Speigel has a very interesting interview with Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati where he says that aid to Africa is doing more harm than good. Excerpts:

Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa’s problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn’t even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.

And later:

Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, our tailors lose their livlihoods. They’re in the same position as our farmers. No one in the low-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products. In 1997, 137,000 workers were employed in Nigeria’s textile industry. By 2003, the figure had dropped to 57,000. The results are the same in all other areas where overwhelming helpfulness and fragile African markets collide.

I know nothing about Africa, or aid to Africa. I don’t have enough information to decide whether to agree with Shikwati or not. But this sure is a contrarian viewpoint – a side to the argument that most people are unfamiliar with. Hence, I believe it is a must read. I love contrarian points of view. Read the full article.