Use of development cooperation funds
By The Post
Thu 06 May 2010, 04:00 CAT
THE Swedish people have every reason not to be happy with the manner in which we have managed the development cooperation funds they have given to us to address poverty.
There’s need for the people of Sweden to evaluate their assistance to us and how it should be given. We think it should be conditional, so that it would be necessary to really know those who are asking for it and how they will manage it.
We say this because when you help someone, a position is taken, and that position is taken on the basis of certain analyses of the loyalty and effectiveness of those in leadership in their people’s struggle to eradicate, or at least reduce, poverty. The assistance should be conditional; if not, they run the risk of it being turned into the opposite of what they want.
Our country needs radical changes for us to eliminate poverty, disease and backwardness. And this means we need leaders who can match the changes we need to make as a people; we need politicians with qualities of leaders of the masses.
We believe that if a completely pure politician doesn’t have certain leadership qualities, they cannot lead the radical changes our country needs to make. And, conversely, if someone has leadership qualities but nothing else, they cannot lead the radical changes we need to make, either.
It is absolutely necessary to have political seriousness and guiding standards and values and a spirit of self-sacrifice which accompanies one’s actions. This requires leaders who see farther and who are selective; self-sacrificing leaders.
The current political leadership of our country, especially those currently running the government, cannot be expected to have the seriousness and spirit required to run the affairs of our country and manage and the development cooperation funds we are being given to address poverty.
This is an irresponsible, greedy, selfish and corrupt clique that sees nothing wrong with misusing, misapplying and stealing development cooperation funds.
This can easily be measured by the way the present Zambian government is dealing with the corruption of Frederick Chiluba and his tandem of thieves. The Zambian government sought international financial assistance to help it investigate and prosecute those who were involved in stealing and abusing public resources under the Chiluba regime.
Millions of pounds, dollars and euros were made available to the Zambian government for that undertaking. And accordingly, Chiluba and his accomplices were investigated, found wanting and taken to court in London. A judgment was obtained in the London High Court, that even came to sit and hear evidence in Lusaka.
But today this same government has embraced Chiluba and his thieving friends and is protecting them from enforcement of the London judgment. It is being claimed that Chiluba has been acquitted of any wrongdoing by the local magistrates’ court in the criminal proceedings they had commenced against him.
The acquittal of Chiluba has been denounced as a fraud, a cheat, a product of manipulation of the judicial process. And this government went as far as withdrawing from the courts a legitimate appeal against Chiluba’s acquittal with the corrupt complicity of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
And it will not surprise anyone if in one way or another, this government, through the Director of Public Prosecutions it has compromised, will deliberately bungle the appeals that have arisen and will arise from the convictions of Chiluba’s friends that have so far been secured.
This is surely a government that can’t be expected to efficiently, effectively and in an orderly manner manage development cooperation funds given to our people by the Swedish government and others.
Corruption is very much a part of this government. This government cannot survive without corruption; without abuse and stealing of development cooperation funds through government tenders, contracts and other crooked means.
Whenever development cooperation funds are provided, for them, they don’t see an opportunity for helping reduce poverty. What they see is an opportunity to make money for themselves, to enrich themselves and ways are sought to steal such funds.
Unnecessary workshops are created and taken to lodges they own; they are the suppliers of this and that for which they are paid from such development cooperation funds. And this is a very deeply entrenched practice which explains why development cooperation funds have not achieved much in terms of reducing poverty.
What the Swedish have poured into this country in terms of development cooperation funds is a lot of money which, if was utilised efficiently and effectively, most of our people would today have been lifted out of abject poverty. But the truth is that money has not been properly spent; it has been wasted.
In saying this, we are not in any way being ungrateful to the Swedish people and their government for making fine use of their deep pockets. It is our collective duty as a people to construct a leadership and a government that take care of our affairs in an honest and efficient manner.
We are yet to come up with such a leadership and government. And we are collectively responsible for this because we seem to have become used to living with corrupt politicians and public officers and have accepted it as an unchangeable fact and we are, in one way or another, helping to perpetuate it.
How else can we explain our tolerance of the way Chiluba has been let off the hook and allowed to go scot-free for all the stealing of public funds he was involved in? And how else can we explain our tolerance of Rupiah Banda’s accommodation of and collaboration with Chiluba and his tandem of thieves?
In other words, we are all – though naturally to different extents – responsible for the abuse and stealing of development cooperation funds and consequently, the poverty our people have to endure.
We have to accept the consequences of this sin that we are committing against ourselves. If we accept it as such, we will understand that it is up to us all, and up to us only, to do something about it.
We cannot continue to blame others, including colonialism, imperialism or foreign domination for everything, not only because it would be untrue but also because it could blunt the duty that each of us faces today, namely, the obligation to act independently, freely, reasonably and quickly.
