The government has suspended all Irish Aid payments to Uganda after discovering that €4 million of taxpayer money was lodged to an unauthorised account.
The Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore has sent an audit team from Ireland to the capital Kampala to try and secure the return of the funds.
Ireland gives around €33 million each year towards aid projects in Uganda.
Around half of that is administered by the Ugandan government.
"regrettable and that controls need to be put in place to stop this happening again"
....The Irish government aid programme to Uganda is excellent; it is smart and targeted and audited and controlled. It concentrates on alleviating poverty traps rather than the symptoms of those poverty traps. The fact that this fraud has even come to light that this money went missing says a lot about the level of control on both sides....
Poverty in Africa cannot be looked at on a country by country basis alone. In order to lift people out of poverty the most important factors are education, infrastructure, trade barriers, and the openness of the economy. Democracy has no real impact on poverty levels in developing countries and is largely irrelevant in the short to medium term.Sorry but this is a quick post....
Honest question...... is Uganda a country which deserves our aid? I understand why we send aid to countries who experience famine conditions. Uganda, in my understanding, is not one. I witnessed some but not an overwhelming amount of extreme poverty there.
Purple, as you stated, the problems in Uganda are problems of corruption and governance which are the legacy of Idi Amin. How does irish aid directly tackle these problems?
Also, in relation to your point regarding giving the money to women, I understand why you said that but firstly, there are very women in positions of authority so how would this work?
Fair enough, I'm sure it funds some terrific projects over there. But by the Irish taxpayer funding and 'concentrating' on lifting people out of poverty in Uganda, it allows the govt there to spend on other non-basic items such as fighter jets from Russia:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/c...o-finance-fighter-jets-in-uganda-2851161.html
It still makes no sense for us to be borrowing money to send to foreign aid.
Come on guys, I very much doubt this is a first . . .
Military spending in Uganda is high and should be high; it's got some nasty neighbours.
If they have millions to send on tanks,fighter jets and armies then they have enough to spend on feeding their starving people.
I never had a problem with foreign aid,I felt it was the obligation of wealthier Countries to provide for those less fortunate.
We are however in a compete mess financially,Ireland is a bankrupted State,there is no need to elaborate on a site like this how bad most of us are struggling,how much we are in hock for,all services etc cut to the bone,I know none of us are starving but its time we withdraw from foreign aid and leave it to bigger,wealthier,solvent Countries we just do not have the money for it at the moment
We need to cut our cloth accordingly and stop firing money around like snuff at a wake especially when its been fired directly and incredibly into the bank accounts of one of the most corrupt Govts in the World.
I have to agree with Knuttell that Ireland needs to get back on its feet before we try to lift other countries out of poverty.Hunger in Uganda isn’t caused by lack of money, it’s caused by a lack of the rule of law.
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