Many people were horrified when, in January/February 2025, the new American administration abruptly suspended AID to the rest of the world. According to the Guardian In 2023 the US provided roughly 29% of all aid funding from OECD DAC countries, making it the largest single donor. USAID, a key agency for US foreign aid, administered about 60% of this assistance. This resulted in a huge drop in the available global AID and Africa was particularly badly impacted with the consequential knock-on effect regarding people with disabilities. The following comments on this development have been taken from the #SOS WhatsApp chat.
Com. 1: I am just wondering how the new American administration’s declarations to suspend aid to Africa may affect the interventions made for people with disabilities. In Kenya, according to yesterday's news, we have around 400 people working with USAID who have lost their jobs. My question is how do we hold our governments accountable for quality services of their citizens with disabilities?
Com. 2: Terrible devastation! Thousands of Ugandans living with HIV have benefited from ARVs funded by USAID. This life saving medication has prevented transmission of HIV to newborn babies. It is a catastrophic decision, and African governments need to wake up during this crisis. Many African governments are corrupt and for years have failed to set up strong medical institutions, preferring to swindle aid given to sick and poor people. The tragedy of this incompetence from our own leaders is also exposed. It is so sad that many will suffer because of the termination of aid, and our governments will hardly care to set up emergency medical relief.
Com. 3: The American administration is trying to get back America to the Americans. The developing countries are on the receiving end. The actions are so swift that many institutions were caught off track.
Com. 4: We cannot hold our government accountable because, so far, there is no clear evidence that they have failed.
Com. 5: America is a democratic country and what is being done is within their law. However, America is not unitary. It requires other countries to survive because it needs a market for its products.
Com. 6: The new American administration seems to have an intense dislike of poor countries. Its campaign was based on wealth, and prosperity and not human benevolence. That is why they want to get out of the World Health Organization (WHO) and seem not to care. They also have a very casual way of viewing issues.
Com. 7: This is very true, but I also agree with the previous comment that our leaders and governments are the failures. We have the resources. The issue here is their mismanagement of these resources.
Com. 8: America has also failed terribly in the way they handle the other countries.
Com. 9: Americans are Americans and will associate themselves with countries of equal status. American democracy is mature enough to point out discrepancies in the states that they are partnering with.
Com. 10: My take here is that Africa suffers from mismanagement of resources, otherwise we have all it takes to stand on our own.
Com. 11: The West is the beneficiary of these misdeeds. The thieves seek asylum in these countries. African countries mismanagement of resources is facilitated by the Americans Europeans. When they loot where do they bank this wealth in of dollars and Euros? In America and Europe. So, they benefit from the looted wealth. The money stolen from Africa is banked in Geneva, and Brussels, and funnily Africa borrowers the same money at a very high interest rate. We only stand and say to looting from Africa, but little do we say about the countries that bank the stolen money. Most of the international financial institutions that handle this dirty wealth are based in their countries.
These are some words “from the street” from Africa. How do they shape our approach to aid and development work?