kaaryn
07-16-2007, 05:51 AM
Sun. Jul. 15 2007 5:47 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Widespread corruption in Afghanistan is slowing efforts to improve the quality of life for average citizens, but Canadian aid is still making a difference, according to a group monitoring the country's human rights situation.
"This is a country that has seen 30 years of destruction, in all infrastructures in the country, whether it's roads, schools or buildings. So rebuilding takes time," Mirwais Nahzat, spokesperson for Afghanistan Peace Ambassadors, told CTV's Question Period Sunday.
"But at the same time, Afghans have a sense of pessimism about the government's performance in accountability -- specifically about the rampant corruption across the ministries and the legal system."
Afghans have alleged that some Afghan civil servants are pocketing aid money, and are blatantly living beyond what their $200-per-month salaries would otherwise suggest.
According to the BBC, there are further allegations police officers are taking bribes from drug smugglers, to help offset their monthly pay of $70 -- a third less than what an army recruit makes.
But Nahzat said more aid -- not less -- should be funded directly through the Afghanistan government. Otherwise, NGOs would give much of the money to foreign consultants.
"Not only in Kabul, but across Afghanistan there is a big gap between 'haves' and 'have-nots'," he said.
"Specifically, it comes about because a lot of the aid money is going towards funding private companies, and giving big pay cheques to consultants who are coming there for an odd basis, on a two-week time frame."
He added that Canadians must keep faith that their tax dollars are going towards effective humanitarian projects to help average Afghans.
A specific example is the World University Service of Canada. The group has an Afghanistan project, in partnership with CARE Canada and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, that teaches crucial skills to widows.
"These are widows who, for years, depended on food rations," Nahzat told CTV.ca.
"Many were beggars, who had lost their husbands in times of conflict and war. And now here is a chance for them to become self-sufficient, to become self-reliant and support their families, to become active in the reconstruction of Afghanistan."
The project has helped about 2,000 widows. Although there are about 50,000 widows in Kabul alone, Nahzat said the impact of the project is still significant.
"Two-thousand may not sound like a big number. But multiply that by how many members that one widow will be able to support in her family, and you get a number of 8,000 to 9,000."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070715/afghan_aid_070715/20070715?hub=Canada
CTV.ca News Staff
Widespread corruption in Afghanistan is slowing efforts to improve the quality of life for average citizens, but Canadian aid is still making a difference, according to a group monitoring the country's human rights situation.
"This is a country that has seen 30 years of destruction, in all infrastructures in the country, whether it's roads, schools or buildings. So rebuilding takes time," Mirwais Nahzat, spokesperson for Afghanistan Peace Ambassadors, told CTV's Question Period Sunday.
"But at the same time, Afghans have a sense of pessimism about the government's performance in accountability -- specifically about the rampant corruption across the ministries and the legal system."
Afghans have alleged that some Afghan civil servants are pocketing aid money, and are blatantly living beyond what their $200-per-month salaries would otherwise suggest.
According to the BBC, there are further allegations police officers are taking bribes from drug smugglers, to help offset their monthly pay of $70 -- a third less than what an army recruit makes.
But Nahzat said more aid -- not less -- should be funded directly through the Afghanistan government. Otherwise, NGOs would give much of the money to foreign consultants.
"Not only in Kabul, but across Afghanistan there is a big gap between 'haves' and 'have-nots'," he said.
"Specifically, it comes about because a lot of the aid money is going towards funding private companies, and giving big pay cheques to consultants who are coming there for an odd basis, on a two-week time frame."
He added that Canadians must keep faith that their tax dollars are going towards effective humanitarian projects to help average Afghans.
A specific example is the World University Service of Canada. The group has an Afghanistan project, in partnership with CARE Canada and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, that teaches crucial skills to widows.
"These are widows who, for years, depended on food rations," Nahzat told CTV.ca.
"Many were beggars, who had lost their husbands in times of conflict and war. And now here is a chance for them to become self-sufficient, to become self-reliant and support their families, to become active in the reconstruction of Afghanistan."
The project has helped about 2,000 widows. Although there are about 50,000 widows in Kabul alone, Nahzat said the impact of the project is still significant.
"Two-thousand may not sound like a big number. But multiply that by how many members that one widow will be able to support in her family, and you get a number of 8,000 to 9,000."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070715/afghan_aid_070715/20070715?hub=Canada