Investments Built On Graft - French Envoy
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The Monitor (Kampala)
July 16, 2004
Posted to the web July 15, 2004
Solomon Muyita
Kampala
France has decried the rate at which public funds are being embezzled in Uganda yet
the corrupt officials are left to get away with it.
"It is not acceptable that public funds are embezzled. It is not acceptable to see
luxurious investments sprouting from corruption, while poverty remains high in the
country," the French Ambassador, Jean-Bernard Thiant said on Wednesday during the
Bastille Day celebrations in Kampala.
Bastille Day (July 14, 1789) is the day when the oppressed people of France rose up
against the rule of King Louis XVI and the Queen, Marie Antoinette. They stormed
Bastille prison and released all prisoners. Thiant said it is urgent that
investigations are done and judicial proceedings taken against the culprits.
"Everyone knows that there is corruption in Uganda at high and low levels. There are
very many reports but nothing has been done on these reports. The Government should
force these people to pay back what they steal," he added.
The British High Commissioner to Kenya, Sir Edward Clay, on Monday attacked the
government for doing little to stop corruption. The Kenyan authorities have demanded
that Clay substantiates the allegations. The minister of Ethics and Integrity, Tim
Lwanga, was present when Thiant was speaking.
Thiant called on the government to find a quick solution to the war in northern
Uganda, which he described as a tragedy. "Whereas the international community is moved
by the situation in Sudan's Darfour region, and rightly so, the martyrdom of the
northern Ugandan Acholi people has gone on in silence," he said.
"We cannot talk about this country without evoking the tragedy in the north. For 17
years now, the region lives in fear and misery. We cannot accept that more than 1.8
people live in camps for the displaced under general indifference. It is more than
time to put an end to that war," Thiant said. "A solution must be found now, even if
it means negotiating grudgingly. It will be to the honour of the government of Uganda
to finally restore peace in the north," he added.
Thiant said the time was ripe for Uganda to adopt multipartyism. France's contribution
to Uganda's development includes its 23 percent share of Uganda's budget support aid
from the EU's Development Fund, and other support to various projects.
The State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Tom Butime, said the 36-year relationship
between Uganda and France has been cordial, except during the era of Idi Amin. "Not
even Uganda's intervention in DR Congo disorganised our relationship," he said.
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