Ireland's aid must foster a free press

Development aid may be withheld from countries where the judicial system is corrupt or where serious violations of human rights go unchecked. But requiring Third World nations to foster a free media comes well down the list, writes Conor Brady

Over the past four weeks I have been sitting at night in hotels up and down the country, hearing people giving their views about development aid to the Third World.

Specifically, I have been listening to them talking about Ireland's overseas aid programme with the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Conor Lenihan, and officials of the State agency for which he is responsible, Development Cooperation Ireland (DCI).

I have been chairing of a series of meetings that will feed into a Government white paper on Ireland's overseas aid programme. The white paper is due for publication before the end of this year. Lenihan is attending the meetings at half a dozen venues, hearing what people on the ground have to say and answering their questions – with candour and in detail, let it be said.

These are not big events. The largest turn out so far has been Cork, with about 100 people. Many of those who turn up are involved in some way with overseas aid – returned aid workers, members of support groups, religious and so on.

They are well-informed. They know the programme countries where DCI is at work. They feel strongly about the Government's reneging on its commitment to raise Ireland's development aid contribution to 0.7 per cent of Gross National Product. Lenihan doesn't try to put any gloss on a broken promise. But he says he will be pressing for a commitment to meet the 0.7 per cent within a five-year time span.

One of the most striking aspects of the meetings is the sophistication of people's thinking on development aid in the 21st century. A little more than a decade ago, as editor of The Irish Times, I went to visit some of Ireland's bilateral aid projects in Africa. What I have been hearing about over recent weeks and what I have been learning about present-day development aid priorities is very different.

Development aid has gone long beyond the hand-out approach that was commonplace even a decade ago. A readiness to contribute cash is still important. People with key skills are still required to work in development destinations. But the collection-box syndrome is past. And "volunteerism" has a limited value. Most of the programme countries have their own nurses, doctors and teachers who are not only good at what they do but are also less costly to hire than their western counterparts.

One might not be surprised to find that official thinking has come to this point. But what I have found surprising – and affirming – is the extent to which it is also understood and shared by the non-professionals, the people who have come trooping into the hotels and halls around the country to give their views.

The advancement of "good governance" in recipient countries is now viewed as the key requirement of development aid programming. Official accountability, due legal process, an independent judiciary, honesty in public servants and impartial policing are some of the principal tests that may determine if a recipient country operates "good governance".

If it does not have good governance, the probability is that aid efforts will be dissipated through corruption, bribery and embezzlement. Improvements in conditions are not likely to endure. Development projects may flourish for a time and then collapse.

But a sine qua non of good governance must also be freedom of expression and freedom of the media. It has been said that there is no surer way to facilitate the entrenchment of corruption than to shut down the newspapers and broadcast stations. Actually, there is. That is to populate them with relatives and cronies and have them operate as propagandists and liars on behalf of the regime.

There are no better friends to venal judges and officials, brutal police and corrupt politicians than an unfree press. There is no climate in which their misdeeds can flourish more readily than where journalists and editors are either bought or beaten into silence.

A system of so-called democracy and an avowed commitment to transparency and accountability are of very little value if the voter is not being informed by media that are free to report reality as they find it. How does the electorate judge and evaluate those who put themselves up as leaders and administrators if they cannot be told the truth about their stewardship and their character?

Donor governments around the world – and not just in Ireland – increasingly make aid conditional on recipient countries taking various steps to "good governance". Aid may be withheld, for example, where the judicial system has been shown to be corrupt or where serious violations of human rights go unchecked.

But requiring recipient countries to foster and protect free media appears to come well down the list of priorities. In fact it does not appear to be on the priority list at all. I have not been able to identify a single instance in which any of the leading donor countries in the west have specifically linked their development commitment to an amelioration of press or media freedoms.

Ireland's development aid programme recognises freedom of expression and a free press as necessary elements in the full attainment of good governance. DCI also operates a programme called Connect, which seeks to deepen understanding among editors, journalists and programme-makers of the issues that underlie the challenges of world poverty, lack of healthcare, and education.

But I would argue that a much more assertive policy is needed. The state of press freedom in some of the African countries that receive Irish aid is parlous. Family members and political cronies hold many key positions. And apparently liberal constitutional protections are circumscribed by "emergency" and "public order" regulations.

Conor Brady is Editor Emeritus of The Irish Times. He is a senior teaching fellow at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD, where he lectures in modern media