{"id":20089,"date":"2021-10-23T18:41:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-23T18:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=20089"},"modified":"2021-10-23T17:01:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-23T17:01:39","slug":"us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds","title":{"rendered":"US, EU task govt on donor funds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>The United States and the European Union (EU) are demanding detailed explanation from government in regard to a directive that all donor funds be channelled through the Treasury instead of having funds remitted directly to agencies implementing projects in the communities.<\/p>\n

Overall, project funding worth nearly Shs4 trillion is what could be frozen by government orders to streamline operations of donor funds as both US, and EU demand clarity over the directive on aid grants to Uganda.<\/p>\n

Uganda\u2019s 76.7 percent of the Shs44.7 trillion budget for the 2021\/2022 financial year is expected to be financed using domestic revenue and the other 23.3 percent with donor funds.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson of the United States Embassy in Kampala, Ms Amy Petersen, told Saturday Monitor in a statement on Thursday that the US has been engaging government and other donors over a September 6 directive by the Minister for Finance, Mr Matia Kasaija, that all development assistance will be managed off a single account in the Treasury and shall be the subject to appropriation by Parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are engaging in ongoing discussions with the government of Uganda and other development partners to get more clarity on what the directive entails,\u201d Ms Peterson said in an email to Saturday Monitor.<\/p>\n

The Finance ministry spokesperson, Mr Jim Mugunga, however, said the donors have not yet made a formal communication to the minister\u2019s letter, but added that no written response had been expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou well know the minister\u2019s letter was guidance. It did not solicit a letter in response. If any (development) partners wrote back in reaction, then it is a matter they are best placed to comment upon. Our work method with development partners is through diplomatic engagements and other established channels,\u201d Mr Mugunga said.<\/p>\n

The letter titled, \u2018Management of development assistance\u2019, was copied to key European and other donors and development agencies.<\/p>\n

Mr Kasaija also directed that all donor-funded projects and programmes shall, for budgeting purposes, be reported to the government through the aid management platform which his ministry and the donors have developed over the years.<\/p>\n

The platform, he said, must be used to enable the government have a bird\u2019s eye view of all development cooperation efforts.<\/p>\n

According to the directive, all donor programmes have to be signed off by his ministry to ensure that there is no duplication of efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll projects and programmes shall be implemented together with and in consultation with the relevant MDA [government ministry, department, and agency] to ensure sustainability of the investments carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter also directs that donors have to work with government to prepare country strategies to ensure that donor support is aligned to Uganda\u2019s aspirations as enshrined in Vision 2040 and the National Development Plan III.<\/p>\n

The European Union (EU) is one of the biggest donors to Uganda providing close to Euros 100 million (about Shs418.3b) per year, but has remained tightlipped about the directive.<\/p>\n

EU mute<\/p>\n

The press adviser to the Delegation of the European Union in Uganda, Mr Emmanuel Gyezaho, declined to comment about the government\u2019s directive or the implications it might have on relations between the EU and Uganda or the ramifications it might have on projects funded by the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no comment on any of that,\u201d Mr Gyezaho said.<\/p>\n

However, Ms Peterson raised questions about the relevance of the government\u2019s directives, saying government has always been aware of the operations of civil society organisations that receive funding from the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe strive to ensure our assistance is shared with the Ministry of Finance, or appropriate line ministry of the government of Uganda, and that it is transparently implemented by partners in a politically neutral way,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

It is not clear whether the donors will acquiesce to the latest directives, but Uganda will stand to lose billions of shillings if they choose not to.<\/p>\n

According to Ms Peterson, the US annually pumps close to $1b (about Shs3.6 trillion) into projects aimed at improving health and education and strengthening democracy and security. It also helps to promote economic growth and provide employment. All those would be at risk. The EU on its part injects about Euros 100m (Shs418.3 billion).<\/p>\n

Overall, project funding worth nearly Shs4 trillion is what Uganda stands to lose if the donors refuse to cooperate.<\/p>\n

