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Foreign AID feeding oppressive regimes in Africa

We have being arguing that an open access to western markets is  more in the African interests than aid. This article by Prof Mariam is the exact reason why foreign aid alone is not the way forward for Africa. KAM

Feed them and bleed them

Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam

“Western donors continue to hand out billions of dollars in ‘humanitarian’ and ‘economic’ aid to Ethiopia’s Zenawi regime each year, turning a blind eye to the fact that their handouts are propping up a repressive dictatorship”

The helping hand that feeds Ethiopians is the same hand that helps bleed Ethiopia. Every year, the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Japan and other Western countries hand out billions of dollars in ‘humanitarian’ and ‘economic’ aid to the regime of dictator-in-chief Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia. Every year, these donors turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the notorious fact that their handouts are used to prop up and fortify a repressive one-man, one-party totalitarian dictatorship.

Today, Western donors have collectively embraced the proverbial principle to ‘see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil’ of what their ‘aid’ money is doing in Ethiopia. Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) pried open Western donors’ eyes to see the havoc their aid money is wreaking in Ethiopia and unplugged their ears to hear the truth about the evil they are helping to spread throughout that poor country.

In a report entitled, Development Without Freedom [1], HRW sketched out the architecture of a vast kleptocracy (government of thieves) whose lifeblood is continuous and massive infusion of foreign aid. The report represents a devastating indictment of Western donors and their client regime for crimes that, if committed in the donor countries, would constitute Class A felonies: ‘Led by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the government has used donor-supported programs, salaries, and training opportunities as political weapons to control the population, punish dissent, and undermine political opponents–both real and perceived.

Local officials deny these people access to seeds and fertilizer, agricultural land, credit, food aid, and other resources for development. Such politicization has a direct impact on the livelihoods of people for whom access to agricultural inputs is a matter of survival. It also contributes to a broader climate of fear, sending a potent message that basic survival depends on political loyalty to the state and the ruling party.’ HRW charges that Zenawi’s regime has used Western aid to benefit its supporters by giving them special access to micro-credit (small loans designed for poor households) loans and benefits under the productive safety net program (multi-year cash payments to those vulnerable to famine to avoid disaster from food shortage emergencies).

The regime has misused state educational facilities for political purposes and engaged in systematic political indoctrination of students, repression of teachers and purging of individuals who are unwilling to support the ruling party from their jobs. In sum, after 19 years and ‘investing’ US$26 billion in ‘aid’, the crowning achievement of Western aid in Ethiopia is the establishment and entrenchment of a one-man, one-party totalitarian state! The Western donors refuse to accept any responsibility for the misuse and abuse of their aid money in Ethiopia; and the conspiracy of silence to cover up the ugly facts uncovered by HRW continues. A few days after HRW released its report, a gathering of vulturous poverty pimps known as the Development Assistance Group (DAG) representing donor states issued a statement denying the undeniable. ‘We do not concur with the conclusions of the recent HRW report regarding widespread, systematic abuse of development aid in Ethiopia. Our study did not generate any evidence of systematic or widespread distortion.’ [2] DAG co-chair Samuel Nyambi was manifestly dismissive of HRW’s findings when he arrogantly proclaimed that ‘development partners have built into the programmes they support monitoring and safeguard mechanisms that give a reasonable assurance that resources are being used for their intended purposes.’

In DAG-istan, what HRW found and reported simply could not happen. HRW made it all up! The report is all lies and fabrications! The fact of the matter is that it is in DAG’s self-interest to bury the truth and keep covering it up even when the truth it is exhumed for public display. For DAG to acknowledge any part of the HRW evidence is tantamount to self-incrimination. They could never admit that the things HRW reported occurred under their watch. As the HRW reports demonstrates, DAG and the donor countries ‘have done little to address the problem [aid abuse/misuse] or tackle their own role in underwriting government repression… even though they recognize [civil and political rights] to be central to sustainable socioeconomic development.’ Huddled together in DAG-istan, the poverty pimps have collectively resolved to continue to do their usual aid business in Ethiopia because ‘broad economic progress outweighs individual political freedoms’.

In ‘their eagerness to show progress in Ethiopia, aid officials aremeles zenawi shutting their eyes to the repression lurking behind the official statistics.’ They say ‘their programs are working well and that aid was not being ‘distorted.’ They refuse to carry ‘out credible, independent investigations into the problem.’ The ‘donor country legislatures and audit institutions [have failed] to examine development aid to Ethiopia to ensure that it is not supporting political repression.’ They refuse to ‘wake up to the fact that some of their aid is contributing to human rights abuses’ in Ethiopia. The Western donors have ignored calls to ‘seriously weigh the impact that their funding has on bolstering repressive structures and practices in Ethiopia.’ They are unwilling to do a ‘fundamental re-thinking of their strategy.’

