I know it seems like this happened a long time ago, but it was only about six weeks ago that an oil find was made off the coast of Ghana.

Since then I've been thinking on and off about what can be done when something like this happens. The people in the know about Africa, development and the relationship between the discovery of something like this and the relative poverty of the people in the country all rolled their eyes about Ghana's good fortune. Like Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea before it, the oil would mean the rich in the country would cash in, looting the new source of wealth and keeping any funds from flowing to those most in need.

I was doing some World Bank reading, including Sebastian Mallaby's "The World's Banker" about Wolfenson and John Cassidy's New Yorker piece, "The Next Crusade." And it struck me: why isn't there some capacity, from the Bank or the International Monetary Fund or some other agency, to sweep into action when a country discovers its long-sought oil reserves. They would go and freely offer advice, help build systems to make sure the money went somewhere, to manage debt, fulfill obligations to poor, provide for defense and build national credibility. (Some of this came from the somewhat botched effort by Wolfowitz to link Chad's World Bank aid package to the government's proper use of the oil revenue.) The team could work alongside existing ministries, and heeding the team's advice could be linked (more smoothly, I should think) to debt forgiveness that the country would still like to receive.