UNIBAM RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS ABOUT GRANT FUNDING
UNIBAM PRESS RELEASE
23rd, July, 2013
UNIBAM RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS ABOUT GRANT FUNDING
Serious allegations have been made in print and television
media in Belize in respect of grant funds provided by the Oak Foundation to
UNIBAM.
In the Amandala of
July 21, 2013, at pages 15 and
30, in a column entitled “Right to the Point”, the columnist states that “that
the monetary donation UNIBAM received from a certain foundation came through
the Oceana account and was written on an Oceana cheque.” She goes on to state
that Oceana was “ the means via which the said foundation siphoned their money
to them.” The columnist then goes on to
say that “Maybe I should publish a copy of the cheque.”
On Monday, July 22, 2013, on the Rise and Shine Show on Plus
TV, Louis Wade Jr. referred to these allegations as a “powerful revelation”. He
went on to state that according to the Amandala guest columnist, “money for UNIBAM came through Oceana.” He then went on to say that “the money from Oak Foundation did not go
directly to UNIBAM, they did not want it to be tracked… the money was
laundered, washed, sidetracked through Oceana.”
He also says that “the Oak Foundation under the leadership of Imani
Fairweather” “channeled the money to Oceana as a legitimate reef issue and then
channeled the money to UNIBAM.”
In both media pieces, the innuendo is that the process by
which grant monies given to UNIBAM by the Oak Foundation via a re-grant from
Oceana was done in a clandestine and nefarious manner. Such suggestions are
insulting and reprehensible. UNIBAM would not usually respond to such
outlandish allegations but values its partnership with both the Oak Foundation
and with Oceana and cannot allow these claims to go unchallenged.
The Oak Foundation made a small grant to UNIBAM through
Oceana Belize with the full knowledge and co-operation of its Vice President in
Belize. Such a practice is not unusual where the recipient group and funding
amount is small and the cost of processing and transfer of funds too onerous.
We are assured that in the same re-granting process via Oceana, funds were also
given to other organizations in Belize such as Haven House, a shelter for women,
Alumni 90, a group supporting infrastructure upgrades at the Belmopan
Comprehensive School and UBAD Foundation to support radio broadcast during Reef
Week. It is ironic that the Vice President of Oceana in Belize did not see fit
to mention that detail.
For anyone, particularly one with access to full disclosure
of the matter, to characterize such a re-granting process which was facilitated
by Oceana Belize in a transparent manner as
“siphoning” or as “laundering” or “washing” is irresponsible, scandalous
and disingenuous.
UNIBAM is pleased to be able to have the support of Oak Foundation,
an organization with a solid track record of funding human rights issues
worldwide. We are also satisfied with the assurances that Oceana International
has provided our Board of Directors that “Oceana has a strict
non-discrimination policy in regards to sexual orientation as well as race
religion and sexual orientations”. We are grateful for their kind courtesy in
facilitating the re-granting of funds to our organization as well as to other
organizations in Belize.
In the zeal to put forward another point of view on any
issue, which is a democratic and fundamental right guaranteed under our
Constitution, truth and fact must not fall prey to distortion and
misrepresentation.
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