Malawi journalist tells Scotland to keep cash

[Beorn]

Malawi's leading newspaper has questioned the Scottish government’s pledge to spend £9m on projects in Africa, saying the cash would be better spent tackling alcohol and drug abuse here.
Mabvuto Banda, a journalist with the daily paper The Nation, spent eight days in Scotland and was appalled at the level of drinking and hard drug use which, he said, claimed the same number of lives as HIV and Aids in Malawi.

In 2005, Jack McConnell, the former first minister, pledged an annual financial aid package of £3m to help fund health, education and economic development in Malawi. Scottish ministers have recently committed £4m to an international development programme in sub-Saharan Africa. This figure will more than double to £9m by 2011.
Banda joined a police patrol in Aberdeen city centre and visited several drop-in centres for alcoholics and the homeless including the Edinburgh City Mission and the Glasgow-based Greater Easterhouse Alcohol Awareness Project (GEAAP).

His article, reproduced in today’s Sunday Times, said: “I compare the success of these organisations in saving lives on lean budgets and the amount of money being sent from Scotland to Malawi.
“I cannot help thinking that these organisations fighting addiction deserve it more — despite the positive impact that Scottish money is having on my country.
“If the Scottish government put more funds into preventing alcohol and drug abuse, many lives would be saved. After all, charity begins at home.”
Banda was with police on patrol in Aberdeen when he came across four drunk teenagers on the streets at 4am.
“I am shocked that children are gallivanting at this hour,” he said. “This wouldn’t happen in my country unless something was terribly wrong.”

David MacLennan, of the Edinburgh City Mission, said Banda’s questions reinforced his belief that there should be further debate on foreign aid.
Stewart McKay, from GEAAP, said: “We have been on a standstill budget from Glasgow city council for many years and while we manage to get money in from elsewhere, we are firefighting all the time.”

The Scottish government said it was committed to tackling alcohol misuse as well as improving the lives of Malawians.
“There is a special bond between the people of Scotland and the Malawians and we are committed to providing support.”

Source

Scotland has consistently topped every shitlist going in concerns to its health, wealth, crime, drugs, etc..., that to actually have a man from an African country state the cash would be better spent on the Scots, really does say alot about the problems Scotland, and England, have to face.

[Graham]

He's right a wee bit. In the area of calton, the life expectancy is 54 years old. Would rather focus on areas like this. Easterhouse, the area he visited has a reputation for being crazy

[Treffie]

If I had my way, I wouldn't give a penny to Africa - we've got enough problems here that need sorting out. The trouble is, our governments are incompetent.

[Piparskeggr]

I'll never understand the defect in Western thinking that drives so many to try and save lives in countries where the population way overburdens the habitat and resources.

Death: Mother nature's way of saying, there's too effing many of you!

Pip

[Skandi]

Aberdeen, lol well there is a lot of drinking at night, but those are not the ones who die from it. However just where is this 9m coming from, since when did the Scottish government have it's own money...Ah of course it will come form westminster. The sooner they get want they want the better.