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An African government official visits Europe. There, a European government official invites him to his luxury home. The African is shocked. He asks "How can yo

by jk2323 9y ago

An African government official visits Europe. There, a European government official invites him to his luxury home. The African is shocked. He asks "How can you afford such a house if you a just a government official?" The European says: "Look out of the window. can you see the bridge?" The African: "Yes" The European: "See, the government paid for two train tracks but the bridge has only one." The African says: "I understand". 2 years later the European official visits the African in Africa. He invites him into his house and his house is a luxury palace. Now the European is shocked. He asks "How can you afford such a palace? Recently you were so impressed with house and now you live in a palace?" The African says: "Look out of the window. can you see the bridge our taxpayers paid for?" The European: "No."

defined 9y ago
Lmao. To one who was born and raised in Africa, this is both funny and, too often, lamentably accurate.
- int_19h 9y ago
  I've seen this joke before, but it wasn't about Africa. In Russia, a similar one was told in the 90s, except it went like so: Yeltsin visits US on an official trip; Clinton is hosting. The banquet is lavish, and after gorging himself on delicacies, Yeltsin asks Clinton where the money for all that came from. Clinton gestures him to the window, and points at river, with bridge in the distance. "See that bridge?" "Yep." "We budgeted 100 million dollars for it, but our innovative construction companies managed to complete it for 50 million. The rest of it went into our reception fund". Next year, Clinton visits Russia. The banquet is even more lavish. Clinton asks Yeltsin the same question. They walk to the window, and Yeltsin gestures at the river. "See that bridge?" "Um... no?..." "But we budgeted 100 million dollars for it. So..." Which, I guess, also tells you a lot both about how US was perceived in Russia back then (I'm sure the notion that American contractors could do the work under budget is utterly unbelievable to most Americans; yet its believability is at the heart of this joke).
mschuster91 9y ago
> The African says: "Look out of the window. can you see the bridge our taxpayers paid for?" s/our/your and you have an explanation why many projects funded by the richer Western governments in any development country (no matter if Africa, Asia or Eastern Europe) tend to fail. Endemic corruption (and preventing it) is not very high on the radar of the funders, all the politicians are looking for when funding development projects is "we spent X US$/y % GDP in development aid", but unlike private charities which have to prove that they're not wasting money, there's no incentive in government-supplied monetary aid to check for efficiency. Same goes for food or clothing aid - Europe just dumps excess (food) or waste (2nd-hand clothing, where the "cream" goes to Eastern Europe and the leftovers to Africa) onto developing countries without taking care to not destroy local industries. As a result, refugees come in, and most often those politicians allowing the ruinous exports in the first place are the first ones to complain about the refugees their very own actions caused. It's sick.

by jk2323 9y ago

defined 9y ago

Lmao. To one who was born and raised in Africa, this is both funny and, too often, lamentably accurate.

int_19h 9y ago
I've seen this joke before, but it wasn't about Africa. In Russia, a similar one was told in the 90s, except it went like so: Yeltsin visits US on an official trip; Clinton is hosting. The banquet is lavish, and after gorging himself on delicacies, Yeltsin asks Clinton where the money for all that came from. Clinton gestures him to the window, and points at river, with bridge in the distance. "See that bridge?" "Yep." "We budgeted 100 million dollars for it, but our innovative construction companies managed to complete it for 50 million. The rest of it went into our reception fund". Next year, Clinton visits Russia. The banquet is even more lavish. Clinton asks Yeltsin the same question. They walk to the window, and Yeltsin gestures at the river. "See that bridge?" "Um... no?..." "But we budgeted 100 million dollars for it. So..." Which, I guess, also tells you a lot both about how US was perceived in Russia back then (I'm sure the notion that American contractors could do the work under budget is utterly unbelievable to most Americans; yet its believability is at the heart of this joke).

mschuster91 9y ago

> The African says: "Look out of the window. can you see the bridge our taxpayers paid for?" s/our/your and you have an explanation why many projects funded by the richer Western governments in any development country (no matter if Africa, Asia or Eastern Europe) tend to fail. Endemic corruption (and preventing it) is not very high on the radar of the funders, all the politicians are looking for when funding development projects is "we spent X US$/y % GDP in development aid", but unlike private charities which have to prove that they're not wasting money, there's no incentive in government-supplied monetary aid to check for efficiency. Same goes for food or clothing aid - Europe just dumps excess (food) or waste (2nd-hand clothing, where the "cream" goes to Eastern Europe and the leftovers to Africa) onto developing countries without taking care to not destroy local industries. As a result, refugees come in, and most often those politicians allowing the ruinous exports in the first place are the first ones to complain about the refugees their very own actions caused. It's sick.