BONO AND O’NEILL IN AFRICA
Rock star Bono and United States Treasury Secretary Paul
O’Neill combined efforts to witness the problems associated with sub-Saharan
Africa’s underdevelopment, and to propose solutions to the continuing crisis.
Although the pair focused their visit on the sub-Saharan, the entire continent
of Africa is in need of foreign debt relief. The poverty-stricken continent
faces billions in debt, an AIDS crisis, and trade barriers that prevent economic
success. While Bono, Paul Hewson, is liberal in his solutions for aid
and debt-relief, O’Neill represents the conservative Republican Party.
Throughout his humanitarian efforts, U2’s singer has expressed that he wants
more aid contributed by bilateral donors. This conflicts with O’Neill’s
view that money is being poorly spent. He believes that money should
only be placed in funds that are more efficiently used by African nations.
Bono and O’Neill spent May 20-31, 2002 in Ghana, Uganda,
South Africa, and Ethiopia. During their ten-day tour, they visited
AIDS clinics, water projects, and orphanages (Talbot 1). Africa is
the poorest continent, and one third of the sub-Saharan population is starving.
One third of children finish elementary school and one out of every fifty
goes on to higher education. Poor living conditions results in an average
life expectancy of forty-seven (“About DATA”).
The low life expectancy results in the highest dependency
ratio of those under sixteen or over sixty-four to the working age group.
For every one hundred of working age, there are ninety-two dependencies.
There is also a high percentage of women and children who work in primary
production (Bahr 211).
Many view the tour as a publicity stunt to attract media
attention to Bono and O’Neill’s charitable intentions. Politicians
and charities use celebrity involvement to attract the public interest (“Of
Celebrities” 68). Bono knows his presence changed the direction of
the tour, but he is exploiting his celebrity in hopes of ending African debt.
His purpose was to convince O’Neill that financial aid is and will be spent
resourcefully. He wanted to show evidence that money would not “disappear
into bureaucracy, corruption, and waste.” The trip was used to persuade
the Treasury Secretary that money in existing accounts are being purposefully
spent (“Bono takes O’Neill” 1).
Bono’s plan is to increase aid in order to solve poverty.
He believes that if the United States fails to give the support expected
by the African people, Africans will be easily recruited into terrorist groups
(Somerville 2). Bono, of Irish decent, is concerned with promoting
the idealism surrounding America. He thinks it is important to protect
every man, at home and abroad. The U.S. can prevent any additional
and unnecessary terrorist threat, while also providing resources to aid foreign
nations (Kagan 3).
Bono had founded the non-profit organization DATA to promote
the elimination of debt, AIDS, and trade barriers in Africa. The goal
of the human advocacy group is to get greater response in relief from the
U.S., Europe, Canada, and Japan. DATA works to combine the efforts
of all the organizations for debt relief. DATA also has a dual meaning,
also standing for democracy, accountability, and transparency. It is
encouraged that aid goes to democratic governments with accountable and trustworthy
leaders. The organization encourages African nations to be transparent
in using aid, or to properly use money (“About DATA”).
Critics of the tour wonder if Bono’s presence can make
up for the unjust policies of the Republican Party’s past. Others also
consider both sides to be essentially clueless about the reality of the severity
of African poverty. Either way, the media sees Bono as a spokesman
for the underprivileged. “Playing his chosen role of a down at heel
bohemian, he rubs shoulders with the political elite of the most powerful
state in the world and is hailed by the world’s media as a spokesman for
the oppressed” (Talbot 3).
In addition, Bono was concerned that the tour and O’Neill
would not see the true conditions regarding poverty and underdevelopment,
Normally, when we go, we go under the wire. I am worried that the hospitals
I have been to where the sisters have to work over open drains will all have
been painted red, white, and blue. We have a zeal to go beyond the
usual parameters of the royal walkabout. (“Bono takes O’Neill” 1)
Bono, who has done prior charity work in Africa, has said that the people
of Africa have permanently affected how O’Neill will create decisions regarding
Africa. O’Neill has a strong corporate and political background, which
has resulted in criticism that his political bias interferes with his supposed
sympathy on the issue (Kagan 2).
