Joseph Hanlon and Derrick Cameron respond to an article by Aditya Chakrabortty about a backward-looking government that remains in Tony Blair’s thrall
Mozambique knows the importance of the zombie Blairites that Aditya Chakrabortty writes about (Zombie Blairites still have British politics in their grip – it’s time to break free, 4 June). In December, the UK trade envoy Calvin Bailey MP was in Mozambique to sign an agreement for £400,000 in UK government funding for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. It will deliver “specialised technical assistance” to support the development of the Mphanda Nkuwa dam and hydropower project.
The dam is just downstream from the Cahora Bassa dam, one of the largest in Africa, and successfully run by a Mozambican state company. Mozambique already has the technical capacity, but it knows that in an era of decreasing aid, it needs to keep the zombie Blairites on side. Especially when the UK government pays.
Joseph Hanlon
London