Let us not be mistaken: the best government in the world, the best parliament and the best president, cannot achieve much on their own. And it would also be wrong to expect a general remedy from them only.
Freedom and democracy include participation and therefore, responsibility from us all. If we realise this, we will be able to utilise development cooperation funds efficiently, effectively and in an orderly manner to see our people out of poverty.
And as we have stated before, let us try in a new time and in a new way to construct a leadership and government that squares up well to these challenges before us.
Let us teach ourselves and others that leadership or being in government should be an expression of a desire to contribute to the happiness of all our people rather than of a need to cheat and rape them, to rob them of the benefits of development cooperation funds.
As to the Swedish people and their government and other development cooperation partners, we urge them to continue assisting us in removing the obstacles to our development. And one such obstacle is corruption. No matter how much development funds are given to us, as long as corruption is the order of the day, very little, if not nothing, will come out of it.
We need help to ensure that development cooperation funds and whatever resources we generate for ourselves are used in the most honest and prudent manner. Solidarity is an objective reality underlining the fact that we are all passengers on the same vessel – the planet where we all live.
And obviously, this vessel is carrying too much inequalities, injustice and unfairness to remain afloat. It is our collective duty to ensure that all passengers can travel on this vessel in conditions of solidarity, equity and justice.
Labels: CORRUPTION, DONORS, MARIE ANDERSSON DE FRUTOS, SWEDEN
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Sweden not happy with govt over use of aid funds
By George Zulu in Monze
Thu 06 May 2010, 04:00 CAT
SWEDISH Ambassador to Zambia Marie Andersson de Frutos has said the Swedish people are not happy with the manner in which development cooperation funds meant to address poverty are being managed.
In an interview in Monze on Tuesday, Ambassador De Frutos said there was a big debate going on in Sweden regarding the utilisation of development cooperation funds given to the Zambian government.
“There is a big debate going on in the manner development cooperation funds are utilised by the government concerned, our people need to see change in the lives of the people they are helping through these funds.
It has to be change when we pay these funds and they must uplift the lives of the poor people. That is the whole ideology behind development cooperation funds,” she said.
Ambassador de Frutos said the scam in the Ministry of Health last year was a source of concern.
She said the freezing of funds following the scam was not meant to punish the people of Zambian but to initiate a platform for dialogue on how best the government could address such problems.
Ambassador De Frutos said she was happy that the Swedish government had continued funding the various development programmes which include the Ministry of Health.
“It has been an on-going discussion on how best to use development cooperation fund. We are not happy, of course we have raised this with the government concerned,” said Ambassador De Frutos.
“Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where we have to freeze funds due to mismanagement, but this is going hand in hand with the discussion that we are having with government to see how this can change. Our people have questioned how the development cooperation funds are utilised.”
A scam was last year unearthed in the Ministry of Health in which K10 billion was allegedly misappropriated by civil servants. The Swedish government, being one of the funders of the ministry, the Netherlands government and the GAVI Alliance, among others, suspended funding. However, both the Swedish and Netherlands governments have started funding the sector after the government pledged to take measures to prevent a recurrence of the graft.
Labels: CORRUPTION, DONORS, MARIE ANDERSSON DE FRUTOS, SWEDEN
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Missing MoH documents worry Swedish envoy
Written by Kabanda Chulu
Thursday, July 09, 2009 5:13:36 PM
SWEDISH Ambassador to Zambia Marie Andersonn de Frutos yesterday said it is alarming and worrisome that evidence to conduct forensic auditing has gone missing at the Ministry of Health (MoH).
When asked if the missing evidence to carry out forensic auditing at the Ministry of Health would affect a transparent court process, Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said the basis of Swedish support was on mutual trust to help the poor that everything would be handled correctly.
"Of course if evidence is missing it cannot be correct to say there will be a transparent court process and it seems this [evidence] is destroyed then it is alarming to see that it has happened like this and we are worried about this on our side," Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said. "But the basis of our support is mutual trust that things will be handled correctly and we are not here to do all this work to bring in auditors, court processes, since we are just providing our taxpayers' money to improve living conditions of poor and the whole objective is for Zambians to run the show."
Asked on the disbursement of withheld funds and whether donor trust towards the Zambian government had been shaken over the crimes and embezzlement of funds at MoH or not, Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said it was too early to give an answer.
"We don't own any process here I am sorry and this has to be handled with your officials, I am a guest here and I read what I read in newspapers and I get information from people I meet then I make conclusions after that and our support is based on mutual trust that everything will be handled in a correct way but it is just amazing that there has been crime and embezzlement with funds meant for poor people and that newspaper reports indicate that it has been happening since 2001," Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said. "If trust has been shaken, I don't know what you think... what do you think? Aaah! And on the disbursement of withheld funds, it is too early for me to answer since this process is on-going and government is playing an active part so there is no clear answer right now."
