Africa Commission had to work out what was wrong and how to fix it

[muriel_volestrangler]

A lot of conclusions - some obvious (get rid of developed world agricultural subsidies), some that might not be so obvious (eg African countries don't trade enough with each other). There's a lot more than can be excerpted in 4 paragraphs. I think this commission is one of Blair's good moves.

Six months ago Paul Vallely was seconded from The Independent to join Tony Blair's Commission for Africa. Today it issues its report, of which he is the principal author. This is his account of the mission for change
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It has poor quality systems for the collection of data, without which government policies can neither be properly formulated nor accurately monitored. Its civil servants, in national and local government, often do not have the training to analyse complex information or plan and budget effectively. The quality of management is poor. Public servants are also being hit by Aids. In Zambia teachers are dying faster than they can be trained.
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Those who give bribes must be tackled as well as those who take them. Foreign companies, especially those in the oil and mining industries, must be pressed to publish what they pay to governments. And firms who bribe should be refused export credits.
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On health and education there is a raft of proposals - which will cost more than $12bn a year. This is more than a matter of basic human decency. It is also sound economics: a healthy and skilled workforce is a more productive one.
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Alongside that the commission calls for an end to the negative aid, which is what debt repayments constitute. That means 100 per cent cancellation of Africa's debts to institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.

Paul Vallely is a former chairman of the leading development think-tank the Catholic Institute for International Relations and of the fair trade organisation Traidcraft.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=618858