.

GOAL highlights the appalling behaviour of international donors which give money directly into the hands of dishonest recipient governments via the media. By writing articles and letters to the editors of newspapers, GOAL aims to raise awareness amongst those of the ‘richer’ nations and calls on those people to put pressure on their leaders to behave in a more responsible manner when it comes to distributing their tax money, which is intended to help reduce poverty and not build villas for politicians.

GOAL has an impressive track record where corruption is concerned:

• GOAL was one of the few aid agencies to speak out against the Mengistu regime during the Ethiopian Famine in 1984 risking getting thrown out of the country. Ethiopia under Mengistu – found guilty in 2006 of genocide after a 12-year trial - had one of the worst human rights records in the world.

• In 2003 the Irish Government was persuaded to divert €10 million from the government of Uganda to a poverty alleviation fund run by civil societies and NGOs.