THE PEOPLE OF ETHIOPIA VERSUS WESTERN DONORS When I wrote my commentaries ‘Speaking Truth to Strangers’[3] this past June and ‘J’Accuse’ last November [4], I argued that in a perfect world Western donors in Ethiopia could be prosecuted for being accessories before and after the fact to the crime of first-degree ‘democricide’, gross human rights violations and for aiding and abetting Zenawi’s kleptocracy. The recent HRW report furnishes a fresh boatload of damning evidence for use in the criminal conspiracy case of ‘The people of Ethiopia versus Western donor countries’ to be tried in the court of international public opinion and in the consciences of all the taxpayers in Western countries shelling out their hard earned money to support one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world. The silent conspiracy between the Western donors and Zenawi’s regime operates on a couple of simple premises. The Western donors in their chauvinistic view believe there are two social classes in Ethiopia. One class consists of the large masses of poor, impoverished, illiterate, malnourished and expendable masses who will not amount to much. The other class consists of the tiny class of elites who maintain a lavish life style for themselves and lord over the masses by manipulating the billions given to them to strengthen their chokehold on the political structure and process. The silent conspiracy is sustained by mutuality of interests. The Western donors want ‘stability’ in Ethiopia, which often means the absence of internal strife that will not undermine their economic and political interests in the country. They want regional ‘stability’, which means having someone who could be called upon to patrol the neighbourhood and kick the rear ends of some nasty terrorists. For those addicted to aid, it’s all about more aid, more free money to play with. As long as the Western donors meet their dual objectives, they do not give a rat’s behind about what happens to their aid money or what harm it does to the Ethiopian masses. When confronted with the truth about the misuse and abuse of aid money as has been documented in the HRW report, the donors will deny it (‘we have built in safeguards, it couldn’t happen), play it down (‘nothing to it’), ignore it (‘nor worth commenting’), excuse it (‘it’s not as bad as it seems’), rationalise it (‘we’ve got to work with the government’), and wax legal about it (‘there is a sovereignty issue’); and to fool the people occasionally, they will come out in public, put on a show of feigned outrage and pontificate about democracy, the rule of law and the rest of it. After all is said and done, they go right back to business as usual.

ETHIOPIA: THE POTEMKIN VILLAGE A Potemkin village is ‘something that appears elaborate and impressive but in actual fact lacks substance.’ Western aid has reduced Ethiopia to a Potemkin village. It’s all a facade, a smoke and mirror show complete with illusions and sleights of hand. DAG is full of it when it counterclaims against HRW’s findings[5]: ‘The aid provided by members of the DAG in Ethiopia is transforming the lives of millions of poor people through basic services such as healthcare, education and water, and long-term food security. Our programmes are directly helping Ethiopia to reach the Millennium Development Goals.’ In their annual dog and pony show, these poverty pimps have been singing the same old song for years: ‘We are saving lives in Ethiopia by the millions. Imagine how many millions would have perished but for aid; how many children would have not gone to school. See the clinics and hospitals that aid has built.’

They challenge us to look at how much economic development aid has brought to Ethiopia: ‘Behold the shiny glass buildings. See all of the fancy roads that snake over the hills and valleys. Look at all of the universities we helped build. Look at the double-digit annual economic growth. Aid money made all that possible.’ What they don’t tell is the fact that many of the shiny buildings have little running water and many more stand unfinished or vacant. The universities have few books and educational materials and even fewer qualified instructional staff. The hospitals and clinics have few doctors and virtually no medical supplies or equipment to care for 85 million people. Ethiopia has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world. Inflation has made it impossible for the vast majority of Ethiopian families to meet their basic needs. The poverty pimps say nothing about the fact that famine and hunger stalks a third of the Ethiopia population year around. As to ‘double digit’ economic growth, it is all made up by Zenawi’s regime.

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Africa Needs an Open Access to Western Markets, Not Aid

For decades African governments have largely depended on Western donors to fund everything from community latrines to public universities. Admittedly, some societies could not have survived to this day had it not been for foreign aid.

The African growth model based solely on foreign aid has so far not delivered the promises it was hoped to deliver. Actually, it has done more harm than good.

