Commonwealth Week
The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion S2M-2483, in the name of Margaret Ewing, on Commonwealth week, 14 to 20 March 2005: year of Africa. The debate will be concluded without any question being put and will continue, with the agreement of the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, until 18:15.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the well-established work undertaken by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) (Scotland Branch) and the Scottish Executive since the establishment of the Parliament in 1999 to strengthen ties between Scotland and other Commonwealth countries; notes that this year the CPA (Scotland Branch) and the Executive have, as their key focus, sub-Saharan Africa; regards this as totally appropriate in the Year of Africa; welcomes Scotland's long-standing humanitarian work to help the poorest nations in sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore considers that all MSPs should support sustained assistance which can eradicate poverty and the cycle of deprivation which causes millions of deaths per year in sub-Saharan Africa.
Thank you for remaining behind for this evening's debate, Presiding Officer, particularly as you are the president of the Scotland branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. I also thank all members who have signed my motion and all MSPs who are present.
I preface my remarks by paying tribute to the substantial number of people who have helped with the project in which we have been involved over the past year. At the CPA Scotland branch's annual general meeting last year, we gave unanimous support to the idea that we should focus our attention on what was happening in Africa and that we should see how Scotland and the Scottish Parliament could contribute to the achievement of the millennium development goals, which are of course under review this year.
The branch executive spent many a long hour on the project and each member had a substantial input. I thank all the organisations and individuals concerned, including Des McNulty of the Scottish Parliament's cross-party group on international development, who gave us ideas, contacts and information that was invaluable in preparing a programme that took us to Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and Malawi.
A special mention should go to the branch's secretariat, Roy Devon and Margaret Neal, whose unstinting work ensured that the delegation covered around 40 projects in the space of 11 days. The programme was exhaustive, as well as exhausting, and it was educative and stimulating. Above all, as I think all members of the delegation present here would agree, the trip was a very humbling experience. We should be grateful for the commitment that was shown before, during and after the visit and in the compilation of the report that is before us today.
None of us claims to be an expert on all the issues that confront sub-Saharan Africa. Some issues, such as debt relief, are outside the Parliament's powers, but we all see an opportunity for us to play a complementary role with other organisations and for all the people of Scotland to join in. I record my thanks for the positive response that we have had from the Scottish media, which have projected our activities and desires out into wider Scotland. There were one or two silly little carping pieces that displayed a lack of vision for Scotland, but I will leave those aside, because the generous hearts of Scotland overcome that approach.
I will consider our findings in the round, as other members will develop particular points. I ask members to read not only the recommendations in the report, but the detail in the substantive part of it—it is a habit of MSPs to look at recommendations and not read the details, but the report contains many ideas that we could expand into our own constituencies and beyond. We hope that our recommendations will be of assistance to the Executive, which published its international development strategy this week. I have had an opportunity to skim-read parts of "Our Common Interest: Report of the Commission for Africa". Our report sits easily with the commission's and shows how Scotland and the Parliament can play an appropriate role in confronting the issues that face sub-Saharan Africa.
I will emphasise two key factors. The first is the malnutrition that we saw. Although antiretroviral drugs are becoming more widely available in sub-Saharan Africa to treat HIV and AIDS, they will not work effectively if the people are so malnourished that their immune systems cannot cope. Mechanisms to ensure regular nourishment and good diet are critical if we are to eradicate stark statistics such as that one child in five will die before the age of six and life expectancy is 37 years.
Secondly, we must build on the sheer grit and determination of the indigenous people and the volunteers from Scotland who work unstintingly against a background of grinding poverty and lack of resources. The indigenous people, who are recovering from centuries of repression, exploitation and slavery, are determined to improve their own lives. Their aim is to help themselves and we can do a great deal in easy ways to help them to do that.
Our report makes six clear recommendations. They are not listed in any order of priority or achievability, because all are priorities and all are achievable, so I will take them in the order in which they appear. The first arose from our meetings with the three legislatures that we visited—Gauteng Provincial Legislature and Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature in South Africa and the Malawi National Assembly. Although those Parliaments are older than ours by all of five years, they did not inherit as we did a wealth of knowledge of what is required to run an effective Parliament and to ensure that parliamentarians can fulfil their democratic obligations. However, many of the people whom we met had already visited the Scottish Parliament and were impressed by some of our procedures. Through a series of exchanges—perhaps in conjunction with the Department for International Development and other interested organisations—we could offer those legislatures the training and skills that are necessary to set up a civil service and clerking facility that would enable their work to progress more effectively.
The second recommendation is the establishment of a cross-party group on Malawi in the Scottish Parliament. Many organisations the length and breadth of our country are already directly involved in Malawi and others wish to establish such links. Meeting in a regular forum in the Parliament would enhance that work and ensure that a programme of sustainable involvement was taken forward.
The third recommendation is based on a constant mantra that we heard when we visited various projects. Given that developing countries benefit hugely from professional and skilled workers who undertake voluntary work, we should reduce the barriers that sometimes prevent those who wish to go and help. We believe that one simple way of achieving that would be to find a mechanism of guaranteeing national insurance and pension contributions for volunteers during the period when they volunteer.
