[Ugnet] No Stand Yet On Cutting Aid

The fact is , fellow citizens and members of the International Community, the NRM military dictatorship has used whatever tricks it deems necessary to hold on to power; not least of which are attempts to manipulate the Uganda Constitution by any means necessary to provide for Museveni's so called SAD term which include bribe members of the so called Uganda Parliament so that Members may vote " wisely".

This to the EU is not reason enough to suspend Financial Aid to Museveni dictatorship.

I say, once the country is engulfed in chaos, which many a Uganda political observers have hinted upon time and time again, it may not be necessary to the EU to suspend its Financial AID money after all..

Indeed, many people including members of the EU resident in Kampala will be running heading for the nearest exit out at Entebbe Airport.

.Now you can make a difference, by demanding an even playing field in the political arena for all Ugandan Political parties.( not that some of us care) and send a message in no uncertain terms to the Dictatorship in Kampala that the EU will not take any nonsense, you still do not want to do so!! Sometime the white man is so stupid!!! They cannot see the obvious.!! The country called Uganda is doomed! if Museveni is still around.!..if for nothing else but for the many wars which the regime has created and the immense degree of poverty in the country.. a sure recipe for which revolutions are made of!!!

The European Union has not taken any position on Uganda's political transition, but they are watching how the process will go.

Britain has withheld a Shs17 billion aid to Uganda, saying the country is not handling the political transition process satisfactorily.

"This usually happens when there is a major problem, but we don't have a major problem in Uganda right now," said Mr Sigurd Illing, the head of the European Union Delegation in Uganda in an interview with The Monitor on Monday.

But he warned that if other EU members consider the transition process bogged down, they could take a more uniform and tougher stand against Uganda.

"The only case I know of among EU member countries that has cut aid is UK which has cut, I think, 12 percent of its aid," Illing said. "But we have continuous contact; they [Britain] are not taking a decision in thin air," he said.

Britain announced recently that it had withheld 5 million pounds (about Shs17 billion) of budget aid to Uganda for March.

The move has been widely perceived as the first sign of donor discontent over Uganda's slow transition to multiparty politics.

"When our last release of budget support fell due in March we were concerned by several aspects of the transition, including that insufficient progress had been made towards establishing a fair basis for a multiparty system," Britain's High Commission in Kampala said in a statement.

Illing did not say whether EU had taken a stand on the British action but simply said, "We discuss, we coordinate our efforts and we exchange information. We are talking and we will continue talking and exchanging information amongst us."

He said the EU was not in a position to tell member countries which position an individual country should take on her relations with another State.

"The EU member states take their own decisions. Each country has maintained the right to deal independently with any foreign country," Illing said.

The Irish Ambassador, Mairtin O'Fainin, was one of those who said they had not taken a stand on aid to Uganda.

But he would not say when they would sit to review their aid policy towards the country.

"We have not cut any aid. We are in constant touch with the government about the contentious issues. [But] our aid is still flowing normally. Most of it is budget support," Fainin said in an interview.

Ireland gives Uganda about 35 million euro a year.

The diplomats spoke to The Monitor at Illing's residence in Kololo where he held a reception on Monday evening to mark the EU Day.

It was attended by at least 10 European ambassadors.

Illing told his guests that the name Europe has come to symbolise liberty, tolerance, solidarity, democracy, and rule of law.

"These values are not exclusive, but they are common European values, which we are ready to protect at any cost," he said.

Illing said Uganda must reduce her dependency on donor aid. But for that to happen, he added, domestic revenue must be increased.

He said reducing aid reliance also calls for an improved export sector and helping the private sector to grow.

Half of Uganda's aid, which supports the national budget by about 52 percent, comes from EU countries.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Sam Kutesa, said the government was grateful for EU's continued support.

He said the government was still pursuing military and non-military strategies to end the 19-year-old Lord's Resistance Army rebellion in the north.

"The situation in northern Uganda is not yet back to normal. But the government is optimistic that the war is coming to an end," he said.

[Ugnet] No Stand Yet On Cutting Aid - EU

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