Proshika funds unfrozen

The injudiciousness of the government order freezing the funds was compounded by the fact that the principal victims of this punishment that was imposed was not the NGO itself or its president Qazi Faruque Ahmed, but those who are served by Proshika's programmes.

Proshika's programmes directly benefit hundreds of thousands of the rural poor, the most marginalised and needy segment of society, that the government itself has done little to serve. In its zeal to prosecute Proshika, the government forgot about them, and has thus been guilty of punishing the poor for Proshika's alleged misdeeds for the past two years.

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Now that the government has taken the welcome step of agreeing to release the frozen funds, the next step would be to release to the public the government audit report it has commissioned.

The report has been released to the donors who have criticised it for being politicised and inconclusive, and suggest that an independent international auditor be appointed to reinvestigate the allegations.

NGO Bureau Director General Shahjahan Majumdar says that the investigation into Proshika and the other NGOs under scrutiny found 55 types of irregularities involving Tk 100 crore, but Qazi Faruque says that the report includes no mention of legal violation or misuse of funds by Proshika.

The public needs to know the truth of the matter so that it is able to judge for itself the rights and the wrongs, and the only way to accomplish this is to release the report to the public. If the government is acting in the public interest, as it claims, then it has an obligation to share the facts with the public.

In addition, the government should also release the funds that it has frozen from the other three NGOs that are under investigation. Like Proshika, they should also be permitted to continue their work while investigations into their alleged misdeeds are pending. The only real consequence of freezing such funds is to deprive the people who receive their services of much-needed assistance.