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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Interview Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Corruption cover-up in UNWRA?
By Zeina Khodr
The Palestinian Popular Committee at the Ain Al-Helweh refugee camp in the southern city of Sidon has for years been complaining about corruption and mismanagement within the administration of the UN Relief and Works Agency, UNWRA.
But the relevant authorities only began to take their allegations seriously last November when the director general of UNWRA in Lebanon, Wolfgang Plaza, vowed to uncover the "truth". Plaza had urged the UN to launch a thorough investigation into reported acts of embezzlement and squandering of funds at UNWRA. "UNWRA suffers from an unexplainable deficit," he said at the time. "The evidence I have is not tangible, but I have indicators that should be investigated."
A few days later, Plaza was forced to relocate to Brussels. He said he was "summarily dismissed" because he did not meet deadlines to reply to requests by UNWRA for information about the corruption allegations he had made. Palestinian sources said Plaza was given an "administrative holiday" to prevent him from uncovering a scandal at the agency.
Two investigations were launched in December 1998: one ordered by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the other by UNWRA's Commissioner General Peter Hansen.
"Our allegations were taken seriously after donor nations were alarmed by them and decided to put on hold much-needed funds," said Abed Makdah, treasurer of the Palestinian Popular Committee at Ain Al-Helweh.
Upon the request of the German government, UNWRA officials in Gaza investigated three German-funded projects in Lebanon. Those projects involve the construction and furnishing of a preparatory and secondary school in Beirut, the construction of a sewage system in Mia Mia camp in Sidon and the rehabilitation of the water supply system in the Dbayeh camp.
The final report charged that senior UN officials changed the terms and conditions for a tender to build a school. By doing so, the contract was won by an under-qualified construction company.
"The agency's standard practice in the tendering and award of contracts was abrogated knowingly by the director of the field technical office in Lebanon. He changed the terms and conditions of the open tender, thus giving advantage to the contractor. The same contractor was eventually awarded the project contract," the report said.
"The final report admits clearly that there was corruption and mismanagement at all managerial levels in the Lebanon office and the UNWRA headquarters in Gaza," Ghazi Al-Assadi, another member of the Palestinian Popular Committee at Ain Al-Helweh, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
The Palestinian committee is calling for action to be taken. "What is surprising is that so far, no action has been taken," Al-Assadi said. "We demand the commissioner general and the director of UN affairs in Lebanon take immediate disciplinary action," he said.
It is believed that measures will not be taken until a report by an international investigating team from New York is made public. But the Palestinian committee is worried that the delay in releasing that report may be an excuse to cover up the charges.
"The team left Beirut six weeks ago. They were supposed to present their report three weeks ago," Al-Assadi said. "We want to know why they are procrastinating?"
The Weekly contacted the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services in New York to find out what had happened to the report, but there was no one available at the office.
Furthermore, the Palestinian committee has criticised what it sees as the failure of the Gaza report to assess work carried out in one of the camps accurately. Responding to allegations regarding a sewage system in the Mia Mia camp in Sidon, the investigation team checked to see whether it had been constructed according to acceptable standards. While the report concluded that "the works were of generally good quality", it did say the "examinations of manholes and pipes were only visual and that proper testing would require more time".
"How can they make this judgment if they did not do any laboratory tests?" Al-Assadi asked.
The report also said that at this stage, it was not possible to assess some of the materials used in the construction of the sewage system. One of the workers who took part in the project claimed the proper materials were not used. "I worked on that project. I saw what they did," said the worker, who asked not to be named for fear of losing his job. "They used soil instead of stones and they did not apply the proper specifications in the construction of the system," he said.
Projects have now been put on hold, following reports of corruption that made donor nations question how their money was being spent. One such project was for the rehabilitation of the infrastructure of refugee camps across Lebanon, for which $12 million has already been pledged by donor nations. Palestinian officials say the refugees will lose out further if there are any more delays in tackling the corruption scandal.
Palestinian refugees here mainly rely on UNWRA for much-needed social services. The Lebanese government does not provide them with basic services since it does not want the refugees to be resettled here permanently.
"The money sent by international donors for the Palestinian people is not reaching them and this cannot be allowed to continue," Makdah said.
"We will not stop our campaign. We will continue to pressure the UN office in New York to take action against corrupt officials. Palestinian refugees who are facing dire living conditions will not pay for administrative and financial corruption at the agency."
