Politics in Haiti > Forum > The Haitian Government...

Lies: then or now? The numbers' game.

Natif.natal - May 31 2011, 10:36 PM

I did not do any studies, I did not count the dead. So I can not say for sure how many people died on Jan 12.
However, I find it very interesting that these figures are coming out now. Not just because it is on the hills of what Rouzier and Martelly are saying in terms of reducing the influence of the international community in Haitian affairs but also on the hills of mismanagement of funds scandals that is rocking the USAID organization and the possible enquiries of the US congress that may result from them.
If the Preval govt lied (and this is a possibility) the question then is who benefited?

Because the bulk of the money raised for Haiti (over 90%) is in the hands of the NGO's including USAID.

I think that this could be a tool to try and put pressure on the government since funding is attached to the scale of the disaster.

If so then, what have the NGO done with the money so far?

If the scale of the disaster is less then what previously thought, why aren't the improvements more visible?

A lot of organizations (even Minustah) have used the scale of the disaster as justification on why it seemed that little was being done. If it turns out that it was 1/2 or 1/3 of what was said, then how do they explain this?

Does this mean that the promises made by the donors aren't valid?

Is this a way for them to avoid keeping them?

This is a much more complex issue then knowing whether Preval lied or not. I hope it doesn't become a distraction from the real issues.

Development and funding and the control of that funding.

I hope people don't accept this finding only on the basis that it came from abroad.

How were these figures obtained?

Did they take into account people buried in mass graves?

People whose bodies are still rotting under the rubble?

What type of scientific approach, algorithm were use in theses calculations?

Were there government entities involved in this study?

When was the study complete?

why are the results being published now?