At
the heart of the current controversy is O'Shea's
criticism of the Irish government for continuing
to channel Irish aid money to Ethiopia through
the structures of the Meles Zenawi government
when the money is not reaching those whose predicament
it is intended to alleviate. The Goal boss has
pointed to the appalling human rights regime presided
over by Meles Zenawi.
One
of Ethiopia's senior judges who headed an inquiry
into post election violence by government forces
found that a massacre had taken place. He has
since had to flee the country having received
death threats. Murder and torture abound. Much
of the country's political opposition was taken
into custody for protesting against the election
outcome. Amnesty International described the detained
politicians as prisoners of conscience.
When
other major sources of aid such as the World Bank
and the European Union withheld aid in response
to regime repression the Irish government continued
to have its tax payers fleeced by the Ethiopian
oligarchy. In 2006, €40 million was ploughed
into the pockets of sector ministries and officials
of local government who are suspected of redirecting
much of it to their foreign bank accounts.
Lenihan's
response to O'Shea's withering critique has been
limp to say the least. 'I, as Minister responsible
for Irish Aid, strongly condemned the violence
that followed the elections in Ethiopia.' Big
deal. The tyrants will hardly quake in their boots
at that. By refusing to withdraw aid Lenihan claims
that he is ensuring that millions of ordinary
Ethiopians do not doubly suffer as a result of
their government. 'We cannot and will not abandon
those in most need.' While he has asserted that
'the public does not expect the Government to
fund autocrats, dictators or those who abuse human
rights,' the Irish electorate has a right to know
if under his ministry anybody other than such
miscreants is funded out of the Irish public purse.
Although
O'Shea has seriously questioned the wisdom of
government-to-government aid, pointing out that
the role of NGOs in the aid sphere cannot be overstated,
he has studiously avoided arguing for a NGO monopoly
on aid distribution. This has been reinforced
in his comments that NGOs such as Goal lack the
administrative wherewithal to manage the type
of budget required for large scale aid management.
In fact O'Shea has come in for much criticism
for downplaying the role of aid agencies in situations
like that of Dafur where people were being murdered
and gang raped.
