via US govt probes Zim Civil Society – New Zimbabwe 22/01/2015
AT LEAST 15 civil society organisations are under investigation by the US government through its major donor fund distribution channel USAID over corruption and misappropriation of millions of dollars.
NewZimbabwe.com has it on good authority that organisations which have joined the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition in the graft investigations include the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, (ZimRights), Youth in Democracy Initiative of Zimbabwe, Combined Harare Residents Association, among several others which were dealing with elections and peace building initiatives in the country.
Sources close to the investigations also said a senior official with USAID Zimbabwe office who was responsible for receiving and processing funding proposals from local NGOs had been summoned to Washington DC for questioning.
“The official is the man at the core of the corruption that has been happening in a number of civil society organizations for the past five years. He is being accused of providing funding to NGOs which are run by his allies through processing their proposals, inflating the funding figures which they would share thereafter,” said a source.
The official is also accused of authorizing and disbursing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the donor to a local residents’ pressure group employing his wife.
“He has since been invited to Washington DC for a two week interrogation over how the funds were being disbursed. He was also asked to bring documents showing all the meetings and hotel bookings he approved for a number of the organizations which are under investigations”.
During the just ended festive season USAID sent an official from the US to investigate corruption in the civil society’s umbrella body, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, after it had emerged that its 16 member staff complement had a monthly salary bill of over $31, 000.
The sources said it was during the course of investigating the Coalition when it emerged that 14 more organizations which were being funded by the investigator were also misusing donor funds.
The Coalition has since been directed to produce its audited books to the funder.
COMMENTS
LOL – Corruption is Us! Nigeria has been left far behind and I think we probably lead Africa, if not the world.
Well done, Zimbos!
What went wrong? The US Embassy in Harare used to keep a very tight rein on aid funds, Customs and Reserve Bank Officials were occasionally asked to assist with their investigations of possible abuse.
Zim = corruption. Very simple. Comes from the top and his typist/adulteress. RGM, there’s a thing called conscience -perhaps you’ve heard of it- and I would urge you to admit to the genocide you approved many years ago. No Nuremburg trials in Zim!