Afghanistan- Kunduz IDPs: 2m afs apparently embezzled in relief items

(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) KUNDUZ CITY (Pajhwok): The Natural Disasters Management Authority (NDMA) office in northern Kunduz province has purchased emergency aid items worth seven million afghanis for over nine million afghanis, Pajhwok has learnt.

Documents obtained by Pajhwok Afghan News show that 10 million afghanis had been allocated in emergency aid for displaced families in Kunduz province earlier this year.

NDMA office in Kunduz province purchased eight types of items for the aid for nine million and 12,000 afghanis against their actual price of seven million afghanis.

Pajhwok compared the prices of the items in Kunduz markets, which were valued at seven million and 6,000 afghanis.

Eight items of goods purchased for 9,012,000 afghanis: NDMA head

Sayed Abdul Karim, head of NDMA for Kunduz, said that eight types of items for 1,000 displaced families were purchased for 9,012,000 Afghanis.

Each family was distributed with a bag of 50 kilograms of rice, a bag of 50kg of flour, a tin of 16 liters of cooking oil, seven kilograms of sugar, seven kilograms of pea, the same quantity of bean, a kilogram of green tea and six packs of macaroni, he said.

However, Pajhwok findings show the price of these items in total amount to 7,006,000 afghanis in the market.

For example, a wholesaler in Kunduz city, Abdul KarimBaloch, told Pajhwok that he would have sold these items for 7,006,000 Afghanis. He calculated the price of all items in a bill and gave it to Pajhwok.

Pajhwok also asked a number of other wholesalers about the price of the items but the rates were lower than that of NDMA.

On the other hand, Pajhwok also obtained some pictures taken from the displaced families when they were receiving the aid in Khanabad district of Kunduz. The pictures show people received half of the aid instead of the full package. Half of all items, for example, tea, macaroni, bean, pea and sugar were given to the IDPs.

IDPs say they did not receive the aid:

Fawzia, one of the internally displaced persons, told Pajhwok that her husband was killed in war and her children were without a breadwinner and they were suffering from a serious economic problem.

“We are the most entitled, no one has so far helped us, I also worry about the future of my children,” she said.

Another displaced person, Allah Biran who is from Imam Sahib district of Kunduz and currently lives in the provincial capital, said they received very little aid.

“Those who have relations, they received the complete or even more aid, but those without references are not helped or given little aid,” he said.

A number of other IDPs made similar complaints.

Kunduz governor's house says it is unaware on the issue:

NasibaHolkar, deputy Kunduz governor and head of the provincial Emergency Committee, said that she was unaware about the purchase of the mentioned items.

“NDMA head has no authority to purchase items on that much money, he first should make a request to the committee and the committee then purchases the items,” she said.

But some other officials of the committee said the items were contracted by them before being purchased.

The issue involves embezzlement and needs investigation: Provincial Council

Kunduz provincial council head, YousufAyobi, told Pajhwok that the budget for buying the aid items had been embezzled and there was need for investigation into the case.

He said,“The items purchased by NDMA, their contract is not transparent, the provincial council also has some reservation about the matter and the issue should be strictly investigated.”

Outcome:

Documents and people's views show that over two million afghanis had been embezzled in the purchase of aid items for displaced families.

It is worth mentioning that around 25,000 families have been displaced in Kunduz province in the recent conflicts and most of them currently suffer from serious economic problems.

This report has been produced by Pajhwok and financially supported by UNDP and Denmark.

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