Fourthly, many small non-governmental organisations feel that they lack sufficient expertise or skills to ensure that they access effectively funding that might be available to them. The Executive could help with that through its international development strategy, perhaps by providing positive assistance.
Fifthly, we saw at first hand the effective use of mutually beneficial links between schools, colleges, universities and hospitals. As those links could be developed further, we ask the Executive to consider seconding a member of staff to promote and co-ordinate that activity.
Sixthly, we ask the Executive to tap into the wealth of expertise that exists among people who have retired from professional life, who could become visiting professors in colleges or advisers in the health sector. That suggestion was relayed to us particularly in relation to those sectors, but we should not forget that many people who have retired from active work in other sectors here could offer a great deal elsewhere.
I commend the report to the Parliament and to the whole of Scotland. Our nation is known for its generosity, both financial and practical, and it is respected in the three areas that we visited. I ask that we build on that respect and show that Scotland has the vision to play a role on the international stage and to address one of the most serious crises that the world faces.
We now come to the open debate. As usual in members' business debates, I will allow speeches of four minutes. However, I will allow Des McNulty, as convener of the cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament on international development, a little leeway at the end.
Few of us will forget where we were on 26 December last year when reports of the tsunami in Asia started to hit the headlines. The outpouring of support in Scotland was tremendous, but, unfortunately, it had an unintended consequence for some of the poorest people in the world. Gifts and donations to Africa have dropped by about 20 per cent, even though every week in sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 150,000 people die of AIDS, disease or poverty—the equivalent of a tsunami every fortnight.
Against that backdrop, it was an honour for me to take part in the visit to South Africa and Malawi to see for myself what was at stake and to consider what practical steps can be taken in Scotland. Prior to the visit, we received an intensive briefing, but nothing could prepare me or others in the delegation for the scenes that we witnessed. The visit was one of rollercoaster emotions: there were tremendous highs and exceptional lows, but, throughout, I was struck by people's optimism and drive despite their terrible circumstances and by their determination to help themselves. They are exceptionally proud people who want to build their communities, with support from others.
We started in South Africa, which is a country of huge contrasts. I found it hard to comprehend the contrast between the wealth that surrounded us in Johannesburg and the poverty that we saw in the townships. I visited one informal settlement, Orange Farm, which is characterised by tin huts and intermittent water and electricity supplies. Its 200,000 inhabitants are mainly poor, unemployed and forgotten by mainstream society. While I was there, I visited the remarkable let us grow project, which is run and was established by a remarkable woman called Mama Rosa, who contracted HIV in 1990 and who has spent the past 15 years supporting others who have the disease. She works with a band of teenagers—young people who are no more than children—to provide support, palliative care and much more to about 500 people who live with HIV and AIDS. Those teenagers are involved in peer education, because they realise that if young people provide role models and take the message about the challenges of HIV and AIDS into schools, they can be far greater ambassadors than many older people can be.
We visited a support group in which young women of 10 years of age and old women, all of whom were infected by the pandemic, were trying to help themselves. We visited homes in which the head of the household was seven years old. How can a child who is running a household that is made up of himself and three younger siblings provide food for them? The project helps such children to find food, but it is finding the challenge increasingly difficult.
In Malawi, I visited the Open Arms infant home, which cares for babies who are orphaned by AIDS. Estimates place the total number of orphans in Malawi at between 500,000 and 800,000, so the challenge is considerable at the moment and will remain so as a generation grows up without the support of a family to encourage them. The Open Arms home also acts as a hospice for many babies who carry the infection. I have to confess that that was the most emotional part of the visit. I have two boys of my own and it is hard to imagine how they would grow up without their mum or their family, but that is what the children whom I saw are doing. The Open Arms home is vital.
In countries such as Malawi, mothers breastfeed and so, when mum dies, the baby often dies as well because of an inability to find formula milk. The project needs funds and I know that that is a cause that many of us will be taking up.
Other members of the group will concentrate on the issue of education, which is one of the big challenges that face Malawi. We took with us many gifts that were donated by people who are in the audience tonight. Those gifts were well appreciated—I was overcome by the gratitude of many people—but they were a drop in the ocean.
I want to focus on the recommendation to increase the number of volunteers. I was struck by the work that volunteers from Scotland are doing and I believe that we can harness the grey power that exists in our country—the retired plumbers, teachers, nurses and so on who can go and pass on their skills and build the capacity of Malawians and South Africans. For me, that is far more important than anything else.
The recommendations that are contained in our report, combined with the Executive's international development strategy and the effective implementation of the Commission for Africa's report, provide us with a tremendous opportunity to change this world for ever. As Nelson Mandela said, we have the opportunity to be a remarkable generation. I simply hope that we can live up to the challenge.
I pay tribute to my parliamentary colleagues who went as part of a delegation to South Africa and Malawi. That delegation included Margaret Ewing, Karen Gillon, Ted Brocklebank, Michael Matheson, Mike Pringle and Dennis Canavan. I believe that they have rendered a great service to this Parliament by highlighting problems that the Prime Minister has referred to as
"a scar on the conscience of the world."
