By Godfrey Olukya 29-10-2012
The government of Norway is concerned about the misuse of aid funds in Uganda.
It want the money stolen by Uganda government officials to be refunded.
Funds provided by Norway and other donor countries which were intended to go towards reconstruction efforts in northern where over 20 years of civil war left many people impoverished have been allegedly misused.
This misuse of funds was recently discovered by the Uganda’s auditor general. An accountant and several other official have been arrested in connection of the funds.
Norway’s minister of International Development Heikki Holmas said, ‘This amounts to no less than stealing from the impoverished people of northern Uganda who have been subjected to conflict and misrule for years. We have a policy of zero tolerance for corruption and other misuse of funds, and we intend to get to the bottom of this.
He said that they are now carrying out a full investigation into the extent of the fraud.’
He said,’Together with other donor countries, we will make sure that we have all the facts on the table. When we have a more accurate picture of what has happened and how it could have happened, we will decide on an appropriate response. Funds that cannot be accounted for or funds reported as misused must be returned.’
Norway provided over 30 million US dollars two years to Uganda but much of it has been misused.
‘One bright spot in all of this is that the misuse of funds was revealed by Uganda’s own audit institution. Norway has supported the
development of the Office of the Auditor General of Uganda for many years.’ Holmas said.
END
