My response to Donald Trump's threat to dismantle the USAID.

"I think he should be allowed to review the whole aid industry and push for aid that enhances trade, such as skills training and technology transfer, and those that would be delivered directly to recipients without a phalanx of middlemen and bureaucrats who feed largely on a huge amount of aid. Will that ever happen?

My views on the debilitating aspects of aid are well known. See a few quotes from my Wall Street Journal and the UK's Telegraph articles.

"Prof. Sachs is right about tougher seeds but not about more aid. By his own calculation, "out of every dollar of aid given to Africa, an estimated 16% went to consultants from donor countries, 26% went into emergency aid and relief operations, and 14% went into debt servicing." He could not account for how much of the remaining 44% got siphoned off by corrupt officials, nor could he explain why $400 billion dollars of aid over the last 30 years has left the average African poorer.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame told Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda in April, "There are projects here worth $5 million and when I looked at their expenses, I found that $1 million was going into buying these cars, each one of them at $70,000. Another $1 million goes to buy office furniture, $1 million more for meetings and entertainment, and yet another $1 million as salaries for technical experts, leaving only $1 million for the actual expenditure on a poverty-reducing activity. Is this the way to fight poverty?"

African leaders must be pushed to reduce economic intervention, free financial markets, remove bureaucratic obstacles to setting up businesses, establish property rights, and enforce contract law. These are the forces that release entrepreneurial energy. But the ruling cliques will do none of these unless forced to do so as a condition of aid."By Franklin Cudjoe, published in the North American, European and Asian versions of the Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2005; Page A20"

Also:

"Rock stars and charities can be powerful advocates for good causes, and they generally have good intentions—but in many cases their lyrics do not genuinely rhyme with the silent hum of the very poor they seek to protect. Their economics are just plain wrong. They ignore history, peddling the misguided belief that poverty, famine, and corruption can be solved with foreign aid, debt relief, and other policies that have already failed Africa."-"Personal view: Rock-star economics are not helping poor Africans." By Franklin Cudjoe in the Telegraph of the UK. On 18 April 2005 ? 12:01am"