Fingerclickin' good

Yesterday evening I listened to a talk given by Franklin Cudjoe, the Director of a Ghanaian thnk-tank, Imani and one of the most articulate opponents of the “Make Poverty History” brigade. He has expressed forceful and well-substantiated opinions about “rock-star economics”, which this blog has written about.

In his talk he referred to the oft-repeated assertion by Bono, Bob Geldof, Kate Moss and all the other brainless luvvies who clicked their fingers vapidly in front of the cameras, that a child dies in Africa every three seconds.

Well, that’s interesting, said Franklin to Geldof at some meeting, but do you realize that $4,700 gets stolen by African governments every second?

Click, click, click.