By TRENTON DANIEL and MARTHA MENDOZA Associated Press
Posted:
07/21/2012 01:01:24 PM EDT
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—The deadly earthquake that leveled Haiti's capital more than two years ago brought a thread of hope: a promise of renewal. With the United States taking the lead, international donors pledged billions of dollars to help the country "build back better," breaking its cycle of dependency.
But after the rubble was cleared and the dead buried, what the quake laid bare was the depth of Haiti's dysfunction.
Today, the fruits of an ambitious, $1.8 billion U.S. reconstruction promise are hard to find. Immediate, basic needs for bottled water, temporary shelter and medicine were the obvious priorities. But projects fundamental to Haiti's transformation out of poverty, such as permanent housing and electric plants in
the heavily hit capital of Port-au-Prince have not taken off.
Critics
say the U.S. effort to reconstruct Haiti was flawed from the start.
While "build back better" was a comforting notion, there wasn't much of a
foundation to build upon. Haiti's chronic political instability and
lack of coordinated leadership between Haiti and the U.S. meant crucial
decisions about construction projects were slow to be approved. Red tape
stalled those that were.
The international community's $10
billion effort was also hindered by its pledge to get approval for
projects from the Haitian government. For more than a year
then-President Rene Preval was, as he later described it, "paralyzed,"
while his government was mostly obliterated, with 16,000 civil
servants killed and most ministries in ruins. It wasn't until earlier
this year that a fully operational government was in place to sign
paperwork, adopt codes and write regulations. Other delays included
challenges to contracts, underestimates of what needed to be done, and
land disputes.
Until now, comprehensive details about who is
receiving U.S. funds and how they are spending them have not been
released. Contracts, budgets and a 300-item spreadsheet obtained by The
Associated
Press under a Freedom of Information Act request show:
— Of the $988 million spent so far, a quarter
went toward debt relief to unburden the hemisphere's poorest nation of
repayments. But after Haiti's loans were paid off, the government began
borrowing again: $657 million so far, largely for oil imports rather
than development projects.
— Less than 12 percent of the
reconstruction money sent to Haiti after the earthquake has gone toward
energy, shelter, ports or other infrastructure. At least a third, $329
million, went to projects that were awarded before the 2010 catastrophe
and had little to do with the recovery—such as HIV/AIDS programs.
— Half of the $1.8 billion the U.S. promised for
rebuilding is still in the Treasury, its
disbursement stymied by an understaffed U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince
in the months after the quake and by a Haitian government that was
barely functional for more than a year.
— Despite State
Department promises to keep spending public, some members of Congress
and watchdogs say they aren't getting detailed information about how the
millions are being spent, as dozens of contractors working for the U.S.
government in Haiti leave a complex money trail.
"The
challenges were absolutely huge and although there was a huge amount of
money pledged, the structures were not there for this to be done
quickly," said former U.S. Ambassador Brian Curran. "The concept of
build back better is a good one, but we were way over-optimistic about
the pace we could do it."
The U.S. Special Coordinator for
Haiti Thomas C. Adams, who oversees USAID spending here, says the first
priority in the critical days after the quake that killed more than
300,000 was crisis management, and the U.S. government spent $1.3
billion on critical rescue operations, saving untold lives.
Three
months later, the goals shifted from rescue to what would become a $1.8
billion reconstruction package aimed at building new foundations.
"U.S.
taxpayers, in the past, have spent billions of dollars in Haiti that
haven't resulted in sustainable improvement in the lives of Haitians,"
said Adams. "The emphasis was never on 'spend the money quickly.' The
emphasis was on spending the money so that in a year or two, we could
look at these projects and see that we've helped create a real base to
jump-start economic development and give Haitian families and businesses
the kind of opportunities they deserve."
Haitian government
officials are appreciative, and said the U.S. provides generous support
for projects that impact long-term development. As for going back into
debt, "Haiti needs all the assistance it can possibly get at this
point," said Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe's deputy chief of staff
Dimitri Nau.
PROMISES UNMET
Within months of the
quake, Congress approved a 27-page plan detailing a partnership with the
Haitian government to "lay the foundation for long-term stability and
economic growth." USAID, an agency overseen by the State Department, was
held responsible for getting the job done by choosing contractors,
selecting projects and overseeing the work. But just as there's little
to show for the $2 billion the U.S. spent in Haiti in the two decades
before the earthquake, it hasn't built much that is permanent with the
new influx of cash.
The plan laid out broad categories:
infrastructure, health care, education, economic development. It was
followed by a strategy that included specific benchmarks. This month, as
about 40 of those come due, some are met, like a new police hotline to
report abuse. But others are not.
