Maravi

(NYASATIMES) Britain cuts aid to Malawi

COMMENT - This is Britain's retaliation for the fact that Malawi maintains economic relations with Zimbabwe, and has extended loans to the country. The UK wants to switch the Zimbabwean government with neoliberal stooges, who want to privatise the mines and turn back land reform. Morgan Tsvangirai's brother owns a goldmine. This is all capturing Zimbabwe's diamond and mining industry.

Britain cuts aid to Malawi
By Nyasa Times
Published: July 14, 2011

Malawi will no longer receive general budget support from the UK Government, it has been announced. In a statement made available to Nyasa Times, the UK’s Department for International Development said Malawi’s government was suppressing demonstrations and also criticised some of Malawi’s economic management and governance.

“General budget support, which is used to allow governments to deliver their own national strategies for poverty reduction against an agreed set of targets, has been suspended indefinitely,” said a statement signed by UK’s International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell.

Bingu: Says he would not accept insults just because Britain was the country's largest aid donor.

“On governance, demonstrations have been suppressed, civil society organisations intimidated, and an Injunctions Bill passed that would make it easier for the Government to place restrictions on opponents without legal challenge,” reads the statement.

“On the economy, the UK is concerned that Malawi’s overvalued exchange rate has created chronic foreign exchange shortages which are having a serious impact on the Malawian private sector’s ability to drive future growth. There are now daily fuel queues, tobacco exports have deteriorated and Malawi is off-track with its IMF programme.” the statement said.

The World Bank, the European Union, the African Development Bank, Germany and Norway have all suspended or ended general budget support to Malawi.

“The UK provides development assistance in order to help communities lift themselves out of grinding poverty, whether that’s through getting children into school, ensuring women survive childbirth or helping farmers grow enough food to feed their families and communities,” Mitchell said.

“But poor people in Malawi and British taxpayers alike have been let down. In these circumstances I cannot justify the provision of general budget support for Malawi.”

Last year, the UK government gave £19m ($30m) in budgetary support to Malawi.

Mitchell said the UK will now “use other means to ensure that programmes to protect poor Malawians, amongst the poorest people in the world, and deliver basic services like health and education are able to continue.”

He said: “The UK has a long and deep commitment to the people of Malawi and we are keen to see the country resume the good progress it has made in recent years. I remain willing to reconsider our approach as and when our concerns are addressed.”

The UK has helped improve food security in Malawi for over seven million people a year by providing them with high yielding maize and legume seeds via the Farm Input Subsidy Programme.

UK support to strengthen the health service has helped save the lives of 3,200 pregnant women and 40,000 children since 2004. UK funding has built over 3,200 primary school classrooms and 4,800 toilets since 2001, helping keep more girls in school.

President Bingu wa Mutharika expelled UK diplomat Fergus Cochrane-Dyet after he was quoted in a leaked cable as saying the Malawi President does not tolerate criticism.

But Malawi government announced recently it had initiated dialogue with Britain.—(Reporting by Thom Chiumia, Nyasa Times)

Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, DONORS, MALAWI, NEOCOLONIALISM, UK, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 3:52 PM