Paul O’Neill believes African nations should more efficiently
use existing funds. According to O’Neill, Africa has the possibility
of developing a business class. Private enterprise and investments
can bring the continent out of underdevelopment by cutting poverty and creating
industry jobs (Somerville 1). He finds that the governments qualifying
for U.S. financial aid are those that have problems that the U.S. economy
is best suited to help. O’Neill does not want contributions to interfere
with the U.S. economy, and wants to maintain a monopoly over trade.
The Bush administration is hesitant to provide support for nations that could
later be competition in the world market (Talbot 3).
After his resignation as Treasury Secretary in December
2002, it has been thought that the Africa trip was one of O’Neill’s last
attempts to gain publicity in hopes of stirring personal popularity.
Many in the Republican Party have despised his role in the Bush administration.
Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Robert Rubin, Clinton’s
Treasury Secretary, were both asked to speak to Congress about the post-September
11 economy, but O’Neill was never invited (2).
At the conclusion of his ten-day trip, O’Neill changed
his choice in policy to giving grants rather than loans. Bono may have
been persuasive in his decision, as the African practice of paying back loans
creates less money for internal improvements (“Of Celebrities” 68).
In a statement released following the trip O’Neill said,
I went to those troubled lands, and I believe this: with the right combination
of aid and accountability – from both
rich and nations and poor ones - we can accelerate the spread of education,
clean water, and private enterprise throughout Africa. We can help
the African people create vibrant, self-sustaining economies and a rising
standard of living. (O’Neill)
To attain a healthy standard of living, Africa must transition
to the modern economic market. Africans are still feeling the effects
of the European economic booms of the 1800’s. While money was concentrated
in wealthy nations, those nations were becoming wealthier while the African
continent had no such economic prosperity or success. By 1960, Europe’s
per capita income was already nine times as high as Africa’s because of industrialization
(Markovitz 315). Since the 60’s, there have been two distinct economic
sectors. There is a large group depending on subsistence agriculture,
and a small group working in industrialized cities. Governments have
been attempting to decrease imports and increase exports, but countries are
not experienced in industrialization (Bahr 208). During colonial rule,
Black Africans were persuaded to fill the plentiful amount of mining jobs,
to prevent an African proletariat from challenging the established government
(Davis 50-51). Now, countries want to develop internal industry to
manufacture their own goods for a domestic market (Bahr 210).
Africa’s main challenge in building the economy is the
difficulty in creating income. There is little advancement for most
Africans in economic opportunities because they cannot improve their social
status (211). South Africa is the continent’s wealthiest country, but
the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the Whites. They reside
next door to Blacks, who are clearly living in poverty (Davis 94).
In industry, the market for African exports is minimal because of competition
created by Europe, Asia, and the United States. There are not enough
jobs in industry to meet the growing population, which is one reason why
large numbers rely on agriculture. It is challenging for agricultural
improvements since there are only outdated resources and technology available
to farmers (Bahr 211).
Farmers have a very minimal domestic market because the
population limits its internal purchases when they receive free aid.
Government law also forces farmers to sell for exports. As a result,
most farmers farm for subsistence (Bartlett 5). Status never improved
for subsistence farmers because governments were working to establish cities
and capitals (Bahr 214).
Manufacturing is being emphasized by external nations,
but African countries are not developed enough to act as a market.
Manufactured goods are exported to North America, Europe, and Asia, where
an import tariff is enforced. Opponents of these import tariffs want
them lifted so Africans can have free trade. Most of the goods are
used internally, but the size of industry remains minute because nations
are too poor to have great purchasing power (217).
K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission
for Africa, proposed that rich African nations could aid the poorer nations
through investments. This would allow political and economic reforms,
which would result in successful economies (Amoako). Western economic
theories have said that the wealth of investors and the small wealthy class
would promote economic growth of the population. This trickle-down
theory would leave spillover from investments, and provide jobs for Africans
(Bahr 210).
