A delegation from European donor countries has said that the DRC crisis is not the real cause of the suspension of aid, but rather said it is the pressure on these donors for nearly 3 years from their respective parliaments for a decrease in assistance given to developing countries.
The delegation from the UK, Holland, Belgium, European Union and Africa Development Bank met on a one on one with Rwanda’s standing committee on economic and budgetary affairs yesterday.
Rwandan MP Abbas Mukama said that the discussions with the development partners were very open in order to shed light on the real reason behind the suspension of aid saying that implementation of projects such as the second phase of the EDPRS cannot be delayed based on false accusations against the country.
Mukama noted; “What we did as MP’s in this committee was to shed light on the truth, that Rwanda’s involvement in Congo is absolutely not true but the real problem is that they are also in a serious financial crisis, we told them that they should not use the Congo issue as a pretext to cut aid but be truthful, for the past 3 years their parliaments have been planning reduction of aid and in the past 3 years, this DRC crisis they are blaming Rwanda for was non-existent. There is a lot of contradiction and all these problems are merely political.”
Mike Harmond the head of the UK Department for International Development, DFID said that the delegation was satisfied on the proper use of assistance funds allocated to Rwanda and added that talks between Rwanda and the countries are progressing well for the 60% budget support disbursed so far not yet to be released before the end of this fiscal year.
“Talks have been ongoing and will continue to show our perspective and hear their perspective, but we are all accountable for our tax payer’s money, that is why there is a lot of scrutiny on aid money.” Hammond said.
