Africa Needs Reform Before Debt Relief

Re “Cancel Iraqi Debt? What About Africa?” Jan. 26: Africa’s debts must never be forgiven. As long as the leaders of these countries continue to plunder the coffers they vowed to protect, they do not deserve a bailout. It will only allow them more wiggle room to repeat the process with a clean slate and several years to accumulate more debt. The majority of Africa’s nations must meet strict conditions for debt relief. A primary condition is the development of institutions that monitor and control certain social behaviors. The absence of certain fundamental legal structures in a society that has lost its sense of direction is a recipe for disaster.

As an African immigrant living in the U.S., I am painfully aware of the suffering of the African people. Africa could have benefited from such a gesture a few decades ago, when there wasn’t much debt to worry about. Today, any funds earmarked for Africa should be designed to benefit the people directly without going through the entrenched leadership. This new crop of leaders and their cronies aspire to high office with one pointed goal: to get in there and stash away as much as they can in Swiss banks and offshore accounts before their time is up.

Komla Prosper Ametu

Sylmar