UK Aid (Uganda and Rwanda)

Ivan Lewis Excerpts

Monday 19th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Ivan Lewis (Bury South) (Lab)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on UK aid to Uganda and Rwanda in light of renewed conflict by M23 rebels in Goma, eastern DRC, and the Secretary of State’s announcement that she has suspended aid to Uganda as a result of serious allegations of corruption.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Justine Greening)]

The Foreign Secretary and I are deeply concerned by the rapidly deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo—DRC—caused by the military activities of the March 23 Movement, known as the M23. On 17 November, the M23 launched an attack on Congolese army positions at Kibumba, a key defensive position 30 km north of Goma, and fierce fighting then ensued. The UN forces—MONUSCO—have also engaged to seek to prevent the M23 advance. We understand that the M23 has not taken Goma, but the situation is deeply unstable and the local population extremely worried. We do not yet have clear figures on casualties. I understand that up to 80,000 people are moving around Goma to refugee camps on the other side of the town, but we have not seen any major movements of refugees across the border.

As the Foreign Secretary said in his statement at the weekend, the Government

“strongly condemn the M23’s advance towards Goma and call on it immediately to desist from further violence. I am particularly concerned by the risk to civilians, the population of Goma and refugees in surrounding areas. I urge those with influence over the M23 to call on them to stop fighting and not to provide them any external support.”

The UK Government call for a cessation of hostilities and for all parties to engage to resolve this crisis without further bloodshed.

On aid programmes in Rwanda and Uganda, as I said to the International Development Committee at its evidence session on Rwanda last week, I will be reviewing all the evidence—including, of course, the latest evidence on renewed fighting in eastern DRC—and look at how the situation develops before making any further decisions on the next disbursement of general budget support.

As I announced last week, following the suspension of aid to the office of the Prime Minister in Uganda in August, I have now suspended all aid that goes through the Government of Uganda’s financial systems. That is as a result of initial evidence emerging from our ongoing forensic audit of the office of the Prime Minister, which indicates that aid money may have been misused, and an additional report by the Ugandan Auditor General into the misuse of aid by other donors. I have suspended £11 million of our aid programme, including general budget support, although other aid that is not channelled through the Government is continuing. The driver for that decision is obviously distinct from the situation about which the hon. Gentleman asked regarding the M23 and activities in DRC.

I am sure the House will share my concern, and that of the Foreign Secretary, about the situation in eastern DRC. We remain committed to working with the region to find durable solutions that bring stability and remove causes of conflict that currently leave space for armed groups to prosper. Solutions could involve security sector reform, work to return refugees to their places of origin over time, or work to extend the state reach of the Government in Kinshasa to all parts of DRC. Solutions must be led by the Government of DRC and will need the support of the region to be implemented. Our role is to try to assist in creating conditions that can bring durable peace, both through our development programmes in the region and our diplomatic efforts. However, there is no magic bullet to solve the crisis.

[Mr Lewis]

I thank the right hon. Lady for that answer, but she is developing an unhealthy habit of making important announcements via the press, rather than directly to Parliament. That was the case in relation to aid to India a couple of weeks ago, and now with Uganda. Will she reassure hon. Members that in future all important statements will be made first to the House of Commons?

As the right hon. Lady has said, we heard disturbing news overnight that the M23 militia is advancing on Goma. Its activities have terrorised the civilian population, led to the displacement of thousands of people, and caused yet another tragic humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC. Successive UN reports have been damning in their criticism of direct support for those activities by the Government of Rwanda, and have also expressed serious concern about the involvement of the Ugandan Government.

The Government’s policy on this crisis has been nothing short of shambolic and has seriously undermined the international effort to send a unified and unequivocal message to the Rwandan Government that their actions are entirely unacceptable. The answer today was incredibly complacent.

First, will the Secretary of State now acknowledge that her predecessor’s decision to reinstate budget support to Rwanda was a profound error of judgment? Secondly, will she explain why—according to her predecessor’s recent evidence to the International Development Committee—the decision was taken despite Rwanda’s failure to meet two of the conditions laid down specifically by the Prime Minister? Those two conditions were a public condemnation of M23 and a cessation of all support for its activities by the Rwandan Government. Thirdly, will the Secretary of State today stop dithering and make it clear that the next tranche of budgetary support will not be released to Rwanda unless it fully complies with the Prime Minister’s own conditions? Finally, what steps has the Foreign Secretary taken to indicate our serious concerns to the Government of Rwanda? Is it not now essential that he or one of his Ministers calls in the Rwandan ambassador to the UK for urgent talks?