One will agree with me that foreign aid has served to promote oppressive regimes rather the everyday African people. Politicians in the category of Sani Abacha of Nigeria and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire/Congo eventually stacked the money in foreign banks which is then loaned back to Africa. Others do it in mild way by using the money to feed their cronies and families and have enough to send even children of their friends to world-class universities abroad. Opening markets to African goods and services will not solve the entire problem but at least leave some power in the hands of the ordinary people.  It is time that Western donors stop handing out billions of dollars in humanitarian and economic to dictators in Africa and then turn death ears and blind eyes to their deeds.

I believe, however, that it is time for us to begin to look at a different growth model for the African economy that depends less on foreign aid. This new model in my opinion should be based on open markets where African goods and services have free access to western markets. Growth in China, and to some extend India, have largely been dependent on the access of goods and services from these geographical regions into the western markets.

When we talk about goods and services, most readers will ask ‘what can Africa deliver? Well, it’s actually a lot. I’m not talking about Kenya or Senegal exporting cell phones and laptops to the US next year. But what about a system that makes it attractive for the US manufacturer to import raw materials from the African farmers, if that is what we bring to the market at this period in time.

Let us consider some figures. In 2001, the US approved about $4 Billion in subsidies to nearly 25,000 cotton growers in the US for cotton crop that was worth only $3 Billion at the world marker price. Other figures I came across pointed out that a single cotton grower in a mid-western US state received $6 million in subsidies, which is larger than the combined annual earnings of 25,000 cotton farmers in Mali. (For your information, the $4 Billion government subsidy is also more than one third what the US spends on the nearly 1 billion people on the African continent).

This policy makes it unattractive for manufactures to import raw materials from Africa and other developing countries

This system is being perpetrated not only by the US but also by the European Union and China, which is destroying the livelihood of countries like Mali, Senegal, Chad, and Benin which are all major cotton producing countries. A recent study by UNCTAD-India pointed out that if the US were to do away with some of these subsidies, farm output will decline by nearly 40%. Although we would pay more at the grocery story in the US, it will spur up more imports from Africa and other developing regions which will generate enough foreign exchange the fund their community development activities.

This is not advocating for a loss-loss situation for the US and Europe. In fact, it’s more than a win-win case. Western countries have more to gain than lose.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) were enacted to do just this. AGOA provides duty-free access to the U.S. market for a wide range of products from eligible African countries, while spurring African governments to make their countries attractive to U.S. investment. I think this is the type of initiative that needs an injection of momentum and expansion.

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Why African women are saying YES to the female condom

Female condoms campaign

 

 

An estimated 22.5 million people are living with HIV in the part of African below the Sahara – around two thirds of the global total. The use of condom during sex is one of several preventive measures against HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, in most communities, it is difficult to get the men to use the condom.
Some of the excuses men give against the use of condoms are:

  • it is a sin to use condoms

    •  

    For these reasons, some anti-HIV campaigns have shifted focus onto the women and educating them to protect themselves if the men will not. The female condom has become and alternative to an increasing number of women which they resort to anytime their partners refuse to use the male condom.

     
    The female condom is a thin, soft loose-fitting polyurethane plastic pouch that is used during intercourse to prevent pregnancy and reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. It has flexible rings at each end. Just before vaginal intercourse, it is inserted deep into the vagina. The ring at the closed end holds the pouch in the vagina. The ring at the open end stays outside the vaginal opening during intercourse. And during anal intercourse, it is inserted into the anus.

    If women always use the female condom correctly only 5% of users will report unexpected pregnancy each year. It can even be made more effective if used with a spermicide
     
    Warning: Most spermicides contain nonoxynol-9 which has certain risks. If it is used many times a day, or by people at risk for HIV, it may irritate tissue and increase the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

     
    The major limitation of the female condom reported is the coverage of the external genitalia. This coverage had a particularly negative impact on the device’s aesthetics, and noise associated with use.
    Again difficulties associated with insertion and removal, discomfort, messiness and inconvenience are easily reported issues.
     

    With estimated 22.5 million people living with HIV in just the part of African below the Sahara, it’s highly welcomed that women are taking charge over their own health even if their male counterparts aren’t on board yet.

    We hope our effort here contributes in some way to the campaign. Our hope is a world without HIV and Malaria.

     

    [youtube]zjmoQlAQP4Y&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

     

    The penis is directed into the pouch through the ring at the end, which stays outside the vaginal during the intercourse. By covering the inside of the vagina or anus and keeping semen and pre-cum out, female condoms reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections.

