THE head of the UK’s official aid agency has warned that unless the Government takes action on corruption, development partners would withhold aid.
“We want the Government to take steps to sanction individuals who made serious breaches regarding procurement procedures,” said UK Department for International Development (DFID)’s Jane Rintoul at a breakfast meeting held at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel on Friday.
“We are concerned about corruption, especially the weak follow up with the CHOGM cases. This is likely to have implications for budget support,” she said at a function to unveil the new ‘UK aid’ logo that will highlight the country’s development efforts.
“We want to see the recovery of funds by getting a grip on assets of those named and we also want to see shareholding got from hotels among other things,” she asserted.
Rintoul was re-affirming an earlier position by international donors that was conveyed by the World Bank’s country director, Kundhavi Kadiresan, during a national budget review workshop in Kampala recently.
Kadiresan said donors were considering a range of actions.
“This may include withholding disbursements, reductions in aid, or re-programming away from direct budget support. These were all options discussed and agreed to with the Government in the 2007-08 budget appraisals,” Kadiresan told the meeting.
