Government proposes plan to track aid and tackle corruption

A plan by the Mozambican government to keep a watchful eye over foreign aid will help guard against financial mismanagement and corruption, government officials said on Thursday. Although still in its draft stage, the "integrated mechanism" is expected to pull together a number of existing government initiatives to monitor and assess donor aid. Foreign Affairs Minister Leonardo Simao told IRIN: "While each department has collated its own data, we have yet to bring all of the results together. The new system will give us an important overall picture of how much money is coming into the country. It is crucial to our continued growth that we increase the monitoring capacity and convey to donors that we are serious about transparency and fiscal discipline." With a comprehensive idea of how donor aid is being spent, the government hopes to use the results to assess if it has been effective in reducing poverty under the country's poverty reduction programme, he added. "Also, we owe it to Mozambicans to explain to them how all of this aid they read about in the newspapers is being used. It is not only about the donors but also about making a difference in people's lives," Simao said. Mozambique has been touted by donors as an African success story, following its remarkable economic recovery after years of civil conflict. Some analysts, however, have said that the price of peace has been escalating crime and widespread corruption. Minister in the Presidency for Parliamentary and Diplomatic Affairs, Francisco Madeira, told IRIN: "The development of such a mechanism is not in direct response to allegations of corruption. It is a technical instrument designed to coordinate incoming aid and draw our attention to shortfalls, should there be any." "However, if in the process, we pick up deviation of assistance, it will be dealt with accordingly. But corruption is something for the courts and not this mechanism," he said. This week, the Norwegian government announced that it would launch a full-scale investigation into its assistance to the country, following a series of privatisation scandals. Foreign aid covers about 60 percent of the government's budget.