Corruption

I am often challenged about the degree of corruption in African countries, because a large number of people think that the main reason why Aid does not reach the poorest is because of the corruption at the top. I don't feel capable to produce an index of corruption, because there are bodies that are far more able to do that, including especially Transparency International.

However, in the last few years we have seen in Europe corruption within the highest levels of government. In the UK during the Covid epidemic, the government was awarding contracts to purchase supplies of vital equipment to people who were known personally to ministers. Whether they had any experience of procuring the vital equipment or not, that was not a requirement for bidding for the procurement. The result is that probably in excess of £15 billion were diverted from the public to crooks who did it in full light. They had no capacity to procure what was required, and many of them produced items that had to be rejected by the NHS. Yet they made eye watering profits in the process.

In the last week of September 2025, the former president of France Nicola Sarkozy was convicted of corruption and receiving several million pounds in illegal donations from Gaddafi, the somewhat unpredictable leader of Libya. Because of the constant abuse of human rights, Gaddafi had been relegated to a state of international pariah. Sarkozy had promised to help rehabilitate him and welcomed him in 2007 in Paris as a part of the public rehabilitation process.

Corruption Across Europe

Over the years there have been many serious examples of corruption across different countries in the EU. They include Italy where the Prime Minister had to resign, Germany where a former President was accused of the same, Spain where the king escaped to the Middle East for a couple of years, and others.

I'm not trying to condone the level of corruption that there is at the top level of politics, but I feel that there is much less scope for the level of corruption that is taking place in Europe to be imitated in most African countries. Those who initiate the corruption in most cases where I have been able to see proper documentation, such as the United Nations investigation into corruption in the DRC, it was companies from the rich world offering huge amounts of bribes to the elites of African countries to enable them to access mines and other resources in their countries.

"The worst corruption that we can see in the poorest parts of the world is what one might call petty corruption, namely corruption forced by need, not by greed."

Petty Corruption vs. Greed

But the worst corruption that we can see in the poorest parts of the world is what one might call petty corruption, namely corruption forced by need, not by greed as per the examples that I've given above. There is however another form of corruption that I see in the field of Aid. This is that the intermediaries are enriching themselves and appropriate a large part of the budget of the Aid that is destined to the poorest. Is that corruption? I have to leave it to the reader to decide.

Various studies, some of which I detail in my book, have indicated that between 50% and 60% of an Aid is consumed in the process of delivery. A former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, stated that the main problem in improving the situation of the poorest in India is the system itself. He estimated that 95% of all Aid intended to relieve poverty was consumed in the process of delivery. I am sure that the situation in the field of Aid is not that different.

I go into more detail and explain the problems in my book: THE GLOBAL FAMINE GAME; TOXIC AID, A WEAPON OF WAR, PERVERSE ECONOMICS.