Now even Bill Gates blames the Italian government. Microsoft's father is also the creator of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, active in medical research in fighting AIDS and malaria and improving living conditions in the Third World. Now he accused Italy because Italian government has cut aid to countries in the developing world.
Since the
current government policy is only to make cuts, it's not a surprise a new cut, this time to poor countries. But it is not a
normal thing for Bill Gates, especially since we are the only country to make cuts
and, thanks to this, now we are on "the shame list"made by the founder of Microsoft.
Despite the economic crisis, in fact, the international community wanted to be equally generous on aid promised to the poorest. That's why the Italian behavior stands out.
In the annual letter
of his charitable foundation, published last Monday, Bill Gates writes
that Italy was in a lower position than other European donors even
before Silvio Berlusconi government. But he was the one who cut aid to more than a half, probably because, as Bob Geldof clearly said, the Italian government is trying "to improve its budget on the backs of the poor."
The founder of Microsoft also said that he had written a letter to Italian Prime Minister and he had met him in June, last year, just to get more aid. But he came back home without having resolved anything. And now he's telling everything because it is his duty "to spread this information on the world" even if "the voters have to decide if the politicians elected by them have kept their promises or not."
Mr. Gates, maybe, does not know that Italians are not usually good at checking whether the promises were kept. But now we are the only country that have committed less money and we are on a new list. "I call it my list of shame, but I am happy that in this list until now there is only one country."
The founder of Microsoft today announced in the World Economic Forum underway in Davos that his
foundation will pay 10 billion dollars over the next ten years to
research, development and delivery of vaccines for the poorest
countries. The other day, instead, he said to the Süddeutsche Zeitung that normally "the rich pay much more for their personal problems, like baldness, than for the fight against malaria".
So, as our Prime Minister is many times on the foreign newspapers because of the growth of his hair in contrast with his age, the statement of
Bill Gates seem a well-rehearsed answer to the Italian very low aid for the world's poor.
Marianna Lepore
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