Africa in focus as UK plans to merge its foreign and aid units

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“We give as much aid to Zambia as we do to Ukraine, although the latter is vital for European security. We give 10 times as much aid to Tanzania as we do to the six countries of the Western Balkans, who are acutely vulnerable to Russian meddling,” says Boris

Dar es Salaam. The British government announced on Tuesday it was merging its Foreign Office and development aid offices in a new strategy it says will help strengthen UK’s influence abroad.
In a statement issued by Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the House of Commons a copy of which was posted on UK’s foreign office website - the UK was facing “an increasingly competitive world,” and needed to make changes in government structures to suit the times.
Mr Johnson said that, faced with the crises today - as well as the opportunities that lie ahead - they have a responsibility to question whether the current arrangements, dating back to 1997, still maximise British influence.
“The British taxpayer has the right to expect that we achieve the maximum value with every pound we spend,” he told the House.
According to the Prime Minister, the Department for Foreign and International Development (DfID) outspends the Foreign Office by more than four times - and, yet, no single decision-maker in either of the two is able to unite their efforts, or take a comprehensive overview.
He compared some of the aid that the UK gives to certain African countries such as Tanzania and Zambia in comparison to what they give to some eastern European countries.
“We give as much aid to Zambia as we do to Ukraine, although the latter is vital for European security. We give 10 times as much aid to Tanzania as we do to the six countries of the Western Balkans, who are acutely vulnerable to Russian meddling,” he explained.
Created in 1997, DfID was a separate organ of the UK government charged with managing foreign aid.
In Tanzania, DfID planned to spend £153 million annually in the past two years on different devel-opment programmes such as the Education Programme for Results (EP4R); Support to Rural Water Sup-ply; Sanitation and Hygiene in Tanzania, and a Productive Social Safety Net Programme.
Mr Johnson said that, although successful having been formed after the Cold War era - DfID was now facing competition from other countries which manage their support aid as a foreign policy issue.
UK’s foreign policy has traditionally been managed under the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which was created in 1968 after the merger of its Foreign and Commonwealth Departments.
“This is exactly the moment when we must mobilise each of our nation-al assets - including our aid budget and expertise - to safeguard British interests and values overseas,” Mr Johnson said on the merger of the two departments.
“The best possible instrument will be a new department charged with using all the tools of British influence to seize the opportunities ahead.”
Under the new arrangements, UK’s ambassadors abroad will directly supervise trade commissioners stationed overseas in what London says will bring “coherence” to its international presence.