Kenya: US suspends aid

2010-01-26 15:54

Nairobi - The United States has suspended a $7m programme for Kenya's education ministry over a massive corruption scandal, Washington's ambassador Michael Ranneberger said on Tuesday.

The move by Kenya's largest single aid partner came a month after Britain froze funding for the ministry of education over the disappearance of $1.3m.

"The United States government has suspended a planned five-year, $7m capacity-building programme for the ministry of education that was scheduled to begin in 2010," Ranneberger said in a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Nairobi.

He added that the suspension would be effective "until there is a credible, independent audit and full accountability".

"Those culpable for the fraud should not merely be sacked; they should be prosecuted and put behind bars," Ranneberger said.

The ambassador generally expressed disappointment with pervasive graft in the country and the lack of accountability over the deadly violence that erupted following the disputed December 2007 polls.

"There is no more glaring example that impunity is alive and well in Kenya than the fact that two years after the events there has been no accountability for the over 1 000 lives lost and 350 000 people displaced," Ranneberger said.

"Those who organised, financed, and perpetrated the violence must be brought to justice, preferably through a local tribunal, but through international investigation and prosecution in the absence of a credible local tribunal."

The governing coalition formed in 2008 with the election's rival camps has been criticised at home and abroad for stalling key reforms recommended by internationally-backed post-violence commissions.

- AFP