Trackback URL
Download PDF At least six non-government organisations (NGO) had allegedly misused funds meant for the task of monitoring Union Parishad (UP) polls in 2003.
The organisations had to return the money to Danida (Danish International Development Agency) after an investigation by the donor agency found proofs of misuse of the funds it had sanctioned for monitoring the UP elections, said sources.
The NGOs said they have taken proper actions following the Danida’s complaint. They claimed that some field-level volunteers and local partners had made the ‘mistake’.
Ironically, four of these six organisations have been listed for observing the next elections under the auspices of The Asia Foundation and have already received letters of intent.
Massline Media Centre (MMC), Democracywatch, Bangladesh Manobadhikar Somonnoy Parishad (Bamasop), Action on Disability and Development (ADD), Brotee, and Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR) are among the NGOs against whom Danida had raised the allegation.
The Danish development agency discussed the irregularities in their audit report and later put pressure on those NGOs to reimburse the money. Except Bamasop, the others have returned some of the money to Danida.
Taleya Rehman, Executive director of Democracywatch, told The Daily Star on Friday that on verifying the complaint raised by Danida, they have returned Tk 5 to 6 lakh. She said her organisation had received about Tk 40 lakh for the UP election monitoring.
“We have taken proper actions on receipt of the complaint and it [misuse] all happened due to shortage of time,” she added claiming that Danida has accepted her response, and has again sanctioned funds for another Democracywatch project.
Massline Media Centre (MMC), which worked as the secretariat of the Danida project for monitoring the UP election 2003, returned Tk 10/12 lakh following repeated pressure from the donor agency.
Brotee, a leading organisation for election observation, has returned about Tk 8 lakh to Danida in instalments.
“Some of our local partners at the grassroots level have been involved in the irregularities as they did not pay the observers the money required to do the job right,” Sharmeen Murshid, chief executive officer (CEO) of Brotee, told The Daily Star on Sunday.
“Danida has accepted our report in this regard and appreciated Brotee’s efforts,” she said adding that they are now returning in instalments the money that had been misused.
Meanwhile, Elina Khan, executive director (ED) of Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR) said, ” The donor agency and the project secretariat MMC did not allow us enough time to train our staff on our own. Neither could they conduct a proper training in election observation. And as a result, the grassroots level organisations and observers had failed to carry out their duties. ”
She said, “As soon as we found out the problems, we stopped the task of monitoring the UP election and returned the unused funds.”
BSEHR had received Tk 30 lakh and returned about Tk 10 lakh to Danida, she added.
On the allegation of funds abuse, MMC Executive Director Kamrul Hasan Manju told The Daily Star,”It was not our mistake. Rather some volunteers on the field were involved in it.”
Mosharraf Hossain, country director of ADD, told The Daily Star that after investigation they have returned about Tk 50 thousand to Danida.
“On receiving Danida’s complaint in 2003, we took necessary actions against the persons who were involved in the misuse of funds at the field level,” he said.
On the allegation, Bamasop Chairman AHM Nouman said,”I was not in charge at that time, so I don’t know the details about the Danida’s complaint. We will take decision in this regard after consulting our member organisations.”
The Asia Foundation on last Thursday called the Bamasop chairman and asked him to settle the issue with Danida soon. Otherwise, Bamasop will not be allowed to be in the Election Working Group (EWG).
The EWG is a platform launched recently by an alliance of 35 NGOs to observe the upcoming polls. The Asia Foundation will provide funds for the task.
“We have already discussed the matter with the Asia Foundation authorities. They told us to resolve the issue soon,” Nouman told The Daily Star on Thursday night.
Khairuzzaman Kamal, member secretary of a Bamasop faction, told The Daily Star yesterday that they have sent a letter to the TAF asking them to stop sanctioning funds in favour of Bamasop as a case against the organisation is still pending at a court.
“If the Asia Foundation does not stop disbursing funds for Manobadhikar Somonnoy Parishad, we will take legal action against them,” Kamal observed.
According to the letter of intent, Democracywatch and Bamasop will get Tk 1.98 crore and MMC and ADD each will get about Tk 1 crore for monitoring the next election as members of the EWG.
Comments are not moderated and only expresses personal views of visitors. BangladeshNews.com.bd is not responsible for commets posted by visitors.
Leave a Reply