    The female condom was first made from polyuthrane. This version is officially called the FC FEMALE CONDOM. A newer version is made of nitrile rubber and called FC2. It is made from natural latex; the same material is used in male condoms.

    The newer nitrile condoms are less likely to make potentially distracting crinkling noises. FC1 and FC2 are the only female condoms encouraged by the World Health Organization. They are sold under many brand names, including Reality Femidom, Dominique, Femy, My Femy, Protective and Care.

    A target campaign to promote the female condom in some African communities is turning it into a mainstream women accessory; more and more now carries the female condom in their purse.

    It is more acceptable to the men as it does not result in a significant decrease in sensation as with the male latex condom. Female condoms do not constrict the penis as do latex condoms. As a result, sensitivity of the male partner may not be substantially reduced.

     

  • it decreases pleasure or enjoyment of sex
  • it ruins the mood
  • I can’t feel anything when I’m wearing a condom
  • if a women loves me, then she you should just trust me
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    A woman vows to commit suicide unless Asamoah Gyan marries her

    A young Ghanaian woman says Black Stars arrow head, Asamoah Gyan must requite her love for him with a march to the altar this December or she will commit suicide.

    The lady, Obaa Yaa, has said that she is so madly in love with the Sunderland striker to the point that suicide is the only option if Asamoah spurns her love proposal.

    The Madina-based woman was on Deloris Frimpong Manson’s entertainment programme, Delay on TV Africa over the weekend professing her ‘deep’ love for Asamoah, who would be profoundly surprised his new fame is also grabbing for him new friends. Obaa Yaa revealed that she is helplessly in love with the football star (and now music star) and she wants him to marry her by December 24 or “I will kill myself,” she said.

    She is mesmerized by Asamoah’s haircut, skin tone and the excellent skill he exhibits not only on the football field but also on the music scene.

    According to Obaa Yaa, she has been having sleepless nights and to prove her love to the footballer, she has even learnt the star’s after-goal dance moves as well as his jig in the video of Castro’s latest hit song African Gils in which Asamoah features.

    Dark-skinned, bushy-haired and fat Obaa Yaa was insistent on “I love you so much” and “I will kill myself”, and was all dancing to “African Girls” on the show.

    [youtube]zAHCnCmWpz0[/youtube]

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    Aliens May Be Living Among Us

    By James Morgan , Science reporter

    Never mind Mars, alien life may be thriving right here on Earth, a major science conference has heard.

