From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Jul 10 2010 - 17:20:12 EDT
Should we be giving African dictators millions when so many need it at home?
By Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
Saturday July 10 2010
This year, we are giving almost €60m in aid to Ethiopia and Uganda, despite the fact they are ruled by virtual dictators. Yet a respite care centre in Limerick city has been shut for the lack of €150,000 and similar services nationwide are under threat due to budget cutbacks in the health service.
So is it wise to continue to give aid to Ethiopia and Uganda when money is so short at home? That question was the unspoken reason behind Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin's visit to both countries.
The €696m annual budget for Irish aid (already down from €869m three years ago) is under more pressure than ever because it's easier to cut spending abroad than at home.
But it is always more convenient to deal with statistics rather than people. Mr Martin was instantly confronted with "hard cases" that even the most extreme financial hawks would find difficult to dismiss.
There was the former street child in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa who was forced into marriage at the age of eight and infected with HIV by her much older husband. Genet Ejigu (17) has been given a fresh start in life after getting anti-retroviral drugs from John O'Shea's charity Goal, which have allowed her to control her illness. She said she was now much happier working as a shoeshine girl in Addis Ababa, which can earn her around US$3 (€2.40) a day.
"I was orphaned, I didn't have any family and I was forced to marry a man I didn't know. I ran away from him," she said, speaking through a translator.
There is no doubting the deprivation in Ethiopia, which remains the eighth poorest country in the world. But the Ethiopian government got its fingers burnt when it held multi-party elections in 2005 that it almost lost -- and has been busy clamping down on opposition parties and free speech ever since.
Several Irish aid workers in Addis Ababa complained privately that it was hard to be completely positive about a country where the prime minister Menes Zelawi has been in charge since 1985.
"I feel so frustrated that we are propping up a dictatorship," said one.
But there are signs that our aid money is having an effect on the ground, as Mr Martin witnessed when he found a slice of "old Ireland" in a rural Ethiopian village outside the capital.
He was shown around a house that had bare floors, pictures of Jesus and Mary on the walls and which had only recently been declared off-limits to the family livestock -- not that dissimilar to an Irish country cottage in the 1850s.
But Mr Martin declared himself "very impressed" with what he saw because the family living there had achieved 16 different health goals -- including clearing out the animals, building an outdoor toilet and vaccinating all their children.
"The health education programme is something I have not seen the likes of before. It involves the whole community improving your health and well being," he said. The programme of health education centres was pioneered by Irish Aid -- and is now being rolled out nationwide by the Ethiopian government.
But it is not helping Mr Martin's cause that Ethiopia and Uganda have lost their "poster child" status of several years ago, when they were hailed as models for the rest of Africa to follow.
Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, has been in charge since 1986 and is standing again in next year's "elections". His police force shot dead 27 protesters last year in the capital Kampala and his parliament is considering a bill that would introduce the death penalty for gay people.
Mr Martin said he had made it clear that he was strongly opposed to this bill -- and pointed out how Irish Aid was funding the Ugandan Human Rights Commission. He also talked about ways of improving the community policing skills (ie not shooting anybody).
"It may involve reciprocal training -- people coming to Ireland to train in Templemore," he said.
It would be nice to get more human rights for our money but Irish aid needs the support of the governments of both Ethiopia and Uganda to allow its staff to operate freely -- and to implement nationwide health and education programmes.
And if it goes down the route of only funding charities such as Trocaire, Concern or Goal, it will never strengthen the institutions that are needed to allow both countries to wean themselves off development aid in the long term.
At the moment, it's a bit like the fascinating version of "Amhrán na bhFiann", which Ugandan schoolchildren sang to Mr Martin "as Gaelige" -- not perfect, but they're definitely getting there.
- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
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