Time to give up on Africa?

For as long as I can remember, thieving politicians and tax-avoiding rockstars have told us we have to give money to help Africa. And we gave and we gave and we gave. But what has changed? Nothing. Africa has received more aid per inhabitant than any other continent. Yet there’s war in the Ivory Coast; Libyans think you win a rebellion by jumping up and down shooting your guns in the air; the Nigerians can’t even organise an election and the rest of the continent is mired in disease, poverty and despair. UN studies have found that 90% of all aid to Africa is lost through stupidity and corruption. Each year African leaders steal the equivalent of ten times what they are given in aid and siphon this off into offshore bank accounts.

Africa has the resources to be one of the richest areas on earth. Instead it is by far the poorest. African poverty is a result of Africans’ greed, stupidity, tribalism, corruption and incompetence. That’s something only Africans can fix. But maybe it’s time for us to accept the truth and stop wasting our money on Africa.