Nairobi, Kenya ? Africa is filled with good intentions that ended badly.

Half-completed hydroelectric dams covered with weeds, empty irrigation pipes decaying in the equatorial sun and roads that literally lead to nowhere dot the continent, testaments to corruption and bad judgment. Despite billions of dollars in aid, Africa has gone backward since the 1970s on every measurable level.

When the leaders of the Group of Eight wealthy nations meet this week in Scotland to discuss helping the poorest people on the planet, they will try to ensure any new pledges will not be good money following bad.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Commission for Africa say that times have changed, and the world now has a chance to reverse the continent’s economic and social decline. But there is a vast range of opinions on how to avoid the mistakes of the past.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi – who serves on Blair’s commission – had advice for both donors and recipients.

A young boy holds a bicycle Friday in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. African aid will be the key topic at this week's G-8 summit; at issue is how to keep funding from being mismanaged.

“The donors should use development assistance not to prop up all sorts of unsavory leaders simply because of their geopolitical or other interests, but to support actual development,” Meles said, referring to the Cold War years when African leaders pocketed development money from either the United States or the Soviet Union with impunity.

“On the African side, I think it is time for Africans to stop blaming everyone except themselves for the dire situation we find ourselves in,” he added. “We need to own up to our own shortcomings in the past and come up with alternative strategies and implement them.”

The Commission for Africa report is the latest alternative strategy, building on principles spelled out in the New Partnership for African Development, known as NEPAD. The concept is rather simple, in return for African efforts to fight corruption and modernize their economies, the international community agrees to forgive debts and expand trade opportunities and aid for projects developed by Africans for Africans.

Cash not enough

Critics of the report and NEPAD say the ideas are not new and that passing out cash is not the answer.

Michael Clough, an Africa expert and author on U.S.-Africa relations, points out that the countries who received the most aid during the Cold War now have the biggest problems, with Liberia, Sudan and what is now called Congo, topping the list.

A young girl sits in a sewage-filled alley Friday in the Kibera slum in Nairobi. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Commission for Africa say that times have changed, and the world now has a chance to reverse the continent's economic and social decline.

“The countries that are emerging are those that did not receive a lot of assistance,” he said. “So the whole premise that providing more assistance is going to be the key to development doesn’t prove to be true.”

Too often, Clough said, aid is granted based on the relationship between a country’s leader and the international donors, not on the ability of the nation to use the aid properly. Fortified with international support and aid, these leaders too often become more authoritarian because they control the nation’s financial and natural resources.

In nations that have not received a great deal of aid, African leaders have been forced to compromise with their opposition and to use resources wisely to remain in power, he added.

“The governments have to be responsive, representative and serve the interests of their people,” Clough said. “As simplistic as that seems in a way, that is the ultimate precondition for development, unfortunately that is not and has not been the case for a lot of African governments.”

Donors helping selves

Another criticism is that aid to Africa can benefit the donors as much as, if not more than, the recipients.

When President Bush announced an additional $674 million in aid for Africa, $490 million was in the form of food. That money goes to U.S. farmers, who supply bags of grain to aid agencies for distribution.

Japan is also a major donor to Africa, but in fiscal year 2001, more than 60 percent of all grants required the purchase of Japanese products or services, according to official statistics. The charter for Official Development Assistance requires the “appropriate use … of the technologies and expertise of Japanese private companies.”

President Bush, right, talks with reporters as British Prime Minister Tony Blair listens during a news conference in this June 7 file photo. When the leaders of the Group of Eight wealthy nations meet this week in Scotland to discuss helping the poorest people on the planet, they will try to ensure any new pledges will not be good money following bad.

Chinese trade with Africa totals $30 billion a year, most of it in aid and investment by state-owned companies, China’s ministry of commerce reported. In speeches by China’s foreign minister, the government makes no bones that the goal is not only to help the continent and shore up political alliances, but to help Chinese companies make a profit.

As a result, China currently has a trade surplus with Africa.

Very little cash is actually spent on the continent, where it would boost local workers, producers and businesses. So while the number of dictators skimming off aid may be down, international donors have found ways to spend most of the money within their own borders.

“We have reviewed aid and the way it is, it is not helpful,” said Patrick Mazimhaka, deputy chairman of the Africa Union Commission.

Corruption an issue

On Africa’s side, stamping out corruption and waste would mean better use of what aid does come. A close look at the Commission for Africa report and NEPAD shows that good governance is largely left to African leaders to assess themselves and there is no mention of human rights. Both documents focus largely on removing conditions for receiving aid.

Clough said this is a new recipe for failure.

“If you don’t get the politics right, you are not going to have development over time,” Clough said. The G-8 leaders “must be able to critically engage with governments on the problems within that country and that is what is lacking … you don’t build societies by throwing money in.”