Bono rocks

Bono began a tour of the African continent last Tuesday, as the personal guide of none other than the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.

US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill is a known critic of African anti-poverty programmes. He believes they do not diminish poverty conditions or bring about any substantial or lasting change and thus are a waste of federal money. Bono is bringing the Secretary on this tour in order to show that Africa can and does use Western funding effectively and that the resulting changes are considerable and important.

The first stopoff was at a data processing centre in Ghana, where local workers explained to O’Neill what their jobs entailed – in response to which the Secretary enthused, according to an article from Associated Press, that they were proof that "well-trained people on the continent could match any workers in the world."

The remainder of the Ghanan leg of the trip includes meetings with cashew nut and handicraft producers, hospital workers, agricultural professionals and with Ghanan president John Kufuor. The two will then proceed elsewhere in Africa, including to Uganda, South Africa and Ethiopia.

Again according to AP, the idea for such a journey came about last year when Bono and the secretary first met. It seems the singer impressed the politician with the depth and sophistication of his knowledge about the problems faced by the African continent.