Trekvart milliard danske kroner i manglende eller udskudte bistandsmider fra Vesten er den foreløbige pris, Uganda må betale for sin drakoniske lov mod landets homoseksuelle – istiden rammer sundhedsforsorgen for menigmand og lønnen til adskillige embedsmænd.
KAMPALA, 2 April 2014 (IRIN): Since the enactment (vedtagelse) of a draconian anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda just over a month ago, donors have been slashing (skåret i) or suspending aid to the country in protest.
Health officials, activists and NGOs warn that this could have a major impact on healthcare services, particularly for HIV/AIDS patients.
Project and budget support worth about 140 million US dollar (ca. 745 mio. DKR) has been suspended or redirected by the World Bank, US and several European countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and DENMARK, after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the act into law on 24 February 2014.
Under the new law, persons found guilty of “homosexual acts” can be jailed for up to 14 years, and up to a life sentence for “aggravated” cases, such as those committed by someone who is HIV-positive, or those involving minors, the disabled and serious offenders.
Keeping a stiff upperlip
Publicly, the government has appeared unfazed (uanfægtet) by the donor cuts, with President Museveni speaking at a “thanksgiving” parade to celebrate the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) organized by religious leaders on 31 March and describing donor cuts as “contemptuous” (en hån /foragtelige).
But privately a senior government official told IRIN that the consequences have been “dire.”
“We have a crisis. The government has been forced to review its priorities and make readjustments as donors have withheld aid,” the official said, adding:
“We are seeing stagnation of social services and public investments. The civil servants have not been paid their salaries [in February].”
IRIN looks at what exactly has been cut, and what this means for Uganda.
Who’s cut what funding? (hvem har skåret ned på hvad)
The biggest cut so far has come from the WORLD BANK, which suspended a 90 million dollar planned loan package aimed at strengthening the country’s health care system, pending further review.
The fund was meant to rehabilitate and equip 13 regional hospitals and 27 county-level health centres.
That represents 20 percent of Uganda’s total 2013-14 health budget, and more than half of all donor contributions to the health sector. External financing had been anticipated to account for 37 percent of the total health budget.
“Institutionalized discrimination is bad for people and for societies,” wrote World Bank President Jim Yong Kim in an op-ed reaction to the law published in the Washington Post.
“There is clear evidence that when societies enact laws that prevent productive people from fully participating in the workforce, economies suffer,” noted he.
In early March SWEDEN announced that it was looking to withdraw direct aid estimated at 10,1 million dollar, and the NETHERLANDS stopped a 9,6 million dollar subsidy intended for Uganda’s judicial system.
DENMARK and NORWAY will redirect more than 17 million dollar meant for the government to NGOs and civil society organizations.
Cutting across the board
The USA has suspended 13,4 million dollar, across a number of its programmes.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on 28 February 2014 suspended an agreement that allowed the US government to fully or partially pay for the salaries of 87 employees of the Ministry of Health’s AIDS Control Programme.
The CDC has also suspended the start of a joint survey that was to be conducted with Uganda’s University of Makerere to estimate the size of at-risk populations for HIV/AIDS.
“An effective HIV strategy must reach and treat key at-risk populations,” Erin Rattazzi, the US State Departments’ Africa Bureau Press Officer told IRIN by email, adding:
“However, the Act’s provisions against “promotion” and abetting (tilskynde til /meddelagtig i) homosexuality leave questions about what researchers, health workers and others may do under the law,” which could leave researchers and participants of the survey at risk of prosecution.
The US, too, has withheld 6,4 million dollar from the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (ICRU), an umbrella organization for a number of religious groups in Uganda that has publicly supported the anti-gay law.
But the US will continue to provide 2,3 million dollar to ensure that medical services continue to the 50.000 people under the organization’s care.
The group helps in the prevention, care and treatment of AIDS in Uganda.
But, still, 700 million dollar in American aid
A further three million dollar intended for tourism and biodiversity protection has been stopped, and the Department of Defense has moved its Africa Air Chiefs Symposium and East Africa Military Intelligence Non-Commissioned Officers course to locations outside Uganda.
The US however stressed that it continues to provide 700 million dollar (3,7 milliarder DKR) in assistance annually, and that the cuts will not affect essential health services, agricultural programming or initiatives in democracy and governance.
But it noted that “virtually none of this money goes to the government.”
Washington also announced last week it was stepping up involvement militarily in the country, helping the Ugandan government in its fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the group’s leader, Joseph Kony.
So, how does that affect the government?
Læs videre på
http://www.irinnews.org/report/99878/briefing-punitive-aid-cuts-disrupts-healthcare-in-uganda
