Uganda sends $500,000 to China 'by mistake'

Uganda's finance ministry has asked the Ugandan embassy in China to refund money sent "erroneously" to their account, after it emerged they sent almost ten times more than planned.

The Ugandan Cabinet had approved $61,800 (£47,700) to be sent to China for students in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

But the education ministry requested $600,000 - a much higher amount. A ministry official is quoted by the Daily Monitor newspaper as saying the money had been approved by the cabinet and sent to China.

The ministry of finance has however disputed this. In a recent letter, it stated that the amount approved by the cabinet was the lower amount of $61,800, and has asked the embassy to refund $538,200.

Photos of the finance ministry's letter have been shared online:

Apparently the MoF has asked the Embassy in Beijing to return the excess $538,000 that was sent to them. They also need to respect us, so they ‘accidentally’ sent $600,000 instead of $61,800...should we assume such ‘mistakes’ happen often and people get away with it ? pic.twitter.com/d8DUzePj87

— Thomas (@owishemwe) March 10, 2020