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1. Global Fund graft in Uganda
On our site today, we have a Religion News Service article about the criticism that James Dobson and some others have leveled against the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. (The organization Friends of the Global Fight has put together a response, but so far it's not posted on its website.) Now comes more PR trouble: The Christian Science Monitor reports:

The phrase "Global Fund" has become synonymous with graft in Uganda. A government inquiry recently revealed that tens of millions of dollars of the country's Global Fund grants have gone missing, much of it plundered by high-ranking public officials. Through months of hearings, which began in September and concluded just a few weeks ago, a disgusted Ugandan public heard how monies meant for lifesaving AIDS drugs were spent on personal phone bills, lavish "Christmas packages," and fancy four-wheel drive vehicles. … Problems with Global Fund monies have surfaced recently in other countries as well.

In a large sense, this is old news: The Global Fund suspended its grants to Uganda last August after an audit revealed "evidence of serious mismanagement by the Project Management Unit in the Ministry of Health." After Uganda restructured management of the grants, the Global Fund lifted the suspensions in November.

What's new is the Ugandan government report, which the Global Fund says is evidence of improvement, not of new problems. "The openness and thoroughness with which President Yoweri Museweni addressed the Global Fund's concerns about the management of the grants it finances in Uganda has set an example for how allegations of corruption should be dealt with," executive director Richard Feachem says in a press release.

Ugandans, meanwhile, note that the those involved in the graft have not faced any legal consequences. (The report recommends a criminal investigation.) Ugandan Health Minister Jim "Muhwezi should have been in Luzira Prison as we speak," Ugandan MP Charles Angiro tells The Monitor. "He is as dangerous as [Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph] Kony. Kony kills by the sword but he has killed by denying HIV positive Ugandans' health services."

The bottom line: When talking about fighting AIDS in Africa, the question of how much money goes to corruption vs. how much of it goes to actual aid is a much, much bigger issue than the question of how much gets spent on condoms vs. how much goes to promoting chastity.

2. Louisiana bans abortion, but not yet
A bill passed by the Louisiana House is the latest "trigger" ban on abortion, meaning it will go into effect only if the federal constitution is amended to allow states to ban abortion or if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. The bill, which would only except abortions where the woman's life or permanent health is in danger, will now go back to the state senate, which passed a similar bill (without the "permanent health" exception) in April.

3. Study: Religious Right more sectarian than Religious Left
John Evans, associate professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego, says Religious Right groups are more likely to be at odds with each other than Religious Left groups, which are more likely to "build cooperative political partnerships with those of similar ideological views." Sectarianism, he says, "has receded for the Religious Left."

Not so for religious conservatives. "What may be holding back the religious right from achieving its full potential is that, compared to the groups that comprise the religious left, participants in conservative religious groups do not want the other religious right groups to influence public opinion," Evans says in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. "It is particularly clear that conservative Protestants are wary of the influence of Catholics."

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June (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50