The Archbishop of Tanzania, The Most Reverend Donald Mtetemela, has welcomed the Commission for Africa’s recommendations to tackle corruption, and boost aid, debt relief and just trade, but says positive plans will be wasted if they do not reach and involve the poorest people in the continent’s remotest villages.
‘The report is a positive step, but my concern is always for the eight out of 10 people living in rural areas of my country. They see clouds of good intention forming in the West, but they so often do not see any rain.’
The Archbishop continued: ‘Of the utmost importance is for poor people themselves to be involved in solving their own problems. They know their difficulties better than anyone else and they have the ability to address them in partnership with others.’
The Archbishop, whose poverty-alleviation work in the Diocese of Ruaha is supported by Tearfund, added: ‘ The challenge - for the West and for African nations - is for global decisions to make a difference in the lives of people like Joyce Mbwilo, a 30-year-old woman in my diocese who has had to wake up at midnight each day to begin a 10 hour trek to fetch water for her family. It will take widespread co-operation internationally, nationally and locally for us to address complex issues such as governance, trade and climate change so that Joyce and millions of people like her see some benefit.’
Welcoming the Commission’s focus on corruption, the Archbishop said: ‘Poverty breeds corruption, so in tackling poverty we are all helping to tackle corruption.’
Tearfund partner Zemedkun Baykeda from Meserete Kristos Church, Ethiopia, and a member of a network of church leaders from 18 African countries who four months ago made a submission to the Commission for Africa, echoed the Archbishop’s comments. He reminded the Commission that the Church in Africa - ‘the most effective structure for reaching poor communities’ - had a significant role to play in working with governments, the African Union, and NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) to tackle issues such as HIV/AIDS.
Andy Atkins, Advocacy Director for Tearfund, added: ‘A comprehensive package of measures is required to better address Africa’s plight, and governments will need to move quickly to translate Commission recommendations from words on a page to realistic plans of action.’
Tearfund is urging the British government to lead by example within the G8 group of the eight most powerful nations by acting on Commission recommendations, and by doing everything in its power to persuade other G8 members to follow suit at its Summit in Scotland in July.
‘The British Government will be in a much stronger position at the G8 negotiating table if it leads by example - for instance by increasing aid for water and sanitation in Africa and by being prepared to back a climate change action plan for the continent,’ said Andy Atkins. ‘Tackling the scourge of poverty in Africa is a priority for the Government this year and now is the time to take a big step forward.’
Responses from Tearfund to the Commission for Africa report, include:
- Disasters: Tearfund welcomes the report’s recognition that climate change has a dramatic impact on Africa and the recommendation that mitigation against the impact of climate change and environmental disasters should be an integral part of all development planning. But Tearfund believes a ‘climate change action plan’ for Africa should be immediately drawn up.
- Water: While recommendations that donors should increase the amount of aid going to provision of water and sanitation, Tearfund is urging the UK government to announce a clear commitment to increasing its own aid, in order to reduce the billions of people without access to clean water and sanitation.
- Trade: The Commission report does not go far enough in recommending regulation of multi-national companies operating in Africa, although the Commission’s clear demand that poor countries should formulate their own trade policies and should not be forced to liberalise through aid or trade conditions are positive steps forward.
Meanwhile, this week in the remote village of Uhambingeto in the Archbishop’s diocese in Tanzania, Joyce Mbwilo, who lives on less than 60 pence a day, said: ‘If I could talk to world leaders I would ask them to think about our problems, suffering from poverty and not being able to send our children to school, and not having health services. If they could imagine this then they might help us.’
As a member of the Make Poverty History campaign, Tearfund is calling on the British Government and its G8 partners to commit to 100% debt cancellation for the world’s poorest countries, to significantly increase and improve aid and to bring about an end to unjust trade rules.
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