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Letter to the Editor, Irish Times, 23rd February 2008
Madam,
It was announced this week that former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba is to stand trial in his own country on graft charges.
He is accused of stealing almost half-a-million dollars of public money and, if found guilty, faces a minimum of five years in prison. This follows a case last year in a London court where he was ordered to repay, with interest, €58 million that he allegedly stole while in office.
During his presidency, Chiluba was a regular visitor to Ireland to collect his yearly development aid cheque from the Government.Serious questions have to be asked about the many millions handed over to Chiluba and the whole policy of bilateral aid in general.
The possibility of aid coming into the grasp of men like Chiluba is something we cannot allow. The Government should take an entrepreneurial approach to aid delivery. We should bypass corrupt leaders and implement development programmes directly, all the time keeping the chequebook in the back pocket. Only then will we take away the possibility of our aid falling into the wrong hands.
Yours, etc,
JOHN O'SHEA
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