{UAH} FW: Have a look at this fellow democratic sympathizers!!

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Date: Sat, 1 Oct 2005 11:54:43 -0700

Ministers, MPs benefit from Global Fund money

HUSSEIN BOGERE & MERCY NALUGO

KAMPALA Hundreds of millions in Global Fund money went to non-governmental organisations associated with several ministers, Movement MPs and other government officials. A list that Sunday Monitor has seen shows that the names of the politicians appear under the column titled, 'Organisation Leader'. Most of these public officials, however, say they act as patrons of the NGOs, which received hundreds of millions of shillings from the Project Management Unit of the Ministry of Health. The PMU, which has since been disbanded, managed the disbursement of the money from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. One of the key recipients of the money is Rukungiri Gender and Development Association (Rugada) headed by Ms Winnie Matsiko, the Rukungiri woman MP. As a lead agency, Rugada received Shs151 million from the PMU, and gave out up to Shs51 million to sub-grantee NGOs such as Kisoro Foundation for Rural Development. Gender and Culture State Minister Sam Bitangaro is the patron of Kisoro Foundation for Rural Development, which received Shs13 million. "We got Shs13 million from Rugada for the organisation," Mr Bitangaro said. For details, he referred us to the programme director of the Kisoro NGO, Mr David Nkuriye, who said that the money was received in three instalments and used in accordance with Rugada guidelines. Rugada head Matsiko said that her organisation received money for the four districts of Kisoro, Rukungiri, Kabale and Kanungu. "I don't have the exact figures with me but we received the money," she said. A lead agency is an organisation that receives money directly from PMU and distributes it to sub-grantees, who deal directly with the people; whereas a sub-recipient receives money from PMU directly and deals with the people. In August, the Geneva-based Global Fund suspended all of its five grants worth about Shs280 billion to Uganda over "serious mismanagement" of the money. The Fund will resume giving Uganda grant money only after the government here cleans up. The government has since dissolved the PMU and handed its duties to the auditing firm Ernst & Young. The government also asked Principal Judge James Ogoola to lead an inquiry into what went wrong. The Fund acted basing on a review undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which revealed evidence of sloppy use of money by the PMU. Other recipients of money from Rugada include Rujumbura Development Foundation (Shs12 million), Kabale Networking Organisation (Shs13 million) and Kinkizi Agency for Development (Shs12 million). Health Minister Jim Muhwezi's name appears against Rujumbura Development Foundation. The minister, whom Sunday Monitor could not reach for a comment because he is attending a Global Fund meeting in Geneva, is also the MP for Rujumbura. Muhwezi is also listed as the patron of the Uganda Centre for Accountability, a sub-recipient that got Shs120 million. The Ministry of Finance is the principal recipient of the Global Fund money. Mr Frank Tumwebaze, who recently resigned as President Museveni's special assistant for research and information, also is named as one of the leaders of the Centre for Accountability but he denies having anything to do with the body. Tumwebaze, however, said he is associated with Kamwenge Development Agency, a sub-recipient that also got millions. "Yes, we received Shs109 million and we accounted for it," he said. "It was used for HIV activities like information education communication" involving drama, radio announcements, billboard messages and holding of workshops. Tumwebaze also said that some of the money was used to start up small loans for HIV/Aids orphans in Kamwenge District. Other than Rugada, the other politically connected lead agency is Integrated Community Based Initiative headed by Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, the MP for Sheema North and chairman of Parliament's Committee on HIV/Aids. Tumwesigye, whose NGO got Shs255 million and a vehicle, declined to comment substantively preferring to await the outcome of the Ogoola inquiry. As a sub-recipient, TERP Consult, a high profile public relations firm owned by Mr Odrek Rwabwogo, a presidential son-in-law, received Shs54 million in Global Fund money. "We received it in three instalments and we used it to undertake a survey and launched a campaign – 'Where are the responsible men?' – which targeted truck drivers, boda boda riders, among others," said Mr Brian Rwehabura, the head of strategic public relations at TERP. He said that the advocacy work on HIV/Aids was done in the districts of Kalangala, Sembabule, Nakasongola, Kanungu, Mpigi and Kampala. The other sub-recipients with powerful political connections are Parents Concerned (Shs80 million), Bunyole Women's Association (Shs20 million), Bunyoro Community Based Organisation (Shs42 million), and Entebbe United Development Organisation (Shs29 million). Sunday Monitor could not establish the exact leadership and membership of these groups, when they were formed and other related details because, according to the NGO Board Secretary Rose Wamimbi, "the computer that contained all the data crushed." It is not clear when the computer crushed. According to the Global Fund, the NGOs that qualify to receive its money must have been in existence more than a year. The available records at the NGO Board, however, were for organisations registered in 2003 and before, and none of the NGOs mentioned here fits that bill. This implies that most of them were formed after the PMU had been constituted early last year. They were therefore formed to target that money, say observers. It is because of these circumstances that some government critics have claimed that several groups with political connections tapped into the Aids money only for it to be channelled toward political mobilisation.

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