Opinion: Using COVID-19 Donations To Give Charity A Bad Name, By Azu Ishiekwene
Global response to the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Africa has been remarkable, especially following fears that should the virus take hold, its impact on the continent could be catastrophic.
Three countries in the horn of Africa – Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti – which had barely recovered from the devastation brought on by a plague of locusts, got a special COVID-19 package of €64million from the EU, apart from €105million earlier provided to tackle the plague. Egypt, Kenya and South Africa, also badly hit by the virus, have received lifelines as well.
On its part, the private sector in Nigeria has raised an estimated N27billion as of June, while the government recently announced plans to withdraw $150million from the Sovereign Wealth Fund to fight the virus, which as of now has infected over 20,000 people and claimed about 500 lives. While the virus is taking its toll on the congested capital of Freetown and other urban areas just emerging from the devastating floods of mid-2019, the President’s wife is busy distributing palliatives mostly to those waving the flag of the ruling party.
In a country where ethnic tensions are fraught, the government is already being accused of using palliatives as yet another weapon of marginalisation. A very inconvenient question is, where is the money going? Donors cannot, like Pontus Pilate, be content that they have done their bit. They cannot wash off their hands when the guilt in their heart is in plain sight and the fate of forlorn beneficiaries is getting worse.
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