For example, the U.S. had
planned to improve the business environment by working with the local
government to reduce regulations, pass national e-commerce laws, expand
mortgage lending and update the tax code. The measurement of success,
said U.S. planners, would be a better ranking by the World Bank's "Doing
Business" indicators.
Instead, this year Haiti sank eight
points lower compared with the rest of the world as a place to do
business in categories including securing construction permits, getting
electricity, registering property, receiving credit, enforcing contracts
and paying taxes.
And so far, the U.S. has no public plans
to build a clean water or sewer system in Port-au-Prince, even as the
country grapples with the world's biggest cholera outbreak that medical
researchers say was likely introduced by a U.N. peacekeeping unit after
the earthquake. The U.S.'s largest jobs program is a garment
manufacturing plant being built in Caracol, 280 kilometers (175 miles)
from the capital. Adams said some investments, like fixing the electricity system, are taking more time.
A
$137 million effort toward supplying reliable electricity in Haiti,
including blackout-prone Port-au-Prince, stalled after a contract
dispute led to a stop-work order—leaving the capital with electricity
only about 10 hours a day. Those who can afford it use private
generators and those without use lanterns or candles. To date, just $18
million has been spent on electricity—largely to build a power plant at
the northern industrial park in Caracol.
The single largest
recipient of funding is Washington, D.C.-area contractor Chemonics,
which has received more than $58 million, including $6.8 million to
remove rubble, $7.2 million to develop a market for environmentally
friendly cook stoves, and money for youth soccer tournaments and "key
cultural celebrations" including Flag Day, patron saints days and
Mother's Day. Chemonics spokeswoman Martha James says 67 percent of the
federal money went to Haitians, including salary for 94 Haitian staff,
and Haitian subcontractors, grantees and vendors.
Meanwhile,
390,000 people are still homeless. The U.S. promised to rebuild or
replace thousands of destroyed homes, but so far has not built even one
new permanent house. Auditors say land disputes, lack of USAID oversight
and no clear plan have hampered the housing effort. USAID contested
that critique.
The State Department says 29,100 transitional
shelters have been built, to which residents are adding floors, walls or
roofs to make permanent homes, although homes once again vulnerable to
natural disasters. U.S. funds also supported 27,000 households as they
moved in with friends or families, and repaired 5,800 of the 35,000
damaged homes they had planned to complete with partners by July 2012.
Also by this month the U.S. had planned to help resolve 40,000 to 80,000
land disputes, but at latest count had helped 10,400.
The State Department acknowledges that efforts to build shelters has been slower than anticipated.
While
more than 1 million people have been moved out of the tent camps, most
went to stay with family or friends, or moved into temporary shelters.
"Having tent cities in the capital 2 1/2 years after the
earthquake is horrendous," said Raymond Joseph, a former Haiti
ambassador to the U.S. "It's a condemnation of those who had the money
and dragged their feet."
'NOTHING TO DO WITH THE QUAKE'
Making
progress in Haiti has been easier with established programs that were
under way before the earthquake. Contractors had already been chosen,
and plans drawn up. As a result, much of the recovery and
reconstruction funding was awarded to projects that were not damaged in
the earthquake— from medical clinics to rural farms. Of the $988 million
spent to date, $1 out of every $5 went to HIV/AIDS programs, though $49
million went to farming projects and $16 million supported elections.
Lack of education has long been a problem. Haiti has about 4.5
million school-age children, about half of whom were attending school
before the earthquake. The largest U.S. education program after the
quake was through the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for
Research, which was a few years into a $25.6 million U.S.-funded project
to train teachers.
"Then the earthquake happened and
everything changed," AIR vice president Jane Benbow said. "They said we
need you to take the resources you have left and we need you to redirect
them, we need you to start doing other things with that money."
In
April 2011, USAID announced that a $12 million AIR project had
"constructed or is in the process of constructing more than 600
semi-permanent classrooms serving over 60,000 students."
But
when pressed for details, AIR spokesman Larry McQuillan said the number
of classrooms actually was 322. They were serving at least 38,640
students each day, many in two shifts.
The organization left
Haiti last year after building 120 temporary schools. Today, about half
of Haiti's school age children attend school, about the same as before
the catastrophe. The Haitian government says it wants to put another 1.5
million children into school—by 2016.
The education money
has made no difference for Odette Leonard, 39, who lost her husband, and
her home, to the quake. Like most Haitians, she cannot afford to pay
even the modest school costs for uniforms and books.
"People
like me won't be able to see any of that money," Leonard said. She had
to send her two children to her mother's house in the countryside so
they could attend an affordable school.
