Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Dear April

First, Thank you for connecting with me ... and Second. Best wishes for your upcoming trip to Maseru.

I did my first work with the World Bank in 1978 when Robert McNamara was still President of the World Bank, and have done various assignments with the WB over the years. I have also done some work (mainly for UNDP) in Lesotho years ago when Lesotho was the 'darling' of the donor community 'inside' the geographical space of 'apartheid' South Africa. I did not make myself very popular when I tracked money flows from donors through the Central Bank of Lesotho into the Rand banking system of South Africa ... nor when I tried to understand why agriculture was so much better on the RSA side of the river than on the Lesotho side. I also got myself into trouble during the period when the Highlands Water Project was being planned and then built by asking some rather blunt questions about the value flows in the project ... in my view far too little of the value ended up in Lesotho!

I really do hope you have a great visit ... some of the people I worked with in Lesotho were great to work with.

Peter Burgess