in the States, and had come back with the idea of doing some teaching in his home country. He’s appalled at the deterioration since he’d left. Theroux asks him what he thinks of the charities and aid agencies – the “agents of virtue”:
“The donors aren’t contributing to development. They maintain the status quo. Politicians love that, because they hate change. The tyrants love aid. Aid helps them stay in power and it contributes to underdevelopment. It’s not social or cultural, and it certainly isn’t economic. Aid is one of the main reasons for underdevelopment in Africa.”
“You said it, I didn’t,” I said. “There’s an awful lot of aid agencies here.”
“All those vehicles – everywhere you look.” he said, which is precisely what I had felt.
“So how will things change for the better?”
He said “Change will involve all the old men dying off. Or it might take another forty years.”
“What if all the donors just went away?”
“That might work.”
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