Maravi

Poor accountability on aid in kind

Poor accountability on aid in kind
By Editor
Friday July 18, 2008 [04:00]

SUPPORT from friends is something which is always a source of tremendous inspiration to everyone. Those who are ready to join hands can overcome the greatest challenges. No country in the world today can overcome all its problems and satisfy all its needs by itself. The cooperation and support of others will always be needed.

But support doesn't come just like that; it doesn't come easy. It has to be mobilised. Someone has to make it happen. The aid we receive from others is the result of efforts of other people who spend a lot of time mobilising it, making it happen.

And the donations we receive are products of other people's work, other people's sacrifices and sweat. They give it to us for a legitimate cause. If they knew that what they were giving us would be stolen by a few greedy individuals; that it would not be accounted for properly, they would not give it to us.

Therefore, whatever we are given by others, we need to account for it and ensure that it gets to the intended people. And this is much more so when it is food intended for the poor people, for those affected by some disasters of one form or another, and are not in a position to feed themselves or meet their basic needs. Stealing from the poor is not only a crime but also a betrayal of Christ. He who betrays the poor betrays Christ.

Food is the most important element in any society. Consequently, the arrangements to make food readily available take very high priority in a well-ordered society. And those who try to sabotage or derail efforts to get food to every household don't get away with it.

It is a strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental needs to remain unsatisfied. Hunger in our society is a sign of gross injustice and a block on development.

The existence of large numbers of hungry and undernourished people in our country should constitute an affront to all of us. And a stable, permanent solution must be found for this serious problem. And we must struggle, with international support, to meet our people's needs for basic foodstuffs as much as possible.

International support is meaningless and will not achieve much if we are not responsible in the management and use of whatever assistance is given to our people by the international community.

At the end of the day, it is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another, one community from another, one country from another.

Stealing items donated to our needy people in order to enrich oneself should be a serious crime, should actually be unthinkable.

How can we expect the international community to be sensitive to the plight of our suffering people when we ourselves, their own leaders don't care much and cannot even pay much attention to the management and distribution of the assistance they have been given? We cannot continue to poorly manage international assistance when there are so many people in our country who, each day, cannot meet the basic needs necessary for a decent human life.

The concerns raised by finance minister Ng’andu Magande over the poor accountability on gifts received by the government from donors deserve serious consideration by the National Constitutional Conference.

Although we should stand for self-reliance, we hope for foreign aid because in our current circumstances, it will not be easy to completely do away with it. We should depend on our own efforts but this should not stop us from receiving help when it is generously extended to us.

Poor management and accountability does not show a sense of gratitude on our part for the assistance being extended to us by the international community. If we continue on this path, it will be very difficult in future to be taken seriously by others. We need to change our ways and manage the aid we are given in a more efficient, effective and orderly manner.

We, therefore, urge the National Constitutional Conference to come up with resolutions that will improve the management of international assistance extended to our people and increase the levels of accountability to ensure that such assistance reaches the intended sections of our nation.

In fact, this should not only be confined to international assistance, but should be extended to the resources generated by our own people, our taxpayers. Every kwacha needs to be accounted for. With the very limited resources we have, we cannot afford wastage.

We need to increase the effort to practice a strict economy and combat waste. The principle of diligence and frugality should be observed in everything. Thrift should be the guiding principle in our government expenditure.

And it should be made very clear to all government workers that corruption and waste are really great crimes. Our national campaigns against corruption and waste have already achieved some results, but further efforts are required.

We must take resolute measures against anyone failing to account for donor aid and other public resources. And we must pay attention to thrift and economy.

Our Minister of Finance has raised the alarm - has raised the concern - the lesson is there and attention must be called to it.

Labels: MAGANDE, TRANSPARANCY

posted by MrK @ 6:59 AM