§ 12. Mr. Goodhartasked the Minister of Overseas Development why she is increasing the amount of aid given to Kenya at a time when many residents of Kenya who hold British passports are subject to official economic discrimination.
§ Mrs. HartI am not increasing the amount of aid given to Kenya. I have 611 offered the Kenyan Government capital aid of £11.5 million which is expected to be drawn down over the next four years. This compares with £18 million for the four-year period 1966–70.
§ Mr. GoodhartThe amount of aid given to Kenya in 1970 on the capital side will be £7 million. As the decision to give such a high proportion of our bilateral aid to Kenya is clearly political, we must have tried to get some safeguards for the British passport holders and indeed the Asian community as a whole in Kenya.
§ Mrs. HartThe hon. Gentleman is confusing the amount of aid drawn down in the next four years with the amount that remains to be drawn down of the £18 million agreed for the period 1966–70. That is the figure he is referring to.
§ Mrs. HartThe aid I administer at the Ministry of Overseas Development is administered on developmental grounds. I do not know whether the hon. and learned Gentleman is suggesting that in the administration of my aid programme I should change the criteria from developmental grounds to political grounds.
§ Mr. BraineIs that not precisely what the Minister and her Government are doing in the case of Lesotho and Malta? Will she not take an early opportunity in the case of both those territories to give the House an idea of the Government's intentions? The impression now being given is that the Government are using aid as a political weapon.
§ Mrs. HartThe hon. Gentleman will find that had one of his hon. Friends been in the House to ask a Question about Malta, the answer would have been totally in terms of developmental criteria, as I judge them at the Ministry. As for Lesotho, that is an issue concerned primarily with recognition.