Professor Charles Geshekter, famous for his contributions to the AIDS debate, endorses a view by Ayittey but with a question:
As a corroboration of George Ayittey's crucial and compelling points, here is an excerpt from a recent article by G. Pascal Zachary, "A Skeptic's Guide to Aid for Africa," Milken Institute Review, Vol. 6, #4 (2004), p., 48:
"Three quarters of the Ghanaian government's annual budget - half of which is paid for by donors including Japan, France, Britain, Canada and the United States - is spent on the wages of government workers. Many of these workers do not show up for work regularly, partly because their salaries are so low that they need to work elsewhere to make ends meet. These no-shows are called ghost workers by the government, which began a campaign a few years ago to get rid of them.
"Tens of thousands of ghost workers were identified, yet nothing happened. Months went by, and the government finally said that it lacked the money to fire the ghost workers. Would some donor please come up with the money that would pay for the government's pruning of its payroll.
"...........Indeed, the request was granted by Japan, which graciously offered to pay the bill ($750,000) for Ghana's
ghost-worker reduction program. When a government requires foreign aid to fire workers who are not showing up for work, the phrase 'aid dependence' takes on fresh meaning. Easy money corrupts......."
I hope that George can tell us if this incident is true or whether it is simply an exaggeration.
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