African leadership 'priorities'

M/Y Eclipse at Frederikshavn, Denmark on 2009/...Image via Wikipedia
Guardian:

The playboy son of one of Africa's most notorious dictators commissioned plans for a luxury superyacht costing $380m (£234m) – nearly three times his country's combined health and education budgets, according to a corruption watchdog.

Teodorin Obiang, eldest son of Teodoro Obiang, the president of Equatorial Guinea, wanted to build the world's second most expensive yacht after the Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich's $1.2bn Eclipse, the campaign group Global Witness said. It condemned the plan as "outrageous extravagance" in a country where, despite vast oil wealth, 20% of children die before their fifth birthday and few people live beyond 50.

The government of the tiny west African country confirmed that Obiang junior had ordered the yacht design, but said he had decided against going ahead with it.

...
Well, what is health and education when you can be yachting? A yacht the size described would probably require crew and up keep cost that would compete for health and education dollars. Besides, with the downturn in the world economy he can probably pick up a barely used one for substantially less.  The yacht pictured is the one owned by the Russian king of conspicuous consumption.
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