Debt cancellation money is being used to
improve schools and hospitals in Uganda but more is needed.
Throughout his schooldays, Samuel Waiswa
was top of the class. 'I was number one and my teachers liked me,' Samuel
remembers. 'But then, because of my circumstances, I was forced to leave
school.'
Like millions of his generation, Samuel's schooling came to an end, in spite of his potential, because of money. His father, a farmer, was no longer able to afford to send him to school when fees were introduced.'I am a farmer too,' says Samuel. 'But I know I could have done something else.'
Samuel now has three children of his own, all of whom attend the same school - Naisanga Primary School. 'I want them to be doctors, teachers,' he says.
The school has changed since Samuel was a student. In those days children were taught under the spreading branches of a mango tree. A heavy shower brought an abrupt end to classes. Using money freed-up from the cancellation of some of Uganda's debts, four new brick classrooms have been built and two more are under construction.
Debt cancellation has also helped to bring an end primary school fees. Uganda is one of only two countries to have completed the international debt cancellation process announced at the G8 summit in Cologne two years ago. As a result, its annual debt repayments have been halved, freeing-up money to spend on education and health care. Across the country, new schools, operating theatres and small health clinics are being built - material proof of the benefits of debt cancellation.
In nearby Bugono, Dr Kasira Zirava is desperately trying to find transport. He has a patient with an ectopic pregnancy who will die if she is not able to get to the hospital in Iganga, 20 miles away. 'She needs an operation - just a simple operation' he says as he stands beside her bed. Across the compound of Bugono health centre a new operating theatre is under construction. When it is completed, emergency patients will not have to rely on the chance passing of a car whose driver is prepared to take them to hospital.
But debt cancellation is only scratching the surface in Uganda. 'Our problem now is drugs,' continues Dr Zirava. 'Since cost sharing was abolished and health care has been free our patient numbers have doubled. The trouble is we have no greater quantity of drugs with which to treat people.'
Mark Curtis, Christian Aid's Head of Policy is clear about what countries such as Uganda need. 'More debt relief. If all of Uganda's debt was written off it wouldn't provide enough to look after all its people's basic needs, but it would be a start.'
Christian Aid would like to see debts cancelled according to the amount of money needed by poor countries. 'G8 leaders promised debt cancellation two years ago, but they haven't yet delivered. It's time for them to keep that promise,' says Mark Curtis.