Rwanda reacts to media reports on UK Aid suspension

On 5th January 2012, members of the International development committee of UK Parliament released a report recommending the British government to suspend or even cancel aid programmes to Rwanda citing lack of political expression and human rights in the country.

Kampeta Sayinzoga, Permanent Secretary in Rwanda’s Ministry of Finance

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning KampetaSayinzoga said that the report was quite critical about Rwanda’s track record on human rights and governance issues.

“You have to understand that the report is widely informed by the opinion of international NGO’s, ignoring the opinion of the majority of the population in Rwanda. That also biases the report to some extent. Our reaction was of course that we disagree with the statement regarding lack of human rights and freedom in Rwanda,” She observed.

The report says that the British government should be leveraging its Aid to Rwanda to have a discussion on governance issues. The Permanent Secretary noted that the government of Rwanda has a framework to discuss governance issues with all development partners whether they are bilateral or multilateral.

“We have what we call the Joint Governance assessment which we do every two years, and every six months the Minister of foreign affairs chairs a meeting  with all Ambassadors and members of the development partners community  to discuss all issues like governance or economy,” adds Kampeta.

The report recommends that DFID set out clear benchmarks for the period up to 2015 requiring improvements in areas such as freedom of speech and governance. The official insisted that the government of Rwanda is already having a discussion with DFID on governance though they might not agree on all the facts.

“We agree on some targets that are going to be done for governance. These are things that we are not doing because the UK is asking us to do, but we are doing because we believe they are in the best interest of the Rwandan population,” she explains.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic planning said that the general budget support that is provided to the government of Rwanda is contributing greatly to achieving the millennium development goals.

The British government provided a financial support worth 60 million pounds to Rwanda in 2010-2011. The UK will provide 90 million pounds to Kigali in 2014-2015, making it Rwanda’s biggest donor.