Kitt rejects calls to halt €30m development funding to Uganda

UGANDAN government ministers yesterday defended their country against suggestions Ireland should stop giving them Third World development aid.

Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Tom Kitt described calls for the Government to pull all its funding from Uganda as simplistic. The Government is providing €30 million in direct aid this year, but this is not going into Ugandan government coffers.

According to Uganda’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, James Wapakhabulo, Irish aid is ringfenced to ensure it is only spent on health, education and poverty eradication projects.

Concerns expressed about the Government’s continued support for Uganda, despite its involvement in the war ravaged Congo, prompted Mr Wapakhabulo and his colleague, Minister for Investment Sam Kutesa, to travel here to respond to the criticism.

Their government was no longer involved or arming groups in the Congo, he said, and said the criticism was not justified.

“Our presence shows the importance we attach to Ireland’s assistance. There is a lot of misinformation on the part of lack of knowledge,” he said.

But GOAL chief executive John O’Shea remained adamant the Government should not be providing any aid to Uganda because of its responsibility for some of the five million deaths in the Congo.

“This is a moral question and the Ugandan Government is involved in those deaths. While Adolf Hitler is killing the Jews, we’re giving him money because he’s running a very good orphanage just south of Auschwitz. You cannot deal with governments that behave in such a way,” he insisted.

Pointing out Concern and Trócaire supported the Government’s position on Uganda, Mr Kitt said he disagreed with Mr O’Shea.

“I am disappointed that his organisation has a different perspective on Uganda. There is a danger people will take a simplistic view of development,” he said.