MBABANE – It was a sombre mood for the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) Executive Director Thembinkosi Dlamini on Friday as he narrated how he was the first director to receive a notice from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) ending its funding that goes towards HIV/AIDS programmes that has been received for over two decades.
“I am feeling particularly down because when this whole thing [announcement of a 90-day funding freeze] started in the end of January, we were really hoping that it was a short stoppage of 90 days and after that we would be free to continue supporting the work that we do for Emaswati; saving lives as it and making sure that some to them have something to keep them going,” Dlamini told Independent News.
Eswatini is one of the countries that are affected by the termination of a majority of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS (PEPFAR) programmes.
Individual notices started being received by directors of various NGOs, telling them to cease operations and to avoid incurring more costs on their programmes.
It amends the executive order that was signed by the US President Donald Trump on January 20, putting on a freeze for a period of 90 days on foreign assistance.
@independentnewses CANGO Director sad over USAID fund withdrawal. Video by @Nkosi'npile Myeni Mpilez #IndependentNewsEswatini #Eswatini #news ♬ original sound – IndependentNewsEswatini
‘This award is being terminated for convenience and the interests of the US Government pursuant to a directive from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in his capacity as the Acting Administrator for the US Agency for International Development (‘the Agency’ or ‘USAID’) and/or Peter W. Marocco, who is performing the duties and functions of both Deputy Administrators for USAID.
‘Secretary Rubio and PTDO Deputy Administrator Marocco have determined your award is not aligned with Agency priorities and made a determination that continuing this program is not in the national interest. The decision to terminate this individual award is a policy determination vested in the Acting Administrator and the person performing the duties and functions of the Deputy Administrator,’ it was stated.
“This is going to hit not only our employees but our service providers, as well, and their employees; the retail chains where we were buying our food and basic necessities. It will also impact generally a lot of other unrelated services and people.
“For now it might not be apparent that there is a challenge that is coming. But it will become apparent overtime,” Dlamini said while he was found at his office in Mbabane
Dlamini said some of funding goes to PEPFAR which was launched in 2003 at the critical stage of the country battling the cruelty of HIV/AIDS.
Like other countries, Eswatini received, for the past three years, about E1.3 billion in humanitarian aid from the US government annually.
Dlamini said the funding was critical as it was responding to children, adolescent girls and young women (AGYWs) and adults.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the country’s goal of ending AIDS was achieved, surpussing the 95-95-95 global HIV treatment targets of 2020 as 94 percent of adults (15 years and older) living with HIV aware of their status, 97 percent of those who are aware of their status are on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 96 percent of those on ART have achieved viral suppression.
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