The World’s Worst Advisors

Foreign Policy magazine lists a few would-be sages who should have never been listened to

Joseph Made
Former minister of agriculture, Zimbabwe

Worst advice :
When Zimbabwe was offered international food aid in 2004, Made told Mugabe that the country actually had a surplus of maize and had collected 2.4 million tons during the previous harvest.
The effect :
In fact, experts say the number was closer to 700,000 tons. The next winter, Zimbabwe announced that 1.5 million people, some 12 percent of the population, urgently needed food aid.

Chiou I-Jen
Former vice premier of Taiwan

Worst advice :
In an effort to get Papua New Guinea to recognize Taiwan, Chiou recommended the allocation of $30 million to two men whom he believed had influence over officials in Papua New Guinea. The money was paid, but Chiou was conned. The men — one a U.S. passport holder and the other a Singaporean — disappeared with the cash.
The effect :
Chiou has since resigned and now faces possible corruption charges.

Martine Aubry
Former minister of labor, France

Worst advice :
Aubry was the chief architect of the 35-hour workweek in France, a law imposed on large firms in 2000 that decreased the number of hours that an employee could be obligated to work from 39 to 35.
The effect :
The law was intended to stem high unemployment in France. Eight years later, the country's unemployment numbers have barely moved, and what progress has been made isn’t credited to fewer working hours.

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang
Health minister, South Africa

Worst advice :
While speaking at an international AIDS conference in Toronto in August 2006, she recommended that HIV/AIDS be treated with lemon, beet root, and garlic.
The effect :
Tshabalala-Msimang’s comments provoked condemnation abroad and embarrassment at home. Local newspapers said that she had “reduced South Africa to an international joke.”