By ALLAN OLINGO
In Summary
- US aid to the region has dropped over the past three years despite its planned spending remaining high.
- This year, Washington plans to spend $3.06 billion in the region, a drop from $3.75 billion two years ago, even though what it actually spent was lower.
- According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the US is Africa’s official bilateral aid partner with over $9 billion. The UK follows with $4 billion, then France $2 billion.
United States government assistance intended to grow
democracy in the region has dropped in favour of health projects,
resulting in a drop in its spending in the region by half — from $2.97
billion in 2015 to $1.55 billion last year.
This comes as the US is proposing a 30.8 per cent cut to its
overall foreign aid budget, according to a State Department budget
document seen by The EastAfrican.
The budget proposal eliminates all funding through the
development assistance account in all the countries in the region, a
vote that has benefited education and water projects.
According to data from Foreign Assistance, a US government
agency that tracks its development aid, US aid to the region has dropped
over the past three years despite its planned spending remaining high.
This year, Washington plans to spend $3.06 billion in the region, a drop
from $3.75 billion two years ago, even though what it actually spent
was lower.
Kenya’s health sector was set to be the biggest beneficiary in
the aid spending, with a planned spending of more than $1.68 billion in
the past three years, but in the end it only received $530 million.
In 2015, the American administration expressed displeasure with
the handling of its health funds under the Centres for Disease Control
(CDC) programmes jointly run with the Kenya Medical Research Institute
(Kemri), after it emerged that more than $7 million in funding had been
spent in half the budget period.
In an earlier interview with The EastAfrican, CDC Kenya
country director Dr Kevin De Cock said the improprieties were a cause
of concern, especially around the signing of new agreements.
“Once the current discussion that we have, which is about
financial management, and the report, is out, I believe we can have the
discussion on collaborations. We are coming to a conclusion on how to
move forward with technical co-operation and support. We are also
consulting on how to ensure financial management is done properly. We
cannot have a repeat of this experience; so things may change,” Dr De
Cock said.
In 2015, when the loss of funds was revealed, the US scaled back
its health sector aid to the country to $94.6 million from $435.6
million the previous year, showing the significance of the governance
concerns raised.
Juba
South Sudan, which has been embroiled in civil war since late
2013, also bore the brunt of the Trump administration cutbacks this
year, recording the largest budget aid cuts, from a high of $610.4
million in 2015 to $225.2 million this year.
Most of Washington’s spending in Juba will go to humanitarian
assistance and peace and security efforts. In the past two years, the
country has received more than $635 million from the US towards its
worsening humanitarian situation, as its citizens face starvation and
war.
Last year, the US threatened to cut its aid to Juba if the
political impasse between President Salva Kiir and his exiled rival Riek
Machar were not solved and sanity restored.
“We’re not going to provide help incessantly if they’re not
willing to accept responsibility and do the things necessary to deliver
to their people. These leaders have to stop these atrocities against
their people,” former secretary of state John Kerry then said.
Mogadishu
Somalia has also seen its aid reduced by the Trump
administration even as it redirects its energies towards a military
effort to defeat Al Shabaab militants. This year, the country will
receive $196.3 million, down from $300 million in 2015, with a majority
of it expected to go into humanitarian assistance. The country is
currently in dire need of aid, with more than three million of its
displaced population in need of food.
“We are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the
creation of the United Nations. We need more than $4.4 billion to avert
this crisis,” Stephen O’Brien, the UN humanitarian chief, told the
Security Council after a visit this month to Somalia and South Sudan.
Somali Finance Minister Abdirahman Dualle Beileh said that the
current drought was getting worse and pleaded against any cuts in
funding to the country.
“I pray that we don’t get to the famine level. As it is, the
drought is much more serious than the one we had in 2011. So we hope the
donor community, including the US, will not cut back on the aid but
instead assist us with more to avert the humanitarian crisis we are
headed into,” Mr Beileh said.
Aid partners
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, the US is Africa’s official bilateral aid partner with over
$9 billion. The UK follows with $4 billion, then France $2 billion. In
terms of official development aid receipts to East Africa, Ethiopia
received the largest sum of over $3.5 billion in aid last year, followed
by Kenya and Tanzania with over $2.5 billion and Uganda with $1.5
billion.
Globally, US spending to foster democracy, human rights and
accountable governance has risen for the first time in five years, from a
low of $1.12 billion last year to $2.7 billion this year. During Barack
Obama’s presidency, democracy aid across the globe fell by 28 per cent.
Most of the funding to non-governmental organisations under the
civil and democracy sectors has been on the decline in the past seven
years. Kenya recorded the biggest allocation fall, receiving $7.1
million last year, down from $14.1 million in 2010, during its
constitutional referendum period.
Interestingly, Tanzania, which has been engaged in a
constitutional referendum debate in the past two years, has seen its
democracy and civil society funding rise from $0.2 million seven years
ago to $4.8 million last year.
In its fourth quarter economic insight for Africa, the
accountancy and finance body (ICAEW) says that spending cuts to
accommodate increased infrastructure expenditure are likely to lead to
further decrease in aid.“Aid is one of the main channels through which a change in US policy
under the Trump administration could impact Africa,” said ICAEW Middle
East, Africa and South Asia regional director Michael Armstrong.
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