The Proposed Development and Poverty Eradication Fund
Monday 17th March 2008

In his keynote address at the just concluded 11th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Dakar, Senegal, President Abdoulie Wade called for the setting up of a development and poverty eradication fund. The Senegalese leader opined that although Islam prohibits interest, member states of the OIC should find a way of benefiting from the huge interests generated by the deposits of oil-producing Muslim countries in Western banks. He agrees with a Turkish jurist and academician who suggests that “such interests should be used to finance social programmes, especially the fight against poverty.”

He said: “Over the past few weeks, the Western press has been raising fears over the increase of Arab investments in Western economies and everyone in Germany and France rues over the need for a regulation limiting such investments. Only Great Britain, the land of Adam Smith and that of economic liberalism, has stood against such a move and has stated that since such investments contribute to the economic development of the country, they are therefore welcome.”

In Wade’s view, the money estimated at 500 billion US dollars should not be left for Western countries to finance their social programmes. “Leaving such funds with the banks concerned is tantamount to giving them a present,” he said.

Therefore he suggested: “I would instead like to suggest that a commission composed of representatives of high academies, scholars of member countries, economists, financiers of countries of the Ummah be set up to assess the matter, devise fund raising mechanisms within a development and poverty eradication fund. The funds generated could largely help to resolve all our problems of poverty and economic takeoff instead of being of use only to the banks.”

Wade’s suggestion should be taken seriously because most African countries are still overburdened by debts. So if such funds are readily made available to them to sort out their economic difficulties, they could well be on their way out of poverty and on the path of prosperity.

And the Arab countries should begin to invest more and more in Africa with the aim of strengthening its economic base. But then again, African countries have to put up mechanisms that will make sure that such investments do not benefit only a few, as it is the practice on the continent. That way, the proposed development and poverty eradication fund will have a lot of teeth.

THE FREEDOM FORUM

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"

The Bible (King James Version)