UK Cuts Funding Ties With Zambia

The British Government had today confirmed that it has frozen all funding to the Zambian Government effective immediately.

The UK High Commissioner to Zambia Fergus Cochrane-Dyet has announced that all bilateral funding to Zambia until a full audit has taken place. This comes amid reports of widespread corruption.

This follows a report released by Africa Reports that highlighted funding earmarked for educational development had gone missing and as a result the UK has demanded a refund of US$4 million which was embezzled.

In addition, Finland, Sweden, Ireland and Unicef has frozen aid to Zambia and have asked for £3 million to be returned immediately.

The Ministry of Health is an area of significant concern to Unicef and other donors.

Enormous quantities of drugs have been stolen from government warehouses with suspicion of high-level involvement, and there is concern that fake drugs have been purchased from corrupt suppliers, leaving many parts of the country short of vital drugs and medical cover. Ambulances were also procured at inflated prices.

 The UK government has publicly stated that they take a zero-tolerance approach to corruption.

In a tweet, High Commissioner Cochrane-Dyet said the UK takes a zero to entrance stance to corruption and fraud.

“Correct that UK frozen all bilateral funding to Zambian Govt in light of potential concerns until audit results known. #UKAid takes zero-tolerance approach to fraud & corruption,” he tweeted.

Dora Siliya has denied all the above