When the World Economic Forum was held in the United States in early February, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and rock star Bono announced their “DATA Agenda” for resolving debt problems of the developing world. Unlike a lot of proposals floated by celebrities, the DATA Agenda actually had some decent ideas.
At a press conference, Bono said DATA stands for “Debt, AIDS and trade for Africa, in return for democracy, accountability and transparency in Africa.”
If it could be pulled off, that would indeed be a pretty good bargain. As Bono noted, Western countries have soured on aid and debt relief due to long-running mismanagement problems in Africa.
[There’s] a certain distrust of aid and the way it’s been spent in the past . . . We have to do a lot to change the public’s mind. I know Americans are very generous in spirit and I know that if they can help and if they think the money can be used well, they will put their hands in their pockets.
The missing piece of the puzzle, however, is how Bono intends to secure the agreement of African nations for the democracy, accountability and transparency side of the equation. There are a handful of countries where the promise of debt relief and aid might offer an incentive to further democratize, but those nations are already on their way and don’t represent the extremes that concern Bono.
Kenya might be pushed further toward democracy, but Somalia doesn’t even have a functioning government to approach with such an agreement. Other countries that are largely undemocratic, such as Zimbabwe or the Congo, seem unlikely to surrender any of their power prerogatives for debt relief.
If these countries ever democratize and liberalize, Bono’s and Gates’ proposal might make a lot of sense, but its use as a carrot to entice countries to move in that direction is seriously limited.
Source:
Bono: ‘Preventing the fires rather than putting them out’. CNN, February 3, 2002.