Picture: This used to be the Siem Reap court and is now a hotel and retail development in the making.
In development aid the support of the government can make a big difference. For example in Vietnam the government supports and funds activities for Agent Orange victims, in Cambodia in contrast NGO are left on their own. The government does not provide any funds. This has to do with how governments work and corrupt they are. Here are two examples:
In Cambodia government employees are lowly paid and rely on bribes. And the more lucrative a government position is the more sought after such jobs are. This leads to the result that one has to give money to his superior in order to get and keep his position. The governor of Siem Reap, according to well-informed sources, recently transformed his house in the heart of Siem Reap into a hotel. The money from the hotel he now “invests” into a big, juicy present to his boss and voila, he is allowed to keep his lucrative job.
Another example of corruption can be seen in cases where the government supports the construction of schools. A budget is allocated to the project and construction companies with the help of officials start to import subsided building materials. But not only materials for the school are imported but far more. The surplus material is then is sold off locally to other projects. This is Cambodian style development aid.
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