So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>AS International]
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| Justine Greening Current International Development Secretary |
Mr Mitchell was criticised for lifting a freeze on £16m of British aid to President Paul Kagame’s regime on his final day as International Development Secretary last month. It is understood Mr Mitchell overruled his own officials, despite his close relationship with Rwanda’s hardline leader.
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| Andrew Mitchel Former International Development Secretary |
Reversal? Justine Greening (left) said yesterday she would take a ‘critical look’ at the decision by Andrew Mitchell (right), her predecessor as International Development Secretary
But Ms Greening could now overrule her predecessor. “I am taking a critical look at the decision,” she said.
Concerns have been raised about Mr Mitchell’s friendship with Mr Kagame, who played a role in helping to ‘detoxify’ the Tory party’s uncaring image.
He helped Mr Mitchell establish a project for Tory volunteers in Rwanda and the senior Tory is thought to have visited the country at least eight times in six years.
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| Miss Greening is said to see a ‘distinction’ between humanitarian and development aid and general budget support that goes straight into President Paul Kagame’s (pictured) regime’s coffers |
Miss Greening also pledged a ‘new approach’ on the wider aid programme, including starting talks with the Indian government on winding down its £280million a year in aid.
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham yesterday, she pledged to take a tougher approach to aid spending, with a greater focus on helping the world’s poorest.
She said she would travel to Luxembourg next week to demand changes in the European Union’s aid programme, which has come under fire for pouring taxpayers’ money into relatively wealthy countries including Brazil, Iceland and Turkey.
‘I’m going to take a new approach to ensure that every pound we spend has the biggest possible impact,’ she said.
‘And yes, that will mean stopping some programmes where I don’t think they are working.’
Miss Greening was challenged by Tory delegates to do more to end the waste and corruption in the aid budget. One warned that Mr Cameron’s decision to pour billions more into foreign aid at a time of cutbacks at home remains a ‘very thorny issue on the doorstep’.
Another, Emma Warren, from Reading, urged Miss Greening to do more to ‘make sure our money doesn’t end up in the pockets of corrupt individuals who are holding their country back’.
Miss Greening insisted there would be no retreat on the Prime Minister’s pledge to spend 0.7 per cent of Britain’s income on aid, which will see the aid budget rocket from £8billion to £12billion.
But she said that aid would be focused more tightly on the poorest countries in future, with India set to lose out. ‘We should recognise that as countries get richer we need to be responsible about how we transition in our relationship from aid to trade,’ she said.
The aid programme to India is the source of huge discontent in Tory ranks, with many arguing it is wrong to hand huge sums to a country that is now wealthy enough to pursue a space programme.