    Our planet may harbour forms of “weird life” unrelated to life as we know it, according to Professor Paul Davies, a physicist at Arizona State University.
    This “shadow life” may be hidden in toxic arsenic lakes or in boiling deep sea hydrothermal vents, he says.
    He has called on scientists to launch a “mission to Earth” by trawling hostile environments for signs of bio-activity.
    Weird life could even be living among us, in forms which we don’t yet recognise, he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Chicago.
    “We don’t have to go to other planets to find weird life.
    “It could be right in front of our noses – or even in our noses,” said the physicist.
    “It is entirely reasonable to expect we will find a shadow biosphere here on Earth.
    “But nobody has actually taken the trouble to look.
    “The question is why? The cost is not expensive – it would be a fraction of the money we spend searching for extraterrestrial life.”
    ‘Second genesis’
    Professor Davies was one of the speakers at a symposium exploring the possibility that life has evolved on Earth more than once.
    The descendants of this “second genesis” may have survived until today in a “shadow biosphere” which is beyond our radar because its inhabitants have biochemistry so different from our own.
    “All our microscopes are customised for life as we know it – so it’s no surprise that we haven’t found microbes with different biochemistry,” said Professor Davies.
    “We don’t quite know how weird life would look. It’s as wide as the imagination and that’s why it’s really hard to look for.”
    If it exists, weird life could be based on DNA and RNA – but with a slightly different genetic code or different amino acids.
    At the other end of the spectrum, we could find creatures which have more drastic differences.
    “Maybe one of the elements life uses – carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus – could be replaced by something else,” said Professor Davies.
    “When I say that, everyone immediately thinks of silicon life – because of Star Trek. But I’m not talking about anything that drastic.
    “For example, most of the jobs that can be done by phosphorus can be done by arsenic.”
    Arsenic may be poisonous to humans, but it has chemical properties which might make it ideal in a microbe’s machinery, he said.
    ‘Mission to Earth’
    So how do we go about hunting for something we have never seen before?
    “There are two possibilities,” said Prof Davies, Director of the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science.
    “One is that weird life is ecologically isolated, in niches beyond the reach of mankind.”
    In this case, we must begin trawling the world’s most inhospitable environments – deserts, salt lakes, and areas of high pressure, temperature or UV radiation.
    We could have a ‘mission to Earth’. There’s a big long list of places we could be looking,” observed Professor Davies
    For example, if we are looking for arsenic life, we could head for environments which are both arsenic rich and phosphorus poor – such as deep ocean vents.
    “There is also a heavily contaminated lake in California which is arsenic rich – Mono Lake – and we do find microbes in there which get their energy from arsenic.
    “But they don’t actually incorporate the arsenic into themselves. They spit it back out again. They smoke but they don’t inhale.”
    On the other hand, it could be that “weird life” is actually all around us – intermingled with carbon based life.
    “In that case it’s going to be really hard to detect – you have to find some way of filtering everything else out.”
    This laborious process has been used to search for unknown organisms in seawater – by painstakingly filtering everything else away.
    If we did discover something unprecedented, “we’d all start arguing” said Professor Davies, a theoretical physicist.
    “The question would be whether this life was truly different, or whether there was a common precursor a deep branch on the main tree of life.
    “Also, how do we know we are dealing with separate Earth genesis and not a Mars genesis?
    “We know rocks do get traded between the two planets, and life could hitch a ride.
    “Personally, I’m only interested in establishing whether life happened more than once. If we find it has happened twice from scratch then its going to have happened all around the universe.
    “It’s going to be teeming with life and there’s a very good chance we are not alone.”
    deap sea creatures
    Life in the lab
    Another way to determine what alternative life might look like is to try to invent it ourselves.
    If we can create new molecules which can behave in life-like way, we may then go out and look for these in the environment, says Professor Steven Benner, of the University of Florida.
    His team have created perhaps the closest yet to a man-made alternative form of life.
    “We are announcing the first example of an artificial synthetic chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution,” he told the conference.
    “Is it alive? Well, I can tell you that it is not self-sustaining.
    “You have to have a graduate student stand there and feed it from time to time, but it is evolving.”
    The molecule is essentially a modified version of our own DNA double helix – but with six “letters” in its genetic alphabet, instead of four.
    These nucleotides pair up in strands, which can replicate, though only with the help of polymerase enzymes and heat.
    “Sometimes mistakes are made in pairing and these mistakes are maintained in the next generation – it is evolving,” said Prof Brenner.
    “The next step is to apply natural selection to it, to see if it can evolve under selective pressure.
    “The accepted definition of life is a molecule capable of Darwinian evolution, so we are trying to put together molecules that are capable of doing it.”
    But he questioned whether our definition of “living” is perhaps too “Earth-centric”.
    “Remember – just because you are a chemical system which is self-sustaining and capable of Darwinian evolution, that doesn’t mean that is the universal definition of life,” he said.
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    Surviving as an International Student Pt II: Being Money-Wise

    While Studying in the United States
    Students who study abroad often regard it as the experience of a lifetime. It’s a time when you can learn almost as much outside the classroom as within it. It can also be a time of extra expenses. But by creating a sensible budget and sticking with it, you can easily manage the financial side of studying abroad.
    Covering the Direct Costs of Education

    When looking at the cost of studying in the United States, it’s important to distinguish between Direct Costs—tuition, room and board, and any special fees—and indirect costs, which are more flexible, and cover just about everything else. Taking care of the direct costs should be your top priority. Funds for these could come from private or family sources, scholarships or loans.

     

    Although it may seem obvious, it’s important to remember that the best types of college funds are scholarships and grants because they do not have to be paid back. Be sure you apply for every scholarship for which you feel you are qualified.

    After you have exhausted funds that do not need to be repaid, you may want to consider student loans to cover your remaining direct costs. As an international student, you will not be eligible for low-cost loans sponsored by the U.S. government. However, a wide variety of lenders, including Sallie Mae®, offer private, credit-based student loans that may be available to you.

     

    Once you have your direct costs under control, make a budget for indirect costs, which are essentially living costs while you are in school. Because there are strict limitations on off-campus employment for international students, you will need to show that you have enough funds to cover the entire academic year when you apply for your student visa.
    Managing the Indirect Costs

    Housing. After you have been admitted, your institution’s housing office will contact you with information on the availability of on- and off-campus housing. If you decide to live off campus, you’ll want to arrive several weeks ahead of the start of classes to begin searching for a place to live and get settled.