I am glad that I had a role, however modest, in suggesting that the group meet Helen Suzman, who was the pioneer of opposition to apartheid in the South African Parliament. I had the good fortune to work as a secretary to her son-in-law when he was president of the Oxford Union. I am glad that she met the delegation on the 15th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from Robben island. When I visited Robben island some years ago, I was told by a former prisoner that the only member of Parliament who had not forgotten their plight was Helen Suzman. When I spoke to the man later and explained that I was a friend of Helen Suzman's family, he said, "Give Helen this message. Tell her we remember her with pride."
I am glad that the six delegates went to Malawi and South Africa. Their objective was to examine ways to assist in the reduction of poverty, to treat and prevent HIV and AIDS and to promote good governance and free, high-quality education. After the visit—after he transported Scottish golf clubs in his diplomatic bag, which was a novel form of overseas aid—Ted Brocklebank wrote in an article for the Daily Mail that, guided by the Scottish Churches World Exchange, young teachers are at work in rural primary and secondary schools in southern Africa. He said:
"These, and others like them, are the 21st century Scots bearing the torches first borne by their Victorian compatriots. And as long as they are determined to breathe, they are determined that the flames will never go out … What it needs above all is a national crusade by Scots at all levels to take up the work begun by our missionaries nearly 150 years ago. In Malawi, we met a heroic band of young Scots who have answered the call. How many others from our affluent and comfortable country are ready to make similar sacrifices?"
His call has been supported by the secretary-general of the Commonwealth, Don MacKinnon, who has said:
"To create a more stable and secure world – a world free of discrimination and hatred, we must start by ensuring every child is raised and educated in a spirit of tolerance, understanding and respect for others."
Two years ago, I said that the Commonwealth brings a touch of healing to a troubled world. Scots have shown a commitment to improving the lot of mankind through the Commonwealth, through medicine, education, engineering, construction, science and administration. That is a record of which we in the Parliament can justly be proud.
We are right to support the CPA, which has the vision to highlight the issues and influence Governments on the ways in which they can help others. We should be proud of our country's commitment to the Commonwealth under successive Governments and we should continue our on-going work with Commonwealth Parliaments and Governments.
Karen Gillon mentioned that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, but we act in the certain knowledge that when we work together we can and will make a difference. With mutual co-operation in driving back the frontiers of poverty, ignorance and disease we will make the world a better place.
Many people have asked me which memory of the visit will last the longest. There is no doubt about that—it is the smiles of all the people we met. African people are happy people. They always seem to be smiling and laughing, despite the many huge problems they face. I was exhausted when I got back. I must pay tribute to Margaret Ewing, who led the delegation: I honestly do not know how she survived. I must also thank Roy Devon and Margaret Neal for all their extremely hard work.
I will mention just two of the projects we visited. The Mulanje mountain area is about one and a half hours south of Blantyre. It is an area that produces large amounts of tea. We visited the secondary school there and on arrival we were welcomed by the headmaster, Mr George Mangame, and Stuart Mill, who is there with Scottish Churches World Exchange. You can imagine my response when he said that he is from Fairmilehead in Edinburgh. He has been in Malawi for only a short time but he seems to love it. He was teaching and fixing computers that were given by a school in Northern Ireland.
That school, like the others we visited, has a dedicated group of staff and pupils who are keen to learn. There are 100 pupils in each class. The school has desks, which are not that common in African schools, but four pupils share a desk made for two. There is a small library, but there is a desperate shortage of most learning materials and no photocopier.
We left that secondary school accompanied by Stuart and went on to Nansato primary school. On the way, I learned from Stuart that there are four volunteers at the school, also through Scottish Churches World Exchange: Paula, Angela, Emma and Shona Wilmott, who is from Leith. "What a small world this is," I thought. Stuart and Shona have just left school and are taking a year out. The volunteers pay their own way, including the considerable cost of inoculations and medical advice before they leave. Perhaps the Scottish Executive should consider meeting that cost—I ask the minister to consider that.
The primary school has 1,000 pupils. The head, Mr Chiromo, leads a happy school despite the serious lack of resources. Shona told us:
"There is no upper age limit in the school so we could be teaching kids from six to some as old as ourselves. Language is a considerable barrier but most are extremely keen to learn and behaviour in the school is extremely good."
We saw that for ourselves. Again, one teacher taught up to 120 pupils and not all the classrooms had desks.
The second project that we visited was the maternity unit at Bottom hospital in Lilongwe. I had been warned by Dr Graham Walker of Edinburgh royal infirmary that it would be an eye opener, but I was shocked and the delegation was emotionally drained by the time we left. It was, I have to say, awful. We were met by Mr Tarek Mguid and members of his staff. He gave us some facts about the maternity unit. It has 11,000 deliveries per year. There are two doctors and eight midwives. In comparison, the Simpson maternity unit in Edinburgh delivers 6,000 babies per year and has 38 staff on duty at any one time.
At Bottom hospital, the maternal mortality rate is 1,120 per 100,000. It is said that in 2004 it rose to 1,800 per 100,000. Such rates should be compared with the rate of 2,000 per 100,000 in medieval Europe. Has there been an improvement? There are only two midwives on night shifts and doctors will do at least one caesarean section a day, which means that unattended births are extremely common.
In Britain, the maternal mortality rate is around 12 per 100,000. Most western obstetricians will probably never have seen a maternal death. The good news is that a fridge was about to be received in which about 40 pints of blood a week could be stored. It will be the first time there has been such a facility there.
The Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics charity is also helping. A doctor and eight midwives from Scotland—some of whom are in the gallery; I welcome them—will go to Bottom hospital in May to run a new course in obstetric emergencies for the staff. They are also fundraising so that conditions at Bottom hospital can be improved. There will be a ceilidh in the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on Saturday night—all members are welcome to come to it and spend money.
Bottom hospital needs a newly built maternity unit with new equipment, but how much will that cost? I asked the staff why they stayed. They said, "Who else would look after our people if we didn't work here?"
I welcome Jack McConnell's report and urge the generous people of Scotland to respond to the plight of millions of people in Africa. We should do what we can here to help people there to raise their living standards.
I, too, had the honour of being a member of the recent CPA delegation to Africa. My first visit to South Africa was around 14 years ago. Then, I had the privilege of meeting Nelson Mandela, who had just been released from prison after 27 years. He was a national and international hero but, like every other black person in his country, he did not have a vote. The evil apartheid regime was still in power.
Who can ever forget the television pictures of the first democratic elections in South Africa? Old men and women and young women with babies on their backs queued up for many hours in the heat of the sun to exercise their hard-won democratic right to build a better future for themselves and their children. Mandela had given them a vision, and the ballot box was the means of turning that vision into a reality.
Over the past decade, there have been many changes in South Africa. Democracy has taken firm root and there have been significant improvements in areas such as health, housing and education. However, there are still huge problems. More than one in five of the population is infected by HIV, too many people are living in substandard housing and unemployment is intolerably high.
However, despite all its inadequacies, South Africa is one of the richest countries in Africa. Malawi, on the other hand, is one of the poorest: there is appalling poverty, hospitals are overcrowded and schools are bursting at the seams. We visited a primary school that had more than 9,000 pupils. There were more than 100 children in each class. A typical classroom was beneath a tree. The head teacher kept order by using a megaphone. When it rained, classes had to be abandoned. Despite such difficulties, the school produced surprisingly good results.
The links between Scotland and sub-Saharan Africa go back many years to the pioneering work of Scottish Presbyterian missionaries. David Livingstone is still an iconic figure in Malawi and the Rev William Govan is fondly remembered as the founder of South Africa's Lovedale College, which has produced many teachers, nurses and missionaries and which now offers a wide variety of courses, including technical education and business studies courses. The Mamie Martin Fund is named after another Scottish missionary whose daughter—Margaret—now lives in Falkirk. It was established to help young women and girls to continue their education. Members of our delegation met some of its beneficiaries.
Much more needs to be done at the macro level as well as at the micro level. During the past 30 years, we have been living off the backs of Africans. For every pound that rich countries such as ours have put into Africa, we have taken out £17. The forthcoming G8 summit at Gleneagles is an opportunity for the richest countries to show that they are serious about taking more radical action to stop exploiting people in the poorest countries—action on debt, aid and trade.
Back in the 1970s, the same hotel in the Perthshire hills was the location of the signing of the famous Gleneagles agreement, which took historic decisions on sanctions that helped eventually to rid South Africa of the evil apartheid regime. Let us ensure that a new Gleneagles agreement lays the foundations for a new world order, including a fairer distribution of the world's resources. Gleneagles 2005 is a golden opportunity to eradicate world poverty so that all people on this planet have the dignity and the opportunity to build a better future for themselves and their fellow human beings.
As one of the executive members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, I welcome all our visitors to the gallery for the debate, which is part of our celebrations of the Commonwealth. I also thank Margaret Ewing for the motion that she lodged on behalf of the CPA executive.
I thank Roy Devon, Margaret Neal and the CPA secretariat for all their work on the report and all the preparatory work and input during the visit. No one has yet mentioned Keith Raffan's input to the visit. Although he is no longer in the Parliament, his input was huge. He was genuinely concerned about Africa, as well as the HIV/AIDS issue. I would like to put on record the fact that he made a considerable contribution to the visit and to changing its focus.
I am sure that Margaret Ewing will share my view, because we both supported the change in focus from just visiting parliamentary institutions to getting to the front line. We had to have a look at the education system and at the hospitals that need to be built, as Mike Pringle pointed out. I thank all the people we met. The programme was very well prepared. There were many meetings and some of them were quite intense for the delegation to Africa.
In essence, the objective was to make links between ourselves and organisations and groups in Scotland that are working out there on the front line, which included non-governmental organisations that are working in South Africa and Malawi. The millennium development goals have always been our main goals. Poverty, HIV and AIDS, good governance and transparency have all been mentioned, as well as the very big issue of free, quality education for all. We take that for granted but, as Karen Gillon graphically pointed out, people there do not have that at all. As Dennis Canavan was saying, sometimes a classroom can just be under a tree.
The initial discussions changed quite a lot, so that we were examining front-line issues. When we step outside and look at the photographs of the trip, members will get a better idea of some of the areas that the delegation visited. Of course it was also important for the delegation to build and reinforce parliamentary relationships, and we want to work closely with our colleagues, particularly through voluntary organisations.
