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Former Haiti official: We have no idea where all that recovery money went

Re: $Billions Pledged to Haiti After Earthquake Have Vanished

AmericanSpartan said:
Anyone with some common sense..
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So then I'm sure you can point to any instances where people said "sending aide to a country hit with a massive Earthquake was a bad idea."
 
Re: $Billions Pledged to Haiti After Earthquake Have Vanished

As usual with a sudden influx of outside capital ("aid") it mostly was squandered, and the majority never made it into Haitian hands.

Some global development analysts say that the spending structure — with the vast majority of money being funneled through foreign contractors instead of the Haitian government or local outfits — has built-in inefficiencies, compounded by a lack of accountability and transparency.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees the aid program, says using experienced Beltway-based firms that could move quickly in the beginning was a necessity, but acknowledges that more should go to local entities. The new goal is to put 17 percent of funding in Haitian hands.

The American companies relied on a maze of subcontractors, increasing overhead and obscuring whether the money was being spent wisely, critics said.

"It was really hard getting our hands around this," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who authored a bill signed into law last month that requires more robust reporting of how aid is being spent going forward.
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What Does Haiti Have to Show for $13 Billion in Earthquake Aid? - NBC News
 
Re: $Billions Pledged to Haiti After Earthquake Have Vanished

This is why Im against foreign aid in general, its likely to be stolen, and even if it doesn't we are just exporting welfare and all its problems internationally.
 
Re: $Billions Pledged to Haiti After Earthquake Have Vanished

US Conservative said:
This is why Im against foreign aid in general, its likely to be stolen, and even if it doesn't we are just exporting welfare and all its problems internationally.
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We agree on that point, but I would have replaced "welfare" with dependence. We have enough information now to conclude that the majority of the money designed to help Haiti ended up never making it to Haiti.
 
Re: $Billions Pledged to Haiti After Earthquake Have Vanished

It's not surprising at all, but certainly a shame.

In areas of conflict (war zones, refugee camps, etc), this kind of $$ and resources are usually heavily tracked and guarded. In this case, maybe they just turned it over to various aid agencies and they were less vigilent or downright corrupt. Some of both probably.
 
US Conservative said:
This is why Im against foreign aid in general, its likely to be stolen, and even if it doesn't we are just exporting welfare and all its problems internationally.
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Foreign Aid comes from governments - donations come from individuals.
 
Re: $Billions Pledged to Haiti After Earthquake Have Vanished

OrphanSlug said:
We agree on that point, but I would have replaced "welfare" with dependence. We have enough information now to conclude that the majority of the money designed to help Haiti ended up never making it to Haiti.
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Thats one of the major problems of the third world. A coworker was there just after the quake and told me they believe the US caused the earthquake, and only came to "help" to assess the damage. Africa is no better.
 
MrVicchio said:
Shocking. Unbelievable!

People were surprised by this? Politicians acted outraged? I bet big dollars that if you could actually TRACE the "disaster money" you would find it flowed to big donors for each party, and of course nothing at all will come of this.
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Oh Vic....He of little faith, obviously they need more money...:mrgreen:
 
Re: $Billions Pledged to Haiti After Earthquake Have Vanished

US Conservative said:
This is why Im against foreign aid in general, its likely to be stolen, and even if it doesn't we are just exporting welfare and all its problems internationally.
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I agree in the problem, but not in the solution. Sometime around the first world war "progressives" went from being followers of the Teddy Roosevelt brand, starting with government reform, to one of world reform with government both the revenue gatherer and arbiter of who gets how much.

The "government" aid money went into the pockets of those distributing it, starting with "agents" state side through to some low life thugs charging a percentage of the food to get it there.

In the aftermath of the quake, it was non-government agencies who were first on scene with real humanitarian aid, person to person, with funds generated directly from the people on the street in Canada, US, Britain and especially France. A colleague of mine, a former member of the legislature was among the first to set foot there. It was weeks, months perhaps before government money was flowing.

The difference is the NGO money is tight, one time and people have to be careful. Government money requires funded committees, administrators, controllers and a list of pockets to be lined before the $ leaves the bank.

Years ago, as a very green, freshman reporter in Ottawa, I came to tears over the bureaucratic delays in getting aid to the earth quake victims in Managua, Nicaragua in 1973.
 
Re: $Billions Pledged to Haiti After Earthquake Have Vanished

Haiti had a real poverty problem long before the earthquake. That poverty stems from a corrupt government. The earthquake only made things much worse. Here in the U.S. because of the corruption in Haiti years ago the U.S. Congress passed a law saying no funds can go to Haiti’s central government until the secretary of state certifies that the country, among other things, “is combating corruption and improving governance,” including passing an anti-corruption law to prosecute corrupt officials and putting in place financial transparency and accountability requirements for government institutions. We currently give Haiti 800 million dollars a year in aid but not directly to the government. Canada and the European Union also give substantial amounts but I have no idea if they give it directly to the government. Haiti's government budget relies on 40% from foreign aid.

The earthquake was horrific, 7.0 magnitude inland. The United States Geological Survey recorded eight aftershocks in the two hours after the main earthquake, with magnitudes between 4.3 and 5.9. Within the first nine hours 32 aftershocks of magnitude 4.2 or greater were recorded, 12 of which measured magnitude 5.0 or greater, and on 24 January USGS reported that there had been 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater since 12 January quake. (according to Wiki)

I imagine a few of those billions went immediately to housing hundreds of thousands in tent cities and setting up some sort of temporary sanitation, feeding the masses, and setting up temporary hospitals for the wounded. Other monies most likely went to things like rescue missions trying to dig people out of the rubble collecting the dead and while searching for survivors. There were so many dead that they were placed in mass graves. There are signs of Haiti rebuilding but by the accounts I have read there are still 80,000 living in tents.

I've been to Haiti. It has some of the most pristine beaches I have ever seen. If the government wasn't so corrupt, there would probably be many more businesses willing to establish themselves on the island which in turn would produce needed jobs for the people and generate revenue for the government so that it would not be dependent on so much welfare from other countries.
 
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