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The Global Fund depresses me on Uganda

For many of the blights that bedevil sub-Saharan Africa — AIDS, poverty, corruption — Uganda has been considered an exception. However, Sebastian Mallaby’s The World’s Banker implied that much of this success would not necessarily be self-sustaining. It’s with that in mind that I was saddened but not surprised to see this Alan Beattie story ...

By Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

August 24, 2005, 7:22 PM

For many of the blights that bedevil sub-Saharan Africa -- AIDS, poverty, corruption -- Uganda has been considered an exception. However, Sebastian Mallaby's The World's Banker implied that much of this success would not necessarily be self-sustaining. It's with that in mind that I was saddened but not surprised to see this Alan Beattie story in the Financial Times:

For many of the blights that bedevil sub-Saharan Africa — AIDS, poverty, corruption — Uganda has been considered an exception. However, Sebastian Mallaby’s The World’s Banker implied that much of this success would not necessarily be self-sustaining. It’s with that in mind that I was saddened but not surprised to see this Alan Beattie story in the Financial Times:

The Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has suspended its grants to Uganda, a pioneer of Aids treatment, after an investigation uncovered evidenceof ?serious mismanagement? of funds. The investigation by the organisation’s ?local fund agent? (LFA), the business services firm PwC, found a string of problems with the grants, the FT was told. The fund has disbursed about $45m (?37m, ?25m) to Uganda over several years. The report found that when dollar grants were converted into Ugandan shillings, discrepancies between the exchange rate reported and actual market exchange rates meant that there was a shortfall of some $280,000…. Uganda, one of the aid darlings of Africa in the recent past, has been praised for its efforts in tackling Aids. The Global Fund said that, in spite of the report, Uganda’s programmes had successfully treated thousands of sufferers, and said it would try to ensure that such programmes were not disrupted. It also defended its central role in the global fight against Aids. But Uganda has come under increasing criticism for the continued perceived prevalence of corruption, as measured by surveys such as that of the campaign, Transparency International. Some officials and campaigners are raising questions about giving debt relief and aid without strict conditions on use.

You can read this Global Fund press release, as well as this additional Q&A, which cites “inappropriate, unexplained or improperly documented” expenses.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

Tag: Foreign & Public Diplomacy