     

    Depending on the type of housing you need and the location of your college or university, the cost of off-campus housing can vary considerably. In general, housing in large urban areas and on the West and East coasts is the most expensive. In addition to rent, you should also budget for furniture and other household essentials because most rentals in the United States are not furnished.

     

    Saving tip: Consider getting a roommate to split the cost of rent.
    Transportation. If you will be using a car while you are in school, you should budget for operating expenses such as fuel, parking fees, and routine maintenance that will be incurred commuting to and from your institution. Carpooling can help reduce these expenses. But also look into the availability of public transportation—it may be more economical than having a car, particularly in urban areas. As an international student, you might also want to budget for airfare home during holidays and other academic breaks.
    Saving tip: Many universities offer a free or low-cost shuttle bus service both on-campus and for the areas surrounding the school. Take advantage of it when you can.
    Meals. If you’re an undergraduate, your college or university probably has a meal plan, and you should definitely use it. The food may not match home cooking, but it’s convenient, nourishing, and could be the most economical way to eat while you’re enrolled. If you have a family, meals may occupy a larger portion of your budget. If money is tight, try to eat as many meals at home as possible rather than at restaurants.

    Savings tip: Use generic products instead of name brands; clip coupons; and pack a lunch rather than eating out.

     

    Entertainment. A big part of studying abroad is what you do outside the classroom. Be sure and budget some money for movies, snacks, concerts, short trips to visit friends, and other activities. A well-rounded student is one who effectively balances study and play.

     

    Saving tip: Your student activity fee may entitle you to attend concerts, lectures, movies, and sporting events at a discount. Take advantage of these on-campus events.

    Textbooks and school supplies. The best way to keep textbook costs low is to buy used ones. Most campuses have stores on campus or close to campus that sell used books, and you can also check campus bulletin boards for ads offering texts for sale. Be sure that the edition of the book you are buying matches the one that is required for the course.

    Miscellaneous costs

    The international student advisor at your institution can help you with miscellaneous expenses such as health insurance (usually available at a low cost from your college or university) and visa processing fees. In addition, it’s a good idea to budget for items such as utilities (if they are not covered by your rent), a mobile phone, clothing, Internet service, and even a small, general emergency fund.

    Managing credit cards

    Even if you have the best intentions, a credit card—used freely—can ruin even the most carefully planned budget. Use your credit cards sparingly and only for items you really need. Try to pay the full balance off each month. And make sure you know what the interest rates and fees are. Sometimes just knowing how much extra you’ll be paying if you make a late payment or carry a balance from month to month can provide the incentive for fiscal discipline.

     

    This is an exciting time in your life. Make sound financial management a priority so that you can fully enjoy the uniquely rich learning experience of study abroad.

    Read Part 1 of this series

     

     (The International Student Guide to the USA)

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    Turkish PM: Africa needs trade more than aid

    In his address to EU-Africa summit held Monday in Libya, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that African countries need trade, investment, technical and scientific cooperation more than assistance. Erdogan is the guest of honor at the summit meeting.

    We find this encouraging because last week we presented an article proposing a shift from the AID model to more trade and accessible  western markets.

    You may read the article from here

    We will welcome your opinion on this or an alternative veiw.

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    Shamefully misplaced priorities

    Homophobia kills

    TalkAfrique’s mission is to predominantly cover great stories that you never hear about the African continent and people. We will try as much as possible to let the good stories dominate our posts. It will be difficult and irresponsible, however, to keep quiet over certain developments.
    I read today that Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has ordered a nationwide crackdown on homosexuals in Kenya.

    Mr. Odinga ordered the police to arrest anyone found engaging in such behaviors and take appropriate legal action against them. The Prime Minister cited the recent population census results which put the ratio of men to women equal and wondered why people should engage in homosexuality.

    I will not use this blog to defend or attack any lifestyle at home or abroad. My thought about this is a matter between myself and my pastors.

    I rather find it uncanny and irresponsible that a prime minister of a country in a public meeting will call upon the police funded by tax payers to arm themselves to crackdown on a group of people.
    Surprising, Mr. Odinga describes himself as a ‘Progressive’ politician, whatever that means. What a farce.

    There are many deep issues in Kenya that need to be addressed. Poverty and diseases afflict infants and mothers. Rather than use the pulpit that is graciously offered him to motivate and encourage his countrymen and women to move the nation forward, Odinga rather decided to use the opportunity to promote hatred and violence.

    If the Kenyan police have any unexploited logistics, perhaps they could employ them to arrest drag traffickers, corrupt politician and land grabbers who are terrorizing peaceful men and women in Kenya.