Malawi received £77.3 billion of aid from the UK in 2009. During the same year the president Mutharika spent 9 million on a private jet, £2 million on a wedding ceremony for his new bride and £3 million on 22 Mercedes limousines. Furious at these revelations, DFID officials reportedly cut the UK’s poverty aid to Malawi by £3 million, “the equivalent to the annual cost of the plane over the next 5 years”. The Common Public Accounts Committee has raised further concerns about £300 million of aid to Malawi since Mutharika came to power.
Corruption within African governments is no new phenomenon; neither is the “trade, not aid” paradigm. Yet, with 40% of the country still living beneath the national poverty line, it is key that Mutharika’s bad behaviour does not impair the opportunities of the country’s entrepreneurial population. Financial transparency is more essential now than ever.
http://themicroloanfoundation.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/pennies-for-life-putting-the-power-back-into-the-public%e2%80%99s-pockets/
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