Bring order to Haiti aid effort, CARICOM urges UN
Published:Wednesday | July 7, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
CARICOM leaders are urging the United Nations (UN) to rein in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that rushed to the assistance of Haiti in the wake of the massive January 12 earthquake but are now doing more harm than good.
"You have several hundreds of NGOs operating in Haiti and basically doing what they want with no regard to the wishes of the government of Haiti," immediate past chairman of CARICOM, Roosevelt Skerrit told journalists on Monday.
"We called on the UN Secretary General (Ban Ki Moon) to do whatever he can to bring some level of order to the situation. Because while you speak about maintaining democracy in Haiti you cannot at the same time be empowering NGOs to undermine the democratic institutions that are in Haiti," Skerrit added.
Regional leaders worried
He said regional leaders are worried that if some semblance of order is not brought to the process, the strides made so far in rebuilding democratic institutions in Haiti would be undermined, "particularly taking into consideration the fact that we must hold elections in Haiti by February of 2011".
According to Skerrit: "We believe the situation in Haiti is untenable and we should put an immediate stop to it, and we must call on the international institutions and governments to cease and desist from putting the resources into the NGOs".
Skerrit noted that some donors were spending money through the NGOs because of concerns about transparency and accountability if the money is instead donated to the Haitian government. However, he argued that measures can be put in place to allay those fears.
"We could agree on a protocol where for example the IMF could endorse or validate the figures or we could use the IDB to create an account where the resources could be deposited," said Skerrit. He also pointed to a third option, that the money could be deposited in the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.
"But we cannot not give the Haitian government the resources to carry out its mandate because what is happening (is that) the pledges are being made. These are public pledges, and the Haitian nationals are under the impression that the Haitian government is in control of these resources and they are not spending the money to address the issues confronting the country", the outgoing CARICOM chair stated.
Skerrit, who is also the prime minister of Dominica, noted that basic issues such as the clearing of the streets are not being undertaken by the NGOs but the Haitian government is short of money to carry out even this basic function.
Budgetary support
He claimed Haitian President Rene Preval requested US$150 million for budgetary support but so far has received only US$75 million with a portion of that being used to clear the streets.
Preval, who was also in attendance at the 31st Heads of Government meeting in Montego Bay, St James, until he left on Monday, avoided any formal contact with the media while he was here.
A big portion of the first two days of the conference was spent discussing the issues facing the country which is still struggling after the January earthquake which devastated large sections of the country and left thousands of people dead.
The country is also facing an immediate crisis with the lack of sufficient housing for hundreds of displaced persons who now face the hurricane season without roofs over their heads.