Transparency International expressed alarm at the diversion of emergency aid meant for the populations of the extreme south of the Big Island at a press briefing in Antananarivo on Wednesday, July 5th.
Struck by drought for several years, more than 1.5 million inhabitants are in a situation of food insecurity in this part of the island. The Malina network, an investigation unit of Transparency International, has highlighted through testimonies from villagers and local authorities practices of corruption and discrimination in the selection of beneficiaries of emergency aid.
Transparency International reveals that sometimes bags of rice, pulses, cans of oil, and even financial support have been diverted from the most vulnerable households. The NGO investigated September 2022 to March 2023 aid from the World Food Program and the Development Intervention Fund, says Mialisoa Randriamampianina, editor-in-chief of the Malina network.
“Hijackings come in different forms, for example, we have the people who are handlers, who move the bags of rice, who take some. We also have authorities who issue false identity cards so that people can have access to humanitarian aid. It’s a whole chain of small links that completely diverts the goods to other people and we end up with bags of rice that are sold in the marketplace when normally it is bags of rice that should have been distributed to people”. Added Mialisoa Randriamampianina.
The FID, a private association recognized as being of public utility, placed under the supervision of the Prime Minister, recognizes imperfections when allocating certain financial aid and specifies in the Transparency International survey that it has blacklisted the service providers who have defaulted and banished from the program those who made use of forgeries.