The situation arises at a time when the economy is reeling from being hit hard by more than a year of lockdown forced by the Covid-19 pandemic. This has in turn affected tax collections.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Commissioner General of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Mr John Musinguzi Rujoki, announced that the tax body has collected only Shs4.4 trillion in the first quarter of this financial year, making it Shs499b short of the targeted Shs4.9 trillion.<\/p>\n

At least Shs2.6 trillion of the Shs4.4 trillion that was collected was domestic taxes, but fell short of the Shs3 trillion domestic taxes that had been targeted for collection in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Mr Musinguzi Rujoki attributed URA\u2019s failure to meeting the target to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Finance Permanent Secretary, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, expressed optimism that the economy is on its way back to recovery.<\/p>\n

But the executive director of the National Planning Authority, Dr Joseph Muvawala, who was addressing Parliament\u2019s budget committee, did not share the same optimism.<\/p>\n

Dr Muvawala urged stakeholders to focus on revenue mobilisation strategies to help reduce the huge deficit between government revenue and expenditure. The implication is that the economy is stretched.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t saying reallocate resources from infrastructure, but we are saying we don\u2019t have enough resources, therefore, implementing those projects that we started and completing them makes simple logic,\u201d Dr Muwavala said.<\/p>\n

The executive director of the National NGO Forum, Mr Moses Isooba, earlier said the livelihoods of thousands of Ugandans have suffered because of the suspension of activities of the Democracy Governance Facility (DGF).<\/p>\n

The operations of DGF, a basket fund that was formed by Denmark, Ireland, Austria, UK, Sweden, Norway, and the European Union (EU), to among others, facilitate poverty eradication and the rule of law were suspended in January on the orders of President Museveni.<\/p>\n

Mr Museveni said then its funds were being \u201cused to finance activities and organisations designed to subvert (the) government under the guise of improving governance\u201d.<\/p>\n

Financial statements posted on the DGF website shows that facility gave civil society Shs113.8 billion between July 2016 and December 2017; Shs64.8 billion in 2018 and Shs88.5 billion in 2019.<\/p>\n

That means an average of Shs76.3b has not been pumped into the economy on account of the suspension.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities that were benefitting from the activities of the NGOs are now not serviced and you cannot put a monetary value to that. And DGF was also supporting government agencies like Parliament. The fact that they are not getting money means there are services that Ugandan are not accessing,\u201d Mr Isooba said.<\/p>\n

Taxes in the form of VAT, PAYE and withholding tax have also not been paid,\u201d Mr Isooba said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. The United States and the European Union (EU) are demanding detailed explanation from government in regard to a directive that all donor funds be channelled through the Treasury instead of having funds remitted directly to agencies implementing projects in the communities. Overall, project funding worth nearly Shs4 trillion is what could be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-20089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nUS, EU task govt on donor funds - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The United States and the European Union (EU) are demanding detailed explanation from government in regard to a directiv ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US, EU task govt on donor funds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United States and the European Union (EU) are demanding detailed explanation from government in regard to a directiv ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-23T18:41:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"US, EU task govt on donor funds\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-23T18:41:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds\"},\"wordCount\":1183,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds\",\"name\":\"US, EU task govt on donor funds - Uganda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-23T18:41:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The United States and the European Union (EU) are demanding detailed explanation from government in regard to a directiv ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"US, EU task govt on donor funds\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"US, EU task govt on donor funds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/\",\"name\":\"Uganda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US, EU task govt on donor funds - Uganda","description":"The United States and the European Union (EU) are demanding detailed explanation from government in regard to a directiv ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US, EU task govt on donor funds","og_description":"The United States and the European Union (EU) are demanding detailed explanation from government in regard to a directiv ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds","og_site_name":"Uganda","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2021-10-23T18:41:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"US, EU task govt on donor funds","datePublished":"2021-10-23T18:41:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds"},"wordCount":1183,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Uganda","uganda"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds","name":"US, EU task govt on donor funds - Uganda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg","datePublished":"2021-10-23T18:41:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The United States and the European Union (EU) are demanding detailed explanation from government in regard to a directiv ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-61743fddd7dd4.jpg","width":720,"height":480,"caption":"US, EU task govt on donor funds"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/us-eu-task-govt-on-donor-funds#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"US, EU task govt on donor funds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/","name":"Uganda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}