NO UK AID FEARS - High commissioner says proposed merger won’t compromise Britain’s ties with Ja
Published:Tuesday | December 17, 2019 | 12:24 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
The top British diplomat in Jamaica has sought to dispel fears here and in the wider Caribbean that the prospective merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DfID) will cause millions of pounds sterling in aid to governments to be slashed.
Last week, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson charged, in the run-up to the general election, that officials at both the FCO and DfID draw up plans on the viability of consolidating the two agencies.
It has been reported in British media that some DfID officials have raised concerns about the proposed overhaul, arguing that it could be used as a rationale to cut Britain’s overseas aid budget.
It is believed that merging the DfID and the FCO would end up saving the UK government £1 billion annually.
British high commissioner to Jamaica, Asif Ahmad, steered clear from commenting on the full implications of the rationalisation exercise, but said he was confident that relations between London and Kingston would remain strong.
“I do not foresee anything other than stronger United Kingdom engagement in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean,” said Ahmad yesterday, when pressed on the issue.
No guessing Boris
He noted that the amalgamation would be a revisiting of the historical arrangement when Overseas Development and the Foreign Office operated as one department.
“It would be presumptuous of me as high commissioner to hazard a guess as to what, if any, changes Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes in the structures of ministries,” said Ahmad.
Johnson, fresh from the Conservative Party’s thumping electoral victory over Labour, was quoted by the Financial Times as calling DfID an “inevitable waste as money is shoved out of the door”.
Under current law, the UK is committed to using 0.7 per cent of gross national product for development assistance.
Jamaica receives direct support through DfID to promote economic growth and fight crime, as well as to help prepare for and reduce risk from climate change and other disasters.
Between 2011 and 2015, DfID allocated in total £75 million for the Caribbean. Additionally, since 1998, DfID has provided more than £66 million in debt relief to Jamaica, as well as more than £1 million for training and other support to improve debt management by the Government of Jamaica.
The UK has the third largest aid budget in the world behind the United States of America and Germany.
The intent of the merger, according to Johnson, is to streamline the UK’s £13.5-billion overseas aid budget.
Security expert Mark Shields, a former deputy commissioner of police seconded from Scotland Yard, told The Gleaner that the DfID budget for the next five years, which is already fixed, will not alter arrangements between the UK and Jamaican governments.
“That Jamaica and the UK have already agreed on the budget for investment suggests that it is unlikely that this proposed merger will have any negative impact on projects that the UK has already committed to Jamaica,” Shields said.
Meanwhile, one highly placed former Jamaican diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, is cautioning against hysteria over the possible merger and is urging the Jamaican Government to adopt a wait-and-see stance.
The diplomat argued that nothing should be read into the proposed changes until all the facts become clear.
“Nothing has been said to suggest wholesale changes are on the horizon, even if a merger does happen,” he said.