Bono visits the happy natives

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

O'Neill Starts Africa Tour With Bono
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) -- It's the Rocker and the Republican, on Africa
Cliche-Breaking Tour 2002.

Singer Bono and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill embarked Tuesday on a
four-nation odyssey: the activist pop star, Bono, bent on convincing the
skeptical politico, O'Neill, that Africa puts Western development aid to
good use.

``I come here to learn,'' promised O'Neill, who was talked into the trip by
the Irish singer.

``Normally, when we hear a secretary of state is visiting, it's usually an
all suit-and-tie affair,'' President John Kufuor joked, smiling at meeting
the shaggy-haired singer in trademark blue wraparound shades.

Bono and O'Neill, in an equally to-type gray suit, set the tone for the
10-day trip from the first stop Tuesday -- no mud-hut village, but a
gleaming high-tech center in Ghana's capital, Accra.

O'Neill watched approvingly as young Ghanaian women input data for the
U.S.-based firm ACS-BPS.

Bono and O'Neill listened attentively as company president Tom Blodgett
answered questions about the workers' pay and benefits.

``It is really an experience to see these well-trained people,'' O'Neill
told an international retinue of rock 'n' roll, financial and political
reporters.

``It's equal to anything you can find in the world,'' the treasury
secretary said.

Bono sat on a low wall, swinging his feet while O'Neill talked. The sleek
high-tech operation showed it was possible to recast Africa's image, the
singer told reporters.

``I really loathe the cliched, international view of Africa. I don't think
it is helpful,'' Bono said.

In an effort to learn what kind of aid really works, O'Neill and Bono,
whose real name is Paul Hewson, will visit AIDS clinics, schools and
projects sponsored by the World Bank and other development agencies.

``I want to hear their hopes and dreams and I hope they share with me their
insights into how best to eliminate the obstacles to Africa's prosperity,''
O'Neill told the American Chamber of Commerce in Accra.

Full: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Africa-ONeill-Bono.html

====

The Evening Post (Wellington), December 17, 2001, Monday

Squeezing the poorest

GHANA was once hailed by the World Bank as a showcase for its policies.
Today, after two decades of "financial discipline", the majority of
Ghanaians are worse off than ever.

Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence. When the
experiment in neo-liberal economic theory began, it was hailed as a model
pupil. But after two decades of "structural adjustment", the poor are
poorer and the government is more dependent than ever on outside help.

It is a "cash and carry" society. Nothing is free. Citizens pay directly
for health care, education, clean drinking water and sanitation.

Shortly after the September 11 attacks on New York, BBC correspondent John
Kampfner met with the World Bank's representative in Ghana, Peter Harrold,
who admitted a link between poverty and terrorism.

"There's a serious danger. The disparities (between rich and poor) cannot
continue going on in this way."

There is a genuine regard in Ghana for Britain and the United States. But
there is also a strong sense of injustice which is now being marshalled
against Western financial institutions.

"Anybody who has seen the images of those terrible events would have
condemned them as senseless," says Yao Graham, co-ordinator of Third World
Network, an NGO based in Ghana. "But we're living in a world where so many
people are feeling taken for granted that unless the big powers become more
sensitive to the demands of the weaker countries, all of us are endangered."

Meanwhile, there is a new plan to sell off water in Ghana, a plan which
local campaigners say is disastrous. As in other countries, officials in
Ghana have become wary of using the word privatisation. They prefer to call
it "private-public partnerships".

The World Bank is supporting the sell-off to the tune of $ 100 million. But
why, people wonder, must water be self-financing in poor countries, while
in the US, for example, billions of dollars of State money supports the
industry?

The unprofitable rural water supply will stay in State hands, but local
communities now have to make a five-10 percent down-payment for the
"privilege" of installing clean pumps and pay for their maintenance. In
villages where people earn less than $ 1 a day, the system quickly
collapses. Still, the experiment is seen by the IMF and World Bank as a
template for utility sell-offs across the developing world.

Elsewhere in Ghana, gold-mining concessions to international firms have
forced people off arable land, with little or no compensation. For the
Ghanaians, gold spells trouble and poverty.

Healthcare is out of the reach of most people - patients have to pay for
each visit to hospital and the cost of any surgery or treatment. They are
not released if they don't pay. If they die, their bodies are not released
until relatives find the cash.

The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC) is supposed to
relieve countries like Ghana of much of its external debt. But it comes
with strings attached. All loans and write-offs are conditional on
privatisation of utilities


Louis Proyect
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