“Every day they (the opposition) are
cheating the people to get power… They say they seek justice for the will of
the people but now the will of the people is that they need rice, so why don’t
they help out there? When there are floods or any other incidents, fathers and
mothers and brothers and sisters have seen that there is no other party coming
to help you here…there is only the CPP because all civil servants are CPP.”
Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) president Bun Rany Hun Sen, 28 October
2013, The Cambodia Daily
“They [the CRC] think that those people
[evictees] are always protesting against the CPP and the ruling party accuses
them of being followers [of the opposition]…and then the Red Cross has no plan
to help them.”
Housing Rights Task Force secretary-director Sia Phearum, 2
November 2013, The Cambodia Daily
Would the CRC
president have Jean Henry Dunant spinning in his
grave? She might not care that much even if she knew Dunant’s basic principle
of “We are all one” underlined the Red Cross Movement this Swiss philanthropist
founded 151 years ago. Instead of caring for all, friends or foes, the
politically-charged president has done more than just splitting Cambodia right
in the middle: she paints the red cross dark for Cambodia to bear.
First,
huge annual donations to the CRC ring an alarm bell only the deaf can ignore.
On the Annual Red Cross Day this year, the CRC rakes over USD14 million from a
small but dedicated group of top government officials and businessmen,
surpassing last year’s by more than USD300,000. The CPP Anti-Corruption Unit,
which vows to fight corruption, pretends to be deaf. It does not follow up how
these select donors can be so charitable; it would uncover that these donations
are just payments for favours that turn anything they touch into gold.
Second, with these huge donations, there are huge question marks
on where the money comes and goes. The CRC website does not provide any
financials, albeit being flooded with photos of handouts and audiences with
madam president.
Only the umbrella organisation – the International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – gives a glimpse of what the CRC is up
to. Their website has the CRC annual reports for the calendar year of 2013 and
2012, though they contain only statements of expenditures. There is neither
revenue statement nor balance sheet. None of the over USD28 million they boast
they raised in the two years is reported. Either those pledges of donations are
just hot air, or the CRC thinks the amounts are immaterial.
Nonetheless, the 2013 financial statement reveals a mere total
fund outflow of CHF432,000, or about USD484,000. Obviously, the CRC’s one
million dollar pledge to five
Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals is not disclosed. The promise may just be
empty, only meant to boost the CRC and CPP images in publicity stunt, in which
case Dr Beat Richner must continue with his weekly cello busking to support the
hospitals.
However,
the breakdown of the disclosed CRC expenditures confirms the needy benefit
little, though not surprising. A large chunk (63%) of the total outgoings is
for personnel – presumably staff wages; another 15.3% is for general
expenditures which are not specified. The only expense item that may have some
connection to the needy is described in the financial statement as “the relief
items, construction, and supplies”; it accounts for a mere 4.2% of the total.
Thus, most of the expenditures are for administration, not the needy – not as
much as the CPP publicity machine indicates.
Assuming
no donor in their right mind would dare to mislead the CRC president by not
honouring their pledge of donation, a large chunk of cash is missing.
Eventhough the CRC annual report completely skips balance sheet items
altogether, someone must know where the money is. Guess who?
Ung Bun Ang
20v14
Parthian Shot:
“A
public servant who takes bribes is akin to a traitor.”
Tel
Aviv District Court judge David Rozen, 14 May 2014, Reuters
The
judge has just sentenced ex-Isreali prime minister Ehud Olmert to six years in
jail for taking bribes of a lousy $161,300.
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