Unveiling Food Plan, Obama Presses Africa on Corruption - Problem is corruption, not colonialism

[jefferson_dem]

Unveiling Food Plan, Obama Presses Africa on Corruption
By PETER BAKER

L’AQUILA, Italy — President Obama told African countries on Friday that the legacy of colonialism was not an excuse for failing to build prosperous, democratic societies even as he unveiled a $20 billion international program to help the developing world grow more food to feed its people.

Just hours before his scheduled departure for his first trip as president to sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Obama made a personal appeal to other leaders of the Group of 8 powers for larger donations to the effort, citing his own family’s experiences in Kenya. As a result, the initiative grew from $15 billion over three years that was pledged coming into the summit meeting to $20 billion.

At a news conference afterward, Mr. Obama said that when his father came to the United States, his home country of Kenya had an economy as large as that of South Korea per capita. Today, he noted, Kenya remains impoverished and politically unstable, while South Korea has become an economic powerhouse.

“There had been some talk about the legacies of colonialism and other policies by wealthier nations,” he said, “and without in any way diminishing that history, the point I made was that the South Korean government, working with the private sector and civil society, was able to create a set of institutions that provided transparency and accountability and efficiency that allowed for extraordinary economic progress and that there was no reason why African countries could not do the same.”

He continued: “And yet, in many African countries, if you want to start a business or get a job you still have to pay a bribe.” While wealthier nations have an obligation to help Africa, he said, African nations “have a responsibility” to build transparent, efficient institutions.

Mr. Obama noted that he has learned lessons from his family members still living in Kenya. “They themselves are not going hungry, but live in villages where hunger is real,” he said. “And so this is something that I understand in very personal terms.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/world/europe/11prexy.html?em

[Colobo]

1. Exactly. Colonialism ended a while ago.