I have spoken to Karen Gillon about her visit. I do not think that anyone can imagine some of her experiences. She described one hospital in which the lack of equipment meant that, if two babies were born at the same time, one could live while the other would have to die. That is just dreadful. As Mike Pringle said, we must do anything that we can to improve the situation.
Of the recommendations, which Margaret Ewing explained clearly, I thought that one of the most important was the proposal about encouraging professional and skilled workers to volunteer their input for projects in Malawi, in southern Africa and in other parts of Africa. Knowing the importance of the retired senior volunteer programme to the Stirling area, I am sure that we could extend volunteering and use some of those skills over in Africa.
Recently, I attended a fair trade meeting in Stirling, at which I heard about the lack of teachers in Ethiopia. All of those countries are looking for solutions similar to the ones that we found are needed for Malawi and southern Africa.
The members who have spoken tonight about their visit to South Africa and Malawi have shown how worth while the visit was. Dennis Canavan highlighted the importance of the G8 summit. We have so much going for us at the moment that we must build on. As Margaret Ewing said, I am sure that the CPA executive and the wider CPA, which includes all MSPs, will try to act constructively on the recommendations.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton summed it up when he said that we have a proud record that must continue.
I call Michael Matheson.
Zikomo, Presiding Officer. That is the reply that we were often offered when we visited projects in Malawi.
I add my thanks to the work of the Parliament's external liaison unit. In particular, I thank Roy Devon and Margaret Neal for their efforts while we were in South Africa and Malawi.
In a country where people struggle against poverty, HIV/AIDS, corruption and malnutrition, the people of Malawi afforded us a generosity of welcome that exemplified why their country is known as the warm heart of Africa.
This is an important year for the international community, for Africa and for Malawi. As members have mentioned, the millennium development goals will be reviewed this year and the Commission for Africa's report has recently been published. In a year of such focus on Africa, Scotland has a clear role to play. Our visit to southern Africa could not have come at a more appropriate time. I hope that our delegation's report, which was produced on behalf of the CPA branch, will prove to be a focus for greater debate on the wider role that the Scottish Parliament and the Executive can play in international affairs.
Colleagues, few people are poorer and more marginalised than the 25 million people in Africa alone who find themselves infected with HIV/AIDS and the 13 million children there who have been orphaned because of the disease. However, such statistics can never reveal the real human tragedy that is caused by the scourge of HIV/AIDS. The battle against the disease was brought home to me during our visit to Blantyre, where the Open Arms orphanage looks after some 42 babies and toddlers. Many of the children had been placed in the orphanage because their parents either had lost the battle with AIDS or were simply unable to care for them.
Two-year-old Jennifer—whose picture is on the board in the garden lobby—has been cared for in the orphanage for some time. She was born with HIV. Although she has reached the age of two, she is only now beginning the process of learning how to walk because, for the first two years of her life, her spleen was so enflamed and swollen that she was unable to stand up. She is now on antiretroviral drugs and is thriving like any baby would. However, the drugs will be provided only for three years and, as the nurse said to me, "Who will pay for her treatment after the three years of treatment have ended?"
Jennifer has a right to life like any other child, but her circumstances and where she was born determine otherwise. The battle against AIDS in Africa ought to be everyone's battle. In this year of Africa, we must ensure that we use every means possible to put an end to the scourge that affects countries in Africa. I hope that the Executive will explore every possible opportunity to work with NGOs, voluntary organisations and individuals who are prepared to give their time and effort to go and work in countries such as Malawi with individuals such as Jennifer.
One of my strongest memories of Malawi is of the sheer enthusiasm of the children. We visited a school with a roll of some 9,500 pupils—if we were talking about twinning schools in Malawi with schools in Scotland, that school would need an education authority to match it, because of its size—but the children were thirsty for their opportunity to learn. Dennis Canavan mentioned the limited classrooms that they have, but that school is living up to the Commonwealth's goal of creating opportunity and realising potential through education. It needs more support and assistance, and I hope that we will consider how we can support such schools through teacher exchanges and other methods.
On returning, I reflected on much of the debate that has taken place in the United Kingdom about the violent terrorist threat that our nation might face. Rich nations such as ours have a right to protect their citizens and society from such a threat, but poverty, too, is violence by another name. Every year, 10,000 children die from preventable illnesses, often caused by malnutrition and unsafe drinking water. I believe that feeding the hopes and the hunger of the poor will do much more to ensure stability and security in the world, and I hope that the G8 summit will use its visit to Scotland this year to seize that opportunity.
At the beginning of the debate, I indicated that the minister was minded to extend the debate to 6.15 pm, if required. I now need a motion without notice to that effect.
Motion moved,
That, under Rule 8.14.3, the debate be extended until 6.15 pm.—[Mrs Margaret Ewing.]
Motion agreed to.
I add my thanks to Roy Devon and Margaret Neal for their excellent organisational skills during our recent trip. Despite some of the predictable media accusations, which Margaret Ewing mentioned, about junketing MSPs in Africa, I have to say that I can scarcely remember a less comfortable fortnight than the one that I spent in South Africa and Malawi. I am not referring to the mosquitoes or to the interminable journeys in Land Rovers with neither knee room nor suspension. I am talking about the uncomfortable disparities between members of our delegation, who in all the essentials lacked for nothing, and those whom we met, particularly in Malawi, who by and large have nothing. Margaret Ewing used the word "humbling" in her opening speech. I have to say that it was possibly the most humbling experience of my life.
