Heavy Reliance on Foreign Aid

When considering the colossal need, the presumption seems to be that the nation has to work hard to strengthen its diplomatic ties and effort in order to channel more foreign aid into the nation. But in reality, what should be applicable is the opposite, where not only Ethiopia, but also most aid recipient African nations should get rid of this particular yoke systematically as they did with colonization. It is evident that breaking the poverty cycle in poor countries requires anything that they can put their hands on but heavy reliance on aid and debt that they cannot pay back will have to be looked at with a grain of salt. There is something askew that needs looking at seriously even if the debt itself could be a formality where being forgiven could always be there in case of failure to pay back.

One of the acclaimed reason why all the aid that is flooding these countries is not bringing about any change is the money could be disappearing by simply lining up the pockets of a certain group that is calling the shot and has found itself at the helm somehow, similar to what is happening in Ethiopia. The fact that a regime such as the Derg would introduce communism in the country was not written on the wall, let alone a minority force such as TPLF could be in charge of the nation’s affairs. On the other hand, when looking back at the strife that was prevalent it was possible to say seeing some kind of change was inevitable, but the nation should have been spared somehow from the kind of leadership the Derg regime introduced. That of course, paved the way for a different kind of slick administration to usurp power. It is difficult to say what the other elites were doing or thinking when such a drastic change took place. It seems that they only came out of their snoozing when a party called CUD surfaced. The problem was the members wanted power immediately without taking time to familiarize themselves with the public and that made them suspect among other reasons. It seemed that they wanted to put their hand on the lucrative aid that was finding its way into the nation, because no matter how TPLF is claiming to do the right things, it is possible that the members had lined up their pockets, as there had been various reports that exposed what was taking place.

When looking at the concern of the donor countries, they have made corruption their priority instead of poverty, simply because they know they cannot tackle poverty unless they do something with the corruption. In reality, corruption is a way of doing things where people need some incentive to make them do their job that might not pay good money better and it is practiced even in the most civilized countries, yet any government official caught doing it could face a problem. If there is anything wrong with corruption it will make doing things very difficult since there will be a long lineup of hands that will have to be greased. It is frustrating especially for those who come from outside to accomplish things, which is not at a large scale in African countries. What is questionable is why the donor countries are not saying anything about the money that is disappearing, simply because that is what is contributing to the deteriorating situation in most of the aid recipient countries. Organizations such as World Bank, for example, have started doing things themselves instead of doling out large sum of money in a form of aid to do a particular job and find out that the money had disappeared. This means by being in charge of all the projects the public is getting the service that is intended to it, whether it is clean drinking water, roads, schools, etc.

This kind of trend is spreading and each donor country is working on a system that will ascertain the aid money they give out will go exactly to what they intended for it. At least this kind of measure will solve one problem, the disappearance of a huge amount of money and ending up lining the pockets of a handful of politicians who are at the top. However, the corruption problem will be there and it will make especially what outsiders are doing difficult. The final achievement of such an undertaking is the various communities that are languishing in poverty could eventually inch their way out of the problem they are in. The question to ask is, what would have happened if the money that was coming into poor countries such as Ethiopia had been used properly? Would it have been enough to bring them out of poverty?

When trying to address such questions it might have made a difference like what establishments such as the World Bank is doing is making a big difference. However, the problem is it is difficult to foresee where this culture of relying heavily on foreign aid will lead to. From what is happening now soliciting for aid itself is a highly polished profession where it is not difficult to see a whole nation could be taking part in it. There is that belief that if the whole nation does not do anything it will not face difficulties, because it is always possible to solicit for aid. But the reality is not like that simply because the amount of aid any county would get is miniscule when compared to what a nation generates with its own hard work. Some of the Asian countries have proven that and are now leading a much prosperous life without getting help from anyone. All it took was determination, dedication, discipline, handwork etc to bring them from the doldrums they were in. India and China are among economies that are growing at a very fast pace to the point where within a few decades they could change their status. And they cannot do that without raising the standard of living of the people in all aspect, since it is the population that does the job, not a handful of elected or self appointed officials, although it is such groups that represent the public and comes up with incentives and guidance.

What is happening in the Horn currently is probably worse than any other geographical area simply because it seems that the whole region has soliciting as its priority. This is very true in Ethiopia where there is a regime that is gripped with fear of seeing the country getting ahead by simply doing things properly. The advanced regimes have many times said the regime has to change its systems, especially the land tenure problem will have to be addressed. Nothing is going to happen to the nation that has not already happened elsewhere. The worst scenario that is dreaded by the regime is there will be industrious people who will take advantage of the situation. In order to avoid that the country dwellers will have to be allowed to advance at their own pace without fearing someone will drive them out of the small plot of land they have to their name that in reality belongs to the government. Whereas the possibility might be if things are allowed to work normally, they could earn much more income from being employed alone and could also keep their small plot of land. Of course, some of them might lose their land simply because either they can sell it or use it to borrow money and if something goes wrong that will be the outcome, yet it is possible to put a cap on such activities. In case of such a calamity the economy could come to their rescue if it were creating employment, which would mean there would be some economic activity. Things should have been like that for the last three decades instead of introducing communism that brought the nation to a standstill and made it heavily reliant on soliciting.

Derg itself was heavily reliant on soliciting and when its one source dried up it brought its demise. Now the new regime is also heavily reliant on soliciting and some of its soruces have started drying up, which is a sign that it is doing something wrong, one of them is keeping a deaf ear on the clamor that is asking it to change in the land tenure. If there are going to be people who will be benefited through the process, it is the Ethiopian people. This means any regime that is refusing to introduce change that everyone is asking for cannot last long. A military might of a third world country is limited since if not the armaments the ammunition requires replacement, a reality that will play in favor of those that are organizing themselves against the regime. When TPLF walked into the capital city the Mig fighter jets that it used to scare the Somali militias might have been parked simply because they could have been out of gas or out of repair. There is no reason why the same thing cannot happen again.

That is the main reason why it is not only Ethiopia, but also all the other countries in the region should find a way of making themselves less reliant on aid. One way of doing that might have to be they have to get their hands a bit dirtier instead of clinging to their ivory towers, because it is very difficult to see where such a way of life and doing things will lead to. A big dose of work ethics has to be injected into the work habit of most of the dwellers of these nations simply because it is possible that they have become lethargic. Even nations that are striking it rich by stumbling upon lucrative natural resource such as oil seem not to know how to utilize their new found riches, although their case might be much better since their reliance level on outside aid could come down. Certainly, it sounds bizarre to tell a nation such as Ethiopia for example, not to rely on foreign aid when it seems that they leave their bed in the morning making soliciting their priority, and it is not helping them to mitigate the problems that are gripping them. What this means is if not in the near future relying alone on foreign aid excessively could be devastating and its harmful side effect is bound to happen where the regime in office could also encounter the same fate like Derg if its sole aid donor has to tighten its purse strings.