The prospect of profitable investment is luring, but sub-Saharan
Africa is the poorest region of the world and owes billions in debt to foreign
nations. The entire continent owes three hundred billion dollars in
debt, and the sub-Saharan pays an annual fourteen and a half (“The Issues”).
Archbishop Medaro Mazombwe of Zambia reports that the country pays annually
two hundred million in debt. This leaves only fifty million for healthcare,
education, agriculture, and the environment. While 8 million live in
poverty, this could be solved only if the debt is relieved from the country
(Lefevere 5).
One reason why Washington is against O’Neill’s publicity
stunt is because foreign aid is an increased burden on taxpayers. Groups
of politicians do not want to help Africa when it will strain our taxes (Bartlett
5). Bono opposes this attitude and wants total debt relief. This
could be damaging because if debt were completely lifted, the global economy
would suffer. Some want the debt relief issue directed at nations who
have cut back on contributions, like the United States (Lefevere 5).
The World Bank and Bono’s DATA organization publicize the fact that the U.S.,
Canada, Europe and Japan could cancel the debt of twenty-two nations if citizens
gave an annual dollar and seventy cents (“About DATA”).
Foreign aid has had beneficial results in the countries
of Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Benin. In Uganda, elementary education
enrollment has doubled, while in Mozambique, five hundred thousand children
have been immunized. Tanzania has no elementary education tuition,
and Benin has no tuition (“The Issues”). These results differ from
other past experiences in financial aid. The U.S. has previously contributed
money to the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), and Liberia. Their
governments gave no records as to how the money used, and it can be well
assumed that the funds were spent in corrupt bargains. Those governments
have been known to murder opponents, and there have been concerns that the
U.S. was contributing to fund terrorist factions. O’Neill wants to
be certain that aid is going strictly for economic development, and only
to democratic governments (“Bono takes O’Neill”).
The United States gives an annual 1.2 billion for African
foreign aid. The U.S. is the wealthiest nation, but gives the lowest
proportion of any donor according to financial status. In addition
to this restrain on foreign aid, countries also grant tied-aid. Donor
nations expect their aid to be spent on services and products from their
own country, even if this is not the most affordable method for Africans.
The World Bank sees this as hindering twenty percent of potential productivity
(“The Issues”).
In an attempt to compensate for the lack of needed foreign
aid, the African Development Bank is a cooperative effort of African nations
to assist each other with financial relief. Fifty African countries
and other bilateral donors are working together for debt relief, with stress
on education, healthcare, and private investment in smaller industries and
businesses (“Statement”). The African Development Bank, a sister institution
of World Bank, is treated as a financial establishment rather than a political
instrument (White 100).
The purpose of the African Development Bank is to speed the economic and
social progress while coordinating economies to promote foreign trade (104-105).
Participating nations rely on the idea that Africa is the sole force in running
the bank and deciding policy. This is done to draw foreign recognition
and support (92). It is also urged for countries to look to each other
for aid before depending upon outside assistance, but this is challenging
considering most African nations cannot support themselves alone (89).
The bank is designed to build foreign and domestic economies, and to create
an entrepreneurial class while still aiding agriculture (90).
These steps to build the economy are vital to the improvement of living standards,
including healthcare. In a United Nations ranking of human development,
the last twenty-eight nations of one hundred and sixty-two are African.
In Ghana, which is one hundred and nineteen, the majority of the citizens
live on less than a dollar per day (Somerville 2). Although the cost
of living in cities is too great for many, quick increases in areas of urban
growth cannot keep up sanitation, housing, education, and medical services
with the growing numbers (Bahr 211). Disease always accompanies poverty,
and Africa has the highest rate of malnutrition and deficiency diseases such
as tuberculosis, pellagra, gastroenteritis, and scurvy. In 1990, forty
South Africans would die daily from tuberculosis, but Africa is widely known
for its AIDS pandemic (Davis 130).
