Emmanuel Gyezaho | Kampala
The outgoing United States Ambassador to Uganda, Mr Steven Browning, yesterday said that President Museveni’s government is not doing enough to fight corruption.
Ambassador Browning, who – in keeping with tradition – resigned from his post following a change of government in the US, told reporters at the US Embassy in Kampala that Uganda had failed to qualify for the US-funded Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) because of its failure to rein in corruption.
“Uganda seeks to be a recipient of this programme,” said Mr Browning, “But we have told them that they are not ready; the ability to control and fight corruption is not as strong as we think it should be.”The MCA is a no-strings attached poverty reduction fund where up to $700million is awarded to developing countries that score well in the fight against corruption.
The US is one of the biggest donors to Uganda and a key ally of President Museveni and the ambassador’s comments will be seen as an indictment of the President’s commitment to fight graft.
In 2007, the US government boosted Kampala’s anti-corruption efforts with a $ 10.4million grant to help finance the anti-corruption efforts in the public sector, especially within public procurement. The US envoy said Washington will continue to support the country’s anti-corruption efforts.
“We assisted them with a programme to help strengthen their ability to fight corruption,” Ambassador Browning said yesterday.
“If they succeed, then they will be able to compete for this huge amount of money. If they fail, I am not going to lash out and criticise the government for failing to fight. All I am going to do is say, ‘you had your chance; you didn’t do it’.”
Mr Browning also raised the red flag over the state of press freedom in the country. He said: “As Uganda continues its journey towards democratisation, this is one of the issues that needs to be addressed by the people and institutions of government.”
The envoy was commenting about the government’s latest offensive against the press following the recent interrogation of two Daily Monitor journalists, Grace Matsiko and Angelo Izama, along with the paper’s Managing Editor Daniel Kalinaki.
He said, “I believe a country and a democracy is only as strong as its press. A press that is restricted, constrained and intimidated can only weaken the government.
It can only weaken the country. But I believe a strong vibrant, inquisitive, responsible press is an absolute essential criteria for a strong vibrant society. I don’t know of a single country that is a true functioning, flourishing democracy that does not have a free press.”
Mr Browning also said he was “disappointed” that the military offensive against the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels launched in December after the Juba peace talks collapsed had not yet resulted in the capture of rebel leader Joseph Kony.
“I think all observers would have liked to have a very quick military action that resulted in Kony’s capture so that he can be handed over to either Ugandan justice system or the International Criminal Court,” said Mr Browning.
“It is disappointing that it is not over yet but I am not going to pass judgement on whether it was done appropriately or not. I am not a military strategist.”
Mr Browning’s comments come on the heels of critical words from US Senator Russ Feingold, the chairman of the US Senate’s sub-committee on Africa, who said the on-going three-nation military campaign against the LRA had failed to minimise civilian deaths.
Mr Feingold said in a statement that Uganda, which is the brain behind Operation Lightning Thunder, and its allies DR Congo and South Sudan, had not done enough to save rebel abductees, had left civilians vulnerable to reprisal attacks by the rebels, and had fuelled regional instability.
Suspected LRA fighters have killed several hundred people in the DR Congo and Southern Sudan since the operation against the rebel group started four weeks ago.
Mr Browning, who has held fort at the US Mission in Kampala since April 2006, said yesterday that his resignation, together with those of all the other US ambassadors around the globe, would be handed over to President- elect Barrack Obama after his January 20 inauguration.
Mr Browning, who has also served in Kenya and Tanzania, said he hopes to see out his three-year posting to Uganda until the summer of 2009 and hinted at seeking an East African passport.
It is not clear whether the ambassador’s strong comments on corruption, press freedom and the war against the LRA reflect the old views of Republican President George W. Bush who was close to Museveni, or whether they indicate a shift in policy by Washington under Barack Obama’s incoming Democratic regime.
A recent report by the Inspector General of Government showed that corruption, which World Bank estimates say costs the country $300 million every year, had become an acceptable way of life in Uganda.
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