Maravi

G8 countries pledge to spend $60bn on Africa

G8 countries pledge to spend $60bn on Africa
By Kabanda Chulu and Inonge Noyoo
Saturday June 09, 2007 [04:00]

THE Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries has pledged to spend US$ 60 billion to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa. But civil society organisations (CSOs) and Aid agencies have said the G8 should not be let off the hook to continue making empty promises. And Transparency International's African and G8 chapters have asked the G8 countries to stop the supply side of corruption.

According to a statement released by the German Ministry of Development yesterday, the world leaders turned their attention to Africa on the final day of the summit by committing US$ 60 billion of which the United States of America would account for half of the total amount.

It stated that the G8 have agreed to make up the US$ 500 million shortfall in this year’s spending for education in Africa and they also resolved to keep Africa at the top of the agenda at the G8 summit to be held in Japan next year.

However, some CSOs and aid agencies said much of the money had already been announced and fell short of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals targets.
Stop AIDS Campaign coordinator Steve Cockburn stated that the G8 should do more to meet the commitments they made at their 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.
“While lives will be saved with more money for AIDS, this represents a cap on ambition that will ultimately cost millions more lives,” said Cockburn.

And Catholic Commission for Justice, Peace and Development (CCJDP) Zambia social and economics project manager Mulima Akapelwa stated that the G8 had not lived up to the promises made in 2005.

“We should be looking at why the G8 have not fulfilled the previous commitments rather than allowing them off the hook to make more empty promises but this is not to say that some progress has not been made since the Gleneagles summit, for instance, the writing off the debt of 18 African countries has allowed Zambia to expand free health care in rural areas,” stated AKapelwa. “However, other commitments like a sustained boost to aid and the pledge to work towards a free trade deal that will remove tariffs on African exports to developed countries have still not materialised.”

And the Transparency International chapters in a statement at the G8 summit in Germany on Wednesday, asked leaders of the G8 nations to act on specific commitments to better governance and to fight corruption in and for Africa.

They stated that the G8 must not make itself complicit.
“The G8 also has a special responsibility to ensure that its policies and the behaviour of its companies do not make it complicit in corruption, which undermines the best efforts of African countries to fight corruption and improve governance,” read the statement.

“In this spirit, we call on the G8 to make good on their many promises to stem the supply side of bribery, to ensure that G8-based multinationals can no longer bribe with impunity when doing business in Africa.”

The chapters also urged the G8 to refuse safe haven and help recover stolen monies by ensuring that their financial markets and institutions were not complicit in managing the proceeds of corruption.

“This entails cooperating with investigators in African countries to trace, freeze and return stolen assets.

Transparency International reminded the G8 leaders of their commitments to anti-corruption and better governance under the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the African Union (AU) Anti-Corruption Convention and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

“The G8 and International Financial Institutions must ensure African leaders are not hampered in decision-making power over their own economies, good governance initiatives and anti-corruption efforts,” read the statement.

“We ask that the governments of the G8 bear in mind that all efforts towards greater well-being and economic justice for the poorest - and even the challenges of climate change - will be unmanageable without good governance and markets free of corruption.”

The statement was adopted on May 26, 2007 by Transparency International- ‘s national chapters in Africa: Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Labels: G8, TIZ

posted by MrK @ 3:43 AM