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WB
President amazed at Lankan resolve "That's a great strength in your country," he told reporters after visiting tsunami-affected areas in Sri Lanka along with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The bank's top official said he had seen a remarkable response by the community in the first 24 hours of the crisis "even before the government was able to be effective on the scene." The private sector, NGOs and local communities all came together in an extremely effective way. "This is a great tribute to the character of the country … with disregard for religion or race," he noted. Referring to conflicts between the government and the LTTE in the relief distribution process, he said, " … when all of us are seen as ants on a planet; and when we look at the power of the tsunami, it's hard to think in terms of parochial issues because regardless of who we are or where we were, nature made us recognize that fundamentally we are all the same." He said local communities must be involved in the rebuilding process as part of the healing process for people to be engaged in participating in their future and ensure that the money goes for projects that people want. He said the bank was concerned about transparency and would help governments to prepare a mechanism to ensure that the aid flows to the people and not into someone's pocket. "We are concerned how it would be spent. This is an opportunity for governments to have a transparent box. It's not complicated to say how much came in, where it went and to whom, on a website that people will have access to. I hope this transparent process will be successful." But he said in the early stages the bank would have to speed up processes, which would mean not having to wait for three months for competitive bids when "people are starving". "So in the early stages we'll have to make quick judgements and trust a few people and try and ensure checks and balances," he added. |
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