Observe donor aid conditions

For the government, much as the current aid freeze appears to invoke some financial control measures, a lot more will have to be done to close the gaps that have allowed this vice to thrive in an almost casual manner, especially within various government departments.

Recent reports related to better financial management demands by the donor community are a step in the right direction. According to the reports, following the Shs50 billion corruption scandal in the Office of the Prime Minister, the government has up to November to fulfill all the seven conditions, which are the latest consequence of the theft of billions of shillings intended for post-conflict recovery in northern Uganda and Karamoja sub-region.

The donor aid freeze and the consequent control measures have come years after this newspaper and the wider civil society have made demands for strong measures to curb the widespread pillage of public resources. It is good to know that the donor community is eventually facing up to the abuses that have long crippled this country’s growth and even led to direct and indirect loss of lives in a number of incidents.

For the government, much as the current aid freeze appears to invoke some financial control measures, a lot more will have to be done to close the gaps that have allowed this vice to thrive in an almost casual manner, especially within various government departments.

According to junior Finance minister Fred Omach, some of the conditions revealed by donors include payment and recovery of all the misappropriated funds in OPM; interdiction of all public officials involved in the fraud and rotation of accounts staff; the need to seek legal remedy and freeze assets for individuals named in the scam; the need to facilitate CIID, DPP and the Auditor General’s Office to stop another scams from happening.

Others include the need to fully constitute the Office of the IGG by appointing all the required deputies under the IGG Act, the need to clean up the Integrated Financial Management System, the need to strengthen systems in Bank of Uganda and audit the payroll to weed out ghosts.

If these and other sustainable control measures that include barring the private companies that are involved in similar scams are applied, there is hope that the funds that are allocated towards improving millions of lives will eventually be put to their rightful use.