Uganda returns Irish aid after misappropriation

The Ugandan government has returned £3.26m of aid to the Irish government, after it was transferred to unauthorised recipients within the government.

A report by the auditor general of Uganda found that the funds from Ireland had been taken by officials in Prime Minister Patrick Amama Mbabazi’s office.

Ireland, the UK, Norway and Denmark suspended aid to Kampala following the report.

The Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore said that the government’s return of aid money followed "intensive high level discussions with the government of Uganda over the last two months".

"I am satisfied that this and other steps taken by the government of Uganda send a clear signal of their commitment to bring those involved to account and to improve financial control systems," he said.

"I believe that these measures will contribute to the government's efforts to tackle corruption. I have now instructed my officials to examine options for a possible programme of support for the people of Uganda during 2013,

"Looking to the future, we stand ready to continue to work with the auditor general of Uganda in his efforts to root out corruption, strengthen financial controls, and build robust and transparent systems of accountability."

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button