An academic lawyer named Alexander Sack developed the concept of odious debt` at the begining of the 20th Century. In referring to the national debt of a country he wrote:

“If a despotic power incurs a debt not for the needs or in the interest of the State, but to strengthen its despotic regime, this debt is odious for the population of all the State. This debt is not an obligation for the nation.”

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Debt repayments are taking vital resources away from Health and Education. There has been an alarming deterioration of health services in Africa over the past decade.

The need to keep up debt payments speeds up the extraction of natural resources to an unsustainable pace. This includes rapid deforestation which destroys biological diversity and turns vast tracks of land into virtual desert.

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