As I wrote recently in the newspaper article that James Douglas-Hamilton mentioned, the original Scots missionaries who travelled to Malawi—then known as Nyasaland—in the wake of David Livingstone carried their coffins with them. So great were the risks of malaria and typhoid that they accepted when they set out that they would never set eyes on Scotland again. We visited the graves of those brave Scots who lie buried with their children at Blantyre, which is named after Livingstone's birthplace in Lanarkshire. Ironically, coffin making is now the one boom industry in Malawi, as the country wrestles with an AIDS pandemic that has made countless children orphans and has produced an average life expectancy of just 37. Malawi, with a population that is more than twice that of Scotland and a landmass that is smaller than ours, is now one of the world's 10 poorest nations, and despite AIDS the population is likely to double again in the next 25 years.
It is difficult to describe, as some have tried to, the scale of the tragedy. Through the Malawi Red Cross, I met 17-year-old Francisco, who is the head of his family following the death of his parents from AIDS seven years ago. He has two brothers and two sisters and he also looks after his grandmother. They somehow survive on what Francisco makes selling cigarettes and trinkets in the streets. In a village nearby I met Felista, who is only 31. She has been diagnosed HIV positive. Her husband refuses to be tested and insists on having unprotected sex with his wife. The youngest of their three children is probably also HIV positive. Felista's life expectancy is estimated at two years.
I am sure that we all welcome Jack McConnell's announcement earlier this week of a substantial aid package. Much of it will go to Malawi—rightly, in view of the country's long connection with Scotland. I also commend the twinning and aid initiatives that were proposed in the report by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. However, Malawi's problems are so vast that new money will do little to resolve them. I fear that cancelling the nation's debt would be meaningless. It could be argued that writing off African debt might make its poorest countries worse off. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, cancelling or rescheduling debt repayments would simply affect the country's credit rating internationally and would therefore make the country liable to higher interest rates on future loans. Some of the world's poorest countries, including Laos, are vehemently opposed to rescheduling their debts for that very reason.
It would be more valuable, certainly in the case of Malawi, to encourage Scots with particular skills to go there—in the footsteps and tradition of Livingstone, if you like—to help to rebuild the country. That is already happening and I cannot speak too highly of the young people whom we met from all parts of Scotland who are doing great work as teachers, information technology experts, health workers and the like. What Malawi needs are our scientists, agronomists, engineers, retired businesspeople and basic tradesmen to impart their skills and help to avert what looked to me like impending tragedy on a colossal scale.
Having said that, I do not wish my speech to be unremittingly downbeat. I pay tribute to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews for the continuing excellent work that it is doing to expand Scotland's national game, golf, into ethnic Africa, including Malawi. It might seem odd to talk about sport—especially a seemingly elite sport such as golf—in the same breath as we discuss AIDS and malnutrition. However, sport can play a huge part in international understanding. The look on the face of 19-year-old Adam Siles, Malawi's top young golfer, as we handed over a dozen sets of golf clubs that had been donated by the R&A, said it all. Eighteen months ago, Adam earned a pittance as a caddy at Lilongwe golf club. Now, with a handicap of four, he is set to play in the South African open.
With those clubs, hundreds of other young Malawians will learn the game that allowed generations of penniless Scots lads to break out of the poverty trap and carry the game worldwide. Let us hope that a future Tiger Woods will emerge from Malawi to contest the British open at St Andrews. That would be a fitting and continuing link in the remarkable partnership between Scotland and the warm but sadly bleeding heart of Africa that is Malawi.
I thank my colleague Margaret Ewing for securing a debate on this topic. Margaret is a great singer and when she sings "The Freedom Come All Ye" she means it, not only for the Scots but for all the people of the world. As a lifetime member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, I strongly welcome the debate on the Commonwealth and its role in Africa. In keeping with that theme, I will address the issue of Scotland's role in the Commonwealth and the role that individual Scots can have in making a difference in fellow Commonwealth countries, particularly in Africa.
It has been my experience that Governments, while they have an important role, must get local people involved. There must be local efforts by local people. In saying that, I call on the Scottish Government to use all the resources at its disposal to encourage this kind of humanitarian and fraternal assistance to developing Commonwealth countries. What is needed in Africa is an empowerment of its people through education and self-help.
Aid must be targeted not at Governments but at people. Programmes must have the following as their goals: empowering people; enabling people to participate economically; unleashing individual and community creativity; and effective, popular participation in the development process. Education gives people what they need to survive. It provides the skills, shared common values and awareness that are necessary to create a healthy modern society, it is important to farmers and city dwellers and it is imperative in creating any modern democratic state.
Let me relate to the debate on a more personal level. I am honoured to be the patron of an organisation that is run entirely out of Angus, and out of Arbroath in particular. It started up when the people of Arbroath were contacted by the Hon Dominic Ngombu, a member of Parliament in Sierra Leone, to help him with a project to rebuild a small town. Mr Ngombu was once a political prisoner in Sierra Leone, and he gained his freedom due to the efforts of the people of Arbroath and my intervention as their member of Parliament. Later, as provost of Angus, I had the privilege to welcome Dominic and his wife when he came to thank us for helping him in his time of need. Later, he returned to Scotland as a minister in the Government of his own country.
