Kevin Myers weeps for the Ugandan air force and so do I!

I am amazed that no-one has taken out a contract on Kevin Myers, I mean, he is such a trouble-maker, forever poking his Irish nose into matters that do not concern him and then, SHLOCK-HORROR, having the effrontery to tell us the truth!  Has the man no sense of decency and discretion?  Last week he indulged in some Irish moaning and groaning on the grounds that his own impoverished country was actually sending e33m in aid to Uganda, and the Ugandans, without so much as a 'please' or 'thank you', had just spent e512m on 6 brand-spanking-new Sukhoi Su-30MK2s.  Picture below courtesy of Jet Photos:

Myers also reports that these particular aircraft were ordered with full anti-ship fighting capability.  He then points out that Uganda is actually some 500 miles from the Indian Ocean, although he does note that it shares the huge Lake Victoria with its neighbours, Tanzania and Kenya.  Of course, any suspicion that President Yoweri Museveni might have aggressive ideas about his neighbours would be entirely wrong.  You only have to look at the picture of this kindly old man to see what a peaceful chap he is, almost, one might muse, a candidate-in-the-making for the Nobel peace prize!

Anyway, I had a good laugh at those daft, romantic Paddies sending their hard-earned (or borrowed!) cash to help pay for a Ugandan air force which is now probably bigger than the Irish one, but then a 'dread thought' occurred!  What do we send them?  A quick Google produced a story from The Mail:

British aid money was used by an African dictator to buy a £30million jet, it emerged last night.

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni bought the top-of-the-range Gulfstream G550 private plane in the same year ministers gave his poverty- ravaged country £70million.

During the same period Uganda also received around £57million from the UK through the European Union.

At this point my laughter turned to tears and I can only say with absolutely true sincerity to the estimable Kevin Myers, "I feel your pain".

Oh, and I almost foregot, 'Dim Dave' ring-fenced Foreign Aid so that, although your public services are being slashed all around you, at least you can console yourself with the thought that, courtesy of your taxes,  His Excellency the President of Uganda is travelling in the style to which he has grown accustomed.  I suppose the only up-side is that at least he can't bomb anyone with a Gulfstream jet!

Comments

[A K Haart]

Pity we can't ring-fence Dim Dave.

[David Duff]

I think the il-Lib-non-Dems have already done it!

[JK]

"Myers also reports that these particular aircraft were ordered with full anti-ship fighting capability."

So what're bitching about? I thought ya'll got rid of your fleet.

[Andra]

Has that man's head shrunk since he bought that hat?