AIDS is prevalent in Africa for numerous reasons including unemployment,
poverty, open sexual networking, cultural traditions, wars, migrant workers,
malnutrition, poor sanitary conditions, and a lack of medical treatment availability.
In general, governments do not hold strong stands on halting the spread of
the disease. There is a lack of knowledge by everyone, including government
officials. Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, has attempted to
help the situation, but has said that HIV is not the sole cause of AIDS.
The epidemic cannot be stopped with people being misguided, and others having
no knowledge of the disease at all (Guest 2-3).
Government infrastructure is not fully experienced in handling services for
the public. Because they are so heavily in debt, they have not had
the time or money to develop the needed organizations to benefit the public
(113). As a result, twenty-eight million Africans are HIV positive.
In 2001, 2.3 million died from HIV or AIDS. The sub-Saharan average
life expectancy is forty-seven. Without the pervasiveness of HIV/AIDS,
it is predicted to be sixty-two (“The Issues”). AIDS is so common in
Africa, that half of all Botswanan college students will die from either
HIV or AIDS (“About DATA”).
The availability of medical resources to Africans is a continuing battle.
Twenty-eight million have AIDS, yet only thirty thousand receive treatment
because of costs. Governments spend an annual ten dollars per person
on healthcare, but drug companies are only reducing the price of AIDS treatment
to three hundred per year (“The Issues”).
South Africa has the largest infected population in the world, four million.
Africa is also home to ninety five percent of orphans from AIDS (Guest 1).
South Africa has a low fertility rate to start, but beginning in 2003, the
population is expected to decline an annual .1 to .3 percent. This
is the first time there is an expected decline in the population of an underdeveloped
country (7). Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, and
the UN Security Council have decided that the increasingly rapid spread of
AIDS could lead to political instability (125). Annan and the United
States are donating 2.5 billion per year for AIDS treatment, but this is
only some of the projected ten billion that is required. Bono advocates
that the U.S. give the entire ten billion to set a precedent for other countries
to follow (Glauber 2).
Although foreign aid provides a significant amount of monetary resources,
Africa’s two percent of world trade provides far greater numbers. This
is why instead of increased foreign aid, trade barriers should ideally be
lifted. This would hurt the economies of the buying countries because
governments would have a decreases in tax revenue (“An African Cure”).
Overall, the continent needs money to pay for imports. During the 1970’s,
the price of imports increased while prices of mining and agricultural exports
decreased. Also during the decade, sub-Saharan debt rose from six to
eighty billion. Following this downfall, Africa has never been able
to recover its economy (Bahr 218). Europe, North America, and Japan
should support the African market, and have the ability to assist in economic
recovery. Foreign countries should lower their import tariffs because
they do not have as extreme a need for increasing economic strength.
The tariffs allow countries to protect their own domestic markets (Bartlett
5).
Import tariffs withhold 2.5 billion dollars from Africa every year.
It could be negotiated to remove import tariffs if African governments did
the same. This would promote trade, and one of the best-considered
foreign policies, “fair trade, not aid” (5). This policy is defied
by President Bush’s May 2002 farm bill. It increased U.S. crop and
dairy subsidies by sixty-seven percent, and challenges the concept of free
trade (Somerville 3).
Uganda is an example of a country that has benefited from free trade policy.
In the mid 1990’s, Europe lowered the import tariff on African roses.
In 2001, Uganda brought in sixteen million in revenue. This is made
possible only when trade barriers are lifted, unlike when the United States
has an import tariff of one hundred and sixty-four percent on African peanuts
(“An African Cure”). O’Neill exemplifies this country, whose poverty
rate has dropped to thirty-five percent, as making use of the economic opportunities
offered (Engardio 36). Bono, after watching workers laboring in the
rose fields, called it “globalization at its best” (“An African Cure”).
The African Growth and Opportunity Act is a step of the United States towards
fair trade with Africa. Private investments and private markets will
be significant in poverty reduction. Opening the U.S. market to African
goods is the decisive factor in Africa being able to raise growth rates an
annual seven percent to overcome poverty. Foreign and domestic investments
will provide great amounts of aid, far surpassing what any foreign aid account
could contribute (Powell, 2).