Foindu is a town of 2,500 people and would not register in any international press cutting, but that does not make the plight of its people any less significant. Mr Ngombu formed a local agency in 2002 to help to reconstruct the agriculture of Foindu, and he requested help from his friends in Arbroath. The people of Arbroath responded by creating the friends of Foindu charity. We have helped to collect used and old library books donated by Angus Council and send them to Foindu. A youth worker has been appointed to help displaced youths who are former combatants in the civil war in Sierra Leone. Those youths are now key to rebuilding the local agricultural system. The rice drying floor has been restored and the rice store has been repaired. We are currently raising money to purchase rice threshers to make the farms more efficient. In Arbroath, the friends of Foindu has organised many events in the three years since the organisation was founded, including concerts, an African food night, raffles and a big-band concert.
I raise that example not because of my involvement with friends of Foindu, but because it is the kind of local initiative—targeted at local people—that is needed, and because it upholds the four principles to which I referred earlier. Such projects are not as romantic and grand as some Government initiatives, but they offer hope and solutions that are based on the expertise and drive of the Scottish nation, which are given freely to our brothers and sisters in the developing world.
Scotland is in a unique position in the Commonwealth. Let us now use our wealth, good will and expertise to good purpose, reaching across the ocean to the developing world, to help the people whom we now know about, thanks to our colleagues' report. It is now up to us to say what we can and will do to assist.
I congratulate Margaret Ewing and the CPA on securing this debate. I know from working with Margaret on support for asbestos workers what a doughty fighter she is for causes that she believes in.
There are many people in this chamber who believe that we have an opportunity to do something to transform at least part of the world: 2005 is a year of opportunities for Africa—a year when the countries of the western world can and must deliver for Africa and African people. This year, Scotland is the focus. I agree with Dennis Canavan on the importance of the Gleneagles agreement in seeing the collapse of the apartheid regime. What a wonderful thing it would be if agreement at Gleneagles in 2005 led to the removal of crushing debt and the restoration of trade justice, which is so much needed by the people of the developing world.
It is not just this debate, this week, that is drawing attention to these issues in Scotland. On Tuesday, the Scottish Executive launched its international development strategy and yesterday, in Aberdeen, there was the Scottish launch of the Commission for Africa's report. What both those documents have in common is a commitment to working towards a strong and prosperous Africa and the recognition that that can be achieved only by mobilising the political will not just of politicians, but of citizens across western and African societies.
The Commission for Africa's report is an ambitious project. It calls for an increase in aid of $25 billion a year by 2010 and a further $25 billion a year by 2015. It calls for funding for a million doctors and nurses by 2015; an extra $10 billion a year to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and to treat and care for people who are living with the disease; and the cancellation of 100 per cent of the debt in sub-Saharan Africa. It is bold, but that must be achieved if we are to save the lives of the 30,000 children who die every day solely because they are poor. The report is a tool that we should all use to argue the case for more and better aid, for trade justice and for debt cancellation. It is not something to sit on a shelf; it is something that we must go out and argue for as politicians, citizens and members of our community. Only by doing that can we make poverty history, which is what we must do.
As one of the founder members of the cross-party international development group of the Scottish Parliament, I have worked closely with MSP colleagues from other political parties and my own to bring international development issues to the Parliament. As recently as a year ago, there was a widely held belief that international development was someone else's responsibility, a matter reserved to Westminster. However, especially in the aftermath of Hilary Benn's visit to the Scottish Parliament last September—he was the first non-MSP to speak in the new chamber—the situation has changed. Hilary Benn told us that the needs of Africa are so great that there is work for everyone.
The Scottish Executive's policy document, which was launched on Tuesday, describes the contribution that the devolved Scottish Government can and will make, as well as the responsibilities towards developing countries that Scotland is going to fulfil. It is a huge step forward for our new Parliament and I am grateful to Patricia Ferguson, the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, and the First Minister for their efforts in driving the policy forward.
The policy will support Scottish NGOs that provide assistance during times of international crisis and ensure that our domestic policies have a positive impact on the developing world, with a specific emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. What those countries need is practical assistance, practical aid and our engagement, in partnership with them, in ending their plight.
I would like to point out the advantages of, and the new thinking behind, focusing on some part of the agenda that we can help to deliver. Sometimes, the problems in Africa are just so overwhelming that people do not know where to start or, perhaps, they know where to start but do not follow through. If we engage in a partnership to address the problems in Malawi and see what we can do to build orphanages and schools, to train medical and other personnel, and to provide practical assistance there, we will do something differently from the way in which things are done at present.
Many member organisations of the IDG are involved with Malawians in working towards a world in which nobody fears poverty, lives in fear or is oppressed. I am thinking of organisations such as Christian Aid, the Church of Scotland board of world mission, Concern Worldwide, the International Institute for the Environment and Development, Jubilee Scotland, Mercy Corps Scotland, Oxfam, Save the Children, Scottish International Relief, the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, the World Development Movement and World Exchange. There are probably a good number of organisations that I have missed out of that list. That demonstrates the depth of commitment that exists in Scottish civil society towards doing something about this. We have set out in a positive direction and it is up to everyone in the Parliament to continue to move forward.
