Saint Bob and eBay

He's got his deserts on this one.

So if people sell the tickets they got for an almost free price and they sell them on eBay, if it wrong? Some may say yes, some may say no. I'm tending towards the no in this case, but not in the others.

The reason is that this time, I think Saint Bob has got the wrong end of the stick.

Why?

There are many reasons why Africa is a basket case and debt is only one of them.

I'm all for the debt relief, but other things must be done first or at least at the same time.

For a start, we need proper democracy. Or at least democracy at such a level that human rights of the people are respected and not abused. For instance Morocco isn't a democracy as we know it, but the King listens to the people and it's a safe and reasonably well-run country. But then they have elections in Zimbabwe!

Then how about the sort of things you get in Eritrea, where the national service lasts several years, so there are no men to do any of the work in the fields. Perhaps a ban on arms sales would help.

The dictators must go and Switzerland must repatriate the money to build the sort of infrastructure, the money was meant for in the first place.

So Saint Bob, I'm with you on debt relief, but it has to be linked to structural changes in the countries concerned, that benefit the people.

Hopefully, if the people are freed and can get on with their lives, then they might be able to create the wealth for themselves.