I tend to agree with what Richard Tinsley has raised about what some donors and indeed some government view M&E.  To go a step further, this perception is often overlooked in evaluation because the scope of evaluations which in most situations is limited to the OECD-DAC criteria which rests on the premise that evaluation is conducted to determine the relevance and the fulfillment of objectives and whether the implementation was efficient, effective, had impact and evidence pf sustainability.  Evaluation, as far as I can recall rarely question the M&E system to see whether it truly performed its core and correct functions. The flaw starts from the fact that it is the principle and principle alone who determine the Terms of reference (ToR) of the evaluation of what they implemented or what they as donors supported. ToRs should be open for independent input from independent consultant so that they cover all areas even areas which they implementer/donor may not be keen to learn from.  In this way the value of M&E would be more appreciated and improved upon and hopefully receive better resource support.  

Kelvin