Will Cuts in Aid Bring about Fiscal Discipline?

It is said that foreign aid helps prop dictators. The donors plug the gaping sores that are affronts to the conscience of humanity. The sores having been given band aid by do-gooders, the rulers become profligate and go on spending binges. In our case, the president builds himself a palace, complete with a whooping budget. He can change his plane every so often to keep up with the Joneses. Not bad for a son of a peasant. You have come a long way, dude. Since he is a militarist, that means the military budget goes through the roof. That is also how we can have gigantic numbers of MPs, ministers, presidential advisors, districts, and RDCs. And as if the brown envelops were not enough, we can now have "gifts" in sacks.

The question is: will the "development partners," a less humiliating euphemism for donors, have the guts to cut their largesse because of the anti-gay law? I hope so. If they did, would our rulers come to some sense and chop the bloated government? Fat chance. They will not. These are hard men, full of themselves, and are not going to sacrifice privilege for the minions under them. They will probably print money which may lead to massive inflation, let alone high interest rates for borrowings. If the minions--the people--will have had enough pain, then, hopefully, something will trigger a revolution for change. It won't be pretty.