The paper is a summary of the negotiations which led to the choice of a particularly unfortunate project in Tanzania, and a commentary of them. The project was for ‘modern silos’ even though economic analysis strongly suggested that the traditional bag‐stores were a cheaper form of grain storage. The fact that the project was aid‐financed enabled consultants and machinery suppliers to benefit, while the receiving government did not give the project the scrutiny it would have given to a use of local funds.