"No Magic Bullet" says Minister Lenihan

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Tuesday February 14, 2006 01:31 by Liam Mullen mullenl at eircom dot net 17 Cranford Court, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 086-1732700

There are no “magic bullet” formulas to the corporatist culture prevalent among huge conglomerations with budgets that exceed that of certain countries in the southern hemisphere according to Minister of State of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, Conor Lenihan, speaking at the February Comhlámh debate in Bewley’s café theatre. He was speaking about the difficulties of changing the mindset of large corporations operating in third world countries

The debate was hosted by Karen Coleman, who presents Wide Angle on Newstalk 106FM, and was based on the subject of “Corruption and Aid: It takes two to bribe?”
Ronan Tynan, a co-founder of Esperanza Productions, speaking about the social and human capital cost prevalent in third world countries stated, “When the political class of a country are corrupt, it seeps down through society.” His company, Esperanza, has made several groundbreaking documentaries in this area. The debate centred mostly on corruption in African countries, although there was recognition of corruption within Ireland, which have been exposed by the many tribunals. Many of the countries mentioned are ones we have become familiar with in recent press reports – Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Tynan insisted that the “issue of crime and corruption must be addressed,” and that we have a “moral responsibility to shout from the rooftops.” He spoke further of how “aid flows” contribute to GDP, and believes that money isn’t the answer to the ills of African countries, insisting that Africa would get by if laws were respected and human rights valued. A weakness in the system was identified when it was noted that even wealthy Africans do not invest their own money in their own continent.
Mike Williams, the Head of the International Department for Trócaire, who previously spent over two years as an APSO volunteer in Zambia, and who also worked in Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo spoke about the “huge sums of money siphoned off,” by Mobuto in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and that the World Bank and IMF were aware of the situation. Having just returned from the border region of Eritrea and Ethiopia he states “troops are lining up again in the border regions.”
In speaking about Transparency International, the International NGO, which monitors corruption on a worldwide basis, Williams finds it curious that countries like Poland have higher rates of corruption than certain African nations. He states that it is not simply an African problem, but that “corruption is rife in Poland.” In combating the pervasive effects of corruption, Williams says that “a free media is absolutely vital,” and that governments have to maintain”openness to criticism.” The question of bypassing corrupt foreign leaders and allowing the INGO’s to directly distribute flows of money was discounted as unworkable, and an analogy was made that it would be akin to asking Bertie Ahern to allow St Vincent de Paul handle Ireland’s finances. Money “channelled through the NGO’s just wouldn’t work.”
The report of Christian Aid: The shirts off their backs: How tax policies fleece the poor, was mentioned as significant. The report highlights how tax policies need to be radically examined in poor countries in light of the undermining by multinational companies, the accountancy industry and the banks.
With corruption “endemic” in societies, it was recognised that only a “strong, vibrant civil society,” can counter the corruption, which impacts on aid to poorer countries. A participant at the debate highlighted the corrupt practices of certain “EU officials taking bribes” in the Balkans, a situation corroborated by Karen Coleman.