Time to end the foreign aid farce

Britain gives £12.6 billion in foreign aid every year – equivalent to almost £800 per year for every British family where someone can be bothered to work and pay taxes. Yet studies by the UN (itself as corrupt as the day is long) have shown that 80% to 90% of all foreign aid is stolen by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats in Third World countries. And now we learn that Kenya’s ruling elite have just stolen £50 million that should have been used to provide primary school education for Kenya’s poorest children. The Kenyan president has promised an investigation and punishment for those involved. But given that several million of that money is probably now sitting in one of his many offshore bank accounts, we shouldn’t hold our breath.

It’s time to stop the foreign aid farce. It would be better to give just a small amount of money so we can monitor how much gets stolen and how much actually reaches its target rather than throwing away billions that all get siphoned off by corrupt officials.