---

Africa: Governance and Law

My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, for introducing, to use his words, his "Obama debate". I look forward to talking to the noble Earl another time about aid and diplomacy. A few minutes here would not do that justice. I add my sadness that my noble friend Lady Park is not here to contribute, as her knowledge of this area would have enriched our debate. I am sure that the House will wish to join me in wishing her well and a speedy recovery. Her Majesty’s Government have, over the past 10 years, made international aid to Africa, delivered through DfID, a figurehead policy. Their praiseworthy aims, however, have had mixed results. A long-term trend of slow improvement until 2006 has taken a notable downturn in the past two years, as noted by Freedom House. Nowhere is this more marked than in Zimbabwe. One of the prized examples of the Government’s aid recipients, it has degenerated in recent years into one of the least free and most impoverished African states: just think that its copper mines alone, in 1955, had an output of £130 million, earning the country £40 million. There are lessons to be learnt even from Zimbabwe’s most depressing of case studies. My noble friend Lord Sheikh and the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, made important points on Zimbabwe, and it was good to hear a little bit of good news from the noble Lord, Lord St John of Bletso. It is vital that we do not succumb to the myth that the "big man", however impressive he seems, is the answer. This Government have been willing to compromise too much to establish working relationships with individual development partners who, in return for allowing aid agencies and foreign companies into their countries, take control of much of the dissemination of the funding. Of course buy-in is essential to the success of development projects, but we think that too little care has been taken to make certain that aid does not then support corrupt patronage networks or political elites at the cost of wider political engagement. The political and economic integration of African citizens should be this Government’s primary concern. The corruption and inefficiencies that mean that aid is as likely to end up in offshore bank accounts or in a western company’s profit statements as in the wage packets of health workers or teachers can be rooted out only from within. The example of John Githongo, the Kenyan whistleblower who had to struggle for so long to bring the Anglo Leasing scandal in Kenya to the appropriate authorities, is both a sign of the way forward and a warning about how much more there is to do to encourage more like him. African NGOs and other civil society watchdogs have an enormous part to play in encouraging the accountability and transparency of their Governments, but the successful investigation and prosecution of high-level corruption depends on properly resourced and politically impartial legal systems and police forces, as the noble Lord, Lord Luce, quite rightly said. Until western Governments are willing to cut off aid to people and institutions that perpetuate corruption in these institutions, nothing will change. Of course, making decisions about when and where to spend aid takes a great deal of local experience, as my noble friend Lady Verma so rightly said. She also stressed the importance of support for women’s participation in society. A Conservative Government would seek to encourage this by making sure that all DfID staff, on starting a new post, undertook an intensive immersion in the communities that they are there to help. Much more could also be done to improve transparency about where DfID actually spends its money. There will always be a temptation to focus on grand, impossible schemes that are launched with a fanfare, but it is the small, restrained and realistic projects that often make the most difference. It is not only UK government funding that is currently far too opaque; western companies have been equally guilty, if not guiltier, of perpetuating and even encouraging corrupt methods of governance in the hope of high returns. This Government could do much more to make certain that British companies in particular behave responsibly when investing in Africa—for example, by working with countries such as China and by trying to impress on them that the long-term benefits are often more valuable than the short-term profits. I have concentrated mostly on institutional failings rather than on the total breakdown in the rule of law that has recently occurred in so many countries—the noble Lords, Lord Hannay and Lord Alton, drew our attention to the latest developments in Sudan—but it is clear that the wars that still blight so much of the continent have been exacerbated and even triggered by the failings and corruption of their Governments, so ably described in the recent outstanding book on Africa by Richard Dowden. In my few remaining minutes, I will add a piece that I found recently, which I feel is poignant to our debate today: ""Africa is an important depository of raw materials, and the surface has scarcely been thumbed as yet. It produces something like 98 per cent of the diamonds of the world, 55 per cent of its gold, and 22 per cent of its copper, as well as large quantities of various strategic minerals, like manganese, chromium, and uranium. Africa produces about two-thirds of the world’s cocoa, three-fifths of its palm oil, and has immense reserves of water power. It could grow every crop on earth. But if Africa is rich, it is also poor. This is one of the overriding paradoxes. Africa is not only vital for what it already has, but is incomparably the greatest potential source of wealth awaiting development in the world. No continent has ever beckoned with more fruitful opportunities"." That is from Inside Africa, written in 1955 by John Gunther. How sad to have so little progress after $1 trillion in aid has been made and so little learnt in the past 53 years towards fulfilling this extraordinary opportunity. We heard from several of your Lordships of a few green shoots; I wish that I could be as optimistic. I look forward, as always, to the Minister’s reply.