The United States is the largest market for foreign goods. In 2000,
there were 1.2 trillion dollars worth of U.S. imports. With duty-free
African goods in the U.S., African exports have increased fifteen percent.
This has created thousands of new jobs for the unemployed (3). Secretary
of State Colin Powell believes the African Growth and Opportunity Act will
give the continent more global internet access, and the health sciences will
have more resources to fight poverty and hunger. President Bush views
the African Growth and Opportunity Act as having great potential for success,
and the Bush administration plans to give more money in the name of the act,
in addition to the initial two hundred million (Powell 4). Political
and economic freedoms come together. Human rights and civil liberties
are what provide the opportunity to help economies prosper, and poverty end.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act is a “[. . .] new partnership, a partnership
that comes from a shared commitment to freedom, free peoples and free markets”
(2).
Following the trip, O’Neill was able to bring his first-hand experience
to Washington, to argue for increased debt relief to go into effect.
He has seen how when used properly, foreign aid can improve African standards
of living (Engardio 36). In March 2002, the Bush administration signed
the Millennium Challenge Account. It plans to partner developed countries
with the developing by reforming education, health care, water availability,
and AIDS treatment and containment (“Statement”). O’Neill is hopeful
that countries will be able to prove to the U.S. that they can produce further
meaningful results (“Bono takes O’Neill”).
The Compact for Global Development correlates with the Millennium Challenge
Account, and calls for an additional five billion in U.S. aid between 2004
and 2006. Qualifying countries will be able to benefit from the Millennium
Challenge Account money. O’Neill and other politicians plan on using
the money to improve infrastructure, so U.S. companies have easier access
to natural resources. Qualifying countries are those that have potential
for stable governments and economic success. O’Neill said, “We. . .
have an obligation to plant our resources where they will yield growth, rather
than squandering precious seeds in unfertile soil” (Talbot 2).
President Bush has received criticism for his timing of the Compact for Global
development. Bush announced it shortly before Europe planned to announce
their plan with coinciding principles. It was another stride of the
U.S. to stay on top in world politics. Bono was present during Bush’s
announcement, both knowing that his presence attracted media attention and
created a humanitarian appeal of Washington officials (3).
Africa has its own solution for the improvement of agriculture, education,
energy, and the economy. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development,
NEPAD, is another program that wants money gained from private investments
rather than charity from external nations. It includes a system of
peer review to create intolerance of corrupt governments, or those having
rigged elections, tyranny over the people, destruction to the economy, and
tendencies to create war (“An African Cure”). NEPAD is based on the
idea that Africa has the labor needed to exploit and benefit from its plentiful
natural resources. The continent can take advantage of this with increased
coordination of programs and plans between nations (Mbeki 3). Mbeki
also said, “the continent must end its wars, get better and truly democratic
governments, free its trade and do much more to welcome investors” (“An African
Cure”).
The problem of African underdevelopment still continues, but governments
have realized which solutions can produce meaningful results. Multiple
programs and organizations have taken the initiative to curve debt, AIDS,
and trade barriers away from its already progressive path. Africa,
accustomed to poverty, will have large debts to foreign countries until methods
for debt relief prove to be effective in creating a developed economy.
Bono and O’Neill’s tour of sub-Saharan Africa exhibited to the United States
the problems of poverty and debt that the African population faces on a daily
basis. After the tour, O’Neill has been influential in the developments
of the Bush administration to increase aid to Africa.
Although the pairing of Bono and O’Neill appears strange, it is just the
combination to draw attention to the severity of the issue. Their varying
opinions regarding solutions have only created increased public and national
awareness. Bono saw Africa through the eyes of a politician, and knew
O’Neill viewed it from a more charitable perspective, “I think Paul O’Neill
is going to be a very different person going out than coming in. I
think he’s learned a lot about decision made in Washington and what their
effect is here on the ground” (Somerville 3).
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