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This book is an attack on a group of rich and powerful bureaucracies that have hijacked our kindness. The bureaucracies here are those that administer the Wests aid and then deliver it to the poor of the Third World in a process that Bob Geldof once described as a perversion of the act of human generosity.
LORDS of POVERTY The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business GRAHAM HANCOCK A Tl-IE ATLANTIC MONTMLY PRESS NEW YORK • Also by Graham Hancock Journey Through Pakistan Ethiopia: The Challenge of Hunger AIDS: The Deadly Epidemic Copyright© 1989 by Graham Hancock All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review First published in Great Britain in 1989 by Macmillan London Limited Fust Atlantic Monthly Press paperback edition, January 1992 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hancock, Graham Lords of poverty I Economic assistance-Developing countries Non-governmental organizations-Developing countries-Corrupt practices I Title 338.9'1'091724 HC60.H278 1989 89-6893 ISBN 0-87113-469-1 {pbk.) The Atlantic Monthly Press 19 Union Square West New York, NY 10003 FIRST PRINTING Contents Acknowledgements 1X Introduction The Rain Kings PART ONE Masters of Disaster? PART TWO Development Incorporated 35 PART THREE The Aristocracy of Mercy 77 PART FOUR The Midas Touch III PART FIVE Winners and Losers 153 X1 I CONCLUSION Aid Is Not Help 185 References 195 Index 227 The Development Set Excuse me, friends, I must catch my jet I'm off to join the Development Set; My bags are packed, and I've bad all my shots, I have travellers' cheques and pills for the trots The Development Set is bright and noble, Our thoughts are deep and our vision global; Although we move with the better classes, Our thoughts are always with the masses In Sheraton hotels in scattered nations, We damn multinational corporations; Injustice seems so easy to protest, In such seething hotbeds of social rest We discuss malnutrition over steaks And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks Whether Asian floods or African drought, We face each issue with an open mouth We bring in consultants whose circumlocution Raises difficulties for every solution Thus guaranteeing continued good eating By showing the need for another meeting The language of the Development Set, Stretches the English alphabet; We use swell words like 'epigenetic', 'Micro', 'Macro', and 'logarithmetic' Development Set homes are extremely chic, Full of carvings, curios and draped with batik Eye-level photographs subtly assure That your host is at home with the rich and the poor Enough of these verses - on with the mission! Our task is as broad as the human condition! Just pray to God the biblical promise is true: The poor ye shall always have with you Ross Coggins Lords ofPooerty is dedicated to those senior staff at the World Bank who illegally acquired and read my original synopsis in the early days of this project By attempting from the outset to limit my access to inside information they convinced me that the aid business docs indeed have much to hide Acknuwledgements In gathering the extensive documentation from a wide range of sources, which was necessary before a single word of this book could be written, I am grateful for the hard work and long hours put in by my research assistants Stan Winer, Ruth Thorlby and- latterly- Fiona Bibby I would also like to express my thanks to Teddy Goldsmith, editor of The Ecologist magazine, who gave me access to his extensive library on development and aid-related issues and who was kind enough to read and comment on my text Thanks also to Edward Milner for his advice and encouragement and to my parents for their frequent and helpful readings of the various drafts of the manuscript Needless to say, none of these people should be held responsible for any of the boo k's failings which, along with the views expressed in it, are entirely my own From inception to completion Lords of P