Paul Wolfowitz is no banker and, truth be told, the World Bank is not really a bank. But both have been in the news a lot lately because of the bank president’s relationships with a former bank employee and President Bush.
As a recent New Yorker article notes, Wolfowitz either hasn’t had the time or, perhaps, the management skills to develop, communicate, and carry out a clear strategic plan for the bank (barring the recurring themes of debt cancellation in Africa and an anti-corruption drive).
If Wolfowitz’s relationship with Shaha Ali Raza takes him down (as it could), history will never know if he could have built a legacy to rival those of two of his predecessors, Jim Wolfensohn (president from 1995 to 2005) and Robert McNamara (1968-1981). Wolfensohn was known for his reform measures at the bank; McNamara (who like Wolfowitz, came to the bank from the Defense Department) transformed the World Bank into an institution focused on improvements in the developing world.
The cooperatively owned World Bank’s mission to help reduce world poverty is bolstered by a stricture against the bank’s interfering in politics. Detractors have accused Wolfowitz of playing politics through some of the anti-corruption/pro-governance actions taken under his watch, even before he was accused of meddling in the pay-and-promotion package for his girlfriend Raza. Others have expressed fears that he is using the job to promote the foreign-policy objectives of the Bush administration.
The bank is actually made up of two entities — the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association — and is owned by the 185 member countries that provide its financial backing. It was formed after WWII for rebuilding efforts and has since evolved to become the world’s premiere financial aid source, providing funding for such projects as infrastructure, economic development, and social programs.
The World Bank has an important role to play in shaping and funding the world economy. Whether Wolfowitz remains long enough to create a lasting legacy, or (more likely) someone else takes over the presidency mid-term, the World Bank still has plenty of work to do.
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Ethics in Africa Says:
April 30th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Githongo Calls on Wolfowitz to Resign
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Asserting that Western admonitions about corruption to Africa and other developing regions are undermined by the misbehaviour of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, Kenya’s former permanent secretary for ethics and governance, Dr. John Githongo, has called on Wolfowitz to resign his post.
“Corruption in Western capitals and in international financial institutions can do little but fuel the cynicism of corrupt officials in Africa and elsewhere,” said Githongo in a statement prepared for the news media. “When Paul Wolfowitz uses his influence as a US Government official and as president of the World Bank to fill the purse of his paramour (and, by inference, to line his own pockets as well), one can hear the cackling from state houses and presidential palaces all across Africa.”
Githongo said: “Paul Wolfowitz should resign now, before his poor example and bad judgment are emulated by petty dictators and venal middle managers throughout the developing world.”
He added: “Wolfowitz, of all people, should know better than to use his office for enrichment. He should be ashamed of himself.”
Since being forced into exile by a hostile political climate in his native Kenya, John Githongo has been a fellow at St. Antony’s College at Oxford University. In February, he accepted an appointment at Queen’s University in Ontario as a research fellow at the International Development Research Centre, where he is collaborating on a major research initiative on Ethnicity and Democratic Governance.
For further information, contact John Githongo at jgithongo@worldbank.org.
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