Letter to the Editor, Irish Times, 4th February 2009

Madam,

It is heartening to read that the Conservative Party in Britain has started asking questions about where the vast amount of aid money handed over to Africa’s most corrupt regimes ends up. In these times of recession it is essential that all money donated to the developing world is actually doing what it is supposed to.

The Tories rightly question why money is channelled through African governments without donors asking for audits on how it is spent. I have often questioned the wisdom of the international practice of channelling money through governments with a record of corruption and graft.

How can we expect money to trickle down to those who need it most if the top is rotten? I hope this Tory initiative will lead to a wholesale reassessment of the manner in which development aid is delivered. – Yours, etc,

JOHN O’SHEA,

Goal,

Dun Laoghaire,

Co Dublin.