EDITORIAL: Britain Fools Ghana?

Public Agenda was shocked last Tuesday when the Daily Graphic reported that the Department for International Development(DFID) of the British government has withdrawn funding for the Kwabenya Landfill Project, ostensibly because the government had joined the Heavily Indebted Poor Country’s Initiative (HIPC).

If it is true that the British Government actually pulled out because Ghana joined the HIPC initiative, then this paper cannot see any bright future, for this country which depends largely on foreign funding for the national budget. This paper recalls that when the NPP assumed office on January 7,2001 Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour party sent several delegations to Ghana to persuade the government to join the HIPC initiative.

In prodding the government to join the initiative Britain assured Ghana of her full support, promising to cancel some of the country’s debts owed to her. Exactly 16 months after the government took the controversial decision to join the HIPC it is sad to hear that the very British government that lured the country into HIPC has now turned its back on Ghanaians by defunding the Kwabenya Landfill Project.

Since the public has not heard anything from the British High Commission to the contrary, and if their silence should be interpreted as concern, the DFID decision could at best be described as a betrayal of the Ghanaian. The decision to pull out of the project has put the very government Tony’s Blair’s thought it was helping to get HIPC relief in bad light.

Coming after the G8 Summit in Canada during which the G8 leaders, including Tony Blair promised to help Africa fight poverty, the DFID decision is very disappointing to put it mildly. The decision of DFID confirms the fear of many Africans that the G8 leaders will not match their words with concrete action. They promised to help Africa fight poverty and we wonder whether environmental protection is not part of poverty reduction

Public Agenda was shocked last Tuesday when the Daily Graphic reported that the Department for International Development(DFID) of the British government has withdrawn funding for the Kwabenya Landfill Project, ostensibly because the government had joined the Heavily Indebted Poor Country’s Initiative (HIPC).

If it is true that the British Government actually pulled out because Ghana joined the HIPC initiative, then this paper cannot see any bright future, for this country which depends largely on foreign funding for the national budget. This paper recalls that when the NPP assumed office on January 7,2001 Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour party sent several delegations to Ghana to persuade the government to join the HIPC initiative.

In prodding the government to join the initiative Britain assured Ghana of her full support, promising to cancel some of the country’s debts owed to her. Exactly 16 months after the government took the controversial decision to join the HIPC it is sad to hear that the very British government that lured the country into HIPC has now turned its back on Ghanaians by defunding the Kwabenya Landfill Project.

Since the public has not heard anything from the British High Commission to the contrary, and if their silence should be interpreted as concern, the DFID decision could at best be described as a betrayal of the Ghanaian. The decision to pull out of the project has put the very government Tony’s Blair’s thought it was helping to get HIPC relief in bad light.

Coming after the G8 Summit in Canada during which the G8 leaders, including Tony Blair promised to help Africa fight poverty, the DFID decision is very disappointing to put it mildly. The decision of DFID confirms the fear of many Africans that the G8 leaders will not match their words with concrete action. They promised to help Africa fight poverty and we wonder whether environmental protection is not part of poverty reduction