I did not take part in the visit to Malawi, but I was in Malawi two years ago and have seen for myself the problems it has with health, with poverty and with organising an operational political system. We can provide practical assistance and it is up to all of us at all points of the political spectrum in Scotland to co-ordinate and drive forward that effort. If we can make a real commitment to provide practical support to the people in Africa who need it, it would be to the credit of the Parliament and Scotland.
I, too, must congratulate Margaret Ewing on securing this debate on behalf of the CPA. I also congratulate her on her moving and informative article in The Herald last week. I very much welcome the opportunity to hear from the delegation about its visit to Malawi and South Africa and I look forward to studying its report and meeting the delegation members to discuss what they have learned in more detail.
I welcome the report because I believe that the issues facing Africa should be close to the heart of the Parliament and rightly deserve to be discussed in this chamber. The Scots have always been an outward-looking people and our new Parliament has given us the opportunity to refresh Scotland's connections with the world and to consider our place in it. As modern Scotland is part of the rich and prosperous world, our people have seen improvements in their income, their health care and their prospects. However, we are determined to play our part in supporting countries whose development is far behind ours.
As colleagues know, responsibility for foreign policy and international development in our country lies with the United Kingdom Government; however, we believe that all levels of government can and should contribute to tackling the misery of global poverty. On Tuesday, the First Minister launched our new international development policy for Scotland, which sets out the contribution that the devolved Scottish Government can make and our responsibilities towards developing countries. The policy builds on our long-standing historical role of looking beyond our borders and acknowledges Scotland's collective efforts and aspirations as a prosperous but caring nation to play its part in tackling global inequality.
We in Scotland are determined to make a difference for Africa and to do our bit as part of the UK's effort. We will focus our efforts and resources to ensure that they have the best possible impact. We will look to support the good work of Scots who are helping the world's poorest people to tackle those vicious circles that trap them in poverty. Malnutrition, AIDS, conflict and illiteracy are a daily reality for millions of people around the globe; however, we have a real opportunity to change that reality.
As much of our work will centre on Malawi, I was very interested in Mike Pringle's comments about the Bottom maternity hospital in Lilongwe, which the delegation visited on its trip. I understand that the hospital has some of the worst conditions in the world: it is dirty, crowded and lacking in basic equipment, and it appears that only the enthusiasm and dedication of its small number of staff hold it together. If we distil his statistics, it appears that a woman who gives birth there has a one in 27 chance of dying. In comparison, the figure for Scotland is virtually nil.
As Mike Pringle said, there is real cause to hope that the situation at the hospital could get better soon. A group of doctors and nurses from the Simpson maternity centre at Edinburgh royal infirmary is already planning to travel there and to revitalise the hospital by using their knowledge and skills to offer the staff first-class training. Like Mike Pringle, I welcome that dedicated team of Scottish medics to the chamber. They have an opportunity to make a difference and they are seizing it; they are taking the best Scottish knowledge and sharing it with the world. I am pleased to note that their visit is likely to coincide with the First Minister's visit to Malawi.
I envisage that the international development policy will support such good work. It will focus on Scotland's key strengths and values, and we will aim to transfer Scottish knowledge, skills and expertise to the areas where they are most needed. Our priorities of education, health and civil society development are designed to contribute to meeting the needs identified by the millennium development goals.
Moreover, with our proud record of women's representation, we can play a particular role in building the capacity of and supporting women's engagement in development and change. We know that women around the world often get the worst of what is already a poor deal. In sub-Saharan Africa, they produce up to 80 per cent of the basic foodstuffs, yet the same women often get little recognition for that. In fact, many go unpaid, while their daughters are even less likely to go to school than their sons.
As a prosperous nation, rich in talent and skills, we have a clear obligation to help to tackle those problems. We will back the policy with a development fund. We will increase the capacity of Scotland's non-governmental organisations and charities that work in developing countries or in disaster relief.
The policy will also focus on helping us to raise awareness of international development issues more widely. In particular, in our schools, the aim is that future generations of Scots will become more aware of the diversity of our world and our place in it. As colleagues might know, the First Minister recently launched a competition for Scottish schools that will culminate in the winners visiting Malawi with him.
By publishing our international development policy now, we hope to build on the momentum that will be generated by this year's G8 summit, but it must not end there; our involvement must continue.
We welcome in particular the publication of the Commission for Africa report last Friday. The report challenges us all. It is an important step, but it is only a first step. In the months leading up to the G8 summit, we all have a responsibility to ensure that the issue is driven up the agenda and debated fully. Hosting the G8 summit is a major responsibility for a small country such as Scotland and for our local authorities and other public bodies. However, it is also a privilege and a great opportunity.
We all know that Africa is the foremost development challenge facing the international community today. The divide now between rich countries and poor countries is greater than it has ever been. The Parliament and the Executive have identified a common goal on which we have the opportunity to work together to change and make a difference.
It is wrong, when so many have too much, that others have no access to education, medicines or clean water. There can be no excuse and there should be nothing that stands in the way of this generation doing something really remarkable to change things. In 2005, I believe that, by working together, we can do that.
Meeting closed at 18:13.