On Uganda, when the Government came to power, they made a strong commitment to be tough on corruption. That is absolutely right; British taxpayers have a right to expect that their hard-earned money goes to the poorest, and not to the bank accounts of the rich and powerful. However, in November last year, the Independent Commission on Aid Impact, which was set up by the previous Secretary of State, identified a major gap between the Government’s rhetoric on corruption and the realities of the measures being taken by the Department for International Development.

Will the Secretary of State therefore tell us in some detail when the allegations of corruption first came to light? How were they brought to the attention of her Department? What estimate has been made of the amount of UK aid that has been siphoned off for inappropriate purposes? What steps are being taken to recover any losses of British taxpayers’ money? What criteria will she apply when deciding whether to reinstate direct financial aid to the Ugandan Government? Finally, does she not feel in the slightest bit embarrassed that, when the rest of the international community is suspending budget support to the Government of Rwanda because they are actively supporting a militia that is undermining the civilian population in eastern DRC, she is a member of a Government who have departed from that international coalition and who have sent entirely the wrong message to the President of Rwanda?

[Justine Greening]

I am disappointed by the tone that the hon. Gentleman has taken on this important matter, and by his attempt to politicise something that is of deep concern to hon. Members on both sides of the House. I can assure you, Mr Speaker, that, as you know, I make written ministerial statements whenever we believe them to be of a substance that is warranted in the House—[Interruption.] We did indeed make statements to the House, and I will endeavour to continue to do so. I am always happy to answer urgent questions on any issues, as you see fit, Mr Speaker.

On Rwanda, I should point out that, under my predecessor, the Government reduced the amount of general budget support from the levels we inherited. That support will continue to fall over the coming months. The shadow Secretary of State mentioned the President of Rwanda, but a Labour predecessor of mine called him a “sweetie”. Labour therefore has no ability to criticise the Government in relation to tracking the results of our aid or in relation to being clear on whether it is being spent appropriately. Whenever we have needed to take action to curb aid, we have done so.

The shadow Secretary of State may disagree with the reasons for partially putting through some further budget support earlier this year, but I have been clear with the International Development Committee, including last week, that I will take a look at all the evidence on the ground from all sources when I come to make my decision in December. I will not pre-empt that. When I met the Committee last week, the situation on the ground in eastern DRC was different from how it is today. He might want to pre-empt where we might be in December, which is when I will take my next decision, but it would not be correct for me to follow suit, as he wants me to do.

In relation to what conditions we will seek to see adhered to, we have been clear cut about both the partnership principles that we struck up with the Government of Rwanda and the PM’s conditions. I think they are absolutely right, and I will again look at them when I come to take my decision in December.

The hon. Gentleman asked what steps the Government had taken in relation to the Rwandan Government regarding the M23. The Foreign Secretary spoke with the Rwandan Foreign Minister at the weekend.

On Uganda, I have to say that we have taken action in a timely fashion in relation to suspending aid to Uganda. I presume the hon. Gentleman does not disagree with the decision I took. No, he clearly does not. I am delighted he supports the decision we have taken. If I can set out the chronology of what happened, in August we had initial reports of fraud and corruption in relation to the office of the Prime Minister—not in relation to our money, but other donor money. At that stage, we duly suspended our further funding to the office of the Prime Minister. After that, we initiated a forensic audit, and the initial results of that forensic audit have led me to suspend all aid, more broadly, to the Government of Uganda.

This has been a logical process that has taken account of all information, but has sought always to consider the fact that we still want to make sure that our development work in countries such as Uganda and Rwanda helps to alleviate the extreme poverty faced by the people on the ground on a day-to-day basis. These are often difficult decisions to have to take, but we take them based on the facts that we have at the time, and in discussion across Government. I hope that that answers the hon. Gentleman’s questions, and I look forward to other questions from my colleagues.