Oxfam accuses global firms of undermining Ebola fight in Africa

A global anti-poverty organisation has accused multinationals of taking away all revenues that would pay for health systems in Africa and which, it argues, would have helped contain Ebola.

Oxfam on Friday sensationally claimed that some unnamed international conglomerates had conspired to dodge legal taxes in Africa, including in countries most affected by the viral disease.

Oxfam said it did a study and found that six companies — which should be paying all their taxes after getting tax holidays — were enjoying a tax break equivalent to 59 per cent of the entire budget of Sierra Leone.

"If they were paying their full share of taxes, that would pay for the health systems of Sierra Leone, eight times over," argued Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam's international executive director.

The charity did not publicly state the said firms and neither did it explain how these firms managed to avoid the huge taxes, but it was an argument about inequality, which the organisation said was growing wider between developing and developed countries.

Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone and one of the reasons given by medics is that the disease found poor health systems. But its effects have also been economic.

Kenya's national carrier, Kenya Airways, on Thursday announced a Sh10 billion loss citing the spread of Ebola which compelled it to stop flying to some of its lucrative routes.

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The charity spoke ahead of the G20 meeting in Brisbane on Saturday and Sunday, which is expected to bring leaders of 20 countries controlling more than 80 per cent of the world's wealth to discuss youth unemployment, inequality, and global financial governance as well as reducing barriers to trade among others.

G-20 countries, which include the US, UK, Germany, Australia, and several other countries including South Africa, have pledged a two per cent global economic growth in the next year. Yet the main talking points of Ebola's spread to three continents and climate change have been put on the periphery.

On Friday, economic activists and charity players argued it was ironic since the two issues were affecting G-20 economies indirectly.

"The G-20 will be rendered irrelevant if it cannot deliver outcomes that benefit those beyond the exclusive economic elite," Tim Castello, the chairman of a group of activists calling themselves G-20 told reporters in Brisbane.

The group argued for climate change to be discussed formally, saying it is part of economic challenges facing the world today. But the formal programme issued on Friday did not include it, even though the energy regime will feature prominently.

"That includes making our international tax system fairer by closing the loopholes that make it easier for corporations and wealthy individuals to dodge their tax obligations. They need to ask themselves a simple question, why do tax havens ever exist?

"The G-20 will ultimately be judged by the fairness test, whether that is fairness to future generations by facing climate change or fairness to tax payers by declaring tax havens immoral," Mr Costello added.

Oxfam was, meanwhile, vouching for a better understanding of Ebola, which the charity argued had contributed to its neglect.

"Ebola is like flu. To prevent it, because it is known how it is transmitted and what causes it, it is a known thing. It is a very preventable disease.

"The reason it has not been prevented is because those countries (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea) have been at war. They don't have a proper system," Ms Byanyima said at a press conference.

"The short-term goal is to tame the disease. But we must now look at the long-term solutions which are to build the health systems, and the education systems.

"And this means that Sierra Leone must be able to collect all the domestic resources it can collect. It must plug the tax loopholes and this is in the global system. Those who are mining there must pay their fair share of taxes so that these countries can have the money to put it in the systems," she said.

Leaders of the G-20 countries, including US President Barack Obama, are expected to issue a communique on Sunday declaring their positions on the issues raised.

It will be interesting to see how Ebola and climate change, which are not formally included on the formal meeting programme, will be discussed.