AFP
PHNOM PENH - THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Thursday there has been mismanagement in a US$35 million (S$52 million) emergency food aid project after many poor Cambodians complained rice was not given out fairly.
Up to three hundred Cambodians complained to the ADB that they had not received rice handouts while village chiefs have registered relatives and political supporters for the project, the bank said.
'I think that some people have been left out. Some of the village chiefs have not followed procedures properly,' the ADB's Piseth Long, implementation officer for the project, told AFP.
'Procedures need to be followed for the targeted people - the 20 per cent poorest should receive aid,' he said, adding that the bank was reviewing how many complaints were genuine and attempting to get aid to those who deserve it.
Cambodian human rights groups have said more than 1,000 poor families in several provinces have complained of corruption by village chiefs in the rice distribution project.
Mr Piseth Long, however, stopped short of saying that fraud had been found in the process and noted that 'to a certain extent the project has fulfilled its goal' of handing out rice to the poorest of the poor.
The project began last month to help hundreds of thousands of impoverished Cambodians in rural areas and slums over the next three years amid soaring inflation, food and fuel prices.
Cambodia is one of 12 'hunger hotspot' countries, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. More than 30 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people live in poverty.
Up to three hundred Cambodians complained to the ADB that they had not received rice handouts while village chiefs have registered relatives and political supporters for the project, the bank said.
'I think that some people have been left out. Some of the village chiefs have not followed procedures properly,' the ADB's Piseth Long, implementation officer for the project, told AFP.
'Procedures need to be followed for the targeted people - the 20 per cent poorest should receive aid,' he said, adding that the bank was reviewing how many complaints were genuine and attempting to get aid to those who deserve it.
Cambodian human rights groups have said more than 1,000 poor families in several provinces have complained of corruption by village chiefs in the rice distribution project.
Mr Piseth Long, however, stopped short of saying that fraud had been found in the process and noted that 'to a certain extent the project has fulfilled its goal' of handing out rice to the poorest of the poor.
The project began last month to help hundreds of thousands of impoverished Cambodians in rural areas and slums over the next three years amid soaring inflation, food and fuel prices.
Cambodia is one of 12 'hunger hotspot' countries, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. More than 30 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people live in poverty.
5 comments:
At night you torch the village chief's house.
And voila, a chef saute au feu.
Please follow the ADB procedure.
1) Go to village chief's house.
2) Burn a torch and throw it onto his house.
3) Run away or watch it burn.
Please follow the steps carefully.
I wouldn't go to that extreme.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
Violence against violence would create a vicious circle, and peaceful co-existence would not be possible. The village chiefs may be a moron, but the well-educated ADB staff should be able to outsmart them:
- Discover what tricks they use to swindle food aid;
- Implement a check-and-balance measure to counter their tricks.
E.g. aid recipients must provide their name or ID and thumbprints accompanied by the village chief's signature to assure that they are actually poor people. If a fraud is discovered this paper can be used by ADB and the local authority to prosecute the village chief in court. Even if there is no court case, the village chief should already feel that he will be held accountable for wrongdoings.
We don't need to burn the White House for the credit crunch. The White House did not create this crisis, some people did.
Most of these food end up in the market for sale instead of going to the people who really needed the food.
hamona hamoot
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