Sweden, through Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Netherlands recently suspended aid to the Ministry of Health following revelations of corruption. The two countries said the abuse of taxpayers' money was unacceptable and that they would withhold funds until the Auditor General concludes the forensic audit on Ministry of Health.
And Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said the European Union (EU), under the Swedish Presidency would work towards changing the perception that the EU is just an aid contributor rather than a political actor.
Presenting the Swedish goals for the Presidency of the EU and her vision for her term in Zambia, Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said there was need to add political dimension and change perception that the EU was just about development cooperation.
"We want to be perceived as political partners not just as development actors, we want to engage Africa on political dialogue over matters, for example about DR Congo, Mauritania, even Zimbabwe and issues such as reducing poverty and contribution to sustainable global development," said Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos.
"Under Swedish Presidency, we are ready to 'taking on the challenge' and key priorities will be managing the impact of the financial crisis, climate change, good governance and human rights, regional and continental integration and conclusion of the economic partnership agreements, the so-called EPAs [Economic Partnership Agreements]."
Labels: DONORS, MARIE ANDERSSON DE FRUTOS, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, SWEDEN
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COMMENT - The envoy should never forget, that Zambia is losing $4 billion per year because we no longer own the mines. And that Africa is financing it's own 'donor aid' four times over, because we do not benefit from our raw materials exports. Remember that we can take them back, Swedish envoy.
Never forget it’s Swedish taxpayers who contribute funding – envoy
Written by George Chellah
Saturday, June 27, 2009 3:39:13 PM
SWEDISH Ambassador Marie Andersson de Frutos yesterday told President Rupiah Banda that her country is deeply concerned with the information recently received that the embezzlement of funds at the Ministry of Health has been ongoing for several years.
And Ambassador De Frutos said people should never forget that it was the Swedish taxpayers who contribute funding to improve the living conditions of the poor.
Presenting her credentials at State House, Ambassador De Frutos said in the health sector, Zambia and Sweden had worked together almost since independence.
"Sweden has supported numerous programmes and we feel a strong connection here. We welcome the action the Zambian authorities have taken with regard to the embezzlement of funds that has been ongoing within the Ministry of Health," Ambassador Dr Frutos said.
"At the same time, as you understand Mr President, we are deeply concerned by the information we recently received that this has been ongoing for, as it seems, for several years. In this context, we should also never forget that it is the Swedish taxpayers who contribute funding to improve the living conditions of the poor."
Sweden and the Netherlands recently suspended funding to Zambia's health sector following revelations of corruption in the Ministry of Health.
Ambassador De Frutos said Sweden would continue to be an active and constructive partner to Zambia.
"We will continue to constantly highlight our overall goal for global development to contribute to a equitable and sustainable development and to creating opportunities for poor people to improve their living conditions. Our commitment to human rights and democracy is of course a basic pillar of our engagement," she said.
Ambassador De Frutos said on July 1, 2009 Sweden would take over the presidency of the European Union (EU).
"The motto of the Swedish presidency is 'Taking on the challenge'. And we can see that most probably the financial crisis and the climate change will be the cornerstone of our presidency," Ambassador De Frutos said.
"For Africa we will focus on security issues, governance and further developing the EU/Africa partnership. When it comes to Zambia we will continue to embark on the fruitful and constructive Articles 8 dialogue that my predecessor started as local president under the Czech presidency."
And President Banda said the government recognizes Sweden's commitment to strengthening relations with Zambia.
"As you rightly pointed out, development cooperation is a vital part of our relations and it is in this regard that our two countries should explore further areas of cooperation that will add both political and economic impetus to our friendship," President Banda said.
"It is sad, though, that our efforts to eradicate poverty, let alone to provide quality health services to our people, are being undermined by a few greedy individuals. My administration will deal decisively with corrupt elements."
He said Zambia welcomed Swedish investment in the country.
"This is in line with our resolve to implore the economy and the welfare of our people. My administration has identified agriculture, tourism, mining and manufacturing as priority sectors in our economic development efforts," President Banda said.
"In this vein, I wish to take this opportunity to appeal to Your Excellency to apply your personal efforts and encourage the Swedish business community to enter into partnerships with their Zambian counterparts in order to exploit the immense potential existing in these sectors."
President Banda urged Ambassador De Frutos to work towards enhancing agriculture, trade and investment and promoting tourism between the two countries.
And presenting his letter of credence, Belgian Ambassador-designate Paul Jansen said the tourism business in the country was a huge industry that would attract a lot of big investors.
“And I hope that many investors will find their way into Zambia,” he said.
He said under the leadership of the late president Levy Mwanawasa and President Banda's leadership, Zambia has been a good example of good governance and political freedom.
Labels: AMBASSADOR, DONORS, MARIE ANDERSSON DE FRUTOS, PAUL JANSEN, RUPIAH BANDA, SWEDEN
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