I am giving my Haitian money to the Red Cross

Jan 16, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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I am donating $10,000 to the Haitian relief effort. That is a sum I can ill afford but it has to be done. I could have done better but last year, the Head of the GRA, Mr. Khurshid Sattaur asked me to pay property tax for each year going back eight years. Property tax means you have to pay the GRA money on your savings in the bank.
Don’t ever forget – property tax means more than just the physical building you own. You have to pay on the contents in your home, cars, jewelry and your savings which were already taxed through income tax and withholding tax. I actually saved up for a laptop but the GRA intervened.
Back to the Red Cross. The Guyana Government has set up its own relief bandwagon and requested that all stakeholders be canopied under it.
The AFC did not agree. The Red Cross has its own campaign. Minister Priya Manickchand reserved some harsh words for the Red Cross because it has its independent relief operation. PNC Parliamentarian, Winston Murray, reacted with disappointment at Ms. Manickchand’s broadside and wrote a letter to both independent dailies yesterday taking offence at the stance of the Minister.
This columnist here would like to register his disgust at the Minister’s idiotic, distasteful and unmannerly diatribe against the Guyana Red Cross.
Let me go on record as saying that I believe that there are persons serving at the helm of the Red Cross who have more integrity than many in the leadership of the Guyana Government.
The Guyana Red Cross is a branch of the International Red Cross, a globally respected organisation that has the support of top leaders around the world.
Who outside there in the real world knows about those names that make up the elected dictatorship in Guyana? I trust the Red Cross to handle my small contribution than the Government.
I would like to repeat that for emphasis and I am reiterating the point without apologies – I trust the Red Cross to channel my small donation to Haiti. I do not have confidence that the operation by the Guyana Government will be accompanied by accountability.
Before we offer our reason for not wanting to put our small mercies into the hands of the Government, let us return to the foolishness of Ms. Manickchand. Some people in the Government are incompetent in international relations and this mediocrity borders on ignorance.
Just imagine, there are leaders in this country who honestly believed that at the Copenhagen climate change confabulation, hundreds and hundreds of billion of American dollars would be coming the way of the Third World. And on a yearly basis, Guyana would have collected about a few billion American dollars within a short span.
There was never any indication since WW2 that international relations had so fundamentally changed that the developed states were willing to dish out that stupendous amount to a group of corrupt, undemocratic Third World countries.
Minister Manickchand should have been sensible enough to know how the Red Cross operates worldwide. It does not get involved with politics. It will not subsume its identity under the aegis of a government; maybe the UN but not individual governments.
What Ms. Manickchand wanted was for the Red Cross to submerge its identity under the Government of Guyana. The Guyana branch of the Red Cross would not have received permission from its international superiors to do that. It is a pity that Manickchand didn’t know that before she opened her mouth and unfairly castigated a superb organisation that has done humane work for Guyana for almost a century.
Now for the reason for snubbing the government’s Haiti collection box.
I can only offer my thinking. I would suggest that others do not contribute their small pennies (or large ones) to this vehicle but to go through the Red Cross. We are talking about accountability.
Transparency International has listed the Guyana Government as one of the most corrupt and venal administrations in the world. This prestigious global network has condemned this regime in that context for four consecutive years now. The last Auditor-General Report describes billions of dollars that are not accounted for.
Is this the receptacle you want to put your donations to Haiti in? Come on man, you have to be stupid!
The local government election is around the corner and the general election is nearing. Let’s make sure our contributions reach Haiti rather than in the pockets of a certain political party.
My heart goes out to the people of Haiti. My modest $10,000 is only the beginning of my generosity to these souls in need of our love and care.

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