Haiti: Lots of Political Show, Little Aid So Far

A little more evidence that the international community is failing the urgent needs in Haiti.  The international aid community spends too much time on organizing themselves, trying to control in detail the projects and trying to give their own agencies a favorable look.

Bill Clinton said Friday that international donors are still reluctant to make good on billions of dollars in pledges for Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction.

…the former U.S. president told The Associated Press he hopes the presentation of $300 million worth of projects at the Aug. 17 meeting of the commission he co-chairs with Haiti’s prime minister will help open their wallets.

“We’re going for very specific projects at the next meeting and then we’re going to make another run at ’em and see what happens,” Clinton told AP during a two-day visit to the quake-ravaged country. “We just want to get the show on the road.”

Frustrations are running high nearly seven months after the quake, which killed a government-estimated 300,000 people. Reconstruction remains all but stalled as 1.6 million people remain homeless and rubble continues to choke thoroughfares in the capital and surrounding areas.

via The Canadian Press: Bill Clinton: Donors still holding out on billion in pledges for Haiti reconstruction.