PER DIEM, The Petty Corruption That Hurts: How the scramble for daily allowances jeopardises the development of the African continent - Softcover

In Africa, hunting for per diems has become a business and a job in itself. This widespread trend across the administrations of African countries, in addition to being harmful in itself for the diversion of funds it generates, induces behaviors that undermine development efforts. This is the heart of this book, which shows how the mad scramble to amass more and more per diems is leading to postures and actions that are at odds with the development objectives that the continent so badly needs to see achieved. The objective of maximizing per diems having taken precedence, development activities are now at the service of this goal. Development activities are nowadays mostly planned and implemented only to the extent that they generate per diems, to the detriment of their impact on development. The author is sounding the alarm about the ravages of this silent killer, and offers solutions for better regulation and management of per diems systems, which, according to him, should regain their role as an instrument at the service of development rather than remaining a tool at the service of corruption.

Guy Blaise Nkamleu is a chief country economist at the African Development Bank. A university professor, he holds a doctorate in public economics and a second Doctorate in agricultural economics, and a master degree in mathematics and econometrics. Passionate about development issues, and over 20 years of experience working with international organizations, he has authored more than sixty articles and several books related to Africa's development issues. He is associate editor of the African Evaluation Journal, and of the African Journal of Agriculture and Resource Economics. Dr. Nkamleu is of the generation of those who believe that a substantive intellectual effort is required to help the continent find its way and realize its potential.