One of USAID's most
tangible post-earthquake accomplishments was the construction of a
bridge across the muddy, winding Ennery River. The strong and
well-engineered span eases a key route from the north to the south 160
kilometers (100 miles) from Port-au-Prince. The bridge had been down for
more than a year before the earthquake, a casualty of the 2008
hurricane season. Plans had been sketched for a new bridge, but there
wasn't funding.
Engineer Larry Wright, who temporarily moved
to Haiti from Wyoming to lead the $4 million project, said he didn't
know the funding came from earthquake reconstruction funds. "This had nothing to do with the quake," said Wright.
AND YET MORE DEBT
When
the earthquake hit, world lenders were already several years into
forgiving Haiti's substantial debts, many of which dated back to
millions in loans taken by the dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, who was
overthrown in 1986 and suddenly returned last year. In June 2009, seven
months before the earthquake, donors wiped out $1.2 billion of the
Haitian government's debt. In January 2010, as the capital lay in ruins,
it still was $828 million in the red.
In March 2010,
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) said canceling the debt is "one of
the simplest but most important things we can do to help Haiti."
And to date, debt relief is the largest single item the U.S. has spent toward Haiti's rebuilding: $245 million.
But
since taking office in May 2011, President Michel Martelly's
administration has borrowed $657 million, largely from Venezuela for
basic fuel needs, but also from Taiwan, the International Fund for
Agricultural Development, the International Monetary Fund and OPEC. Next
year Haiti is expected to spend close to $10 million servicing those
debts, according to the IMF.
"The U.S. government cannot
dictate how the government of Haiti, as a sovereign country, chooses to
address its financial situation," said USAID's Haiti task team leader in
Washington D.C., Beth Hogan, whose office facilitated the payments. The
U.S. is now only providing grants, not loans, to Haiti.
Waters now says she's disappointed, but not surprised, that Haiti has resumed its borrowing habits.
More than half of Haiti's annual $1 billion budget comes from foreign aid. "Haiti
needs grants, gifts and loans," said Haitian official Nau. "Every
country in the world has debt and Haiti is no different."
OFF THE RECORD
A
major frustration for watchdogs of the U.S. effort is a lack of
transparency over how the millions of dollars are being spent.
From
interviews to records requests, efforts to track spending in Haiti by
members of Congress, university researchers and news organizations have
sometimes been met with resistance and even, in some cases, outright
refusals.
As a result, U.S. taxpayers are told they've agreed
to spend $7.2 million for a project to design and distribute cleaner
cooking stoves to 10,000 street vendors and 800 schools and orphanages,
but there's no public accounting for how that will break down: How much
might each stove cost? What are the office expenses? What are workers'
salaries?
"The lack of specific details in where the money
has gone facilitates corruption and waste, creates a closed process that
reduces competition and prevents us from assessing the efficacy of
certain taxpayer-funded projects," said Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, a
New York Democrat whose district includes the second largest population
of Haitian immigrants in the country.
Legislation introduced
last year in Congress would direct the Obama administration to report on
the status of post-earthquake humanitarian, reconstruction and
development efforts in Haiti.
The AP filed a Freedom of
Information request to learn what was accomplished and how much was
spent on a two-day retreat for 12 senior U.S. staffers in Miami in March
2011. USAID released the hotel sales agreement, the facilitator's
purchase order and an agenda. It did not release information about what
was accomplished, and withheld another nine pages, citing concerns that
it contained information that had not been finalized.
State
Department officials say they are trying to be responsive, noting that
in the past nine months, they have coordinated 51 briefings to members
of Congress and their staff on Haiti and delivered five
congressionally-mandated reports.
One of the problems with following the money in Haiti is that the records are not up to date.
A
State Department inspector general report in June found the embassy's
political section retains about 10 linear feet of paper files dating
back a decade in several safes, and the narcotics affairs team doesn't
have a coherent filing system.
In its own effort to follow
the money, this year the AP began contacting firms that have received
U.S. funding since the earthquake. A memo went out two weeks later.
"A
series of requests from journalists may come your way," cautioned
Karine Roy, a spokeswoman for the USAID, in an email to about 50
humanitarian aid officials. "Wait for formal clearance from me before
releasing any information."
U.S. contractors, from pollsters
to private development firms, told the AP that USAID had asked them not
to provide any information, and referred to publicly released
descriptions of their projects.
The Durham, North
Carolina-based group Family Health International 360, for example,
received $32 million, including $10 million for what the State
Department described as an "initiative designed to increase the flow of
commercially viable financial products and services to productive
enterprises, with a focus on semi-urban and rural areas."
When
the AP asked for a budget breakdown, FHI 360 spokeswoman Liza Morris
said, "We were pulling that for you but were told that it was
proprietary by our funder."
Who is the funder?
"Our funder," she said, "is USAID."
