This reminds me of the account of NGOs ( Non Governmental Organizations )- key functionaries in the dispensation of foreign aid - in Jim Rogers' book, Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip, something I read many many years ago:
"Even in countries with no roads to speak of, Mercedes service is available – often
to the exclusion of things like food – thanks to all the US foreign aid, the IMF,
and World Bank money being shipped in. It is no secret that this money is aimed at
nourishing only those corrupt enough to get their hands on it, while at the same
time fattening the bureaucrats on both sides of the transaction who diligently
work the trough. And none of them is driving a Chevy.
I knew much of this from my last trip. The upcoming trip, especially as it took
us through Africa, would be an eye-opening education into the workings of the
latest foreign aid scam: the nongovernmental organization, or NGO. As an American
taxpayer, I would be amazed to discover that a lot of the money we send to these
countries goes to support Mercedes and BMW dealers and various Swiss bankers."
"After cocoa, the commodity produced in greatest abundance in the Ivory Coast is to
be found in the commercial capital, Abidjan, one of the more cosmopolitan cities in
West Africa: NGO bureaucrats. They grow here in enormously high concentration, even
for Africa. They and their like have been directing Africa’s destiny for centuries.
One might wonder why so many national boundaries in these parts consist of straight
lines. In Germany in 1884, at what was called the Congress of Berlin, the European
powers came together and divided up Africa. They paid no attention to religious,
ethnic, linguistic, tribal, national, or historical differences – the Ivory Coast,
for example, is divided between a majority Muslim population in the north and those
who hold to indigenous beliefs and Christianity in the south, explaining why peace
in Africa may be far away. And why there will always be work for Western
bureaucrats." [1]
On the other hand, this is what Bill Gates has to say on corruption and why it should not be a deterrent to the continued giving of foreign aid:
There is a double standard at work here. I’ve heard people calling on the government
to shut down some aid program if one dollar of corruption is found. On the other
hand, four of the past seven governors of Illinois have gone to prison for
corruption, and to my knowledge no one has demanded that Illinois schools be shut down
or its highways closed. [2]
Even fully discounting the fact that the man is unimaginably wealthy and can afford the graft and misuse of funds, I am still not quite convinced by this line of reasoning. At this point I'm just hoping that I don't wake up some eight years from now to discover that even things like Kiva loans [3] had been all along a huge waste of effort, time and - yes - money.
[1] Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812967267
[2] 3 MYTHS THAT BLOCK PROGRESS FOR THE POOR
http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/#section=myth-two
[3] Kiva Is Not Quite What It Seems
http://www.cgdev.org/blog/kiva-not-quite-what-it-seems