The Questions surrounding aid donations have been examined thoroughly and reported intensively worldwide, yet financial aid does not reach the vulnerable people it is intended to help. It is no longer acceptable to simply label this third-world corruption, while funds are being used to purchase first-world products and lifestyles. This type of crime where food, medicine, shelter and education is withheld from poor desperate people by modern day pirates is equivalent to the legal definition of crimes against humanity and in some cases, genocide and should be treated as such.The focus of many aid corruption reports has been war-torn countries, where a cease fire agreement is in place but the underlying causes of the dispute still festers, the aid is used as a negotiation tool. In territories where natural disasters such as drought and famine have left an abject population, aid and aid agencies have found it more difficult to operate due to increased levels of larceny in the distribution channel. The peaceful developed areas are where most of the financial corruption associated with aid is presently happening as donations destined for the needy, delivered through hospitals, shelters and religious organizations, are being misdirected.
From mosquito nets to wheelchairs, from baby formula to adult diapers, from social housing to ready to eat meals, all Forms of Aid have come at a price. The donors, social clubs, national aid agencies and international aid organizations are fully aware. Governments reduce or remove import taxes, transportation charges are cut, and other tax credits are given, on donated aid. But it is not illegal to resell donated items.
Items that are clearly marked “Not for Sale” in many languages, are being offered for sale in bulk across international borders with zero value invoicing and imported as donations or aid items to qualify for tax-free or duty-free entry. These aid items often land up on retailers’ shelves, for sale at market prices, but what is even more shocking, in the case of a particular wheelchair, is that a local social club then purchases it and presents it to a needy person.
The time has come to regulate and standardize donor agencies, similar to financial institutions, to publish their donations and describe how they used the funds and who benefited from it, simply for all to see. A transparent public process for registration, monitoring and annual licensing as a non-profit social organization, entitled to raise donations and pass it on to the people who need it.
Rationale
T.A.J & Associates Company Limited uses this occasion to comment on topics that have been covered, both academically and by the mainstream media, to add its opinion and point out investment opportunity, not to invoke any social action.
