NYT/Reuters: Bono Presses Africa to Tackle Corruption

[DeepModem Mom]

Bono Presses Africa to Tackle Corruption
By REUTERS
Published: May 21, 2006

ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Rock star and activist Bono, pressing wealthy nations to keep their aid promises to Africa, said on Sunday the continent needs to tackle corruption, the single biggest obstacle to more investment.

With pledges by the industrial nations to double aid by 2010, Bono cautioned that unless corruption was tackled the goodwill of industrialized nations could dissipate.

"There is a window of opportunity but it could close if things like the corruption issue are not tackled or the peer review mechanisms are not felt to be real,'' he told reporters traveling with him before addressing African finance ministers in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

"I'll go further and say that the single biggest obstacle to business and the renewal of the economies in the south is corruption and the single biggest obstacle to getting start-up money for those businesses, if you want to look at aid as investment, is corruption,'' he added.

He said taxpayers in developed nations were also demanding more accountability from their own political leaders to ensure that money going to Africa was properly used....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-africa-bono-corruption.htm

[ShockediSay]

1. What about the lobby lawyers

in the US??????????

[VirginiaDem]

2. How are lobbyists in US responsible for African corruption? n/t

[rman]

3. Given that US politics is corrupt, and that the US is the dominant force

shaping the rest of the world, it would be much more productive to start with tackling US corruption.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I agree. Because the US has deep flaws, especially...

under this corrupt and misguided administration, the rest of the world does not get a pass. We do not hold the patent on corruption, or even evil.