MINISTER for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has praised Uganda’s progress in fighting poverty and reducing HIV/Aids, but steered clear of openly criticising the Ugandan government’s preparations for next year’s presidential elections.
Mr Martin, who began a weeklong visit to Irish Aid projects in Uganda and Ethiopia yesterday, said that the story in Uganda over the past 25 years had been one of phenomenal success.
“Fifty-six per cent of people lived in poverty 10 years ago. Today, it is 32 per cent,” he said, adding that the number of people infected with HIV had fallen from a high of 20 per cent in the early 1990s to 6.4 per cent today.
“Very significant progress has been made over the past 20 years, Mr Martin said. “Aid has worked.”
However, when asked if he had concerns over the credibility of elections set for February, the minister struck a conciliatory tone, stressing that the Government’s relationship with Uganda’s was one “of partnership as opposed to conditionality” .
“We consistently raise issues over governance, transparency and openness,” he said. “We urge people to participate, engage and have a robust discussion.”
Successive presidential elections in Uganda have been marked by serious irregularities since President Yoweri Museveni came to power in 1986.
The 2006 vote, the country’s first multi-party election since 1986, was marred by by intimidation of the opposition and widespread voting irregularities, according to election observers.
Election officers turned away hundreds of thousands of registered voters who allegedly did not appear on the voter register said Human Rights Watch, while the main opposition candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye, was arrested on charges of treason and rape.
Earlier this month, Dr Besigye was beaten by police at a political rally held by his Forum for Democratic Change party in Kampala.
Dr Besigye, who is again running in next year’s election, was demanding the replacement of the country’s electoral commission, which was recently criticised by the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as incapable of ensuring the vote’s credibility.
Police said that he did not get permission for the rally.
Mr Martin was speaking in Kampala, where he announced a further €166 million in official development assistance to Uganda over the next four years. After a visit to the ministry of foreign affairs and the Uganda human rights commission, he visited Hospice Africa, where he opened a new building financed by KPMG Ireland and the Government.
The hospice provides palliative care to adults and children dying of Aids and cancer, but also trains staff to go to other countries in Africa to provide the same service. It has trained 7,000 people since it was founded in 1994 by Dr Anne Merriman, a UCD medical graduate who first came to Africa in the 1960s with the Medical Missionaries of Mary.
“When we started we had just enough money for three months” said Dr Merriman. “If Ireland didn’t come in at the start I wouldn’t have been able to start. Every building here has a bit of Ireland in it.”
Mr Martin later visited Luuka Plastics, which receives technical support from Traidlinks, an Irish organisation that helps African companies overcome obstacles to growth.