BLANTYRE, Dec 18 (AFP) - Malawi fails to qualify for a share in a 15 billion-dollar package from the United States to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean because corruption remained rife, the US envoy has said.
US ambassador to Malawi Steven Browning was quoted Thursday by local dailies as saying that Washington was not ready to plough money into countries where venality was commonplace.
"Putting money where corruption is not controlled is a waste," Browning said in comments published in the Nation and Daily Times newspapers.
Browning said although the impoverished southern African country met some conditions for the aid package, "its failure to control corruption does not help matters".
"We therefore cannot go into partnership on this account," he said.
US President George Bush announced the five-year 15 billion-dollar (12.1 billion euro) programme to fight AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean in his State of the Union address on January 28.
Browning, who took up his post two months ago, said Malawi would have qualified because it "scores well on a number of items on the criteria".
The aid package is given to countries which have demonstrated commitment to ruling justly, investing in people and encouraging economic freedom, he said.
"To qualify, a country has to score above the median on half of indicators in each of the three policy areas," Browning said.
He said the direction Malawi had taken on corruption "is not good enough," adding that reports by Transparency International showed that Malawi had only been above the median in 1999 and 2000.
Britain has also in the past warned Malawi on corruption scandals which have tainted President Bakili Muluzi's administration.
Britain's former high commissioner to Malawi, George Finlayson warned in 2000 that Britain "will not back those leaders who are unwilling to take tough decisions on corruption.
"We will not subsidise economic mismanagement. These are evils which have failed Africa and we will not back failure," he said.
Finlayson's remarks had come amid allegations that two million dollars in government contracts to build schools were wrongly awarded to Muluzi loyalists who used the money in campaigning for general elections in 2000.
Britain provides funding for a police reform program in Blantyre and for Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau, which is spearheading investigation into the schools allegations.
031218
AF031287
©AFP 2003. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission. obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP photos or materials. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP stories, photos or graphics. - http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2003 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
