Irish Aid to Uganda suspended – Reactions

In October 2012, news broke that all Irish Aid payments to the Ugandan Government had been suspended pending further investigation of allegations that funds were misappropriated by the staff in the Office of the Prime Minister of Uganda.

By January 2013, the Ugandan Government had paid back the money, as reported in the Irish media:

• Suspension of aid to Uganda remains in place (Irish Times, 8 January)
• Repaid €4 million aid to be spent on projects in Uganda (Irish Independent, 8 January)
• €4 million in misappropriated aid reimbursed (Irish Examiner, 8 January)

The news also prompted a fierce debate in Ireland whether we should continue to give overseas aid, while Ireland itself is in a deep recession, and whether the aid was administered appropriately:

• Public Accounts Committee member wants probe into overseas aid (Journal.ie, 29 Oct)
• “Should we turn off the tap of Irish aid to other countries?” (Journal.ie, 2 Nov)
  
• Questions about our foreign aid won’t disappear (Irish Independent,
• Poorer states depend on us (Irish Independent, 23 Dec)
• Brave to tackle aid debacle (Irish Independent, 23 Dec)
• The poverty line (Irish Independent, 26 Dec)
• Our generosity to the less fortunate marks us out on the global stage (Irish Independent, 26 Dec)
• A helping hand to exploited lands (Irish Independent, 29 Dec)
• Foreign Aid when we can afford it (Irish Independent, 30 Dec)
• Look after our own (Irish Independent, 29 December)

See also the (generally less savoury) comments on this article in The Journal (7 January).

This is how the news of the misappropriation/theft was covered at the time in the Irish media:

• State suspends Uganda aid as €4 million ends up in leader’s account (Irish Independent, 25 Oct)
• Uganda aid stopped as €4 million goes missing (Irish Times, 25 Oct)
• Uganda aid money missing in ‘fraud’ (Herald, 25 Oct)
• Uganda envoy’s dismay at aid cut (Irish Times, 26 Oct)
• Gilmore’s officials scrambling to trace the €4 million we gave Uganda (Irish independent, 27 Oct)
• Collusion of PM’s office and Treasury suspected (Irish Times, 27 Oct)
• Scandal will bolster calls for direct aid to NGOs (Irish Times, 27 Oct)
• Aid money missing in fraud. (Herald)
• Ireland suspends aid to Uganda after €4 million error. (Newstalk)
• Credit to Ugandan staff for finding fraud (Irish Independent, 27 Oct)
• Eamon Delaney: We can’t afford to give so much in aid (Irish Independent, 27 Oct)
• Uganda concern as aid programme delayed by fraud (Irish Examiner, 27 Oct)
• Irish Aid: Tánaiste “absolutely disgusted” after alleged Uganda aid fraud (The Journal.ie, 27 Oct).
• Uganda Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi denies receiving Irish Aid funds(RTE, 28 Oct)
• Uganda PM denies knowing of fraud (Irish Times, 29 Oct)
• Ugandan PM insists he didn’t pocket €4m in Irish aid cash (Irish Independent, 29 Oct)
• Uganda told to repay €4 in aid funds after fraud (Irish Independent, 30 Oct)
• Public Accounts Committee member wants probe into Irish overseas aid(Journal.ie, 29 October)
• Uganda to repay Irish Aid funds (Irish Times, 5 Nov)
• FG TD urges cut in €639 million aid budget (Irish Independent, 5 Nov)
• Eamon Gilmore keeps aid to Uganda on hold until €4m is repaid (Irish Independent, 6 Nov)

• Norway also suspends aid to Uganda (Irish Times, 7 Nov)
• Ugandan Parliament to discuss report on diverted aid (Irish Times, 9 Nov)
• Culture mired in corruption slowly yields to forces of fragile democracy (Irish Times, 9 Nov)
• Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss misappropriation of funds (Oireachtas, 12 Nov)
• Irish Aid Director claims Uganda aid money went missing in ‘elaborate fraud‘ (Irish Examiner, 13 Nov)
• “I felt mugged over €4 million Uganda aid, says official” (Irish Examiner, 21 December)

Also listen to this interview on RTÉ radio (around the 1 hour mark)

Then there’s also:

• “Uganda gate – Debunking two myths about sub-Sahara Africa“, by Ronan Lyons.
• “Irish Aid, Tullow Oil and Uganda”, by It’s A Political World
• Uganda aid cuts threaten vital services (IRIN News, 17 December)

And here are some stories from African media outlets:

• Financial scam costs Uganda sh52.8 billion Irish aid (New Vision, 27 Oct)
• Donors cut Shs70 bn aid over OPM fraud (The Daily Monitor, 27 Oct)
• 10 officials indicted from PM office over fraud (New Vision)
• Amama, donors to meet over cash scam (The Daily Monitor, 30 Oct)
• Can’t the Western donors just learn a single lesson? (The Daily Monitor, 4 Nov)

• We’ll find out if Uganda aid fraud goes all the way to the top, says Irish Minister (All Africa.com, 6 Nov)
• Ugandan shilling weaker on aid suspension (Reuters)
• We deserve better from Government on corruption (All Africa.com, 8 Nov)
• Who will fight corruption? (All Africa.com, 10 Nov)
• First Lady denies taking part (All Africa.com, 11 Nov)
• Donor cuts: URA told to tax more (Daily Monitor, 21 Dec)

In our initial response, we stressed the importance of repayment of the money, and highlighted the fact that the fraud was uncovered by the Ugandan authorities themselves, following an investigation undertaken by the Ugandan authorities.

The fraud allegations arose from an audit undertaken by the Office of the Auditor General in Uganda – one of the institutions supported by Irish Aid. Just a few years ago, such open and independent scrutiny of governments in developing countries would have been unthinkable.

We also stressed that corruption is a serious development issue. Corruption hits the poorest hardest and undermines the spirit and the very objectives of all development work.

If this story has prompted you to read up on Corruption and Development, then check out these resources.

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Also read:

• “Aid myths busted”