Abuse!

I am astounded at how local workers for major charities are sometimes treated. As far as I can work out, there is a fixed pay scale for local people working for charities and NGOs, but many don't get anywhere near this, and some don't get paid at all.

I have been told of one case where someone worked for a NGO for over three years and has never received a penny.

The NGO is making placating noises but they are not paying up.

Now, I believe that it is often not the fault of the NGO head office, usually outside of Kenya, but of the local "management", who cream off the funding sent to them for their own use, leaving the workers on the ground with little or no money and with a shortfall of funds for a given project.

In the past, KCIS has been asked by a charity in the USA to "check out " the credentials of a group that wanted to affiliate and thereby receive funds. We investigated and found that the group, which was supposed to be fostering orphans didn't have a single child in their care, despite claims that they were looking after several children and consequently, did not receive any funding.

But all too often, funds that are supposed to be going to solve a problem, or to pay the ground workers, never reach their intended recipients, but the local managers get rich (relatively), build new houses, buy cars - it is all too obvious if only people would look and see and investigate.

But then, if the powers that be in the country are "at it", then why shouldn't those closer to the ground get their snout in the trough as well?