There are many other arguments those who work in the aid industry could, and will, make against this book: that Moyo is in danger of muddling cause and effect, that the level of aid the continent has received is nothing like as impressive as ballpark figures initially suggest, that Africa’s poor cannot afford the luxury of yet another daring formula which is subsequently proved faulty. Aid, like democracy, wins the grudging support of intelligent people not because they believe it is a panacea, but because the alternative is often so terrifying.

One can challenge this book’s thesis, however, and still hail it as marking a turning point. In the past, Africans might privately wax cynical about western aid policy, but they were content to leave the public debate to be waged by Irish pop stars, American celebrities and paunchy white men in suits. Television producers and conference organisers routinely scratched their heads trying to find opinionated Africans ready to argue the issues. Moyo belongs to an emerging generation of articulate, self-confident and angry Africans who are now doing just that. Not before time.

Michela Wrong’s book about corruption in Kenya, It’s Our Turn to Eat, is published by Fourth Estate this month.

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