Uncertain economy threatens long-term overseas aid funding
Monday 29th August 2011, 2:29PM BST.
THE Policy Council has failed to produce a long-term funding plan for overseas aid – as it had been instructed to.
It has also warned spending in this area is unlikely to rise significantly at the moment.
In September last year members directed the council to present a report by this September with proposals that would look at the feasibility of meeting the United Nations’ target of contributing 0.7% of GNP [gross national product] annually.
But in a response to a written question by Deputy Matt Fallaize, Chief Minister Lyndon Trott (pictured) said that now were challenging times fiscally.
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Really??? The States of Guernsey dont want to use money for worthwhile causes??? That does not surprise me one little bit ! I wander why the people of Guernsey put up with these clowns ??
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I know this is a controversial topic so I know not everyone will agree with me – but for the record I think it is a national disgrace this island does not give at least 0.7% GNP to help those overseas in desperate need.
I appreciate concerns are often raised about where the money ends up but that is a totally different issue. Of course it is proper to have proper accountability but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give.
Yes these are challenging economic times, but that doesn’t seem to stop us wasting money left right and centre. No excuse.
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One thing I can say: I much prefer the money to be spent building runways and decent roads in remote areas in real need than for it to be wasted on unnecessarily relocating the Gsy runway.
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paul le page,
I do not agree with a lot of what you say on this web site but I am 100% behind you in what you say here, the amount we give to overseas aid is embarrasing sadly the people of Guernsey ( mostly the over 55′s) are inherantly racist so , I fear , our contribution will remain pathetically low for the near future.
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Kevin
I agree with your comment refering to Guernsey people
You just need to read the press or spend a morning in the magistrates court to see how bad things are unemployed locals get fined less and allowed time to pay people from other countries with local addresses and paying taxes to guernsey get higher fines and usually have to pay there and then from custody shocking from the dark ages
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Don’t send cash – send condoms
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@Ray
Send both!
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Says it all on a island which is driven by greed,tax evasion and corruption.
And people like Ray
RIP the old guernsey
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Martino
Can we send pbfalla as well?
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pbfalla
I know you’re off school so you have plenty of time on your hands but do you EVER consider engaging your pea brain before you rush to the keyboard?
If you haven’t noticed,and why should you as a pre-teen,this planet is gradually going under due to massive over population.Some countries (and it always seems to be the ones who desperately need help every year)have a history of producing very large families
That is almost certainly down to the fact that many of their children die in infancy due to the lack of food and water in most cases,but would there be such a lack of food and water if they limited their families as most people do in the West?
Martino is right. Send money for immediate aid, and for education in the long term benefits of the use of condoms
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@GM
They wouldn’t have him…
unfortunately
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@Paul Le Page
I think you may be wasting your time, you are posting on a website called thisisguernsey.com.
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Kevin – if we never agree on anything else I’m glad we at least agree on this one issue.
Ted – yes probably, but I’ll say it anyway.
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“I appreciate concerns are often raised about where the money ends up but that is a totally different issue”
Find any information about Overseas Aid in Guernsey on the States website. Can’t trust them with money they spend yer and they didn’t even have the decency to tell what they are spending overseas.
From my cold dead hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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With overseas aid it seems to be a case of treating the symptom and not just the problem. Corruption, over population, wars, and an attitude of being reliant on aid. You can throw as much money as you want at overseas aid, but the problem will still remain unless you sort out the problem. What we need to see are long term solutions to the problems.
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Andy
“corruption, over population, attitude of being reliant on a 3rd party (the finance industry)”
Sound familiar?
If we cant sort our own back yard out, we have no chance of sorting their problems.
In the meantime, we should at least attempt to contribute to alleviate the worst of the symptoms for people living infinitely worse existences than us. Any contribution is better than none, to do otherwise just smacks of “I’m alright Jack”, but then again, we must have that displaced runway and the “insert name of next gigantic politician ego trip spent from public funds here”.
Trotts reply is weasly at best, using a recession that we havent really seen in Guernsey as a potential reason not to give to people more needy than us.
The UN have suggested a %, not a set amount, so if Guernsey is hit by recession, as our GNP drops, so will our aid contributions, really, its not rocket science.
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For another year Dr Umbobo Mwango will be treating his Villagers for waterborn diseases as we supplied the second hand pump without any treatment or filter facility.
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Andy – I agree entirely, and more importantly so do many charitable bodies.
However, long term solutions still cost money – and there are always disaster situations where short term aid is very necessary, the current situation in East Africa being a prime example.
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I would personally prefer to get rid of the Overseas Aid Comittee and instead give generous tax incentives to tax payers for charitable donations. There are many overseas charitable organisations which do a great job overseas and there is no reason why tax payers should not decide who to give their money to instead of a States body who should after all be concentrating on running our own economy. Tax payers can then decide which causes deserve their funds (or not as the case may be). I am pleased that at last the States have decided to put a brake on some of their spending habits and not give in to international pressure as to how much governments should spend.
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Who cares about other countries that have huge resources but cannot utilise them for their own countrymen and women?
The only things I count as aid that should be sent to them are sterilisation surgeons for both male and females and a huge amount of condoms and birth control pills.
Every country requiring aid should be put on a strict birth control regime before any money is handed over. Break the regime and the aid stops immediately.
Our own finances are in S**t street and the money could be used for our own benefit.
If the do gooders want to send money to a wasted cause then let them send their own money and NOT tax payers money.
I haven`t worked hard all my life to keep some foreigner that will never even say thankyou because they now believe it is their right to recieve aid instead of sorting out their own lives.
CHARITY BEGINS, AND ENDS, AT HOME.
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Why should we be helping out those overseas? If people want to surely they can give their own money, not the tax payer’s.
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nocon
Last para .. ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’
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nocon
There is a lot more aid that comes to our rich shores in the west from these poorer countries but not in terms of cash.
We just steal there resources and use there peoples for cheap labour so we can have all these wonderful things on the cheap.
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bcb
You forgot to mention the profits the West makes out of selling the leaders of these poor countries the must have luxury jets,the fleets of top range cars, the machine guns,tanks and missiles
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This is a very interesting issue.
I myself debate whether we should keep the money for ourselves or whether if should be spent helping others.
I still believe we should give to others though but I think we should be able to decide where it goes and every penny should be accounted for. 100%. There should be full disclosure to the public also to the minute detail.
When I hear of other governments saying they have no idea where money has gone on (unbelievable amounts of money) I find it shocking and ends up giving me a pessimistic view, especially when it is later discovered the money never ended up where it should have done.
I actually take the view on it that we can benefit ourselves from the donation should it be used correctly. Take the disaster in Japan this will have affected the world economy. It was a manufacturing powerhouse and due to the disaster there have been a range of things that effect global growth such slowdowns in technological devices reaching the market all the way to their reducing investment in other countries. If aid went to Japan that country could resume much quicker and the global economy would benefit.
Another example is oil rich countries like Libya. I am no expert but I imagine all the fighting and war will have spiked oil prices and this then effects the whole world. Aid in the correct form could help them get back on their feet quicker once the new government is established and we would benefit from this through lower more stable oil prices.
Overall I think the world is such a smaller place now and we all to a degree inter-related. Happy economies elsewhere do have a knock on effect on Guernsey.
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What do these countries do with the billions and billions of pounds that has been sent from the UK and the USA ovewr the years. Gone towards wars I think. Stop sending money and get everyone spayed.
There are better causes locally,then sending money that goes to nothing.
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bcb,
What a load of drivel, please tell us what you mean by your first paragraph:-
“There is a lot more aid that comes to our rich shores in the west from these poorer countries but not in terms of cash.”
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