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New Sources. He has also limited formal votes at meetings. Votes are weighted according to subscriptions in the bank's capital stock; big members have sometimes irritated national pride by outvoting the numerical majority. McNamara met this problem by sounding out key directors before meetings, solving the objections that might prevent unanimous agreement. He has uncovered new sources of loan funds in such oil-rich countries as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. He is already emphasizing the African and Latin American aid referred to in his speech. Last week the bank and its subsidiary, International Development Association, approved loans or credits totaling $25.1 million for roads, forestry projects and livestock programs in Nigeria, Zambia and Uganda.
McNamara persuaded former Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson to head an independent panel of "wise men" who will consider bank activities for the next 30 years. McNamara hopes the Pearson group will be as ambitious for the World Bank as he himself is. "All power is given us to be used," he told his governors this week, "not to be wrapped in a napkin against risk."
* Less reticent about opinions formed during his tenure as Secretary of Defense, he has come out with a volume expressing them (see BOOKS).