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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 12, 2005
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| January 23, 2004 |
Lectures by Maina Mutuaruhiu from Kenya Debt Relief Network |
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| Mr. David Maina Mutuaruhiu making the links between the tyranny of debt servicing and the human suffering caused by the poverty |
"The Debt Crisis in Africa" January 21 — "A World Without Debt is Possible"
Mr. David Maina Mutuaruhiu, an economist from a Kenyan NGO, Kenyan Debt Relief Network (KENDREN), joined the Peace Boat from Mumbai, India to Mombasa, Kenya. His organization, KENDREN, is campaigning for cancellation of Kenya's external debt to alleviate poverty and to promote just economic governance. A native of Kenya, Mr. Mutuaruhiu introduced Africa as an enchanting continent. But it is an undeniable fact that Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), is plagued by imminent problems such as poverty, and foreign debt that is estimated to be over 100 percent of the region's gross national product (GNP). Most people live on less than one dollar a day in SSA, yet so much money that should be invested in social services disappears for the servicing of debt. By pressuring rich governments of the North and international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Mr. Mutuaruhiu is advocating total cancellation of debts, as a way to resolve this major problem that is linked with the vicious cycle of poverty in many African and other developing countries.
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In two consecutive lectures onboard, "The Debt Crisis in Africa" and "A World Without Debt is Possible," Mr Mutuaruhiu made the highly complicated issue of debt digestible to the audience. He put forward the persuasive argument that the cancellation of debt is the best solution to alleviate poverty and tackle other poverty-related problems. Today, $1.3 billion per year is spent on debt repayments by 17 countries in Africa, which are already on unsuccessful debt relief measures such as the "Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative" (HIPCI).
According to UNAIDS estimates, this amount is equivalent to what the international community needs to effectively tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. Referring to debt as "modern day slavery" that keeps developing countries in bondage, Mr. Mutuaruhiu claimed that total debt cancellation can be achieved without impairing the abilities of international financial institutions and developed countries. The entire world, both the North and the South, could benefit from debt cancellation in the long term if it were possible for developing countries to spend more on social services, countries and their peoples would be more stable and less inclined to go to war. Shifting a mere portion of the staggering US$850 billion spent on defence budgets globally each year would enable governments to solve the problem of debt completely.
Mr. Mutuaruhiu ended his lecture by stating that, bearing in mind that there cannot be world peace without development, ordinary citizens must be more vigilant about government expenditure and the structural biases in the global economic system that perpetuate the poverty of the poorest in our global community. |
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