Kampala — THE European Commission (EC) has pledged to provide sh511b in budget support over the next six years to help the country achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Ambassador Vincent De Visscher, the head of the EC and finance minister Syda Bbumba signed the agreement yesterday.

De Visscher handed over a cheque for the first disbursement totalling sh87b, which he said was released to the Central Bank on June 29.

The singing was also witnessed by Dutch ambassador Jeroen Verhegl and Swedish ambassador Anders Johnson.

De Visscher asked the Government to increase efforts to combat corruption, saying it had affected the implementation of programmes.

"Accountability and value for money is important. As part of the contract, we expect the Government to tackle corruption much more than before. We want a guarantee that the money will be well spent," he said.

He said Uganda was one of the seven countries benefiting from the newly-designed budget support dubbed the MDG Contract.

De Visscher said the next disbursement would depend on the Government's implementation of the terms of the contract.

He said the contract provided financial support in exchange for measurable progress towards concrete goals like raising the number of children passing Primary Leaving Examinations and more nurses working in rural health centres.

"It is a risk we are willing to take to allow the Government to implement the poverty eradication action plan and the national development plan. We will look at indicators of health and education and the money will be disbursed depending on targets set by the Government," he explained.

The ambassador also asked the Government to improve the electoral process to avoid malpractices during the 2011 elections.

"The Government should go beyond business as usual and look at recommendations of the EC election observer mission and other missions. Elections are not far and voters should be mobilised and educated," De Visscher said.

Bbumba assured the donors that the Government was committed to fighting corruption and improving accountability.

"In the budget I announced that we have have new rules. We requested implementing agencies to support their request of funds with investment plans, procurement plans and we are going to be very strict," she said.

Bbumba said the Government would hold quarterly discussion with donors that will be chaired by the President as a monitoring tool to increase transparency and accountability.

She commended the development partners for supporting the country despite the global economic downturn and making good of the promise to disburse the aid.

The minister said predictability and timely delivery of aid was crucial for effective implementation of the national budget.

She added that a big share of this financial year's budget would be channelled towards the education and health sectors to improve the quality of life and increase productivity.