QU Book Local community directory /Letters | Page 3

So why do we send
handouts to a country
we could soon be fighting against?

sidestep corruption. But
a report in December
found many of these organisations had been
forced to hand over
A recent study by the large sums of cash to
respected organisation terrorist group AlTransparency Interna- Shabaab in return for
tional revealed that vir- protection.
tually all of the countries with the most seri- Britain also sent more
ous corruption probthan £200million to Aflems receive lavish aid ghanistan – rated as the
from Britain. Detailed world's third most corfigures show that we
rupt regime. The
sent funding to all ten money was given deof the worst offending spite a report from the
nations in 2012. BeIndependent Commistween them they resion for Aid Impact two
ceived almost
years ago, which
£500million from the warned British aid was
British taxpayer.
at risk of theft, corruption and fraud
The Somalian regime is The fourth most corrupt
regarded as the most
country South Sudan
corrupt and the World received £107million in
Bank rates the country British aid, even though
as one of the worst
in 2012 their parliagoverned in the world. ment suspended 75 ofBut in 2012 Britain
ficials in a scandal ingave the impoverished volving the theft of
African nation
£2.6billion from the
£86.8million. This aid fledgling country.
was channeled through Syria received
charities and agencies £38.5million in 2012 –
rather than central gov- a figure thought to have
ernment in a bid to
increased dramatically

in the past year as the
humanitarian crisis
worsened. Recently the
Government suspended
non-lethal military aid
to northern Syria because of evidence it
was falling into the
hands of rebel groups
linked to Al Qaeda.
And finally Nigeria.
The African nation is
emerging as a potential
economic giant and is
wealthy enough to have
a space programme.
However, this will not
stop the UK increasing
its aid budget from
£200million to
£270million.
Nigeria recently introduced legislation outlawing gay relationships. Jail sentences include 14 years for gay
marriage and 10 years
for being a member of
a gay club or openly
showing affection in
public. These new laws
now make it illegal for
foreign aid to be used
fighting aids in the gay
community.