Pakistan gets very little of the promised earthquake donations

Donors’ failure to deliver


DETAILS now made available about the donations that were pledged for earthquake relief and rehabilitation to Pakistan in November last year at the donors’ conference are likely to cause much public concern. It has now been revealed that the sum of $6.7 billion that sixty governments/agencies had said they would give Pakistan as a helping hand was not all in the form of a grant. In fact, most of it — that is, four billion dollars — was meant to be loans, the terms of which have not been disclosed yet. Of the $2.7 billion grant, most of it was spent by various organisations and was not given to the Government of Pakistan at all. Now the most distressing piece of information is that the donors have not disbursed all the loans/grants they had promised. According to one report, only $1.6 billion has actually been handed over to Pakistan. The failure to mobilise funds has been confirmed by the UN humanitarian coordinator who said on Monday that Pakistan’s early recovery plan had a price tag of $255 million and only $161 million was delivered and received.

This does not reflect well on the international community which was expected to show more humanitarian concern for the victims of this terrible natural calamity. Given the heart-warming response of the people and relief agencies not just in Pakistan but all over the world, one had expected the governments to do better. They did show plenty of concern and promised to extend monetary assistance. Regrettably, the concern expressed then has proved to be verbal and the large amounts pledged have not been fully paid. Now we have the prime minister informing us that $600 million worth of aid had to be declined because of unfavourable terms and conditions while $1.4 billion is still under negotiation. Will the conditions attached to this amount get the approval of the Pakistan government? It is not clear how much of the $2 billion that the prime minister says has been negotiated has been delivered. It is disappointing that governments and aid agencies have failed to be generous towards the three-million-plus people who are in dire need of assistance in these testing times when the earthquake destroyed their hearths and homes and left them devastated.

While the approach of the donor governments is not something to be commended, Pakistan too has lost much of its credibility by not ensuring transparency in its earthquake relief and reconstruction operations. Since it did not consider it necessary to take the public into confidence regarding the financial aspect of the massive work undertaken in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP, it lost credibility with the people. No wonder it has come under attack for having failed to fulfil its promises. Even now it is not too late. The government should adopt an open approach and let the people know exactly how much was received in the wake of the earthquake and how much has been spent and in what manner. This is important if it does not want to be charged with corruption. As it is, it does not have a very impressive performance to boast of when it comes to rebuilding infrastructure or developing the housing and social sectors. The worst aspect is financial record-keeping. The government is harming its own cause when it conceals the financial constraints caused by the failure of the donors to deliver on their promises, which is affecting the government’s performance.